MEXICO CITY — Four Roman Catholic bishops from Guerrero, a southern state in Mexico, made an urgent appeal on Monday for both civilian and military leaders to take action to safeguard residents of a region that has recently experienced severe violence, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen individuals.
The unrest around Tecpan de Galeana, located approximately 65 miles (104 kilometers) from Acapulco along the Pacific coast, has compelled local authorities to halt classes in schools situated in the area as well as in two adjacent municipalities.
In a statement issued by the Catholic bishops conference of Mexico, bishops Jesús González, Leopoldo González, Joel Ocampo Gorostieta, and Dagoberto Sosa expressed concern that the ongoing power struggles among criminal factions are intensifying. They attributed this alarming trend to the “complicity, tolerance, or indifference” from many individuals and institutions tasked with upholding justice, legality, and security.
Earlier this year, these same bishops gained notoriety for their acknowledgment of meetings with leaders of Mexican drug cartels, aiming to foster negotiations for a potential peace agreement. However, those discussions failed to yield results after one party reportedly refused to agree.
At that time, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador endorsed these talks.
The initial month of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration has been marred by escalating violence, notably in Guerrero, where the newly elected mayor of the state capital was tragically killed and decapitated just days after assuming office. This troubling pattern is also evident in the western state of Sinaloa and the southern region of Chiapas, where a prominent Catholic priest and Indigenous activist was shot dead last week.
In response to inquiries from the press on Monday, Sheinbaum mentioned that her security policies, which are primarily an extension of her predecessor’s framework, “will become apparent gradually.”
She emphasized her stance of not negotiating with criminals, focusing instead on combating impunity and tackling the underlying social issues that contribute to violence.