The President of Mexico has expressed approval for Catholic bishops negotiating with drug cartels.
“Priests and pastors and members of all the churches have helped in pacifying the country. I think it is very good,” said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
His remarks followed reports that four bishops in southern Mexico recently met drug cartel leaders to discuss a ceasefire between warring gangs in the south-western state of Guerrero.
The Bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa José de Jesús González Hernández said the meetings had failed because of a dispute between the cartels over “territory”.
“They asked for a truce, but with conditions,” he explained. “But these conditions were not agreeable to one of the participants.”
Turf battles in Guerrero, which includes the Pacific resort of Acapulco, have led to the shutdown of public transport and dozens of killings.
The cost of staple items like bread is higher because drug-traffickers extort money from local businesses. The Church has negotiated with cartel leaders in other Mexican states.
Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel observed: “As bishops we try to speak to these leaders because we cannot simply keep complaining about the government failing to bring peace to the country. Instead we should do as much as we possibly can.”
“We don’t meet the cartels to make pacts on peaceful co-existence,” he emphasised. “The intention is to make them see the need to change their lives and respect people and their property and to stop causing more insecurity and violence.”
The cardinal is the bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
A priest from the cartel-infested state of Michoacán said: “If the government did its job correctly, we would not have to do this.”
Fr Javier Ávila SJ said Church-led negotiations were a sign that the government was “inept”.
He continued: “We have to say to [the authorities] listen, they kill us too. We are not fighting for ourselves but for the people.”
Nine priests have been killed in Mexico in the past four years.
López Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” policy on cartel-led violence has drawn condemnation since his election in 2018. Critics claim it ignores the existing power of drug-traffickers.
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