Mexican bishops: building of casinos not “panacea” for development

Mexico City, Mexico, Nov 14, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The Bishops Conference of Mexico warned this week that approval of a new law on casinos is not the path to take for achieving development in the country and could aggravate problems.

On the third day of its Fall Assembly, the Conference of bishops issued a statement on the subject to media.

The Secretary General of the Conference and Bishop of Texcoco, Carlos Aguiar Retes, emphasized that building casinos is not the “panacea” for Mexican development.  He questioned wanting to achieve economic progress at the cost of “aggravating other problems.”

Speaking to local media, Bishop Aguiar Retes stated that multiple, “very serious” studies done by the Bishops, as well as studies done in other countries where there are casinos, shows that they lead to increased crime and insecurity.

Even though some lawmakers may have made commitments to certain lobby groups, Bishop Aguiar Retes expressed his hope that they will understand the consequences of a new casino law and that they will avoid “putting such a high cost on supposed economic advancement.”