ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 5, 2023 / 18:30 pm
During the third edition of the “Together for Mexico” meeting, held Oct. 1 with the theme “Artisans of Peace,” Bishop Víctor Alejandro Aguilar, who heads the Episcopal Dimension for Laity of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, criticized the policy of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador against organized crime, calling it “hugs for drug traffickers and bullets for the poor.”
The Mexican bishop was turning around the catchy phrase that rhymes in Spanish adopted by López Obrador during his presidential election campaign: “abrazos y no balazos” (hugs, not bullets), which he used to describe his new approach to fighting organized crime in contrast to the “war on drugs” undertaken by Felipe Calderón during his six-year term (2006–2012) and during the term of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012–2018).
López Obrador’s concept was to focus on the root causes of young people getting involved in the drug cartels such as poverty and lack of opportunities while at the same time not neglecting law enforcement.
“Together for Mexico” is an event for associations, lay institutions, and Catholic movements at the national level that seek to promote human rights and human life.