ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 28, 2023 / 18:00 pm
Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas decried the “scourge of violence” by organized crime on Mexico’s southern border that intimidates residents and even forces them to join their ranks.
In a letter posted on Facebook Dec. 21, Aguilar warned that “organized crime keeps people besieged, confined, intimidated, and threatened, harming them more every day.”
The bishop had previously warned in September that the state of Chiapas was “torn by violence” due to the confrontation between criminal gangs.
In his new letter, the Mexican prelate pointed out that for more than two years the southern Mexico region on the border with Guatemala has been living under “threats, harassment, demands for protection money, intimidation, disappearances, kidnappings, murders, seizure of material goods, checkpoints, illegal tolls, looting, and illegal mining.”