Bishops of Mexico ask for transparency in aid to victims

Faced with the tragedy caused by the recent floods in Mexico, the Catholic Church urged the authorities to act with “efficiency and diligence” in the distribution of aid intended for the victims, and to ensure that it “reaches its destination without intermediaries that divert or condition it,” in a “direct and transparent” manner.

Between October 6 and 11, heavy rains caused flooding, river overflows and serious human and material losses in the Mexican states of Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí, with a official balance of at least 78 dead and 23 missing.

The most affected areas were in the north of Veracruz – in the towns of Poza Rica, Tihuatlán, Álamo Temapache and Papantla – where the overflow of the Cazones River left thousands of homes destroyed.

Through a statement released this October 22, the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM), assured that “from the first day” of the emergency, the Catholic Church was organized through the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral and the national network of Cáritas, for the “reception, channeling and distribution of humanitarian aid through the diocesan Cáritas of each affected place, to reach directly and transparently those who need it most.”

In their message, the prelates reiterated their request to the authorities to “implement with efficiency and diligence the care programs that these emergency situations require.”

“It is essential that the affected areas continue to receive aid, that basic services are restored, that damaged infrastructure is rebuilt and that comprehensive plans are established that restore confidence, security and dignity to the affected families,” indicated the CEM.

In the midst of the emergency, some voices have denounced possible obstacles in the delivery of aid to the victims. Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego criticized in your X account that the distribution of food and donations could be used for political purposes by the MORENA party, to which the governor of Veracruz, Rocío Nahle, and the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, belong.

Given these accusations, Sheinbaum said at a press conference on October 13 that the delivery of support and donations is coordinated through the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) and the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar), agencies that have the necessary infrastructure to receive, organize and distribute supplies in an orderly and transparent manner.

Given this, the bishops appealed to the “conscience of all the actors involved in addressing this emergency so that the aid reaches its destination without intermediaries that divert or condition it.”

“The pain of families should not be exploited for political or partisan purposes. The dignity of the affected people requires that all help be delivered with respect, transparency and without any type of manipulation or exclusion,” they said.

Likewise, they invited the country’s Catholic communities to “keep the brothers from the affected states in their prayers,” while asking them to “collaborate, according to their possibilities,” with donations in kind, financial resources or volunteer work.

Finally, they entrusted the victims and the deceased to the maternal intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Mexico, and asked the Lord to pour out “his comfort, his strength and his peace” on the affected communities.