In a context of growing national and international alarm for the crisis of missing persons in Mexico, the Catholic Church in the country has accompanied representatives of search groups and family organizations, in a meeting with Mexican authorities to demand specific responses and commitments.
Through a statement, National Dialogue for Peace – a joint initiative of the Mexican Episcopate Conference (CEM), the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious (CIRM) and the Society of Jesus – detailed what happened during the meeting of April 8.
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According to the statement, families were heard “in their indignation for the indifference they have felt in the instances of government, their desires of justice before the disappearance of their sons, daughters or babies.”
In a second moment, “the requests to advance in the drama of the disappeared in Mexico” were defined and finally “the Secretary Rosa Icela had to respond to the demands of the groups.”
Among the ecclesial representatives present were Mons. Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal, current general secretary of the CEM, and Mons. Francisco Acero, auxiliary bishop of Mexico, who participate monthly in dialogues with government representatives headed by Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), among other dependencies.
What are the main demands of the relatives of missing?
The statement lists 12 key demands aimed at the authorities. Among them, the need to “review the profiles of officials who are in charge of families” stands out.
It is also requested “strengthening state prosecutors to combat impunity: increase investigation capacities and combat criminal governance”, as well as “strengthen forensic services for Identify the 72 thousand bodies that are in morgues or common graves and put human identification centers. ”
Other points include the creation of a national registry of common graves and the strengthening of citizen security to face so much craiminality.
The statement also concludes the willingness to dialogue by the authorities, but insisted on the need to “put the means to meet the demands and create a culture of listening to government institutions, coordinated responses and dignified treatment of seeking families.”
Missing in Mexico
According to him website of the Ministry of the Interior, whose data covers from 1952, until April 11 of this year, 127,047 disappeared and not located in the country have been registered. Jalisco is the state with the largest number of cases.
President Claudia Sheinbaum pointed out At a press conference on April 8 that the phenomenon of the disappearance is “linked to organized crime and we are doing everything in our hands to fight, attend from the victims to prevent and combat this crime.”
The Committee against Forced Disappearance (CED) announced the opening of a procedure to analyze the phenomenon of forced disappearance in Mexico, with the possibility of raising the case before the United Nations General Assembly.
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.