Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cuajimalpa (Agenzia Fides) - Nearly 4,000 weapons have been recovered since 24 December within the campaign "For your family, voluntary disarmament" which provides for the exchange of weapons in exchange for money or food.
In a note sent to Fides Agency, the Secretary of Social Development office of the Federal District of Mexico, Rosa Icela Rodriguez, said that the Campaign takes place in the delegation of Cuajimalpa, as well as Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero, Tláhuac, Miguel Hidalgo, Venustiano Carranza and Iztacalco.
The Church actively participates in the Campaign in offering places for the exchange of weapons (see Fides 10/01/2013). Among the weapons collected there are 2799 guns, 863 rifles, 281 grenades, a bomb, a charger and two rockets. Five million 318 thousand 900 pesos have been allocated for the purchase of 531 bicycles, 195 tablets, seven laptops and 92 appliances, as well as cash payments to be exchanged with the weapons held by the population. The place of the exchange zone is located in the churchyard of St. Peter the Apostle, in the center of Cuajimalpa.
The initiative is very important given the emergence of new groups of "self-defense" in recent months, that have been given the task of executing criminals and small groups of drug traffickers. The members of this "community police" patrol the villages assigned to them in arms and with their faces covered, in a Country where the unpunished crime rate is 99% and where the violence of organized crime caused more than 70,000 deaths and 26,000 missing between 2006 and 2012. The Mexican authorities claim that these self-defense groups are not legally allowed to pursue and punish, but they respond to apply rules and customs that belong to the tradition of the indigenous peoples of various States of Mexico. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 13/03/2013)
