AMERICA/MEXICO - "Weapons are the weakness of reason": Bishop Arizmendi refers to the assassination of the local mayor

Monday, 25 July 2016 bishops   violence   local churches  



San Juan Chamula (Agenzia Fides) – Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, has called for dialogue to continue since, he says, it is the only means of obtaining social peace: "dialogue means sharing points of view with others, listening with the heart to what others have to say, being ready to renounce something in order to give first place to the common good".
The Bishop’s statements, sent to Fides, were motivated by the murderous violence committed on Saturday 23 July at San Juan Chamula, where five people including the mayor were assassinated. "These acts of homicide - he said – demonstrate that violence is in every sector of society not only among the indigenous communities". Bishop Arizmendi Esquivel went on to warn that the absence of transparency and correct information regarding the spending of public resources generates diffidence towards the authorities, revenge, political strife and ambitions not foreseeable and difficult to stop. We cannot choose and accept leaders who base their power on the number of their supporters and the force of weapons to reach their goals. "Weapons are the weakness of reason" he said, emphasising that dialogue must continue, since it is "the only possible way " to build social peace.
Mexico, since the elections held on 5 June, has to take into account the absence of a political majority in main provincial cities and other towns. At San Juan Chamula, during march of protest against the first citizen, masked criminals killed the mayor and 4 of his co-workers. The governor of Chiapas, an area which belongs to San Chamula, declared: "We must all work together for dialogue and peace in our community, in particular to respect the peace-making vocation indigenous peoples in San Juan Chamula".
(CE) (Agenzia Fides, 25/07/2016)



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