Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tarahumara (Agenzia Fides) - Illegal logging and pollution of the rivers are some of the damage caused by "corruption" and by the authorities’ "immorality", whose effects have caused hunger in the Sierra Tarahumara: this is what is read in the editorial of the Weekly "Desde la Fé" of the Archdiocese of Mexico. "No doubt the immediate situation can be kept under control, but in the long run it will still be latent, not only because of the lifestyle in the Tarahumara area, but mainly because of drought, which affects half the country, and that is becoming a major problem worldwide, the ecological imbalance that leads to environmental disaster."
The diocesan weekly points out that in Mexico the country's natural resources have been irresponsibly and irreversibly affected, with the complicity of corrupt officials at all levels," motivated by economic greed and immoral rapacity." "The response to this emergency must now require a change of mentality in people and the necessity of new public policies on behalf of the government to resolve the long-term problems. Nature deserves more respect and care," concludes the text.
Even Mgr. Rafael Sandoval Sandoval, Bishop of the Diocese of Tarahumara, in an interview with the local press, warned: the Tarahumara people are hungry. "The problem is complex, but the reality is that there is hunger," said Archbishop Sandoval, and added: "The missionary Church in the area was preparing 'Red Serrana', a project of solidarity and community development. As a Church, in this place we are a Missionary Church; since the arrival of the Jesuits a testimony of the social dimension of faith was given, it is a Church close to the pain of these people. Before listening to the news about the arrival of the drought, the Church was prepared to assist the hungry through the Red Serrana. The drought, however, came as a surprise. I told the pastors to move to deliver aid to communities that need it. We know that this is not the solution, we need schools, we need to give more importance to the health of the community, the spaces in which the natives can, over time, be the architects and sustain themselves. Otherwise this situation will repeat itself again in ten or fifteen years time." (CE) (Agenzia Fides 21/2/2012)
