AMERICA/ARGENTINA - "We see trade of death on the street" denounces the Bishop of Quilmes

Quilmes (Agenzia Fides) - The Bishop of the Diocese of Quilmes (Argentina), His Exc. Mgr. Carlos Jose Tissera, expressed strong concern over the alarming increase in drug trafficking in the areas of Quilmes, Berazategui and Florencio Varela, and asked the authorities to increase their efforts to combat this scourge, which affects mostly children and young people in the most disadvantaged areas. The note sent to Fides from a local source stresses the intervention carried out by Mgr. Tissera, held during Day of Remembrance (March 24), when the coup d'etat of 1976 is rememberd.
"The trade of death is visible in the neighborhoods of our diocese with alarming impunity. This issue needs to be addressed by the whole society: political forces, social organizations and churches. But we ask the State to increase their efforts" said the Bishop.
The note reads that for Mgr. Tissera this serious situation in society "is the inevitable result of unbridled capitalism and consumerism, social exclusion and drug addiction". This state of affairs "affects our brothers and sisters at all levels of society but brings greater evil, and cruelty, to the most vulnerable, the poor, the youth and children".
In Argentina there are currently about 180 thousand addicts of so-called "drug of the poor", each of whom "buys an average of 20 doses per day", which cost 6 pesos each. PACO (PAste COcaine base) is the third addiction in the country, after alcohol and drugs (see Fides 05/03/2014). The National Catholic Pastoral Care for Drug Addiction, that works in the Greater Buenos Aires, indicates that 10 % of the population between 15 and 64 years of age habitually consume drugs, while 30% of teenagers in their final years of middle school makes use of marijuana. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 28/03/2014)