Mexican bishops call on former president to cooperate in investigation into cardinal's murder

Mexico City, Mexico, May 27, 2008 / 02:17 am

As the fifteenth anniversary of the murder of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo of Guadalajara was marked in Mexico, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference insisted that his death was a “crime of the state” and demanded that the government subpoena former President Carlos Salinas for further testimony.

“Because we need to know the truth, these three words which have been mentioned this morning are key: justice, truth and peace.  If there is no justice, there is no truth, and if there is no truth, there will be no peace, and when there is no harmony between these three words, in real life we find ourselves facing what is happening in the country right now, like being afraid to leave one’s own house,” said Bishop Leopoldo Gonzalez, secretary general of the conference.

During the presentation of a new book on the murder, which contains new information indicating the cardinal was not killed because of “confusion” between two bands of drug lords, as the official government account claims, but that rather he was the direct target of one of the groups.

Mexican Congressman Jose Antonio Munoz Serrano said, “Today, 15 years after the murder there still has been no conviction for the killing of Cardinal Posadas and seven others.  Solving this crime means returning credibility to our institutions,” he said.