As Mexico tops list of violent countries, archdiocese reacts

Mexico City, Mexico, May 17, 2017 / 15:12 pm

The Mexico archdiocese's newspaper Desde la Fe wrote an editorial decrying the "disastrous situation in Mexico" as the country ranks number two in a report on the world's most violent nations.

In its recent analysis, the International Institute for Strategic Studies ranked Mexico second on a list of the incidence of violent homicides.

The institute said that in 2016 Mexico was one place above Iraq and one place below Syria, with 26,000 deaths linked to cases of violence.

The Catholic weekly warned that "the collateral consequences" of the violence the country is going through "can already be seen in the victims of crimes, who have suffered serious violations of their human rights or injuries to their physical integrity and heritage."

"Mexico began to create lost generations, the result of an undeclared war; with thousands as victims, whose situation in the justice system is far from having a satisfactory solution," the editorial wrote.

Desde la Fe also emphasized the "high incidence of disappearances in the country," citing the National Registry of Data on Lost or Missing Persons which stated that as of October 2016 there were approximately 30,000 missing persons. The Mexican states recording the highest percentage of disappearances are Tamaulipas, México, Jalisco and Sinaloa.

"Our history is at a very painful turning point," Desde la Fe wrote.

It noted that the Mexican Bishops' Conference said that victims and persons gone missing by violence "are a serious problem that neither the authorities, the Church, nor civil society can ignore" and they need "a public pronouncement go along with their indignation."

The victims and missing persons, the editorial added, "also expect to know the truth and have effective reparation of the harm done, things that don't have clarity or consistency in the Mexican State, which seems rather broken in the face of fear and terror."

Desde la Fe recalled the study "We are all missing the disappeared" – published by the Mexican Bishops' Conference and the Mexican Institute on Christian Social Doctrine earlier this month – which described some of the measures taken by the Church in the country to assist victims of violence.

The Archdiocese of Mexico City pointed out that "what the study demonstrates is worrisome since it reveals that in Mexico we live in a state of disaster."