Overview
- The bishops of the dioceses of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Tapachula and Tuxtla Gutiérrez delivered a joint communiqué during the annual pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe on Monday calling the message “Desde el Tepeyac: un grito de fe, justicia y esperanza por nuestro pueblo.”
- They warned that territorial control by organized criminal groups has fractured social peace through extortion, threats and restrictions on movement that the statement described as a ‘culture of death.’
- Church leaders acknowledged that new forced-displacement incidents have fallen but said thousands still face lasting losses of homes, livelihoods and family stability that aid alone has not resolved.
- The bishops demanded that authorities at federal, state and municipal levels speak the truth, strengthen security and justice efforts, and take actions that end impunity rather than rely on short-term assistance.
- The statement linked persistent poverty, disappearances, migration and environmental damage to long-standing exclusion in Chiapas and framed the intervention as moral pressure meant to push for deeper policy and development changes.