Mexico: Criminal violence attempting to silence Christian witness

Organized corruption and crime Mexico | 13 June 2023

The constant struggle between criminal groups for territorial control of various areas of Mexico has increased insecurity among citizens and the number of civilian victims. There follows a selection of incidents from the last few months:

27 December 2022: In Zacatecas, José Dorian Piña Hernández, a third-year theology student at the La Purísima Conciliar Seminary, was violently murdered in the community of Ignacio Zaragoza in Noria de Ángeles. The student and his family were attacked by an armed group who shot at the truck in which they were traveling, killing the student and a child, while two women were injured. (Centro Católico Multimedial, 28 December 2022). According to official figures for murders between January and November 2022, Zacatecas ranked as the tenth most violent state in the country and is home to several drug cartels (Expansion Politica, 5 December 2022).
2 May 2023: In Michoacán, a severed human head was left at the side of a church in Charapan (Iruapan municipality). A message written on a piece of cardboard was also found, but its content was not revealed by the authorities (Quadratin, 2 May 2023).
16 May 2023: In Guanajuato, a man started a fire in the historical Santiaguito church in the city of Irapuato. According to CCTV video, the fire started at 1:22 in the morning and it took just 4 minutes for the whole church to be consumed by flames (Religión Digital, 16 May 2023).
21 May 2023: In Durango, Archbishop Faustino Armendáriz Jimenez was the victim of an assassination attempt. At the close of a mid-day church service in the cathedral, a 70-year-old man attempted to stab the Archbishop with a knife before being overpowered by parishioners (ADN Informativo, 21 May 2023).
22 May 2023: In Michoacan, Catholic priest Javier García Villafaña was shot dead while driving on the road leading to the community of Capacho where he lived (Fides, 23 May 2023). His car was marked with bullet-holes (Infobae, 23 May 2023).

World Watch Research analyst Rossana Ramirez comments: “In this context of continual violence, church leaders are particularly vulnerable due to the Christian message of peace and due to church-work supporting human rights and those suffering from poverty. Church ministry is thus often perceived as being a threat to the illegal activities carried out by organized criminal groups. As Centro Católico Multimedial has pointed out, in 2022 alone there were close to 800 incidents of extortion, in which church leaders across the Mexican Republic were threatened (Centro Católico Multimedial, May 2023). It is clear, therefore, that the attacks on churches and church leaders are a way of trying to silence the Church, so that criminal interests are not harmed.”