Campaigns contain other types of violence, says the bishop of Zacatecas

ZACATECAS (El Universal).— The bishop of Zacatecas, Sigifredo Noriega Barceló, says that, a month following the campaigns formally began in the country, they “contain other types of violence” and warns that “democracy mixed with “Crime is a totally unacceptable binomial.”

When giving his opinion to “El Universal” regarding electoral violence in the current process, the prelate states that in this time “we see, we hear, we notice everywhere that electoral campaigns contain other types of violence, verbal violence, violence of pressuring people to participate with a certain way of voting.”

In his opinion, “they have not been clean, legal, austere campaigns, with an abundance of proposals, viable proposals, responsible proposals or serious proposals. Unfortunately, there have been disqualifications, a dirty war and that is also violence, and that instead of encouraging, discourages many people,” he points out. He even questioned whether these actions might have an objective, saying: “I don’t know if that is the purpose for some candidates, to prevent people from going out to vote, all of that is totally unacceptable in a democracy.”

Bishops once morest violence

The bishop recalled that there are almost two months until the elections and urged that “each citizen do their best, be critical, be reflective, participate and also each candidate do their part,” in addition to mentioning that “Mexico needs “It is convenient for all of this to happen in peace and for everyone to go out and participate in one way or another, in what, we said before, should be a party.”

He emphasized the position of the Mexican bishops who have called attention to electoral violence, specifying that one of the points issued warns that “the worst scenario, the one that we should mostly avoid, which is the one in which organized crime and other criminal groups intervene in the electoral process anywhere, at any time and towards any person or towards any community.

“Unfortunately, the conditions that the country is going through are not the best, since it is evident that for some time now we have had many problems in terms of security and in other fields. The bishops agree and we have put it in bold, that the greatest challenge is to enforce and live in a true rule of law as the first step to overcome insecurity, corruption and so many other shortcomings,” he highlights.

Brave Hierarch

In an interview, the theologian Gerardo Luna, an expert in religious studies and issues, describes Bishop Sigifredo Noriega Barceló as one of the brave hierarchs of the Catholic Church, since “in the 12 years he has led the diocese of Zacatecas he has raised the voice at different times due to the violence that occurs in this territory (…) he is a man worthy of admiration for his ability to denounce, his courage and simplicity,” he warns.

Gerardo Luna explains that Bishop Sigifredo has control over the diocese of Zacatecas, but the ecclesiastical division of this demarcation together with the conflicts between the cartels that dispute the territory are a risk for the pastoral work of the priests.

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Bishop assaulted

The bishop of Orizaba, Eduardo Cervantes Merino, along with a couple of other religious, was assaulted last Wednesday near the area known as Las Cumbres de Maltrata, on the Puebla-Veracruz highway.

Collective robbery

For two days there was speculation regarding the robbery, until on Friday the Catholic priest Juan Carlos Villa Cañedo confirmed that there were almost 15 criminals who carried out the assault. He explained that the assailants, with firearms and balaclavas, closed the road and assaulted the occupants of private cars.

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