SAO PAULO, Brazil – Claudia Sheinbaum and Xocitl Gálvez, the front-runners in Mexico's upcoming general elections, are campaigning on violence, which is considered a major issue in the Latin American country.
The church, which is working on a broad national platform for peace, has managed to get two major candidates to commit to this, but Ana and the Church believe that they can really change Mexico's crisis scenario. There seems to be very little list.
In March, both Sheinbaum, a leftist who served as Mexico City's top government official from 2018 to 2023, and Gálvez, a center-right politician who served as a senator from 2018 to 2023, pledged for peace. signed the pledge. Churches and civic organizations.
The document was produced after two years of discussions led by the Mexican Church with 1,600 institutions active in various sectors of society. It includes seven themes: social structure, security, justice, prisons, youth, governance, and human rights, and identifies dozens of measures that should be taken at the local, state, and federal levels to pacify Mexican society. Contains suggestions.
Each chapter of Working for Peace introduces a theme with a brief diagnosis of the current situation. For example, the document highlights that the current crisis of violence is the worst in modern history.
“A collaboration between criminal organizations and corrupt political and business networks operates in the country, involving a diverse range of actors, crimes and victims,” the document said. Violence, he continues, “has acquired a commercial dimension, making it possible to control territory and establish forms of criminal governance.”
In fact, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration is coming to an end as the administration with the highest annual death toll in Mexico's recent history. In 2023, 30,523 people were killed in the country. During his six years of AMLO's term, annual killings consistently exceeded his 30,000.
The church-led document says the crisis is due to a complex web of factors, including issues such as a historic lack of public policy for teenagers and an inaccessible justice system that keeps most people away. It is explained that this is the result of resort to other means to resolve disputes, and a serious deterioration of the penal system.
Still, many expect the president-elect to lead the country out of the stalemate of wars between drug cartels that keep millions of people living in an ongoing state of emergency.
Last week, such topics were at the center of discussions between the diocese and the two leading candidates, who visited with bishops during the General Conference to discuss their platforms. They reaffirmed their commitment to fighting violence and building a more harmonious society, among other issues.
But Mr. Gálvez and Mr. Sheinbaum, a member of AMLO's Morena party, left the impression among some Catholics that their platform did not include more effective measures to combat violence.
“The simple fact that they agreed to meet with churches and civil society groups and learned about this document is remarkable,” said Karen Castillo, director of the Mexican Institute of Christian Social Doctrine. core. But their proposal appears to be in its early stages, she added.
“My personal opinion is that they failed to deepen their thinking on violence and peacebuilding. They need to really incorporate that into their platform and elaborate on their proposals to address violence.” ” she added.
Mr. Castillo, who has participated in discussions about the church's peace plan and accompanied the candidates' statements on it, said that only the cooperation of various social actors can change Mexico's current reality, and that the new president I was adamant that I couldn't do that. He does a lot of things himself.
“The proposal for churches and other organizations is to start at the local level and then build relationships with the state and civil society to advance the necessary changes,” she said.
Castillo added that the church's widespread presence in the country allows it to play a central role in that process, something that is already happening.
“Church organizations have played a fundamental role in accompanying victims of violence, working towards reconciliation, and even mediating crises with criminal organizations,” she said.
Father Jose Filiberto Velasquez is one of the church members who has worked for peace in the parish. The leader of Minerva Bello, a human rights center that supports victims of violence in Guerrero state, had to mediate a conversation between two gang leaders in February after 10 days of attacks in the capital, Chilpancingo. .
The two groups were fighting a war over territory that affected innocent people in society. Seven bus drivers were killed by the gunmen in the fighting, and many citizens were forced to stay at home for several days, fearing attacks on the streets. After Velasquez contacted the two drug lords by phone, peace was achieved and the chaos ended.
“The idea is to build peace from the ground up. We know that criminal organizations are violent, but we are engaging with them to avoid further harm,” he said. core.
Although there have been several episodes of violence since then, Guerrero state has remained mostly peaceful in the past few months, with killings down 20 percent, Velasquez said.
“Dioceses can choose to participate in such a process if they see it appropriate. It is not something that is imposed on them,” he said.
Velazquez stressed that “such a process would be long and difficult, given the involvement of criminal organizations in the economic and political structures and the enormous influence they have in Mexico today.”
“The new president may have the best intentions, but he won't be able to change that,” he said.
Sheinbaum, who is leading the June 2 election race with 58% support according to recent polls, has been criticized “because she represents continuity of AMLO's strategy” Galvez. It is more than 20% higher than him, so I don't have high expectations for him.
In his opinion, Gálvez “will reuse the policies of former President Felipe Calderón, which only led to more violence.” Mr. Calderon served as president from 2006 to 2012.
“I don't see anything new coming out of them. The only hope is that they really accept the church's proposal and incorporate it into their platform,” the priest said.
