A priest celebrated for advocating indigenous rights and campaigning against drug cartels was killed in Mexico.
Fr Marcelo Pérez Pérez had just celebrated a 7am Sunday Mass on 20 October in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in the southern state of Chiapas, when two men on a motorcycle approached his car. They shot him – eight times according to some reports – through the car window.
In August, Pérez said criminals were offering “a million pesos”, around £40,000, to have him killed, “but we live under God’s protection,” he added.
The Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas moved Pérez from another parish two and half years ago, due to death threats. Pérez was a long-standing peace activist who organised rallies against the sale of drugs in bars and cafeterias.
In 2020, he won the Per Anger prize for his work for human rights and democracy. A cartel later accused Pérez of siding with a rival gang, a charge he denied. He would obtain protection for people threatened by criminals.
In his final interview on 13 September, Pérez described Chiapas as a “time bomb”, saying: “There are many people who have disappeared, been kidnapped, or killed at the hands of organised crime.”
Fr Luis Pérez Jiménez SJ, a human rights campaigner in Mexico, said Pérez had become “another martyr whose sacrifice may lead to justice and peace”.
Pérez was “a symbol of resistance and accompaniment for the communities of Chiapas for decades, defending dignity, the rights of the people and the construction of true peace”, said a statement from the Mexican province of the Society of Jesus, with whom he worked supporting indigenous people in the region.
“His commitment to justice and solidarity made him a point of reference for those who yearn for a future without violence and oppression.”
The Mexican bishops’ conference said in their own statement: “This act of violence not only deprives the community of a dedicated pastor but also silences a prophetic voice that fought tirelessly for peace, truth and justice in the Chiapas region.”
Fr Pérez belonged to the indigenous Tzotzil people and was a native speaker of their language. “This allowed him to communicate directly with the hearts of the Tsotsil people,” Fr Jiménez told The Tablet. “I recall him in his traditional attire, celebrating an inculturated Mass that incorporated Mayan rituals, all while using a Bible translated into their language.”
Pérez was the parish priest of Guadalupe, another district of San Cristóbal. On Monday, parishioners shouting “justice” and holding white banners saying the word “peace” accompanied his coffin to his former church.
The UN Human Rights Office in Mexico said: “The murder of Fr Marcelo is absolutely unacceptable. His work was widely recognised among the indigenous peoples of Chiapas, and internationally. Although measures to protect him were in place and despite the constant reports of attacks against him, these proved to be insufficient to prevent his murder.”
The Mexican Jesuits said the killing “must not go unpunished”.
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