MEXICO CITY (AP) — A retired Roman Catholic bishop who was famous for trying to mediate between drug cartels in Mexico has been kidnapped, the Mexican Council of Bishops said Monday.
Church leadership in Mexico said Msgr. Salvador Rangel disappeared on Saturday and appealed to his captors to release him, in a statement.
The council said Rangel was in poor health and begged his captors to allow him to take his medication as “an act of humanity.”
Rangel was bishop of the notoriously violent diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa in the southern state of Guerrero, where drug cartels have been fighting territorial battles for years. In an effort later endorsed by the government, Rangel sought to convince gang leaders to stop the bloodshed and reach agreements.
