MEXICO CITY — Catholic Church leaders in southern Mexico have made a desperate call for the Mexican government to protect communities from drug cartels who collect protection payments and use locals as human shields near the border with Guatemala. .
The letter dated Wednesday was signed by Bishop Emeritus Jaime Calderón of the Diocese of Tapachula, which includes parishes near the border with Guatemala. where almost 600 people fled earlier this week.
Two of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, from the northern states of Sinaloa and Jalisco, have been fighting for more than a year for control of smuggling routes in the area, causing multiple displacements.
On Wednesday, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said his administration was coordinating with local governments near the border with Mexico to serve Mexicans “who are escaping the conflict between groups that is taking place on the Mexican side.”
A Guatemalan government report obtained by The Associated Press described accounts from refugees who explained that they had abandoned their homes due to lack of food and clashes between organized crime groups. They arrived on Tuesday in communities in the municipality of Cuilco. Among the 580 people were men, women, children and the elderly.
The diocese’s letter says communities long mired in poverty and ignored by the government must now also suffer being “held hostage in their communities, paying extortion to the relevant cartel based on where they live, and being forced to take turns in the roadblocks that prevent free movement. “
Residents have to use the little money they have to buy scarce items at high prices because merchants are also being extorted. And between July 20 and 22 the situation worsened when residents were “intimidated, threatened and forced to be human shields in clashes between drug cartels.”
The letter does not specifically refer to those who fled to Guatemala, but says that while the Mexican army and National Guard are present, they do nothing to intervene to protect the communities.
“What do we have to do or say for the government to fulfill its duty, at least, to protect and ensure the safety of communities?” the letter asks.
Mexican authorities have not responded to requests for comment on those who fled to Guatemala or the security situation on the Mexican side of the border.
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