Mexican Catholic bishops call for peace after polls

Church leaders in Mexico have appealed for peace in the aftermath of violence-ridden polls in the second largest Catholic country in the world. 

"Peace cannot be reduced to a simple balance between force and fear. The increase in intimidation, as well as the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons, are contrary to morality and the search for true harmony,” the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) said in a June 23 statement.

The statement was signed by CEM president Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera Lopez of Monterey and conference secretary Auxiliary Bishop Alfonso G. Miranda Guardiola of Monterey.  

"Today more than ever, our societies need ’artisans of peace’ who are authentic messengers and witnesses,” they said.

At least 91 politicians have been murdered since the electoral process started in September last year for the June 6 election.

A recent victim was Rene Tovar, mayoral candidate in the eastern state of Veracruz. The leftist leader was killed by unknown assailants.

Entitled "Peace as a yearning for human fullness," the bishops expressed concern for the violence, and said that insecurity and violence are “far from diminishing, continues to threaten our communities."

The largest election in the history of the country, involving 96.5 million voters to elect over 20,000 law-makers, governors, mayors and local councils, was marred by violence. 

At least 18 candidates withdrew their papers, fearing threat to their lives. 

Many leading candidates were forced to wear protective vests while addressing election rallies, fearing sudden attacks by drug-cartels. 

The cartels are eager to replace the candidates in communities with their proxies to exert their influence without police interference. 

This year's campaign has reported 30 percent more fatalities compared with the 2015 legislative polls.

There were reports that five election workers have been shot dead and a severed head was found at a polling booth in the border city of Tijuana.

Drug cartels also targeted the clergy.  

Juan Antonio Orozco, 33, a Franciscan priest, was killed June 12 in a hail of gunfire while returning after Mass in a rural Mexican village.

The killing was condemned by Archbishop Lopez in a statement June 13.

Nearly 29 priests have been murdered since 2012 in Mexico, a country with 98 million Catholics, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center.

Asking people to shun violence, the bishops urged them to work for a “healthy coexistence among the population.”

Instead of violence, the bishops stressed on the contribution of citizens “to the construction of the common home, under the legal protection provided by the rule of law.” 

Work for the construction of the common home

According to preliminary results announced by the National Electoral Institute, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will face limits on his power as his collation party lost its supermajority in the lower house of Chamber of Deputies. 

The polls were seen as a referendum on López Obrador’s policies and his plans to shake-up Mexico’s institutions.

Since assuming charge as president in 2018 after a landslide victory, López Obrador has sought more resources to the poor and expanded the state’s control over in the energy industry.  

He has promised to transform Mexico by overhauling politics and economy. 

The president is eager to bail out the debt-ridden national petroleum company Pemex, before his six-year non-renewable term ends in three years.

In their June 23 statement the bishops reaffirmed their intention on preserving democratic institutions in the country.

It is needed "to renew and maintain a fruitful, open and transparent dialogue with the institutions,” they said. 

Despite a devastating coronavirus pandemic, an economic crash and unrelenting violence during his watch, results were relatively positive for López Obrador and his MORENA party, a nationalist, anti-establishment movement. 

The slide in majority in the lower house will force AMLO, as the president is known, to rely on other parties to pass any constitutional amendments. 

MORENA bagged up to 203 seats in the mid-term June 6 polls. With other several small parties, it can wrest control of 280 seats, still short of the two-thirds needed to pass constitutional changes in the 500-member house.

MORENA saw its political fortunes coming down in influential Mexico City, a key electoral base for López Obrador, where it lost the leadership of nine of the 16 boroughs.

The party, however, managed to add seven governorships to its previous tally of six. 

The nationalist movement, created by López Obrador, draws its strength from the president’s popularity. 

Despite the economic woes and mismanagement of the pandemic with more than 231,847 deaths López Obrador’s approval ratings hover around 60 percent in the world's most populous Spanish-speaking country. 

The country’s health ministry June 23 reported 4,963 new confirmed cases and 342 new deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 2,487,747.

The capital Mexico City has become the epicenter of the domestic outbreak.

So far, only 18 percent of the 126 million population have received the first dose of the vaccine, compared with 22 percent in Brazil, the largest Catholic nation in the world.

Economic growth in the country will shrink from 3.7 percent this year to 2.6 percent in 2022 due to the pandemic, the World Bank has predicted.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the people in extreme poverty increased from 10 percent in 2019 to 18 percent in 2020 in Mexico, fueled by the pandemic woes.

The National Electoral Institute said the voters’ turnout was high with more than 51 percent this time. 

In a June 7 statement, the bishops welcomed the huge participation, and observed, "The broad participation of citizens and respect for the electoral institutions.”

In their message, the bishops had asked "all political forces, rulers and members of civil society to respect the election results.”

They urged political parties “to resume dialogue and to find common paths beyond party differences.”