Tsotsil priest Marcelo Pérez is murdered in Chiapas

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis. The Tsotsil priest Marcelo Pérez Pérez, 50, was murdered yesterday by several shots when he was leaving to celebrate a mass in the Cuxtitali neighborhood of this city.

Neighbors reported that the attackers, who were allegedly traveling on a motorcycle, shot him when he was already in his truck, which moved forward a few meters and stopped.

Several Catholics observed the murder and tried to help the religious, but he had already died.

Pérez Pérez, originally from the municipality of San Andrés Larráinzar, in the Highlands of Chiapas, received death threats for years, but refused to receive protection.

According to residents of Cuxtitali, a neighborhood located to the east of this city, the priest arrived at the community temple at 6:30 a.m. to officiate Sunday mass.

At the end of the ceremony, shortly after 7:30, the clergyman tried to go to the neighboring neighborhood of Guadalupe, where he was parish priest, he left the church and headed towards his white truck with dark windows, which he had parked a few meters from the temple, on Peras Street.

“It is presumed that he got into the vehicle and they shot him there. He managed to drive it but several meters later he stopped and could no longer continue. At least five high-caliber gunshots were heard, so several people ran out to see him, but he was already dead,” said a local woman.

The unit, which received at least five shots in the driver’s side window, was left between Las Manzanas and Peje de Oro streets.

Shortly after, members of security forces from all three levels arrived and personnel from the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) cordoned off the area, while many Catholics cried and prayed.

At 9:50 a.m. a tow truck arrived, lifted the truck with the body inside and took it to the Forensic Medical Service for the legal autopsy.

At the beginning of the 12 noon mass in the cathedral, the bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez, said with a broken voice: “this morning they killed Father Marcelo Pérez Pérez. He was leaving mass in Cuxtitali and just 50 meters away he was riddled with several bullets.

“He was a good man, who received and listened to everyone and always promoted peace with truth and justice. I met him on Saturday night and now he is, hopefully, enjoying God; May his death help us to forgive despite everything, not to hate.”

During the homily he indicated: “I feel very saddened by the death of Father Marcelo, a man and priest full of faith. He communicated everything to me. I knew that he had death threats for seeking peace with truth and justice. Chiapas, the entire country and the entire world are being filled with violence, death, blood.”

In a subsequent collective interview, he stated: “we are willing to forgive the aggressors, the murderers and those who sent them, but let them reconsider, that true peace has to be linked to truth and justice. He had threats from various people. It seems he was alone. What happened was like an offering of life so that peace may grow in Christ Jesus.”

Marcelo Pérez always shared the thoughts of protecting the most defenseless of the people. He was a frequent participant in marches and protests, despite the fact that his life was constantly threatened. On Sunday afternoon, a funeral mass was held. “May his death produce many fruits,” asked the bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez. Photo ‘La Jornada’ and AFP

Priest José Luis Bezares Selvas, from the Vicariate of Justice and Peace of the diocese, stated: “we are pained, moved and also outraged, especially because our voices had been raised many times to demand justice and the search for peace and no has been able to

“We want there to be justice, for the ultimate consequences to be reached, for there to be no scapegoats, for the masterminds to be reached, for there to be true justice. It is a requirement not only of the diocese.”

Once FGE personnel performed the autopsy, the body was taken at 2 in the afternoon in a coffin to the temple of Guadalupe, accompanied by dozens of people. Hundreds of Catholics were waiting for him in the square. “Justice, justice,” they chanted when he was taken off the float and carried by several men into the church, where he was already expected.

The coffin was placed on the floor. Relatives of the clergyman surrounded the coffin and the cry for “justice” echoed. “Long live Father Marcelo!” they exclaimed.

Aguilar Martínez presided over the body mass present in that temple, shortly before 3 in the afternoon. “May his death produce much fruit,” he asked. I wasn’t afraid to die. Some even told him that he was being very daring, very risky, but he did it for the most defenseless, those persecuted for the sake of truth and justice. (…) We ask that the corresponding investigation be carried out and the culprits be found.”