The courage of a priest in front of the cartels

Nestled in the low mountains in southwest Mexico, Chilpancingo is suffering. In this average city, capital of the State of Guerrero, where 43 students of Ayotzinapa disappeared by the police in 2014, organized crime made the law. It is also there that Father Filiberto Velazquez, “Padre Fili”, 41, has become one of the most media and most respected personalities for his role in favor of the victims, as well as for his work with a view to lasting peace.

“Many families do not have access to justice or do not know how to enter it,” says Padre Fili. This courageous priest founded in 2018 the Minerva Bello center for human rights. “Here, I receive mothers of missing people, victims of police assaults or even people displaced by violence.”

In this country plagued by an armed conflict which has caused around 450,000 dead since 2006, more than 100,000 people have already been missing, according to official sources (national register). The different states of Mexico sometimes do not want to recognize this savagery, to the point that the population is wary of local authorities.

Padre Fili now wants to go further: he has given himself the mission of making Guerrero authorities dialogue, criminal groups and villagers organized in self -defense militias in the mountains. But sustainable peace will not be able to settle without a real security policy decided by the State, nor the involvement of justice. Officially, 96 % of crimes remain unpunished.