Chiapas /
The Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-DH) condemned the murder of priest Marcelo Pérez Pérezwhich occurred in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, while calling on the authorities to investigate the case.
Through a statement, the international organization announced that since 2015, The parish priest was a beneficiary of precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), due to the constant risk that his life and personal integrity faced, due to his work in defense of human rights in Simojovel and other places in Chiapas.
They charged that national and international organizations had previously warned about the growing number of threats, attacks and acts of criminalization against Pérezwhich have intensified in recent years due to their work in favor of justice and the rights of indigenous peoples.
“The murder of Father Marcelo is absolutely unacceptable. Their work was widely recognized by the indigenous peoples in Chiapas, and also internationally. Despite having protection measures and constant complaints about the attacks he faced, these were insufficient to prevent his murder,” said Jesús Peña Palacios, Deputy Representative in Mexico of the UN-DH.
Body mass celebrated in San Andrés Larrainzar
This morning A mass was held on the esplanade of the church in the town of San Andrés LarrainzarChiapas, to pray for Father Marcelo Pérez Pérez.
Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel presided over the body-present ceremony, before hundreds of parishioners, who attended the event. The mass was given in both Spanish and Tzotzil.
Marcelo Pérez Pérez He was murdered last Sunday, October 20 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, when he was leaving to finish giving a mass in the Parish of Cuxtitali, a church of which he was in charge.
The priest was inside his vehicle, parked on Las Peras streets, on the corner of Flanz Bloom, in the Cuxtitali neighborhood, when a pair of men on a motorcycle shot at the father at least eight times, causing him a serious injury. instant death.
Monsignor Rodrigo Aguilar, of the Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, who was also on the temple, He performed the prayers in Spanish.
The homily, which was accompanied by incense, candles and flowers, became a solemn scene, but also a stage in which hundreds of Tzotzil indigenous people made a call for peace for the people of Chiapas.
Finally, with a typical traditional dance at the end of the Eucharistic ceremonies, the hundreds of parishioners accompanied Father Jtatik Marcelo Pérez Pérez for the last time.
LP
