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Mexico: Another Priest Killed in Increasing Violence

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Mar 29, 2017

Another Catholic priest has been killed in Mexico, continuing the alarming trend of violence in the country particularly against clergy members.

According to Christian Today, Felipe Altamirano Carrillo was shot and killed while driving. He is the 32nd priest to be killed since 2006 and the second priest killed this year. He was from the state of Nayarit on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

There is some debate as to whether clergy members are being specifically targeted or if their deaths are symptomatic of the overall increase in violence in Mexico.

Many clergy members believe that priests are being specifically targeted, however.

Omar Sotelo, a priest and director of mexico’s Catholic Multimedia Center (Centro Católico Multimedial – CCM), said clergy members are specifically targeted because they advocate on behalf of the poor and are against gangs, drugs, and violence.

“They're defending migrants, they're against drug trafficking,” said Sotelo. “And the priests often know who the criminals are, having seen them grow up in the towns. Eventually, some criminals can see that as a threat.”

Jorge Eugenio Hernandez Trasloheros, a professor in Latin American studies at the University of Mexico, added that it is “not strange that priests suffer the same fate of the people.”

Not much else in known at this time regarding Carrillo’s death.

 

Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstock/prill

Publication date: March 29, 2017