Luis Gerardo Moro, leader of the Jesuits in Mexico: "'Hugs, not bullets' are already a hackneyed phrase"

The Jesuit Provincial of Mexico, Luis Gerardo Moro.

Father Luis Gerardo Moro (Puebla, 50 years old) has just returned from a few days of pain in the Tarahumara mountains.

The provincial of the Jesuits in Mexico, leader of the order in the country, traveled last week to this remote region of the State of Chihuahua to identify the bodies of missionaries Javier Campos and Joaquín Mora, murdered by a local drug leader within your church.

After recovering the bodies, the priests were buried this Monday in the town of Cerocahui between Catholic and Rarámuri rites.

Back in Mexico City, the provincial affirms that the order will not abandon the Tarahumara mountains, where they have cultural centers, clinics and projects for the defense of human rights.

However, Moro calls on the authorities to review his security strategy in the face of a wave of violence that does not stop and that, with the multiple murder in the church, "crossed the barriers."

"This formula of 'hugs not bullets' is already a trite phrase, which rather than lend itself to dialogue seems to produce rejection," he says, with a calm voice, in a telephone interview with EL PAÍS.

Ask.

How did you see the Cerocahui community after the murders?

Response.

The immediate days were moments of pain, sadness, especially for the Rarámuri community of Cerocahui.

The murder of the two parents and of this other person inside the temple disrupted the cosmic order of the Rarámuri culture.

As the days progressed, the presence of more security and the certainty that the bodies would be brought to the parish restored spirits.

The decision to carry out an act of purification of the temple, to watch over the bodies according to the Rarámuri custom, has been a source of consolation for the community.

There were moments of hope.

Q.

Hope?

Do you think this marks a before and after?

R.

If Javier, Joaquín and Pedro, the tour guide, achieved anything, it was to make Cerocahui visible, a town in oblivion.

There is hope that things can change, that the authorities take seriously what the indigenous communities of the sierra are asking for.

We also want to bet that this brings a little more security.

The violence or drug trafficking are not going to end, but at least this event is going to make what is happening in the mountains attract more attention.

P.

You have talked about the expansion of drug trafficking in the area.

How does that complicate the work of missionaries?

R.

There has been an agreed distance;

they don't mess with us and obviously we're not going to mess with them either.

Our roles are very defined.

In other places, there have been Jesuits threatened for saying one word too many, for caring for one person too many.

Suddenly, you don't know whether to file a complaint because the person receiving the complaint may be part of those groups.

This is known by the missionaries and, I believe, also by the Government.

Q.

Have you thought about abandoning the Cerocahui mission after the murders?

R.

We never thought of leaving the mountains.

It is not part of our charism.

Not only do we not leave, but we are going to get in more.

We believe that we can also help in these peace processes, demanding the Government.

Our work will not be affected, we see it with some optimism.

Furthermore, I wanted the priest and the deacon who witnessed everything to leave the place for at least a week to rest, to receive psychological treatment.

I proposed that to them and the answer was “no, the town needs us and we cannot abandon it”.

Faced with a moment like this, there is nothing left but to applaud the work of these men.

P.

How is the search for the murderer progressing?

R.

The Army has told us that the conditions of the mountains make the search difficult.

Also, people don't want to talk because it means compromising and they don't know if there's going to be retaliation.

It is a difficulty that the authorities are finding to locate him.

The only thing I demanded of the Government on Monday is not to leave the community unprotected, especially at this time when the aggressor has not yet been arrested.

As long as the person or group is not stopped, they are at risk.

Q.

You have called for a change in the government's security strategy.

Why?

R.

We do not want to add to the polarization of the country.

We want to build peace that reaches the Sierra Tarahumara and all of Mexico.

If this involves a review of the strategy, go ahead.

I believe that any strategy can be reviewed and, if necessary, reformulated.

It cannot be something absolute.

This formula of 'hugs not bullets' is already a hackneyed phrase, which rather than lend itself to dialogue seems to produce rejection.

In the coming days, we will define our position on security.

We have thought that it may be necessary to present it to the president before making it public.

P.

What elements of this strategy do you think it would be necessary to review?

R.

Something that has failed in the Tarahumara and in Chihuahua is the municipal police.

Recently, the governor [Maru Campos] told us out loud that the police of a municipality had resigned and left them without agents.

We believe that the greater the trust in the police, the greater the participation of the communities.

The professionalization of municipal agents in these communities is very important.

We know that many police officers are colluded, bought, threatened, extorted by criminal organizations.

P.

The president has rejected the criticism and has said that many of the religious do not follow the example of Pope Francis, and that they are "pergollados" by the oligarchy.

What does he think?

R.

I am the provincial of the Jesuits and as the saying goes "whoever gets the coat, put it on."

We have handled ourselves in total freedom.

Obviously, we are Jesuits and we obey the Pope.

We don't see it as partisan.

There are people who have approached us, asking us to take up the flag of peace.

We now need to decide what our pastoral strategy is because we do not look further.

If the president says that, let everyone check their conscience.

We are very clear in the vision we have of Mexico.

Q.

The wave of outrage over those killed has been impressive.

Do you think there has been a greater rush to solve this case?

R.

That bodies are found in Mexico two days later... It sounds sad to say.

They were two priests.

That hits a lot.

They kill you in a bar, on the street... but if they go into a temple and kill you there, it crosses the barriers.

They didn't kill them because they were involved in rolls or because two gangs were shooting at each other and they crossed paths, but they go and kill them inside the temple.

That caused a lot of outrage and we have been shocked by the global response.

I think that helped too.

P.

Would you like to see that same reaction for the thousands of disappeared in the country?

R.

It would not be Christian to say that, since we already found the bodies and they are going to apprehend the aggressor, justice has already been done.

Joaquín, Javier and Pedro represent the thousands of victims whose names we do not know.

We need the Government at its three levels to act to recover many other corpses throughout Mexico.

How many families are demanding the bodies of their children, demanding the same justice that we demand?

We do not want it to be seen that because we are Jesuits we do have possibilities that others do not have.

We have already seen that when there is a will, things can be done well.

We saw it in this case.

We are demanding that the same capacity be available to the simplest people who ask to locate their son or daughter.

subscribe here

to the

of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country