Roman Catholic church officials have reportedly helped ease tensions between two drug cartels who have caused havoc in southern Mexico, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Unspecified clergymen began meeting with Mexican drug cartel leaders in mid-February 2024 in the hopes of negotiating a possible peace deal, according to the AP. The church leaders sought to have cartels talk to each other to divide the territories where extortion fees and drug traffics are and so reduce the widespread killings, the outlet reported. (RELATED: US Investigated Drug Cartel Ties To Mexican President’s Allies: REPORT)
While the first talks appeared to have no luck, Rev. José Filiberto Velázquez stated that the recent discussions between church officials and the leaders of the infamous Familia Michoacana cartel and the Tlacos gang, known as the Cartel of the Mountain, appeared to have led to attacks being “ceased,” the AP reported.
“The armed conflict that existed in the area where the attacks have occurred has ceased,” Velázquez, who only had knowledge of the negotiations, told the outlet.
While Velázquez warned that the agreement “hangs by a thread,” the state of Guerrero, located in southern Mexico, has reportedly seen a calming following a wave of gruesome murders.
Days earlier, investigators in the country confirmed a video circulating online displaying a deadly drug cartel attack, according to CBS News. The video displayed gunmen believed to be from Tlacos gang shooting, kicking and burning the corpses of their rival, Familia Michoacana.
Mexican Army soldiers passing by are seen through the bullet-riddled windshield of a truck in Apatzingan, Michoacan State, Mexico, on December 12, 2010. (Photo by ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images)
As Mexican prosecutors made their way to the remote scene in the mountain township of Totolapan, they were able to find five charred bodies; however, it is believed that at least 15 people were seen in the video, CBS News reported. While it is unknown where the other bodies were placed, the massive killing by the gang is not the first attack between the two as they have both frequently posted videos of dead or captured members, the AP reported.
Previous negotiations involving four bishops reportedly failed due to the two gangs’ wanting to fight over the remote territory, shutting down transportation in at least two cities and killing dozens. While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador applauded the “very good” talks between the church official and cartel members, at least one critic fired back at the government’s apparent lack of involvement.
“It is an implicit recognition that they (the government) can’t provide safe conditions,” one priest anonymously told the AP. “Undoubtedly, we have to talk to certain people, above all when it comes to people’s safety, but that doesn’t mean we agree with it.”
“We wouldn’t have to do this if the government did its job right.”
It is unclear how long the negotiation agreements will last and if the government will eventually step in.
The Mexican government’s apparent policy of avoiding direct conflict with the cartels results in some citizens developing separate peace deals with them, according to the AP.
