The community remembers Marcelo Pérez as an outspoken defender of labor rights for indigenous people in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
A priest known for his work advocating for indigenous Mexicans and labor rights was murdered after leaving a church service, local authorities said.
Catholic priest Marcelo Perez was returning home from church on Sunday when two men on a motorcycle stopped next to his vehicle and opened fire, prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said.
“Father Marcelo was a symbol of resistance and for decades he has stood with the Chiapas community, defending the dignity and rights of the people and working for true peace,” Perez’s religious order, the Jesuits, said in a statement.
The killings come at a time of heightened violence in the southern state, which recorded about 500 murders between January and August this year.
Along with the rights of indigenous people and farm workers, the Jesuits said Perez was also a vocal critic of organized crime groups.
The religious group said, “This region is suffering not only from murders, but also from forced conscription (criminal gangs), kidnappings, intimidation, and plunder of natural resources.”
Human rights activists and environmental activists in Mexico have long denounced violent harassment and intimidation by criminal groups and state security forces.
Pérez was a member of the Chozil indigenous people and served the community in Chiapas for 20 years, developing a reputation as someone who could help solve land issues, especially.
“We will cooperate with all authorities to ensure that his death goes unpunished and those guilty are brought to justice,” Chipas Governor Rutilio Escandon said in a social media post, calling the assassination a “cowardly act.”
But in Mexico, accountability for murder is the exception rather than the rule, and approximately 95% of all murders go unsolved.
In Mexico, rights activists and indigenous land defenders face high levels of violence and intimidation.
2023 Amnesty International The report found that these groups face high levels of criminalization and persecution as part of a “broader strategy to undermine and dismantle advocacy for land, territorial and environmental rights.”
The human rights group also said Mexico is “one of the countries with the highest number of killings of environmentalists.”
On Sunday, the United Nations human rights office in Mexico said: “Several countries and international organizations have publicly warned of an increase in threats, attacks and criminal acts against Father Pérez.”
“These threats have become more severe in recent years thanks to tireless efforts to advocate for justice and indigenous rights,” the report said.
