SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LAS CASAS, Chiapas. Four months after the murder of the Tsotsil priest, Marcelo Pérez Pérez, “there is no certainty and the true perpetrators and masterminds have not been prosecuted,” there is “ineffectiveness of the State in the administration of justice,” said the parish of San Andrés Larráinzar.
This Thursday in the municipality of San Andrés Larráinzar, a town in the Chiapas Highlands, where Pérez Pérez was originally from, a chapel was inaugurated and blessed, built in the place where he was buried, in the spaces of the convent. The auxiliary bishop, Luis Manuel López Alfaro, officiated a mass.
At the end of the religious celebration, the faithful demanded “truth and justice for Father Marcelo Pérez, and that the events surrounding his murder be clarified,” which occurred on October 20th in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
They denounced “the continued suffering of many towns and communities in Chiapas, who are in a state of forced displacement and continue to be besieged by crime and organized crime.”
“In the chapel, where his mortal remains rest, we thank him for his light, for guiding us on the path of hope and for reminding us that God has compassion for those who hunger and thirst for justice,” the parish stated.
“His body and blood rest here, but his word and his work, guided by the spirit of God, is in the heart of our people. Father Marcelo is not dead, he is here with us and is in the voice of those who cry out for true justice and peace, because a man and prophet like him can never die,” they said.
“Today, February 27th, gathered in this sacred place, we honor, once again, the memory and pastoral legacy of our priest Marcelo Pérez, who saw in the faces of his neighbor and of the people who suffer, the call of God to build peace and justice,” they said.
Hundreds of people attended the ceremony, including Marcelo’s parents, Antonia Pérez Hernández and Miguel Pérez Sántiz, as well as his brothers and other relatives; the parish demanded security guarantees for the people and also for the bishops, priests and other servants of the Church, who accompany the people and communities in the defense of their human rights.
Bishop López Alfaro said in the homily of the mass, that “the evils of today’s world are due to money; the love of money leads to committing injustices, crimes, kidnappings, selling drugs, alcohol, people; it causes people to get lost.”
He said that the priest Marcelo Pérez, “saw that what sickened society the most was injustice. We are plagued by injustice in the country and in the state, by people who abuse others and he worked to change this situation, so that abuses are avoided and evil continues to advance. In essence, that is what is corrupting the country, injustice, and he decided to work in favor of justice, to accompany people who suffered in the communities and to be with them in the search for justice.”
“Today we remember Father Marcelo with much affection because he was a man who gave his life to God, he consecrated himself to God, he always trusted in God; he put his life in the hands of God and that is why, despite the threats and dangers, he did not stop walking because for him the important thing was to always obey God and he knew that his life was in the hands of God, and he was a witness to how many dangers and attacks He saved him from”, the bishop said.
Original article by Gabriela Coutiño at Proceso, February 28, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.