The Archdiocese of Guadalajara Closes Jalisco State Missing Persons Registry CNA News
go to original November 29, 2016

The Archbishop of Guadalajara has announced that his diocese is calling off its distribution of a list of missing persons, because of fears of retaliation against family and friends of those who have gone missing in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

“The people, because of fear, do not want their names to appear,” Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega explained in a statement on the archdiocese’s decision.

Within the past four years, drug cartels and organized crime have led to a massive uptick in violence and kidnappings across Mexico. Catholic priests and laypersons who have spoken out against the cartels’ crimes and activities have faced especially sharp persecution for their opposition to the violence.

In the past three months, the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, has been asking for names of persons who have disappeared within the region. Originally, these names would be compiled as a list to distribute within the archdiocese, to help find the missing persons and to give to the proper authorities.

However, Cardinal Robles stated that the plan could not be “carried out in its entirety because people are afraid to contribute data,” citing citizen’s distrust of local authorities and the pervasiveness of organized crime.

...The Mexican non-profit “For Love to All,” which advocates for missing persons in Mexico, has stated that more than 3,000 persons have gone missing in the state of Jalisco in 2016 alone.

Read the rest at CNA News

Photo: Burhan Bunardi Xie/Shutterstock

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