The killings of two priests this week in Mexico have put President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on the defensive because his administration has failed to significantly reduce violent crime.
Lopez Obrador hit back at his critics on Thursday, days after Javier Campos, 79, and Joaquin Mora, 81, were gunned down while trying to protect a man taking refuge at a church in the northern state of Chihuahua.
“We will not change the strategy. Let them continue their smear campaigns,” the left-wing leader told reporters.
Lopez Obrador has advocated a “hugs not bullets” strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by tackling poverty and inequality with social programs rather than the army.
The murder of the two Jesuit priests and the refugee-seeking tour guide Pedro Palma on Monday caused shock and dismay, including at the United Nations and Pope Francis.
There was also strong criticism from government opponents, including former right-wing President Felipe Calderon.
“Whoever commits a crime knows that a hug, not punishment, is in store for them,” Calderon tweeted.
More than 340,000 people have been killed in a spiral of violence since 2006, when Calderon deployed the army to fight drug cartels with US military support.
According to the Centro Catolico Multimedial, a Catholic organization, about 30 priests have been among the victims over the past decade.
– ‘Doing well’ –
Lopez Obrador has criticized the policies of Calderon and previous governments, which he claimed have resulted in more deaths and human rights abuses.
He also accused them of collaborating with criminal organizations and ignoring vulnerable members of society such as young people and poor families.
Mexico registered 2,833 homicides in May, the highest monthly tally so far in 2022.
The government says there is a “downward trend” in homicides, with a 7.8 percent drop from a peak of 3,074 in July 2018, a few months before Lopez Obrador took office.
“It’s a process that will take time, but we’re fine,” said the president, whose government attributes 75 percent of murders to gang violence.
Four police officers and eight suspected gang members were killed in a firefight in the western state of Jalisco on Wednesday evening.
The country of 126 million people ended 2021 with a homicide rate of 26 per 100,000 people.
The government’s security policy “didn’t work,” said Javier Oliva, an expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
There have been “improvisations” by authorities in key areas overseen by officers with no expertise, he told AFP.
– ‘Social Disintegration’ –
Campos and Mora have worked with indigenous peoples of the Sierra de Chihuahua for several decades.
The 30-year-old man accused of murdering the two priests is well known in the area, where he had his own baseball team.
“The person who shot them was someone they knew, so they felt comfortable talking to him,” said Father Jorge Atilano Gonzalez, a fellow Jesuit.
“But this person was under the influence of drugs and that explains his behavior,” Atilano told AFP.
The triple murder “is a sign of Mexico’s social disintegration. We need to review and change the security policy,” he said.
Francisco Rivas, director of the National Citizen Observatory, a civil society group, says the government’s policies are inadequate.
Contrary to what Lopez Obrador says, the military still plays a leading role in the fight against drugs, he added.
Rivas cited the October release of Ovidio Guzman, son of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, as a “bad example”.
Guzman was released after more than five hours of clashes between the Sinaloa drug cartel and security forces in the city of Culiacan in response to his arrest.
Lopez Obrador said he ordered the release to prevent a massacre of innocent citizens.
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