The outrage of the Jesuits after the revelations of ‘Los Papeles de la Sedena’: “The tragedy probably would have been avoided”

The Jesuits have made public their outrage at the latest revelations of The Papers of the Sedena on the role of the Army in the investigations to clarify the murder of two priests of the order in Cerocahui, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, last June. A report by EL PAIS uncovered that the Armed Forces had known for at least two years before the tragedy practically everything about the criminal empire of Jose Noriel Portillo Gil, alias the crook, the main suspect in the homicides: the alliances of his people with the Sinaloa Cartel, the regime of terror that he imposed on the population and how his criminal group operated to kill and disappear rivals and civilians. “The Mexican State identified, in advance, the criminal activities in the Sierra Tarahumara of who would ultimately perpetrate the murder of our brothers Joaquin Mora and Javier Campos, who remains unpunished for more than a hundred days,” says the Society of Jesus in a statement published on Monday. “Had we acted accordingly, the tragedy would probably have been avoided,” it adds.

“The Society of Jesus in Mexico states that we are outraged by the content of the military documents related to the Cerocahui case that have been made public,” the document reads. The investigation, published after the massive email leak attributed to the group of hackers Guacamaya, also brought to light that a month after the murders, the Armed Forces ordered a follow-up of the activities of religious in the south of Chihuahua to document critical statements about the security strategy of the Government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and possible links with drug trafficking. “It is very serious and worrying that the military intelligence has not concentrated on locating the perpetrator of the murders, until today a fugitive, and on monitoring the public pronouncements of the priests,” the Catholic order has reproached.

Jesuit priests Javier Campos and Joaquin Mora were shot dead on June 20 inside a church, where they were guarding the tour guide Pedro Palma, who also died. On the day of the multiple murder, Palma and four other tourists were reported missing in the small community of Sierra Tarahumara, in the north of the country. The bodies of the religious and the guide were found two days later, after being abandoned. The crime sparked outrage from Pope Francis and prompted the Catholic Church to openly criticize impunity and violence in Mexico.

After the publication of the report in this newspaper, Ricardo Palma, son of the murdered tourist guide, also blasted the federal and state governments for the lack of responses after the massacre. “Today my father would be 61 years old, and it is outrageous that injustice persists, that El Chueco remains free,” Palma published on Saturday.

The Sedena has not issued an official statement on the investigation. This weekend it was announced that the head of Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, refused to meet with deputies to clarify the leak of Army emails and canceled the meeting that was to be held at Army facilities this Tuesday. Since the scandal broke two weeks ago, the National Defense Commission of the Chamber of Deputies had requested a meeting with the secretary, given the seriousness of the cybersecurity violation and the fact that six terabytes of sensitive information had been passing from hand to hand and being analyzed by dozens of journalists from all over the country. The Sedena papers they are probably the biggest leak that has been made on a public institution in Mexico.

The Jesuits have also condemned the fact that the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Centro Prodh), founded by the religious order in the 1980s, was classified as a “pressure group” by the Army, as it became known as a result of the massive filtering of more than four million emails. “We regret that the public statements of the members of the Center are subject to intensive monitoring, as well as the statements of the victims they accompany,” said the Society of Jesus.

The congregation has supported the work of the Prodh Center, which is crucial in following up on cases such as the disappearance of the 43 normalistas from Ayotzinapa. “We remember that the civil work of defense of human rights and the accompaniment of victims is essential for the consolidation of the Rule of Law and democracy in our country”, added the religious. At the center of the scandal are the revelations of military espionage and permanent monitoring of journalists, politicians, feminist groups, activists and civil society groups. Despite the evidence and without delving into explanations, Sedena and the president have rejected spying on the civilian population and have said that they only do intelligence work against members of organized crime.

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