By Malcolm Beith
The News
February 7, 2009
http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnfeature.asp?cve_feature=98
BADIRAGUATO, Sin. - As he wound his way up the stairs to the roof of the church, the 12-year-old boy proudly described how the chapel had been renovated just a few months before. The bell, he said, was due for a fixing soon.
"It´s beautiful, isn´t it?" he said, pointing at a new section of the church, which his parents help look after.
He couldn´t say how much the renovation had cost. But there was little doubt in the boy´s mind over who had paid for it.
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"The government. The narcos," he said, pausing only for a moment before continuing up the stairs to the roof, where he pointed to a panoramic view of his hometown, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, and the surrounding hills.
There is no evidence that local drug traffickers paid for this particular church. (Badiraguato´s priest was unavailable for comment; the municipal government would not return repeated calls or e-mails on the matter, either.) But in a town like Badiraguato, located in the heart of Sinaloan drug country, residents know who their patrons are. When asked, none denied that the church - like almost every institution in the area - was complicit, or at the very least, benefited from drug trafficking.
"Of course the narcos paid for the church, just like they paid for the schools and the roads and the mayor," said one resident interviewed during a visit last year, who asked that her name not be used for her own safety.
Church and state have long enjoyed a strict separation in Mexico, while ties between church and criminality have always been a little murkier. And today, the Catholic Church is entangled in a triangular relationship with the nation´s powerful drug traffickers and a federal government that is waging war on those very criminal elements.
"It´s unconscionable. On one side, the president is declaring war on organized crime; on the other side, the Catholic Church accepts donations from disreputable sources," said Arturo Farela Gutiérrez, head of Confraternice, a network of Christian and Evangelical churches in Mexico.
Indeed, what appears to be hypocrisy, or a conflict of interests, is hard to ignore. President Felipe Calderón´s National Action Party, or PAN, is known for its closeness to the church, and so are the nation´s drug traffickers.
"Drug barons have long been members of the local establishment," said George W. Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. And as members of the community with clout, he said, the drug lords have long mingled and dealt directly with local politicians, police chiefs, and of course, the church.
"They scratch each other´s backs, and the church doesn´t fingerprint the large peso notes that show up in collection plates or get shoved under the priest´s door. Nor does the church spurn major contributions for schools, sanctuaries and other buildings that it operates," Grayson said.
Some comments made by Catholic bishops have done little to help the reputation of what most Mexicans still hold up as the most trustworthy institution in the country.
In April, Carlos Aguiar Retes, the president of the Mexican Bishops´ Conference and bishop of Texcoco, State of Mexico, prompted outrage when he acknowledged drug traffickers´ role in society and said they should be given the option of repenting for their sins.
"[The drug traffickers] are very generous ... in their communities . they install electricity, telecommunications, highways, roads, paid for by them," Aguiar Retes said. "They are very generous, and [often] they also build a church or a chapel."
To most Mexicans, this was nothing new. In 1997, during a sermon in Mexico City, Father José Raul Soto Vázquez urged his flock and the church as an institution to be more generous, like Rafael Caro Quintero and Amado Carillo Fuentes, two notorious drug traffickers. In 2005, Aguascalientes Bishop Ramón Godínez famously said, "Just because the origin of the money is bad doesn´t mean you have to burn it."
Still, for some, Aguiar Retes´ comments were the final straw.
"This declaration was a confession of a federal crime," said Farela Gutiérrez. "There have been too many cases in which priests and bishops admit their closeness with drug traffickers. [Sometimes] the narcos make a donation, thinking it will purify them. The Bible says that it is not the way of Jesus Christ to forgive [criminals]."
The Catholic Church, he said, is guilty of "immoral conduct."
For that reason, he has lodged a complaint with the Attorney General´s Office, or PGR, demanding that churches nationwide be investigated specifically for criminal ties. The PGR has investigated some allegations of such links in the past, but has not yet set up a specific office for the task.
STRUGGLE WITHIN
It´s not just opponents of the Catholic Church who are speaking up, and putting their foot down.
"Let us pray for our security, for peace, and for our peace of mind from the crime and violence that surround us," said Father Joaquín, bowing his head during a Mass last year in Paracho, Michoacán. "Let us pray that crime stays out of Paracho. Let us pray that we have the strength to keep it away."
Hundreds of the devout before him bowed their heads or kneeled in prayer too. A hymn was sung, and the masses filed back out into the streets of this town in Michoacán drug country.
Father Joaquín is one of several Catholic priests around the country who has had enough. He has made it known around Paracho that drug traffickers are not welcome in his church, and that he will not conduct religious ceremonies like baptisms and weddings on their behalf. He will not accept donations gained through illicit means, otherwise known as "narco-limosnas."
"They do not contribute to our society, they destroy it," he said. "They have a chance to be forgiven, but it must be immediate, not 'manaña.´ "
Residents of Paracho, one of manytowns nationwide that have hosted huge public protests for security this year, back their priest´s position.
"The church is no place for a drug trafficker who poisons society," said one 62-year-old resident, who didn´t want his name published. He had marched in a protest this summer against the drug traffickers, but still fears for his safety.
In parts of the country, other priests have reportedly stopped conducting rituals, even funerals and baptisms, for local drug traffickers. But whether those few can salvage the Catholic Church´s reputation in the midst of comments like Aguiar Retes´ around remains to be seen. In large part because of the negative perception of other institutions like the police, the Catholic Church will likely remain one of the nation´s most trusted, but only by default. A rise in allegations of abuse by the military has also contributed to a drop in confidence in the Army, benefitting the church, according to recent polls.
Religion experts say that the Catholic Church´s official messages on organized crime in the coming months will be a litmus test of its position on crime. Already during his annual Christmas message, Cardinal Norberto Rivera took his strongest stance yet, saying, "For not one second would I allow pacts to be made with organized crime. You cannot make deals with evil. You cannot make deals with those who will use violence."
The delay in making a statement, or at least a strong one, said University of Guadalajara religion expert Victor Ramos Cortés, was standard; the church traditionally takes "a backseat to the government" and likes to closely assess a situation before officially weighing in, because "[the bishops] don´t want to appear to be a part of the conflict."
But in the eyes of some, they already are.
"Calderón´s on a campaign, many soldiers are dying," said Farela Gutiérrez. "These [narco-limosnas] are profits that came from injustice, and the death of many Mexicans. The federal government needs to intervene to [instill] order into the Catholic Church."
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