On Sunday morning, indigenous tsotsil priest Marcelo Pérez Pérez was shot dead as he left a mass in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. In recent years, Marcelo Pérez had received death threats and had an arrest warrant against him for his work as a mediator in the conflict in Pantelhó.
In response to the threats, the Diocese decided to move him from Simojovel to the Guadalupe parish in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. From there, Marcelo Pérez continued working on peace processes and denouncing the situation in Chiapas. In an interview on September 13, during a peace demonstration in the state, he expressed: "Chiapas is a ticking time bomb, there are many missing, many kidnapped, many murdered due to the presence of organized crime in Chiapas."
That same morning, Pérez had officiated at a mass in the Cuxtitali neighborhood and was shot as he left. So far, the Prosecutor's Office has not provided information about the events. Archbishop Rodrigo Aguilar confirmed the murder and called for continued efforts to seek peace with truth and justice.
