The Society of Jesus assumes itself as a community at the service of reconciliation and justice. With this conviction we collaborate with others carrying out daily actions in which living with justice, equity and harmony becomes a reality. We do it in various sectors such as youth education, pastoral care or advocacy with the centers of power. At all times we are clear that our fundamental option leads us to privilege the relationship with those who today embody the suffering face of the most oppressed and disadvantaged people.
In Mexico, by assuming this mission we have sought to go to places where life flourishes despite despair. Emerging places in which there is a vitality that questions the illusion of a happy world underpinned by processes that deepen inequality and justify domination. This mission has led us to maintain a constant presence among the native peoples, mainly in the Sierra Tarahumara and in Chiapas.
Although the presence of the Company in the Sierra Tarahumara can be traced back to the 17th century, in its current stage it has been going on for 100 years without interruption. Many companions have walked alongside the Rarámuri people. Javier Campos Morales, SJ and Joaquín César Mora Salazar, SJ were two of them.
The decades spent by Gallo and Morita – as we called them – opened them up to an encounter with a culture radically different from their own. They did so from a deep assessment of their ways of life and social organization. They learned, lived together, and walked side by side with the community.
Joaquín and Javier accompanied the Rarámuri people from his stay in parishes of various localities and communities. They did so with the clear commitment of wanting to share the life and death of the people they chose as their own. From there, they approached the deep spirituality of the people who became their families. They took part in their parties. They also listened and tried to solve the problem linked to the persistence of colonialism and the cruelest forms of capitalist accumulation.
For years, the Tarahumara has experienced a transformation in the forms of violence. Now under the rule of organized crime. In 2008, it was the focus of attention for the Creel massacre in which, unfortunately, 13 people lost their lives. These events have gained notoriety, but they are just a couple more in the life of the Sierra. Thousands of people live in daily fear and the constant threat of being victims of so many forms of violence.
In this context, the work of my Jesuit brothers (as well as that of other religious, diocesan, lay and lay orders committed to life and survival) becomes a beacon that gives light. As a hold of hope for the communities.
Until now, their lives and work had been spared (not without difficulties and under constant threat). We have been there as loudspeakers to amplify the cry of those who have demands to share and demands to communicate.
On June 20, that changed. We had to experience the cruelty that thousands of families suffer every day in Mexico. El Gallo and Morita were cruelly murdered -along with Mr. Pedro Eliodoro Palma- in Cerocahui, inside the local Catholic temple.
We raise our voice with sadness, indignation and demand for justice. In the recent history of Mexico we have also raised it in numerous cases of murders, disappearances and human rights violations. Today, we need to renew our speech with the desire to make visible and pay tribute to people who, like them, take on the job of caring for life. Almost always in places safe from the spotlight and the show.
Given the findings announced by the authorities, the Provincial of the Company in Mexico traveled to Chihuahua to identify the bodies and meet with those who have been in charge of the investigation. In those spaces, we will continue to demand that everyone whose lives are at risk be protected. Today we insist on the urgent need to safeguard life and assert the rights of all.
We want to turn pain into action. Redouble efforts in our work spaces to continue building spaces of equity, care and love in everyday environments. We do not want to work to feed the illusion of a future free of evil, but to have livable presents. So that none of the hundreds of thousands of deaths and disappearances in our country are in vain. We continue in the daily effort to take care of the life that germinates and that, like the cane bent by the wind, can stay alive.