For Catholic priest Mateo Calvillo Paz, it was no surprise the aggression he suffered a few days ago, when a man beat him and left injuries on his face and other parts of the body. Calvillo affirms that the fact is a reflection of the violence that Mexicans live, without there being authorities to do anything to guarantee them tranquility.
In an interview, Calvillo talks about what happened last Wednesday night, June 29, in the municipality of Queréndaro, Michoacán, when he was going from the eastern region of the state to Morelia, the capital, where he currently resides.
“It was a lightning attack on the road. The guy overtook me already entering Queréndaro, stood in front of me and got off determined to hit me,” he says.
“There was no dialogue or anything, just with some inconsistencies and he punched me. It shattered my face.”
Calvillo says that his assailant – whom he describes as a man of robust complexion and between 1.90 and 2 meters in height – reproached him for having run over a dog, something that did not happen.
“He is a psychopath, a person who already lives in that state and with this level of tension and aggressiveness that we are experiencing, because nothing surprises me anymore,” he says.
“I think my aggressor left so calm and so removed from the penalty because nothing happens. There are much more serious crimes and nothing happens. The authority is distracted and is not fulfilling the first mandate of the Constitution, which says that the Executive (Power) must protect the life of the citizen and that is what is happening to us,” he insists.
Priests at risk
The attack on Calvillo took place in a context of recent attacks on other priests. In Chihuahua, two Jesuits and a tour guide were killed, allegedly by a local criminal leader, while the Cardinal of Guadalajara and the Bishop of Zacatecas reported being detained at checkpoints headed by armed men.
About his case, Calvillo points out that his aggressor was “a hitman” who “did his job and left,” while he bled from the blows.
Injured, he asked for help from two inhabitants of the area. Later, he moved a few blocks to the church of the place, where he was helped by the parish priest and taken to a private clinic in the municipal capital.
There he spent the whole night and, the next day, he was transferred to a hospital in Morelia, where he was discharged just in the afternoon-night of Sunday.
“They beat and the innocent are unprotected”
While showing his wounds, the priest reflects on what caused the beating against him.
“This is because there is an environment of social and moral decomposition; we are in a jungle and there are people who are stoking hatred and division a lot,” he says, and affirms that authority is co-responsible for this by “whipping up” and “disqualifying” those it considers adversaries.
“I am referring to President Andrés Manuel, starting there, with that attitude of disqualification and of feeling the saint, the pure, and that everyone else is wrong,” says the also communicologist and member of the Commission of Evangelization in Radio and Television for the Archdiocese of Morelia.
Asked if there is complicity between the president and drug traffickers — something the president has denied — Calvillo says: “Yes. For many years and those who know talk about a narco-state, and people who are a little aware of the relations of authority with crime see that criminals hit and nothing happens.”
“Of them (the criminals) he says (López Obrador) that he will also protect them, because they are also human beings and they beat and the innocent are unprotected (…) The situation is very serious, because this does not stop there. Either it straightens out or it continues to deteriorate, but it seems that it will continue to deteriorate, that is, we must ask people to speak up, to demand their rights; that they take care of themselves and we must ask the government to do its homework.”
Read: ‘Hugs are no longer enough to cover the bullets’: Jesuits call for national dialogue to stop violence
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