Catholic leaders denounce drug-gang violence in northern Mexico

Published: 2007-07-06

MONTERREY, Mexico (CNS) -- Catholic leaders spoke out strongly against a wave of drug-gang violence in and around Monterrey, Mexico's third largest city, although they differed on how to combat the worrisome situation that has claimed 83 lives in the first six months of 2007. "Society, families, schools, media outlets and the church must raise their voices and condemn these acts of death," Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega of Monterrey told reporters in late June. "It is necessary for us to be vocal ... to see that justice is done," he said. Violence has flared across northern Mexico over the past few years as narcotics gangs have waged a bloody turf war over lucrative trafficking routes between Mexico and the United States, but it only recently spilled into Monterrey, a prosperous industrial city located 135 miles south of the border at Laredo, Texas. A series of brazen attacks, including the assassination of a legislator outside the statehouse in mid-June, has left many residents lost for answers and taking increased personal security measures.

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