A crime that shakes faith and the community
The news came as a low blow. Father Juan Manuel Zavala, parish priest of Ocotepec, was found dead this Monday on a road near the Laguna Verde Ecotourism Center, in Coapilla. Local authorities and the Archdiocese of Tuxtla confirmed the discovery. This event occurs in an area where the dispute between armed groups has turned the landscape into a battlefield.
The last mass and a disappearance that ended in tragedy
According to reports, Zavala had celebrated mass on Sunday in San Andrés Carrizal. He disappeared when he returned to his parish in Ocotepec. They found him near his vehicle. Until now, no one knows who did it or why.
The Chiapas Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation file and appointed a multidisciplinary group to clarify the facts.
Authorities are trying to decipher the exact circumstances of his death and any possible links to the violence plaguing the region. It’s like trying to put together a puzzle with pieces that someone doesn’t want to fit together.
It is not an isolated case, it is an alarming pattern
Father Zavala is not the first. His name joins a tragic and growing list:
- In November, Father Ernesto Baltazar Hernández Vilchis was killed in the State of Mexico.
- In October, parish priest Bertoldo Pantaleón Estrada was shot in Guerrero.
Each of these cases is an act that not only ends a life, but seeks to silence a voice and sow fear throughout an entire community.
The official figures paint a bleak picture. According to the Catholic Multimedia Center:
- Between 2019 and 2024, ten priests were murdered.
- More than 900 members of the Church suffered extortion, threats or other attacks.
The ecclesiastical leadership has been critical of this wave of violence that does not forgive even those who wear habits. When they attack priests, they attack the symbolic heart of the people. It is a clear message: no one is safe.
This crime forces us to ask ourselves: how far will this go? What moral boundary remains to be crossed? While the authorities investigate, a community in Chiapas mourns its pastor and the entire country watches with indignation as the wound deepens.
