Mexican bishops condemn slaying of 7 young people at parish festival

The Mexican bishops’ conference has condemned a massacre of seven young people – including minors – at a parish festival, while urging action on the part of authorities amid rising violence and warning the population to avoid indifference in the face of recurring atrocities.
The conference also expressed outrage at the assassination of two senior officials in the Mexico City government, who were gunned down in a vehicle after they stopped outside a metro station on a busy thoroughfare in the national capital May 20.
The attack on the seven youths occurred around 2:40 a.m. on May 19 in the town square of San Bartolo de Berrios in western Guanajuato state, where gunmen “from a cartel” arrived in trucks and “brazenly opened fire on the people they found there,” according to a statement from the Archdiocese of León, signed by Archbishop Jaime Calderón Calderón.
The Guanajuato state prosecutor’s office confirmed the number of deaths but offered no additional details, The Associated Press reported.
“We are outraged, shocked and we condemn this act,” Calderón continued. “I urge our authorities to find those responsible and seek justice so these incidents never happen again in our society. Uncovering the truth and applying justice is a duty to bring comfort to the families of the victims.”
The Mexican bishops’ conference said in a May 20 statement, “As pastors of the People of God, we cannot remain indifferent to the spiral of violence that is devastating so many communities in our country. … We cannot get used to living with violent death, nor allow impunity to become the norm.”