While investigations into the murder of the two Mexican priests, Iván Añorve Jaimes and Germain Muñiz García, killed in the State of Guerrero last Monday, go on, the dioceses of the two priests – Acapulco and Chilpancingo-Chilapa –promptly and firmly replied to some statements made by the public prosecutor of Guerrero, Javier Ignacio Olea Peláez. According to the magistrate, on Monday’s eve, the two priests and the other people travelling with them had been at a dancing party in Juliantla, which was also attended by gangs of rascals from the states of México, Morelos and Guerrero. A photo has also been published, in which father Muñiz García is shown with some hooded men, suggesting it might be a criminal gang. It’s not the first time people in Mexico have tried to sling mud at priests who have been killed or abused. The dioceses immediately responded. In particular, yesterday, the bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, mgr. Rangel Mendoza, issued an extensive release, to state that the public prosecutor’s claims are “ambiguous and ungrounded”, and actually the magistrate is called to provide facts in support of what he says. In addition, in the release, the bishop expresses “astonishment” at learning that several criminal groups were at the same party without arousing any fight. And he points out that father Muñiz García’s photo had been taken while he was engaged in his pastoral service, when he was a parish priest at San Cristóbal, in Mezcala.
The release issued yesterday by he news office of the archdiocese of Acapulco sounds much the same. Once again, it expresses astonishment at the public prosecutor’s claims, pointing out that they clash with the statements made by the survivors, who said the party had been going on very peacefully and the roadside attack had been sudden and unexpected.