Two Guatemalan bishops called for prayer and government action in the wake of the brutal slaying of 27 workers on a farm owned by an alleged drug kingpin in Peten Department in the country’s north. Most of the victims—men, women and several minors—were beheaded with machetes. Bishop Mario Fiandri of Peten, in a pastoral letter on May 18, called for an exhaustive investigation of the crime and described the massacre as the “ultimate barbaric expression of a generalized situation of violence and insecurity.” Many of the victims were from the area around Los Amates in the neighboring Izabal Department. They had traveled to Peten in search of work, said Izabal’s Bishop Gabriel Penate Rodríguez. “The victims are poor farmers who went to Peten to try to earn a living on the large farms there. They went seeking life and found death—a cruel death, committed with a brutality and barbarity that has no name,” Bishop Penate wrote in a statement issued on May 20.
Bishops Respond to Guatemala Massacre
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
The lie that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute persisted for centuries. A new play reclaims her story.
"Magdalene: I am the utterance of my name" is advocating for setting the record straight on one of Christianity’s most vital disciples.
This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley struggle to resist the temptation to “type” each other as they learn about the Enneagram from Liz Orr, author of “The Unfiltered Enneagram: A Witty and Wise Guide to Self-Compassion.”
Keeping President Biden on the ballot is like telling voters: “Trust us. Don’t believe your eyes and ears.”
Many watching last night’s debate wondered if this was the end for Joe Biden. But I could not help but wonder if this was the end of presidential debates.