He was a parish priest in San Cristóbal de Las Casas in Chiapas, and one of the few indigenous priests in Mexico, of the Tzotzil ethnic group. Defender of the poor, he was assassinated on October 20th just after celebrating the Eucharist.
In the diocese of San Cristóbal, since his ordination in 2002, he had always stood out for his simplicity and closeness to the poor and disadvantaged, especially those who belonged to his Tzotzil ethnic group, a group descended from the ancient Maya. He was a great supporter and promoter of peace in a city where violence is endemic and where murders and kidnappings abound and often go unpunished.
Father Marcelo Pérez, just forty years old, in the years of his priestly life, was always attentive to the cry of his people. On many occasions, he was the only one to bring to the attention of public opinion the situation of indigenous peoples who have always been rarely seen and still less heard in Mexican society.
The lack of attention, support and valorisation of indigenous cultures was not only a matter of the past or the colonial era but is still a reality today that has concrete consequences in human, educational, health and cultural terms. In large sectors of Mexican society, indigenous people are still considered an inferior and second-class group.
This reality is often so accepted by the indigenous people themselves that sometimes they even try to hide their origins, instead of being proud of their language and culture. Father Marcelo was a great defender of all these values: he spoke the indigenous language fluently; he spread the culture and tried to make the so-called güeros (whites) appreciate the indigenous communities among which they had grown up. He was a courageous promoter of the richness of the original Mexican peoples.
Father Marcelo had made a great choice as an indigenous priest: to be always present in the outskirts and especially in that of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, where the indigenous communities are more numerous. For this, he was killed.
Thanks to his prophecy and his courage, in the diocese of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Father Marcelo Pérez was a great missionary who never tried to escape from the urgencies that arose to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus.
In his priestly ministry, he was always free to proclaim the value and richness of faith: he did so with his words and then finally with the gift of his own life. (Photo Celam)
