MEXICO CITY — A priest was found dead of a gunshot wound to his head, his diocese said Friday, marking the latest in a series of abductions, attacks and highway robberies against Roman Catholic clerics in an area of southern Guerrero state dominated by drug cartels.
The Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta is the third priest killed in the region this year and the first to die since the federal government launched a special, stepped-up security operation in the area after the disappearance of 43 teachers college students three months ago.
The motive in Lopez Gorostieta’s killing remains unclear; Bishop Maximino Martinez said a group had been seen lurking around the seminary where the priest taught on the outskirts of Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, on Sunday and Monday. Lopez Gorostieta was apparently kidnapped by the gang early Monday; his truck was found abandoned two days later.
While the Rev. Jesus Mendoza Zaragoza said gangs have demanded protection payments from parish priests in the nearby resort city of Acapulco, Lopez Gorostieta didn’t have a parish or collect tithes.
But Martinez said there could be other motives: Priests have received threats when they refuse to perform quickie marriages or baptisms for drug gang members.