The document discusses the prominent role of the Catholic Church in media coverage of Central American migrants transiting through Mexico. It describes how the Church frequently serves as an advocate for migrants, speaking out about abuses they face and making policy recommendations. However, the document also notes that the Church's dominance in the migration narrative risks portraying migrants only as victims in need of assistance, rather than as citizens with inherent rights and agency. By representing migrants through the Church's discourse, media coverage may perpetuate power imbalances and prevent migrants from directly communicating their own perspectives.
Indications of Rebirth ~ My Reflections (English & Chinese).pptx
Media Coverage Analysis on the Mexican Conflict
1. " Migrants are the famous people. They're confronting the obstacles, we're here to accompany
them."
Norma Romero, coordinator of the group known as Las Patronas
supported by the Mexican bishops' human mobility ministry
The love affair between the Catholic Church and Central American Migrants:
challenges of media coverage on the Mexican conflict
“Migrants are transforming everything and one of the institutions overcoming most changes is the
Catholic Church. They are questioning strongly the high hierarchy with just its presence”
Father Alejandro Solalinde, migrant’s advocate listed in Amnesty’s International list of people at risk
María Ximena Plaza
The New School
2. This is the opening image of a 2011 National Catholic
Reporter article. The photography’s caption reads:
“migrant carries a wooden cross on the outskirts of
Mexico City, during a symbolic pilgrimage to celebrate
the Mexican Senate's passage of new immigration
legislation.”
The news report titled“ Mexican Catholics working with undocumented migrants welcome
new law” starts by explaining how the law constitutes an effort to improve the treatment of migrants
transiting north as they have become target of kidnapping and ransoms. The image, along with the
article, is an example of how U.S. and Mexican catholic media coverage has presented stories about
migrants, usually Central American born migrants, by making links between the figure of the Catholic
Church and this vulnerable population. These links are repeatedly found as well across U.S. and
Mexican mainstream media. This paper aims at analyzing the prominence of the figure of the
Catholic Church in news reports about migrants transiting Mexico in the midst of the current armed
conflict. By drawing on Mexican history and 2011 media coverage on the topic, I aim to demonstrate
that the Catholic Church has been a recurrent media source as the institution upholds a predominant
role in the nation’s social and political spheres. However, this role has gained greater visibility during
the current civil conflict. In fact, the Catholic Church and some of its representatives have risen as a
recurrent media source on the abuses faced by migrants in Mexico, denunciations of Government
performance and recommendations for policymaking improving the livelihoods of this population.
In my view, this portrayal of migration and conflict in the country presents challenges to
enable media as a tool for peace building through dialogue among the different parties of the
conflict, given that it perpetuates the same relations among actors: the Catholic church continues to
be a direct and recognizable speaker to the Government through media, while voices of migrants
remain under the church’s discourse and ideology. Thus, migrants are represented as “victims”,
instead of citizens who bear human rights and have political agency to make discernible claims to
Governments through public opinion. Another kind of media representation would allow migrants to
escape from navigating through the different motivations and actions carried by actors influencing
the conflict. Central American migrants would cease to be an “easy target” in the conflict thanks to a
greater visibility in public discourse.
3. Migrants as victims of the Mexican armed conflict
In order to understand how migrants got trapped into the dynamics of the Mexican armed
conflict, it is necessary to explain the character and evolution of this war. Carpenter (2010)
contends that Mexico is undergoing a factional‐ economic conflict. Maill et al (2005) clearly
explains this concept: “a factional‐economic conflict consists on fighting solely about the
competing interests or power‐struggles of political or criminal factions whose aim is to usurp,
seize or retain state power merely to further particular interests.” In the case of the Mexican
conflict, Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO) spread throughout the country to control significant
territory. However these groups are not driven by a specific political ideology or aim at using this
territorial control to legitimate governance. Instead the driving force is the interest to control
smuggling routes, sources, markets and alliances. Carpenter (2010) clarifies that “drug trafficking
organizations are not an early autonomous specialized social group, rather a new class of outlaws
that depended closely on political and police protection.” There are cases reported through
media of the close relationships between these organizations and politicians as well as officials,
who have been accused of corrupt practices bribery, nepotism, and theft for public money. Until
2000 these crimes were committed in the context of a state party system: the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), who had control over judicial, legislative and executive branches. As it
is well documented, for many decades Mexico had in place a highly centralized power structure
that was not only permissive, but also protective of organized criminal activities (Cornell, 2007).
DTOs have used these relationships with the state to expand their monopolistic behavior
correlated with ruthlessness and exploitation (Schelling) of populations such as Central American
migrants. The Zetas, a group born out of “Cartel del Golfo” DTO as a military or “enforcement
enterprise” specializing in kidnapping, extortion and human trafficking have been repeatedly
accused of targeting Central American Migrants. Alongside these allegations, human rights
nonprofits and migrants themselves have referred to the complicity of police force and local
authorities (Carpenter, 2010). According to the 2011 Human Rights Watch Report, hundreds of
thousands of migrants pass through Mexico each year and many are subjected to grave abuses
en route including physical and sexual assault, extortion, and theft. Approximately 18,000
migrants are kidnapped annually, often with the aim of extorting payments from their relatives in
the United States. Around half of them are Central American Migrants. A case generating great
commotion in the country was the execution of seventy‐two kidnapped migrants originating from
Central and South America by armed gangs from Tamaulipas in August 2010 (Mexican National
4. Commission of Human Rights, 2009.) The HRW report adds, “Authorities have not taken
adequate steps to protect migrants, or to investigate and prosecute those who abuse them.
Authorities rarely inform migrants of their rights, such as the right to seek asylum, and the
authorities themselves are often the perpetrators of abuses.” Since 2007, the National Migration
Institute has fired 15 percent of its total force for suspected links with organized crime and crimes
such as human trafficking. Their vulnerability is increased by the fact that the Federal Population
Law requires public officials to demand that foreign citizens show proof of their legal status
before offering any service, such as providing medical care and registering human rights
complaints. Although a new law on migrants was passed, those who suffer abuses often choose
not to report crimes out of fear of deportation. (Human Rights Watch, 2011)
During the last decade the Mexican Government, especially under the leadership of the
National Action Party (PAN) President Felipe Calderón, has pushed for the arrest of key drug
lords, straining the relations between DTO’s and state. In the absence of the arrested or killed
druglords, a leadership vacuum has take place and the stable relationships within the organized
crime chain have fractured into increasing competition for power and territory. Previous to these
measures, “narcos” avoided direct confrontation with law enforcement by trading social order
(refraining from actions of wide‐scale violence) for relative impunity to operate. As the
competition among DTOs and narcos has increased, they have passed from intercartel rivalries
over routes and resources to winning the right to start or continue trafficking to “hurting the
other”. In this struggle for survival, the “cartels” seek to preserve their illicit power structure
alongside the state (Osorio, 2011). Their motivations to continue this factional conflict have
become greater as the drug trade brings $23 billion in revenue annually, which makes up for 20%
of Mexico’s GDP in 2007 (U.S. GAO, 2007). In this scenario not only DTOs are profiting, but also
groups such as Los Zetas who will continue to expand its military power as its business will
increasingly become the conflict itself. (Cornell, 2007) Furthermore, recently they have found
new ways of sustainability such as extortions to migrant families and human trafficking of this
population for prostitution or sale to DTOs, among other purposes (El Universal, 2011).
The political and social influence of the Catholic Church in Mexico
Hagopian (2006) posits that in the last years “the Mexican church has assumed a more
assertive tone on public policy than at any time in nearly a century.” The author adds that
catholic representatives such as Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City in the last years have
5. actively denounced the plight of migrants in the midst of the conflict, among other topics related
to social justice and democracy. This growing influence on public policy and politics has been
possible after the 1992 constitutional reform which relaxed the sharp constitutional separation of
church and state that had prohibited the Church from owning property and priests from voting
since the revolution, though the clergy still cannot speak about politics or proselytize for or
against any political party or candidates (Hagopian, 2006). Though the latter has not refrained the
church to support certain candidates or parties. Why would the church cease to have direct
actions affecting the political sphere when the international catholic establishment exhorted its
members to increase its influence in political actions? In 1992 Pope John Paul II proposed the
“new evangelization project” aimed at “deepening church influence over civil society, and
organizing the public sphere on the principles of faith” (Hagopian 2006) Tahar (2010) posits that
the project necessarily required the church to adopt positions on questions of public morality and
social justice and to mobilize the believers for political action. In 1992, the Latin American
Catholic Bishops Conference (CELAM) embraced this proposal (Hagopian, 2006).
However authors such as Jean‐Pierre Bastian (1997) have insisted that secularization in
the Latin America has always had formal and jurisdictional expressions, but not real and practical
ones. Hagopian (2010) adds that there was an implicit pact between the Mexican state and the
church, respectively responsible for the public order and the private order. In other words the
church had been accumulated legitimacy as moral authority, which would be further reflected in
the public sphere after the 1992 reform. This idea is further explained throughout the 2010
survey and research carried out by Mancilla (2010) to minority religious groups in Mexico. Some
of the interviewed groups argued that the 1992 reform was thought for the Catholic Church,
following the “noticeable preference of the state for this church.” Mancilla (2010) says that these
appreciations shed light on the perceptions on the nexus between public space and Catholicism
in Mexico across several aspects: political participation, mass media and in education. She adds
that it is difficult to deny that the new constitution did not bring a greater openness in the public
space for all religious groups, however the reform allowed small steps for minority religious
groups compared to those already taken and being advanced by the Catholic Church (Mancilla,
2010). Loaeza (1996) recalls that when the Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari won in
1988 presidential elections, his opening speech covered “the modernization of the relations
between state and churches.” The author says, “Despite referring to all religious institutions, the
6. main recipient of the elected president’s proposal was the Roman Catholic Church.” These
historical processes lead Hagopian (2006) to say that the Mexican state has continuously
accommodated very well the integrating effect of the foundation myth of the catholic nation.
The Mexican church’s political influence became even more visible during the 2000
elections, when the Episcopal Conference gave its support to the PAN candidate Vicente Fox.
Through written documents, the Conference advocated for a “democratic change” implicitly
supporting PAN over PRI, which had been in office during more than 80 years. Fox answered
with a document called “Project to build a nation: religious liberty and relations Church‐ State”
in which he proposed to include unsatisfied demands by the church within the Mexican
jurisdictional framework and also posited opening mass media spaces for the Catholic Church
(Pérez ‐ Rayon, 2010). Authors such as Perez Rayon defend that the catholic hierarchy made
indirect and direct exhortations to the populations, specially located in rural and popular urban
areas, for the support to Fox. Not surprisingly Fox won the elections, as there were 88 percent of
Catholics in the country by 2000 (El Universal, 2011) Tahar (2010) posits that “ with the political
change in 2000, the Catholic Church recovers positions, aiming at taking advantage of the
democratic processes for its own purposes.” The 2000 elections were very symbolic also for
public representation of church and politics. The elected president’s campaign used the Virgin of
Guadalupe as one of its main images. A year after the elections, news reports showed president
Vicente Fox greeting Pope John Paul II while kneeling down and kissing the papal ring (see photo
below), which was considered as a an act of submissiveness toward the Vatican’s authority
(Pérez‐Rayón, 2010). Therefore in the last decade the symbiosis between the representation of
politics and Catholic church has increased and is a recurrent element throughout media stories
about the current armed conflict and civilian populations threatened by violent acts such as
Central American Migrants as I will explain in the following pages.
7. Catholic Church and media in Mexico
A violent act catapulted furthermore the church as a deserving actor of media attention,
specially regarding the Mexican civil conflict. In 1993 hit men killed the cardinal of Guadalajara,
Juan Jesús Posada. The hit men allegedly confused the prelate’s white Grand Marquis with the
one driven by “ El Chapo”, a drug trafficker that had gotten in trouble with business associates.
The visibility of the fatal event beyond locating the church at the center of the news setting
agenda also enabled the institution to a position of scrutiny. Local newspapers printed the
statement of one drug lord, who suggested that the cardinal had a relationship with his
organization. Some argued that these organizations funded projects of the Tijuana dioceses.
(Ugarte, 1997). The mystery of the death of the cardinal remains unresolved, with media and
Government bodies turning the page and starting a new chapter in the thriller of crimes and
deaths left by the conflict.
As the drug war has unfolded the use of media by the religious institution and its
construction of narratives draws on elements of the “Cristero” conflict, as it will be further
demonstrated in the media analysis below. The “Cristero” conflict is known as the moment in
Mexican history when catholic factions decided to fight against the Government established in
1917 as a result of the Mexican Revolution. At this time suspicions regarding church support for
the revoked regime led by autocrat Porfirio Díaz drove the revolutionary Government to create
legal dispositions concerning catholic practices. The reaction of the catholic hierarchy was to
suspend masses and an armed conflict was born in 1926 (López, 2011). During the “Cristero”
conflict there was an on‐going use of media by the church in order to claim religious persecution
and also to narrate a different version on the happenings of the conflict. Beyond libels, magazines
and letters, the Catholic Church made use of mainstream media as the institution had greater
support than the revolutionary government. As censorship increased, information about the
catholic persecution was sent to foreign media outlets. Serna posits that catholic media
messaging was framed using the tone of biblical texts and the catholic led publications become a
“diary of martyr.” She adds that this narrative consisted in:
“Bloody stories and images aiming at capturing the attention of readers. In this way, victims are
covered by a saint aura… Journalists and Catholic Journalists achieve greater effectiveness in several fields:
agitate the consciences of their followers to gain more supporters in the struggle against the state. At the
same time it allowed to strengthen arguments against the Government’s crimes.” (Serna, 2007)
8. The conflict lasted three years and culminated with a negotiation between state and
church, which ended state intervention in religious practices, but did not open the church to have
a juridical status. As I mentioned before, it was until the 1992 constitutional reform that the
church gained this status. Rayón Pérez (2010) highlights that since then “the church is completely
integrated to the political fora, has a large presence in media and has become a direct and open
speaker to the Government”, allowing the institution to recur to Cristero war media practices:
the use of local and international catholic media and the institution’s representation in
mainstream media as well with the aim of showing persecution of catholic representatives by the
Government, focusing on martyrs and victims such as the same persecuted priests or migrants
and denunciations of Government crimes.
The new characters of these media practices are undocumented migrants. Regarding the
interest of the church in migrants, it is undeniable the work of the institution to improve the
livelihoods of this population. In fact, since 1999 the institution created a network of migrant
shelters, which are close to 50 and are extended in the northern and southern frontiers of the
country as well as the capital (Alvarado, 2009). However this humanitarianism and the demands
of the church for changes in policy making in the name of migrants across media outlets has
implications in the conflict, which this analysis also aims at exploring. Why did the church take on
migrants plight and why has media been driven to focus greater attention to this aspect to
represent the institution in the midst of the conflict? These are questions not easily answered,
nonetheless Alvarado offers a possible answer by pointing out that under the theology of
liberation, proposed in the 70’s, Mexican catholic church has increased its actions for the
“unprotected” and also has pushed for a political incidence over state and governance regarding
what should be done with Central American migrants threatened by violence. She adds that
catholic advocacy (I would add media advocacy) also has the potential of surpassing frontiers.
This is further achieved with the figure of migrants and their international dimensions. While
government’s actions are limited to concepts of sovereignty and state boundaries, the
transnational character of the church allows a greater presence in international and local public
forums, while advocating for the respect of migrants’ human rights (Alvarado, 2009).
Media advocacy led by the Catholic Church was encouraged in 2004 by Mexican bishops,
who argued that the institution should “promote religious education in various settings and have
greater media presence” (Hagopian, 2006). In order to follow this goal, the institution publishes
print and digital media such as the weeklies “Desde la fé” or “ Semanario, among others, which
9. have become accessible to Mexicans and foreign readers through the Mexican Catholic
Episcopate Informational System. 1 Some editions of Desde la fé” are cited and analyzed in
mainstream media. Though the church is not allowed to own a media company in Mexico, the
awakening in the use of technology, especially Internet, by religious groups in this decade has
allowed religious media such as the Catholic media to reach broader audiences. At the same time
the emergence of religious online platforms has come along with a renewed use of marketing,
branding and public relations to further the church’s position in public spheres and has also
provided avenues for the institution to provide an alternative discourse on Mexico and the
conflict both locally and internationally (Moors, 2010).
News Reports on the Catholic Church and Central American Migrants
The following media analysis includes 2011 news reports published in US catholic media. I
chose to study the National Catholic Reporter and the Catholic News Services given their constant
references to the Mexican conflict, along with Central American migrants. These media outlets
also quote information originally created for Mexican mainstream media. News stories in
Mexican catholic media such as Desde La Fé and El Semanario as well as mainstream media such
as La Jornada and Excelsior are a key component of this analytical exercise. Though I had some
difficulties to access catholic media such as “Desde la Fe” online editions. In fact it was easier to
access fragments of articles published in Desde la Fé through U.S. Catholic media as well as
Mexican mainstream media. The average of Mexican mainstream articles on migrants, church
and conflict is 1‐2 news reports per month. Initially I will use the Cristero war media practices as a
framework to assess 2011 media coverage, followed by other specific aspects of Catholic media
advocacy such as the case of Catholic Priest Alejandro Solalinde, and some criticisms to the
church’s role as an migrant advocate and within the conflict. Each of these topics will be followed
with examples found in the news.
Both American and Mexican catholic media and Mexican Catholic media start many news
reports either by explaining a statement made by a church representative, narrating the arduous
journey of Central American Migrants in Mexico or/and the criminal actions against migrants by
criminal gangs such as Los Zetas or even state bodies. However quotations of migrants
1 This is the link to the Information System of the Mexican Episcopate :
http://www.siame.mx/apps/aspxnsmn/templates/?a=7&z=58
10. themselves are fewer and have less space than those dedicated to Catholic representatives. An
August 2011 National Catholic Reporter (NCR) online article informs that two police officers were
arrested after detaining a Guatemalan migrant and handing him to individuals accusing him of
assault. Citing the Mexican newspaper Reforma, NCR adds, “Migrant Julio Cardona Agustín was
beaten, struck with stones and was found dead” near St. Diego Migrant Shelter House.
Afterwards Father Hugo Montoya, who runs another migrant shelter in the area, explains that the
situation took place due to xenophobia. The article continues with Father Montoya’s narration
about Cardona’s previous days to his fatal end. It remains unclear why the Father knew about the
details of the case and the news report is only based on this version. In a December, 2011
Excelsior news report points out that boatman transporting migrants across San Pedro de
Tenosique, in the Guatemalan‐ Mexican frontier, have allied with organized crime networks to
kidnap, steal and physically assault undocumented Central Americans. The news report includes
the testimonies of two migrants, who narrate in detail how these boatmen threatened them and
how they achieved to escape. It also highlights the protection provided by the Migrant Shelter led
by monk Tomás González. These two examples show how both Catholic Church and migrants are
taken into account when sharing this population’s drama and therefore their figure can be
considered as the “victims” of the conflict.
While Catholic representatives are witnesses of the horrors lived by
migrants, they are also portrayed through their life of sacrifice and, in
some cases, of state persecution. Father Pedro Pantoja’s life and
contributions is narrated in a June 2011 Excelsior article, which
includes the portrait in the side, which is not a common element in
the visual media narratives. Usually journalistic photos on site are
used; instead this image follows the tradition of recent portraits of
martyrs and saints. (Though this is my intuition after searching for
Mexican martyrs portraits in Internet)2.
The article describes how Father Pantoja overcame a childhood and youth in poverty, how he
assisted prisoners with his mother and also his preparation as a priest. Finally the report narrates
his work with migrants, the establishment of a shelter under his leadership and his assessment on
2 The Internet search carried for this media analysis can be found here: http://bit.ly/sI7rXh
11. a new modality of kidnaps of migrants. Several US catholic media and Mexican media report on
the detention of Father Alejandro Solalinde, a renown activist for Central American migrants,
while leading the caravan “ A step towards peace” with more than 500 hundred migrants.
Reports argue that Solalinde was detained under the suspicion that one of his bodyguards had a
long weapon. Both Amnesty International and the Mobility Pastoral of the Mexican Episcopate
denounced the arrest. Solalinde was arrested one afternoon and shortly after local authorities
apologized to Solalinde for the inconvenience. Other news reports refer to threats and
persecution of criminal parties to catholic representatives. In a September, 2011 La Jornada
article, the Executive Secretary of Human Mobility Pastoral of the Mexican Episcopate
Conference states, “despite the increase in intimidation acts and threats against defenders of
migrant rights, “pastoral agents are still standing and are not going to take a step back. In this
way, these representatives are represented as martyrs for their life of sacrifice to the cause of
migrants.”
Pantoja, Solalinde, Montoya, among other priests, also denounce Government and DTOs
actions. They also propose changes in government bodies and their actions as well as policies and
laws concerning migrants. A July, 2011 National Catholic Reporter article informed that Father
Pantoja questioned the new Mexican immigration law “would make much of difference and if the
federal government truly wanted to fix the migration issue.” While a 2011 Excelsior news report
focused on Solalinde’s argument against the Mexican National Institute of Migration (INM),
because “it had been the best ally of the organized crime group Los Zetas in the kidnapping of
undocumented in the southern states of the country. In the light of cases of corruption of INM
staff, the priest argued that the organization had lost prestige in the face of citizens and migrants;
therefore it was better for the INM to disappear. Another July 2011 Excelsior article includes
Solalinde’s petitions to Congress on eliminating visas for Central American and South American
born family members of disappeared migrants in Mexico. The same newspaper published in
January a report based on the Catholic weekly “Desde la Fé”, which pointed out omissions of
Mexican authorities “ who shine due to their irresponsible absence” regarding justice to migrants
who have been victims of kidnappings and extortions. The common elements between the
“Cristero war” and the current armed conflict such as media portrayal of victims, martyrs and the
denunciations of the church regarding Government actions can also be explained through the
concept of trinity proposed by Nietzsche. In fact, Gonzalez (1999) uses this concept to analyze the
current state of Mexican Catholic Church (In this analysis we will use the trinity to further
12. understand the representations embedded in media discourse on the Catholic Church, migrants
and the conflict. According to Nietzsche’s view, the trinity stands for a god that acts as tyrant,
victim and savior. The trinity is a victim, because it carries others sins; tyrant, because it points
out other’s sins; and savior, because saves others from their faults. Following this line of thought,
media’s portrayal sheds light on how the Catholic Church by advocating for migrants and
providing them shelters carries the faults or consequences of the acts that Government officials
and DTOs have committed against this population, holding the position of “victim” or “martyr”
(González). The church is a tyrant because it denounces the faults of state and criminal
organizations against migrants, assesses when Government actions are working or not and
proposes how the state can change its behavior through institutional changes or policymaking.
Finally the institution acts as savior because no matter the grievances caused to migrants, the
church still works to improve the situation of violence in which state and DTOs take part. Also the
church is source of a sanctified world, while outside the Mexican territory lives in chaos. A June
2011 Catholic News Agency article reports that the Xalapa Archidiocese in Mexico warns that the
abuse suffered by Central American Migrants traveling through Mexico is “an evident sign of
societal decay”. The agency adds that the archdiocese thanked the priests, religious and laity who
“as good Samaritans,” offer food, shelter and clothing “to those most in need.” To conclude, the
holy trinity concept allows us to notice that the ideological thought of the Catholic Church
underlies Catholic and mainstream media coverage on Central American migrants and the
conflict.
The case of Alejandro Solalinde
The most outstanding catholic figure in media coverage is Father Alejandro Solalinde, who
is usually included on reports about Central American migrants. He is the Director of the Shelter
Brothers in the Road located in Ixtepec, Oaxaca and Coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Care
Centre for Migrants in southwestern Mexico. Solalinde is part of the list of “ individuals at risk” by
Amnesty International, given that “gangs, officials and intolerant community have threatened his
life” (Amnesty International, 2011). Solalinde’s portrayal differs between catholic media and
mainstream media. The former just referring to his contributions and claims toward the
Government, instead the latter refers to Solalinde’s controversial criticisms to the Catholic
Church itself, the U.S., political parties, among others. A July 2011 Excelsior article is based on
Solalinde’s considerations about the Catholic Church and its role to help migrants. He says, “
Referring to the Catholic Church, with its honorable exceptions, the institution has not really
13. cared about the situation of migrants, that is the sad reality. The institutions, dedicated to serve
the human being, have become indifferent to people, they are not interested in anything, only in
political favoritism.” Instead in a September 2011 Jornada report the priest’s opinion on U.S.
policy is highlighted: “We are outraged regarding how the DEA, Pentagon and CIA are having their
way here (Mexico), this is not a novelty; but the Mexican National Institute of Migration, through
the Mérida Plan, is completely being used as an instrument for Washington in detriment of
national sovereignty, but also in prejudice of our transmigrant brothers, who are cornered by
Washington, who considers them as a danger and as persons unwanted in the U.S.” He has
become such a prominent source that Mexican mainstream media ask for his opinion regarding
political issues not directly related to his cause. An October 2011 Jornada report is based on
Solalinde’s perspectives on the 2012 presidential elections. He proposes a national candidacy for
the Presidency, however it should be isolated of political parties, who have lost credibility.
Solalinde’s apology to los Zetas was the news that caused most polemic. A July 2011
Jornada article quotes the father asking forgiveness to “Los Zetas, criminals and all the brothers
who we have failed and that are victims of a sick society that did not know how to provide them
support, did not teach them values.” In a July 2011 Excelsior report, Solalinde argues that Los
Zetas are “marginalized and victims of a corruption system.” In the article, the Government
Subsecretary of Population, Migration and Religious Issues expressed his concern regarding
Solalinde’s statements, which in his opinion give the impression of exalting violators and
assassins, making them look as victims when they are criminals.” In this same month, another
news report was published by Excelsior in which members of the Senate pointed out that there
are thousands and thousands of victims left by Los Zetas, who carry the guilt of mutilating
families, therefore Congress does not consider that these families would agree with Solalinde’s
statement.
Such is the influence of priests like Solalinde that their constant meetings with officials are
also reported. An August, 2011 National Catholic Reporter article informed that Church officials
had discussions with Tultitlan and Mexico state governments to find land for a new shelter. While
a July 2011 Excelsior report informs that Solalinde will not continue to participate in the
negotiations table carried by poet Javier Sicilia and businessmen Alejandro Marti, whose sons
were murdered as part of the conflict, and Mexican President, Felipe Calderón. His reasons to
leave the negotiation table consist in the denial of the Government regarding the facts and, that “
instead of helping, the Government is undermining the persons defending human rights.” An
14. August 2011 Excelsior article reports that Senators of the opposition received members of the
caravan “Step by step toward peace”. Despite that the article mentions an event participating all
caravan members, the claims made by Sicilia and Solalinde to the Senate are the only ones
included. Another August 2011 Jornada article reports the agreement between the Migrant
Secretary of the State of Michoacán and the Civil Association Brothers in the Road, led by
Solalinde, to promote the respect for migrants’ rights and transforming their reality by the means
of justice, opportunities and equality.
The national section of newspaper Reforma includes an article about the International Detention Coalitions, along with
an update on the encounter with mothers of disappeared Central American Migrants.
Criticisms to the Role of the Catholic Church in the Conflict
In the 2011 media analysis, there were some criticisms to the role of the Catholic Church
in the conflict. Written by the author of the book The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo
Malcolm Beith, the World’s Most Wanted Drug Lord, a January 2011 NCR article points out that
the church hierarchy admitted that some of the “dirtiest and bloodiest” money in Mexico could
well have been used to build chapels and other facilities. This was “immoral,” the church
declared. “Nothing can justify allowing this sort of situation to occur.” However, Beith says, the
papal Mexican nuncio did not denounce drug trafficker Ramón Arellano, who had visited the
nuncio to receive his blessing. The priest never considered turning Arellano in, because “ this was
a matter of conscience, my work as a priest is one thing, but to act as an authority is another.”
Written by Ricardo Alemán, a September 2011 Excelsior Op‐ed questions how the church defends
its particular interests in the context of the conflict. He asks, “What does it mean for the Mexican
Episcopate Conference to require DTOs a truce in order for the parishioners to venerate the relics
15. of Pope John Paul II?”
Regarding controversies related to the destination of public resources for activities
related to the Catholic Church, the President of the Center of Studies of Religion in Mexico,
Bernardo Barranco, warned in Jornada that the commission of officials travelling to assist to the
beatification of laic Juan de Palafox and Mendoza carried in Borga of Osma, Spain misused public
resources and Government time for this event. In a July 2011 Excelsior article senators are
quoted saying that they are aware that the decision to close the shelter of San Luís de Potosí was
made by the Catholic Church due to lack of space and a need for renovation. Still they contend
that the state should not have accepted this decision and, instead had the obligation of providing
the required resources.
The most recent case of criticism came from Congress regarding an editorial published in
Desde La Fé against the actions of the legislative branch. Congress members asked the
Government to initiate a process against the publication due to its denigrating discourse against
one of the state’s main bodies. A PRI senator, Enoé Uranga, claims the lack of power of the laic
state in Mexico. He goes further to say that the Catholic Church and followers among other
religious groups, hidden in its moral hypocrisy, are open to pressure and challenge elected
powers by the people.
Implications of media coverage of church and migrants for the conflict
The media analysis shows how the Mexican Catholic Church is leveraging its prominence
as a source, stemmed on its historical social and political position in the country, to speak about
migrants frequently undergoing human rights abuses. The Catholic Church portrayal has emerged
as the expert and the advocate of Central American migrants as most of the articles refer to
representatives of the Catholic Church. The institution speaks out in order to engage in
policymaking for migrant’s wellbeing, however there are no recognizable voices coming from
migrants themselves. The lack of their voice might be explained by the fact that migrants usually
are undocumented and are precisely the target of violent acts. However recent migration laws
include the right to medical services, judicial bodies and also recognize the jurisdictional
personality of legal migrants, according to international treaties signed by Mexico (Secretaría de
Gobernación, 2011). Though there is a large amount of undocumented Central American
migrants in Mexico, the passing of this law would make these migrants entitled to a voice given
that by law their jurisdictional personality must be respected. The approval of this new law took
place by the end of April, therefore a larger time frame of its application would be needed to
16. further evaluate whether migrants are stepping as advocates across media outlets. In the mean
time organized crime will continue to refrain from committing violent attacks to the insitution’s
representatives thanks to their image of “sanctity”, opening a door for them to be quoted by
media. But one can wonder if the church were to be stricter with the actions of its parishioners by
turning in people allied to the organized crime chain, the institution would have the same
position of privilege to freely speak about current migration issues. An argument against this
thought would be that the church’s representation in the public discourse consists in a civil
society organization deepening and furthering the protections for migrants, instead of having a
direct judicial or political involvement in the conflict. Many civil organizations in conflict prone
areas draw this line and continue to keep a strong influence in the country, even when the
conflict persists and illegal actors approach these organizations, without necessarily contributing
financially to these civil society members. But this representation for the church and other civil
society organizations is always problematic.
At this point, the question regarding whether the Catholic Church can be portrayed as civil
society arises. Walzer (1992) defines civil society as "dense network of civil associations
promoting the stability and effectiveness of the democratic polity through both the effects of
association on citizens' habits of the heart and the ability of associations to mobilize citizens on
behalf of public causes.” In this sense Foley (1996) questions whether interest groups or religious
bodies should be included in the definition, due to their intermittent mobilization in pursuit of
political goals. In my view the Catholic Church in Mexico should not be portrayed as part of civil
society, because it is currently not promoting migrants as citizens bearing political agency and
and it’s authority does not come from bottom up. But, in general, civil society is characterized to
be a heterogeneous landscape, allowing a weave of organizations to call themselves in media or
for journalists to call them as such. Based on the concept of “holy trinity” proposed by Nietzsche,
fellow advocates or followers of the catholic migrant cause would rely on thoughts on the matter
and whether the institution agrees their message relevant to be included in public discourse. At
the same time given the highly catholic culture in Mexico, the considerations of the church have
to be prioritized than those of migrants and even advocates from other religious groups. The
portrayal as a civil society actor is also a source of dilemmas when there are public resources in
between. As I previously showed, there is a public understanding, except from one article, that
the state must support financially catholic related events and the church’s work towards
migrants. But one could wonder whether other religious groups or civil society organiations
17. receive the same media treatment, when they are in need of financial support.
If the church is considered as part of civil society, this status also implies another set of
challenges in terms of media advocacy. Luyendick proposes that NGOs frame their messages
through media in ways in which they can manage to keep support from international donors. In
the case of the Catholic Church in Mexico, the church requires to uphold its public moral
authority and support among its parishioners. A “positive public image” and having good public
relations has become increasingly important, as recent scandals such as priests’ pedophilia cases,
use of condom and aids, among others, have surfaced on media. Therefore the church will not
enable media spaces to question the closing of migrant shelters, corruption and its nexus with
the institution and the dilemma about its moral role to support all people, including drug
traffickers, without bringing them to justice. This is predictable for any civil society organization,
however in the case of the Catholic Church journalists refrain from doing tough critics as they
follow traditional media practices in Mexico, established through historical milestones such as
the Cristero War. Also, because commercial and mainstream media companies, due to economic
interests, will not portray a point of view that can be unpopular among 90% of catholic believers
and even the PAN Government, elected for two consecutive terms with support by the Catholic
Church.
On the other hand, migrants also follow the catholic discourse because there is definitely
a trade off for them with the visibility of the Catholic Church. Migrants can use elements of the
catholic imaginary such as migrants carrying a cross and the quotations of migrants in Catholic –
ran shelters, among other examples. I did not find alternative media ran by migrants, as I did with
the case of Nepali migrant workers in the Middle East. Therefore there might be potential for
both migrants and the Catholic Church to lead migrant news outlets, with the church having a
special role in endorsing migrant’s voices. In the light of security issues, their names and
identities could not be revealed, but if they are part of the advocacy led by the church, their
opinions could be referred as a migrant of a civil society group. Though security concerns might
still refrain migrants to have an increased visibility as migrant workers in the Middle East. In this
scenario, diaspora media from sending countries such as Guatemala, Honduras could be
supported by civil society and, in this sense; the Catholic Church could also take a part of it. U.S.
catholic media have also contributed to raise awareness on the issue, while I only found The New
York Times and Al Jazeera only published one article regarding violence against Central American
migrants. Nonetheless, US catholic media refer and repeat the stories already covered by
18. Mexican mainstream media.
Media coverage on the Catholic Church, migrants and the conflict is not clear‐cut and, in
fact, many contradictions can be found. First, mainstream media as well as catholic media follow
the discourse of the “holy trinity”, but not in all circumstances. When Father Alejandro Solalinde
asks forgiveness to Los Zetas, criticisms from officials and Congressmen arise. Still for them it is
unrecognizable that the church is acting both as victim and tyrant, because it is carrying with the
DTOs faults and asking for forgiveness, and at the same time it is pointing out the corrupted
government and the system as the ones to blame. Secondly, it is very possible that Government
officials meeting with Solalinde and other prominent figures such as business man Alejandro
Martí are aware that these conversations will be part of media coverage. Implicitly these public
acts are endorsing the figure of the Catholic Church as a governance pole above other actors and
having a direct intervention in policymaking. Nonetheless, at the same time, editorials of Desde la
Fé are criticized due to claims against the legislative branch. If the church has been acknowledged
publicly as a permanent actor contributing to Mexican state governance, how can the
Government refrain the institution from having a say in how governance is working in Mexico?
Thirdly, media reports have focused on mass events advocating for migrants’ rights, such as
caravans, at the same time these have reinforced the need for personalities throughout media
coverage of the conflict. New Yorker writer and author of the book “The Years we were not
happy: chronicles about the Mexican transition” Alma Guillermoprieto further explains this in a
2010 New Yorker article when she points out that “Mexican drug clans and organizations
responsible for so much bloodshed have acquired a liking for public attention”, she adds, “ and
the story, like the murders, is endlessly repetitive and confusing: there are the double‐barreled
family names, the shifting alliances, the double‐crossing army generals, the capo betrayed by a
close associate who in turn killed by another betrayer in a small town with an impossible name,
followed by another capo with a double‐barreled last name who is betrayed by a high‐ranking
army officer who is killed in turn.” From this quote, I understand that media stories have been
framed according to certain personalities; accordingly the representatives of the church have not
been the exception.
All these entangled contradictions seem conflicting when thinking whether media can
contribute toward peace building. A plethora of characters are included and each one plays
separate roles. Luyendick argues that beyond contrasting the version of contending parties, an
article should include pro‐peace organizations and opponents to government policies. In this
19. sense, the church would achieve to perform as the latter. In my perspective, for all dimensions of
an issue related to the conflict, such as Central American migrants, to be covered in media, there
is a need for media to become a platform for dialogue among all parties, not only the
personalities, but those who have been marginalized and can have a crucial effect in the
outcomes of the conflict. This “fair play” among sources is not easily attained within a state with
a weak government and a nation with highly tense power relations. If this dialogue were to be
possible, it would lead to creating open public spaces for media advocacy for migrants, instead of
only registering the meetings between officials and catholic representatives. At this point I should
clarify that mothers of disappeared Central American migrants have started to become other
source of media attention, due to their public acts such as caravans and also with the support of
international non‐profit organizations. This is definitely a sign towards a more inclusive approach
by media. Greater visibility of migrants as political agents with access to justice and prosecution
processes (illegal migrants can also bear political agency due to their categorization as vulnerable
population by members of the international community) is required in order for them to not be
subjected to the will and actions of any of the actors influencing the conflict. Finally, analyzed as a
crisis, the conflict has allowed the reinforcement of relations among visible actors such as state
and the Catholic Church, while the opportunity of challenging relations between state and
migrants in the midst of the Mexican conflict is something I hope media explores in a near future.
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http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m=nota&id_nota=757717
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