MEXICO CITY (AP) — A retired Roman Catholic bishop who was famous for trying to mediate between drug cartels in Mexico has been kidnapped, the Mexican Council of Bishops said Monday. The church leadership in Mexico said in a statement that Msgr. Salvador Rangel, a bishop emeritus, disappeared on Saturday and called on his captors to release him.
The council said Rangel was in ill health, and begged the captors to allow him to take his medications as “an act of humanity.” Rangel was bishop of the notoriously violent diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, in the southern state of Guerrero, where drug cartels have been fighting turf battles for years. In an effort later endorsed by the government, Rangel sought to convince gang leaders to stop the bloodshed and reach agreements.
Rangel was apparently abducted in Morelos state, just north of Guerrero. The bishops’ statement reflected the very fine and dangerous line that prelates have to walk in carte-dominated areas of Mexico, to avoid antagonizing drug capos who could end their lives in an instant, on a whim. “Considering his poor health, we call firmly but respectfully to those who are holding Msgr.
Rangel captive to allow him to take the medications he needs in a proper and timely fashion, as an act of humanity,” the bishops’ council wrote. It was unclear who had abducted Rangel. The hyper violent drug gangs known as the Tlacos, the Ardillos and the Familia Michoacana operate in the area.
Nobody immediately claimed re.
