27-Year-Old Priest Remains Missing in Michoacán, Mexico

The Mexican diocese of Zamora, Michoacån sent to Fides Agency an appeal to pray for Father Santiago, who has been missing since December 27, 2012. 

On that day, Father Santiago Alvarez Figueroa, went to celebrate a Mass in Jacona, near Jiquilpan. After the celebration he had phoned home to tell his parents that he would join them immediately, but he never arrived. The police patrolled the route the priest did by car, discarding the possibility of an accident.

The statement of the diocese says:

“The competent authorities have been carrying out their research since December 29, the date on which the complaint was filed to the Prosecutor of Zamora, but so far nothing is known. So many families, like father Santiago’s, have suffered similar situations, have experienced much pain and many tears have been shed without satisfactory answers! Those who are responsible for father Santiago’s disappearance we ask: for God’s sake, to return a healthy son back to his mother, a brother to his brothers, a priest of the community, a friend to the young!”

Father Santiago, was ordained a priest in December, 2011.

Zamora, Michoacán is in an area involved in the conflict between the “cartels” in Mexico. Jacona is a village on the border between Michoacán and Jalisco, where the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) contends power with Los Caballeros Templarios.

According to the Fides Agency, this conflict has caused the death of many people involved in gangs, but also of many innocent people, as well as hundreds of “disappearances” which not even the police are able to define the number.

Published in Latino Daily News