A retired Roman Catholic prelate, renowned for his endeavors to broker peace among narcotic syndicates in Mexico, has been seized, as announced by the Mexican Council of Bishops on Monday. The ecclesiastical hierarchy of Mexico conveyed in a communiqué that Msgr. Salvador Rangel, an emeritus bishop, vanished on Saturday and implored his abductors to emancipate him.

The council disclosed that Rangel’s state of health was precarious, beseeching his captors to permit him access to his medicinal regimen as an act of compassion. Rangel formerly served as bishop of the infamously turbulent diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, situated in the southern precinct of Guerrero, where drug cartels have waged territorial disputes for an extended duration.

In a venture subsequently endorsed by the state, Rangel endeavored to persuade chieftains of criminal factions to cease hostilities and forge agreements. Rangel’s purported abduction took place in Morelos state, immediately north of Guerrero. The declaration by the bishops epitomized the exceedingly perilous tightrope that ecclesiastical figures must traverse in cartel-dominated regions of Mexico, so as not to provoke drug kingpins who possess the authority to terminate their lives abruptly, on a whim.

“Given his debilitated state of health, we earnestly, yet deferentially, entreat those detaining Msgr. Rangel to facilitate his access to the requisite medications in a timely and appropriate manner, as an act of humaneness,” the council of bishops penned.

The identity of Rangel’s captors remained shrouded in ambiguity. The hyper-violent narcotics factions recognized as the Tlacos, the Ardillos, and the Familia Michoacana operate within the vicinity. No entity promptly assumed accountability for the abduction.

Any detriment incurred by Rangel would constitute the most sensational offense against a senior ecclesiastical official since 1993, when henchmen of drug cartels slew Bishop Juan Posadas Ocampo, ostensibly in a case of mistaken identity during a shootout at the Guadalajara airport.

Authorities in Guerrero state corroborated the abduction but furnished no additional particulars, merely expressing readiness to collaborate with their counterparts in Morelos. Analogous to Guerrero, Morelos has endured a protracted period of violence, characterized by homicides and abductions.

In February, other prelates divulged their involvement in facilitating a ceasefire between two rivaling narcotics cartels in Guerrero. Rev. Jos Filiberto Velzquez, apprised of the negotiations in February albeit not partaking in them, disclosed that the discussions involved leaders of the Familia Michoacana cartel and the Tlacos gang, alias the Cartel of the Mountain.

Ecclesiastical figures endeavor to broker dialogues between cartels with the aspiration of mitigating sanguinary territorial skirmishes. The underlying presumption is that cartels will apportion territories where they levy extortion fees and traffic narcotics, minimizing bloodshed in the process.

Previously, the incumbent bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, Jos de Jess Gonzlez Hernndez, averred that he and three other bishops in the state had engaged in discussions with cartel overlords in an endeavor to broker a peace treaty in an alternative locale.

Hernndez noted at the time that these negotiations faltered as the narcotics factions were disinclined to desist from contesting territory in the Pacific coast state. These territorial conflicts have paralyzed transportation in at least two urban centers and precipitated numerous fatalities in recent months.

“They sought a truce, albeit under stipulations pertaining to territorial delineation,” Gonzlez Hernndez remarked regarding the discussions held several weeks prior. “However, these stipulations failed to garner consensus amongst the participants.” In February, President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador voiced his endorsement of such negotiations.

Clerics and congregants across all denominations have participated in endeavors to pacify the nation. “I regard it as highly commendable,” remarked Lpez Obrador. Detractors contend that such negotiations underscore the extent to which the government’s policy of abstaining from confronting cartels has compelled ordinary citizens to orchestrate separate peace accords with criminal factions.

A parish clergyman, whose township in Michoacan state has long been under the dominion of one cartel or another, remarked in February that such negotiations tacitly acknowledge the government’s failure to ensure public safety. Speaking under the condition of anonymity for security reasons, the clergyman stated, “Undoubtedly, we must engage in dialogue with certain individuals, particularly when it pertains to the safety of the populace, but this does not imply our acquiescence.”

For instance, he recounted instances where local residents implored him to inquire about the fate of missing relatives to cartel leaders. Such a role is not one the church embraces willingly. “We would not find ourselves in this predicament if the government discharged its responsibilities adequately,” the clergyman asserted.

In February, Rangel remarked to The Associated Press that truces brokered between criminal factions often prove ephemeral. “They are somewhat tenuous, for within the realm of narcotics trafficking, broken accords and treachery occur with alarming frequency,” Rangel remarked at the time.

Clergy members enjoy widespread reverence but are by no means immune to peril in Mexico. In 2023, a Roman Catholic priest met his demise in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. The church’s Catholic Multimedia Center reported him as the ninth clergyman slain in the country over the past four years.