The Church has expressed concern over drug trafficking and warned of society’s distrust of authorities

The Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral issued a statement on Tuesday expressing its concern at the advance of drug trafficking in the country, following the wave of violence that has occurred in recent weeks in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Faith In this sense, they warned against the disbelief grows among the citizens with the political authorities and the security forces.

In the document entitled “The Wounds of Drug Trafficking”, the Argentinian bishops recalled: “For a decade we have been moved by drug trafficking and its counterpart: the suffering faces of those who are trapped and condemned by one of the greatest calamities of recent times, such as drug use and addictions”.

“There we also highlighted the expansion of the narcoticswidely established in Argentina, with advances in marketing and consumption that extend throughout our country, with very strong penetration, especially in the poorest neighborhoods of the suburbs of large conglomerates,” they warned.

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In this sense, they expressed their concern because it is “a phenomenon that painfully aggravates this problem; what would seem to be an endless escalation of violence with unusual frequency in the city of Rosario in the province of Santa Fe, where moving episodes are known daily, of what would appear as organized crime that kills indiscriminately.

“The reference to the fact that the ordinary citizen continues to say that this situation of overflow has been reached with the complicity and corruption of certain leaders. Members of the security forces, justice officials and politicians are often suspected by society of collaborating with mafia groups. This reality weakens trust and discourages expectations of change. But it’s also functional and complicit that, being able to do something, ignores it, washes its hands and ‘looks away’,” they added in the document.

The bishops ratified their accompaniment “to the brothers of the archdiocesan team of Social Pastoral of Rosario who maintain that the city lives in circumstances whose injustice cries out to heaven, for lack of responses from the various levels of the State represented by magistrates and officials legally appointed in democracy”.

And they added: “The link that would exist between these bands of organized crime with structures of smuggling, money laundering and tax evasion mechanisms”.

“We know that there are many men and women who are ready to support the initiatives of the Government, legislators and magistrates to give an energetic response to the national drama of drug trafficking. In addition, it must be taken into account that these criminal organizations frequently engage in human trafficking for the purpose of labor and sexual exploitation and arms trafficking,” they said.

Finally, the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral reminded Pope Francis: “This year marks the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the image of the Virgin of the Rosary in the chapel built at the origins of the city and which gave it its name. , Asking that his intercession inspire all citizens, but above all political, economic and social leaders, to build the indispensable consensus which must be the basis of these lucid, determined and courageous public policies to be implemented by magistrates and officials.

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