Mexican church's "Narco donations" and ties to drug lords causes friction and calls for investigations

The issue of narcolimosnas or donations from the drug gangs to the church, as well as the church's ties to the narcos more generally, is causing increasing friction within the Mexican Catholic Church. It has long been an open secret - or no secret at all - that the church has happily accepted massive donations from organized crime to fund its programs, maintain its buildings, or, in the extreme case of Hidalgo, erecting temples in their honor: There, it was recently revealed that Heriberto "El Lazca" Lazcano, head of the vicious Los Zetas mafia, had practically financed the building of the chapel El Tezontle, in Pachuca.

Monseñor Diego Monroy Ponce, rector of the Basílica de Guadalupe, rejects that any donations to the basilica came from the narcos, but called upon Archbishop of Durango Héctor González to reveal whatever he might know regarding the whereabouts of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mexico's most famous drug lord.

Senator Carlos Navarrete of the PRD, recently called upon the Attorney General (PGR) to investigate the Mexican Catholic Church for its ties to the drug lords, as did PRI's Jesús Murillo Karam, who demanded the church reveal what it knows. From the ruling PAN? Not a peep.

As long as PAN remains in power, don't expect the PGR to lift a finger against the church no matter its offenses: illegal interference in politics, libel, protecting pederasts, promoting hate crimes, and now, colluding with the narco criminals.