Mexican priest shot, gravely injured in the Diocese of Tabasco

A Mexican priest remains in serious condition after being shot four times while traveling to minister to a sick person — an attack reinforcing Mexico’s reputation as one of the world’s most dangerous for clergy, despite its large Catholic population.

Father Héctor Alejandro Pérez was attacked June 30 at around 5:45 a.m. after leaving his residence at the St. Francis of Assisi parish in the southeastern city of Villahermosa, according to a statement the same day from the Diocese of Tabasco.

The diocese said Father Pérez had undergone emergency surgery and described his condition as “very serious, with an uncertain prognosis due to blood loss and the complexity of internal injuries.” Those injuries included a broken humerus, colon and liver injuries and severe blood loss. He would also be intubated for 72 hours.

“The Diocese of Tabasco expresses its total condemnation of this barbaric act,” said the statement, signed by Bishop Gerardo de Jesús Rojas López. “It asks the Lord to move the hearts of the unjust aggressors to conversion and repentance and that the faithful and all people of good will join together in the search for peace for our beloved Tabasco.”

Details of the attack on Father Pérez remain unclear. The Diocese of Tabasco attributed the violence to mistaken identity, saying, “It is believed this aggression was caused by confusion with another person.”

Local media, however, reported that the attack occurred at 8 a.m. and was carried out by an assailant on a motorcycle. The Catholic Multimedia Center, which tracks attacks on clergy, said Father Pérez was shot four times, but the motive for the attack was unknown.

The attack on Father Pérez reflected the rising violence in Tabasco, a muggy state on the Gulf coast known for oil and cocoa production. Criminal groups have increasingly carried out crimes such as extortion in the state, which is the home of popular former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Violence has gripped Mexico, too, though President Claudia Sheinbaum insists that homicides have dropped by about 26% since she took office in October 2024. Violence has especially flared in the western state of Sinaloa as Mexican security forces — under U.S. pressure — pursue the Sinaloa Cartel, which is known for fentanyl production and already had been torn apart by infighting.

Priests have not been spared — with at least 52 clergymen killed since 2006, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center.

Indigenous Father Marcelo Pérez, who worked in conflictive parts of southern Chiapas state, was murdered in October after celebrating Mass. Jesuit Fathers Joaquín Mora and Javier Campos were murdered in 2022 in their parish in the rugged Sierra Tarahumara of northern Chihuahua state as they protected a person pursued by a known crime boss.

“The country continues to shed blood everywhere: in the countryside, in the city, in the ravines, in the town squares, in the streets, in the prisons, in the subway stations, and at the borders. It’s time to redouble efforts to stop this violence,” said a June 13 statement from the National Dialogue for Peace ahead of the third anniversary of the Jesuits’ deaths.

The Dialogue was launched after the murders of the Jesuits as a peace-building initiative by the Mexican bishops’ conference, the Society of Jesus and the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico.