Mexican drug-gang enforcer funded new chapel

November 03, 2010

A Catholic chapel in Tezontle, Mexico, was built with funds from a notorious drug lord.

Heriberto Lazcano, the head of the violent Zeta drug-trafficking gang, supplied the money for construction of the chapel, which is dedicated to Pope John Paul II. A plaque inside the chapel bears the name of the Mexican enforcer, who is wanted by police in both Mexico and the US.

A spokesman for the local Tulancingo archdiocese says that Church leaders were not aware of the source of funding for the new chapel. Father Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico City, told reporters that drug traffickers sometimes “look for a way to redeem themselves in religious terms, by doing some good work.”

 

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Further information:

• Mass held in Mexico chapel built by drug lord (AP)