Overview

• The two-day workshop at the Universidad Pontificia de México trained 40 priests and 30 lay agents in structured negotiation techniques for dialogue with organized crime.
• Participants reviewed global research, including Institute for Integrated Transitions studies, and drew on Colombia’s San Buenaventura model to craft a draft methodology.
• The Comisión Episcopal para la Pastoral Social, Centro Lindavista and Instituto para la Paz jointly organized the inaugural session to formalize decade-long informal dialogues.
• Next steps include piloting the negotiation framework in high-conflict zones such as Guerrero, Michoacán and Jalisco and establishing regional peace councils.
• The initiative aims to reduce violence, support offender rehabilitation and rebuild community cohesion against a backdrop of chronic cartel attacks on clergy.