ARTICLES

Tijuana Diocese Hot Potato For Its Press

BISHOP BERLIE SUFFERS DRUG TIE CHARGES

By Bob McPhail

Since his installation mass in February, Tijuana Bishop Rafael Romo has been hounded by Mexican journalists. Romo inherited bad press relations from his predecessor, Emilio Carlos Berlie, now archbishop of Yucatan. In the spring of 1994 a Mexico City newspaper reported that a Tijuana diocesan priest had intervened with the papal nuncio on behalf of Ramon and Benjamin Arellano, reputed leaders of a Tijuana-based drug cartel who had been implicated in the May 1993 assassination of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas in Guadalajara.

The news cast Berlie into the middle of a national scandal. From the outset, he refused comment to the press. In the meantime, Berlie sent the priest, Father Gerardo Montaño, out of Tijuana "for his own safety." When the diocese refused to disclose Montano's whereabouts, the press began a succession of stories which suggested that drug kingpins had given money toward a new cathedral in Tijuana and to the diocesan seminary. When Berlie was named Archbishop of Yucatan in 1995 instead of being given one of several red hats available at the time, print journalists speculated that Berlie was being punished for embarrassing the Church. There were reports that Montaño had been seen in various Mexican and U.S. cities.

When Romo arrived in February 1996, he was besieged with requests from reporters for an interview, which he said he was too busy to give. Baja California's largest circulation daily, El Mexicano, made Romo's refusal front-page news. When reporters clamored for information about the Montaño-Arellano link, Romo pleaded ignorance, but pledged to look into the matter.

According to Monsignor Sergio De La Cerda, vicar general under Berlie and Romo, since Berlie ordered Montaño to Sacramento "for his own safety," Montaño has met with Bishop Romo and asked if he could return to Tijuana. Romo, according to De La Cerda, said no. "He will not be back soon," said De La Cerda. "The mafiosos could still hurt him. Señor Romo told him it was not an opportune time for him to return." But the bishop did lift an order of silence. "Señor Berlie told him, 'No interviews.' But Señor Romo did not prohibit it. He told him, 'If you want to talk, talk.'"

Montaño broke his silence in the last week of May, when he provided written answers to a series of questions put to him by reporters. The front pages of Tijuana newspapers were filled with Montaño's account. Montaño said he met the Arellano brothers when he was a priest at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on 10th Street downtown, where they often attended Sunday mass. When Montaño was transferred to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Zona Rio, the Arellanos would visit him there. "My relation with them was simply that of a priest to a faithful Christian," said Montaño as quoted in Zeta, the Tijuana weekly, in its May 24 edition. Montaño acknowledged that he was aware of the Arellanos' reputation as drug traffickers but, he told Zeta, that was none of his business. "The greatness of the priesthood is in service to the community without distinctions. I never ask those who approach me about their personal lives."

On May 24, 1993, when Cardinal Posadas was gunned down at the Guadalajara airport, the Arellano brothers were with Father Montaño and family members for a baptism at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Montaño said. They could not have killed the cardinal, despite press accounts that had a commercial airliner bound for Tijuana delayed on the runway in Guadalajara so the Arellanos could make their escape.

(Mexican authorities would conclude that the cardinal's death was a mistake. Investigators said the Arellano brothers had paid gunmen $15,000 to murder a rival narcotics trafficker who would be arriving at the airport in a white Marquis, the same kind of car in which the cardinal was traveling. According to Notimex, the government news agency, several of the gunmen have been sentenced to prison. Several arrest warrants remain outstanding. The Arellanos remain on the lam.)

Montaño said he was approached by Benjamin Arellano after the shooting and asked if he could get a letter from the Arellanos to the Holy Father disclaiming their guilt. Montaño said he told Arellano that the way to get a letter to the pope was through the papal nuncio in Mexico City. Montaño then asked Bishop Berlie if he could travel to Mexico City "to take care of a matter of conscience." Berlie gave him permission. Monsignor De La Cerda said he doubts that Berlie learned the nature of Montaño's "matter of conscience" until after Montaño had made several trips to Mexico City.

Montaño said several trips were needed because he first had to arrange the interviews with Geronimo Prigione, the papal nuncio and, later, interviews between the nuncio and each Arellano brother. De La Cerda notes that Montaño never traveled with the Arellanos but met them at offices of the nuncio in Mexico City. After each audience with the Arellanos, Prigione gave a account of the meetings to the president of Mexico, secretary of state, and federal attorney general, De La Cerda said. For his part, Prigione has refused to comment. "Of course the nuncio is silent," said De La Cerda. "He is a diplomat. He received the letter for the Holy Father. Did the Holy Father receive it? Who knows?"

Montaño said Berlie ordered him to Sacramento for "a year's sabbatical" after the scandal broke. At no time did the Arellanos give money for the seminary or a new cathedral, he said. Montaño now works in Hispanic outreach programs in various parishes, said De La Cerda, who also said he did not know Montaño's whereabouts in Sacramento.

Despite Montaño's explanation of his connection to the Arellanos, the Tijuana press has not quieted down. After Zeta broke the story, El Mexicano on June 4 ran a red headline in large type across the front page asserting "Berlie damaged the image of the church and of Father Montaño." There were several subheads: "Rafael Romo Muñoz must be more intelligent than his predecessor," and "It is necessary that the nuncio tell the contents of the Arellanos' letter." A week after Montaño's account first began hitting the newspapers, Channel 12, XEWT-TV, featured a two-hour special on the matter.

De La Cerda, while acknowledging that the Zeta and Channel 12 accounts were accurate, expressed exasperation with the press. "El Mexicano is a newspaper aligned with the government," he said. "They want to discredit the church. These stories are not important to the investigation into the cardinal's death. The attorney general has investigated all of this."

De La Cerda had unkind words for Father Montaño for re-igniting the controversy. "He is innocent of a crime, but he is very imprudent," said De La Cerda. "He is trying to clean his image, but at whose expense? The Church has suffered, but it will recover. The one who is suffering most is poor Emilio Berlie. It is the cost of fame. But I predict that Señor Berlie will not be in Yucatan long. He will be elevated to cardinal whether his enemies like it or not."