AGUA PRIETA, SONORA — After 12 years of priesthood and active defense of migrants, Iván Bernal has a new mission: He’s running for mayor of this busy city, which shares a border with Douglas, Arizona.
Bernal, 37, will compete in the June 7 election as a candidate for the National Action Party, or PAN, against Vicente Terán, husband of the current municipal president of Agua Prieta, Irma Villalobos. Both belong to the National Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Terán and Villalobos have served as mayors twice each over 17 years. Only two other individuals served as mayor in that time, when the husband and wife were in the Sonoran legislature. In Mexico continuous re-election of mayors and state representatives is not allowed, although Sonora last year lifted the ban on serving consecutive terms beginning in 2018.
Both the PAN and Bernal say he is running to prevent the powerful couple from continuing its dynasty.
From pastor to politician
Best known as “Father Iván,” Bernal was pastor of Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Catholic Church, in the Ferrocarril (Railroad) barrio. He was born in Nogales, Sonora, and graduated in 2003 from the seminary in Hermosillo, the state capital.
Since arriving in Agua Prieta the same year he became a priest, Bernal became known for his work with migrants deported from the United States. He oversaw the building of a dining room and shelter for the Center for Migrants Exodus (CAME), which since 2003 has served more than 80,000 people.
Bernal continues to head the center located on the church property.
He also contributed to the creation in 2006 of the Migrant Resource Center, which works with U.S.-based Frontera de Cristo, a Presbyterian border ministry serving the sister cities of Agua Prieta and Douglas.
“It’s a personal conviction to be on the side of the migrant,” Bernal said. “My work does not arise from political aspirations. On the contrary, I am a social activist and had been asked to be part of a movement of change.”
A difficult decision
As a priest he “had it all,” he said.
“I felt fulfilled, satisfied,” Bernal told 10 PAN supporters recently in a gathering at a private home. “But when I heard kids saying that when they got older they wanted to be gunmen, that was the moment when I said ‘Yes, I will put my hat into the ring.’ ”
In an earlier interview, Bernal said his interest in the priesthood came when he was a teen. When his father, who owned a grocery goods distribution company, asked him what he wanted to study, Bernal responded that he wanted to study business and attend the seminary.
He did both.
In 2008, Bernal entered college in Agua Prieta, graduating in 2012 with a degree in business administration. He also took classes in human rights.
Over the years, the priesthood was giving way to Bernal’s work with migrants and the family business in Agua Prieta.
“It’s been a long time that my main activity has been the cause of migrants and the business, rather than religious,” Bernal confessed.
He said the core of his work has been service, whether it be religious, social or political.
“And I will remain practicing my faith at any stage, a person driven by Christian principles,” he said.
Bernal said his political vision is “a social service that was requested” by PAN members. He agreed to enter local politics to address the problems of Agua Prieta: poverty, insecurity and increasing corruption.
Suspended from priestly work
The archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hermosillo, Ulises Macias, said that long before accepting his nomination, Bernal asked for a sabbatical from his pastoral duties, which was granted.
“In the end, he understood that he should respond to people’s hopes. It was a personal decision,” the archbishop wrote in an email.
“I reminded him what he already knew,” Macias said, “that our Ecclesiastical Canon Law does not allow a minister of religion, a priest, to aspire to a position of authority seeking the people’s vote.”
Surprise and acceptance
In the barrio, west of the Agua Prieta railroad tracks, some people are supportive of Bernal’s suspension.
“Yes, I was surprised by the news. I could not believe it. But I support him,” said Maria Figueroa, who lives near the church. “He always helps people, mostly migrants.”
In a corner store near the church, others welcomed the potential for change in the city.
“I think that he can do it. He knows the people,” said Roberto Garcia.
In a telephone interview, David Figueroa Ortega, mayor of Agua Prieta from 2003 to 2006, said Bernal’s candidacy is appealing if the suspended priest can break the control of Terán and Villalobos.
When Figueroa became mayor, at the age of 33, he had run against Terán, who had previously served as mayor from 1997 to 2000. Villalobos was mayor when Figueroa defeated her husband.
Bernal faces the same scenario.
Figueroa, who is also a former Consul of Mexico in San Jose, California, and Los Angeles, said Bernal is driven to support those who have less.
“I see him more towards the center-left,” Figueroa said of Bernal.
Fearful of indifference
Bernal said Agua Prieta is “boiling with popular discontent.”
While Agua Prieta confronts challenges posed by border insecurity and drug smuggling, Bernal said the city’s focus should be on prevention measures and generating opportunities.
Fighting drug traffickers is the federal government’s responsibility, he said.
As for his personal safety, Bernal shrugged off concerns.
“I’m not afraid,” he said. “My only fear is that the people will not wake up.”
