Samuel Ruiz García (3 November 1924 – 24 January 2011) was a Mexican Roman Catholic prelate who served as bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, from 1959 until 2000.[1] This zone in Mexico is characterized by its poverty and its indigenous population. Some 40,000 indigenous Mexicans received some kind of help from this bishop for over 10 years.[citation needed]
Samuel Ruiz, who was born in Irapuato, Guanajuato, offered his help in conflicts in Central America and defended indigenous populations in Mexico and in Central and South America. He contributed largely to calm the difficult situation between the federal government and the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (Zapatista Army of National Liberation). He presided over the funeral of 45 members of the civil society group Las Abejas after the 1997 massacre in Acteal.[citation needed]
In 1996, Ruiz was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for Peace on Earth. In 1997, Ruiz received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders[2] in recognition of his human rights work defending indigenous populations in Mexico, particularly in Chiapas.
He was awarded the Simón Bolívar International Prize from UNESCO in 2000 due to his efforts to fight poverty, exclusion, corruption, violence and for his help in the mutual understanding of Latin Americans.[citation needed]
He died on 24 January 2011, aged 86, in Mexico City (Hospital Ángeles del Pedregal).[3]
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Ruiz, Samuel |
| Alternative names |
Ruiz García, Samuel (Spanish) |
| Short description |
Mexican Roman Catholic bishop and indigenous rights activist. |
| Date of birth |
3 November 1924 |
| Place of birth |
Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico |
| Date of death |
24 January 2011 |
| Place of death |
Mexico City, Mexico |
