Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Roraima (Fides Service) – At 5pm local time on Thursday 8 January three Consolata missionaries taken hostage from their mission in Sumuru, in the Brazilian state of Roraima on 6 January were released. The three men are safe and well, the Provincial Superior of the Consolata Missionaries told Fides Service. The 8 students from the mission’s Formation Center kidnapped with the religious are also safe.
Father Marco Campus, another priest who works at Sumuru mission, told Fides what happened: “The mission was surrounded by angry Sumuru Indians who took the missionaries and students as hostages. Many of the rioters had obviously been instigated by powerful landowners opposers to the government’s decision to establish Indian land reserves in the area”. The missionaries are Father Ronildo França (Colombian), Father César Avellaneda (Brazilian) and Brother João Carlos Martinez (Spanish). Father César Avellaneda is not a resident at the mission he was only there on a visit with a group of seminarians from the capital. It is not clear what moved the kidnappers to release the group. Yesterday they were demanding the presence of the media and a meeting with President Lula of Brazil. Father Campus said the release may be the result of a personal intervention by Roraima State Governor. (S.L.) (Fides Service 9/1/2004 – lines 16; words 212)
