Agenzia Fides

Bogota (Agenzia Fides) - The President of the Colombian Episcopal Conference, His Exc. Mgr. Ruben Salazar Gomez, made an urgent appeal to the government and the guerrillas so that they open peace negotiations, according to news Fides Agency received. "The armed conflict must cease," Mgr. Salazar Gomez, Archbishop of Bogota said yesterday, at the opening of 93rd Plenary Assembly of the Episcopal Conference, during which the Bishops will analyze in detail the social, economic and environmental situation in relation to mining activity, legal and illegal. After the opening of the Assembly, Archbishop Salazar Gomez spoke to reporters on the issue of the Colombian conflict, stressing that the Church is conducive to projects approved by Congress: the law on the land and for compensation to victims of terrorism, in addition to the bill for new legal norms related to the peace process.
However, he reported that security in Colombia has not increased, because in his opinion, the strategy of guerrilla warfare has changed: there are terrorist attacks difficult to control that cause a lot of fear in the population.
The 93rd Plenary Assembly of the Colombian Episcopal Conference takes place from July 9 to 13. The analysis of the mining sector and the new pastoral regulations will be the two main themes. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 10/7/2012)