AMERICA/ARGENTINA - "There is social fear, now we have to heal the wounds of the people": the Bishop of Concordia talks about the violence

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Concordia (Agenzia Fides) – His Exc. Mgr. Luis Armando Collazuol, Bishop of Concordia (Argentina), participated in the negotiations between the governor Sergio Urribarri and representatives of the police, whose officers locked themselves up in the barracks to ask for better wages (see Fides 05/12/2013), leaving the towns at the mercy of vandals and looters. The Bishop noted that his speech has always aimed to "help dialogue between the parties", and therefore, in a note sent to Fides Agency, states: "We now have another tough task to carry out and that is to heal the wounds of the people".
In the note, the Bishop of Concordia talks about how he lived these critical hours: on the one hand, the protest of the police and on the other theft and looting: "Yesterday (Monday 9) we were very sad, there was a lot of tension in the city, still looting, violence, neighbors who were armed to defend their premises, while there were no police on the street". The Bishop stresses that "police officers should be paid equally, but society cannot be left without any protection".
Mgr. Collazuol had met with the priests of the Diocese of Concordia to assess "how to guide society in this difficult situation", and the proposal of some sort of presence was offered "to help the parties to dialogue in order to create peaceful, sincere dialogue, but always through institutional channels".
Concluding his story, the Bishop points out that "Now there is mistrust among the people, there is social fear.
As the Bishop of Jujuy had previously said (see Fides 10/12/2013), also Mgr. Collazuol points out, "even though there are people who need help, looting was not carried out because of hunger, food was not stolen, but household appliances". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 11/12/2013)


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