Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cali (Agenzia Fides) - The Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Cali in their meeting on February 5, examined the social context and the rise of violence in the Buenaventura area, within the Cauca Valley, and issued a statement in which they express their concern for the new cycle of violence and their support for the Bishop of Buenaventura and the population of the area. Homocides committed in the area in January tripled compared to last year.
"We join our voice to that of our brother Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, who warned, with firmness and anguish, about the risk of massacres in different municipalities and fractions of the district", they write in their message, sent to Fides, in which they denounce "the mafia conquest" of inhabited centers by organized crime gangs and cartels, who appropriate the precarious market economy, "causing entire neighborhoods to be evacuated and selectively murdering young people". They therefore reaffirm: "We support the manifestation of rejection against those who want to subject worthy and honest people to the bloodthirsty yoke of criminal affairs".
The Bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Cali, made up of the Archdiocese of Cali and the dioceses of Buga, Cartago, Palmira and Buenaventura, continue: "The great human chain, as an expression of the citizens' protest, convened for February 10, will express moral solidarity, peaceful yet strong unity and alliance of the people who intertwine as a single force, to isolate the visible and hidden tyrants, who make up the vile web of homocide and genocide, within the city and the Pacific and Southwest region".
Finally, the Bishops assure all men and women of their prayer, their blessing and the support of the Church, entrusting the civil, military and national authorities to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that they may give strength "to the desire for good, life and dignity, that drives the great majority of Colombians". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 9/2/2021)
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