Colombia: Bishop receives death threats from drug gangs

Bishop Rubén Jaramillo. Image Fides

Source: Fides

Concerns have been raised for the safety of a bishop in Colombia after he received a number of deaths threats. Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo of Buenaventura has been very critical of the violent clashes between drug gangs in his diocese. Now those gangs have threatened him.

Fr Darío Echeverri, Secretary General of the National Conciliation Commission said: "We are very concerned for the life of Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo of Buenaventura, who, as a good pastor and with the pain of his people in his heart, denounced what was happening in this region where the armed groups had acted against the population."

He said Bishop Jaramillo has had the "prophetic courage to denounce what was happening... Now he is the victim." Fr Dario Echeverri said there are places in the Buenaventura port area that are unsafe for Bishop Ruben to visit, although they belong to his ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

Fr Echeverri urges the national government "to pay special attention to this port, the most important in Colombia," and calls on the armed groups to stop attacks on the Afro and indigenous population living there, as well as on immigrants from all over the country.

For some time Bishop Jaramillo has been calling for decisive action by the authorities because, according to the bishop, "this is not just violence, it is a real war."

The Buenaventura port area is the scene of clashes between criminal gangs, fighting for control of the area, in order to use it for drug trafficking and to impose taxes on goods. The criminals use machine guns and grenades. Many families have sought refuge elsewhere, many others are trapped by armed clashes.