Violence adds to Covid woes in Colombia
In the first twelve days of 2021, thirteen women and girls have already been murdered in Colombia, with three of them younger than 15 years
A Catholic bishop in Colombia has called for the immediate stop to "irrational violence" and for the government to ensure the security of all in a country already besieged by the coronavirus pandemic.
"The pain for the more than 1,000 dead due to the COVID-19 pandemic in our region is reinforced by the deaths that continue due to the other pandemic, namely irrational violence", said Bishop Juan Carlos Cárdenas Toro of Pasto.
The bishop was responding to the recent death of 15-year-old Marbel Rosero who was murdered with machetes in the El Tablon de Gómez municipality, Nariño, when she was on her way to bring her father lunch.
Marbel is just one in a series of murders for no apparent reason in the country. In the first twelve days of 2021, thirteen women and girls have already been murdered in Colombia, with three of them younger than 15 years, media have reported.
"This and other murders cannot leave us indifferent", said Bishop Cárdenas Toro, who celebrated Mass for the dead and their families and called for peace.
"Every human life is sacred", Bishop Cárdenas Toro said, inviting those responsible to repent and stop these violent actions, FIDES reported.
The bishop also called on the authorities to "do their utmost to guarantee the fundamental right to life of every person, in particular those whose rights have been violated and who are vulnerable: women, children of both sexes, adolescents, ethnic and peasant communities. People expect justice, truth and effective protective actions from you".
He called for prayers “for peace and reconciliation, but also to express, according to our faith, the rejection of violence and the commitment to respect for life".
On January 11, Maira Alejandra Orobio, 11, was found naked, sexually abused and beaten to death with a stick. That murder took place in the Apostolic Vicariate of Guapi, where Bishop Carlos Alberto Correa Martínez expressed his pain and rejection of all violence.
"We vehemently reject the torture, rape and subsequent murder of the little Maira, found on land belonging to the Vicariate near Hogar Mónica, a place of refuge and protection for vulnerable children", said the bishop.
"Every life is a gift, because someone gave it to us -- God for us believers -- and therefore no one has the right to destroy a life", Bishop Correa Martínez said while calling on “authorities to speed up the investigation into this murder".
According to the Colombian Femicide Observatory between January and November of last year, 568 murders against women and young girls were registered in the country: 42 in January, 46 in February, 42 in March, 26 in April, 31 in May, 54 in June, 50 in July, 68 in August, 85 in September, 64 in October and 60 in November.
The Andean country has a history of violence. The killings of former members of Colombia’s now-defunct Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, who signed a peace deal with the government of Juan Manuel Santos in 2016, continues.
Since FARC fighters disarmed in 2017 following the peace deal, 253 have been killed, including four already in 2021.
Besides such murders, Colombia has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has reported more than 1.9 million coronavirus infections, as well as over 48,600 related deaths.
Colombia’s Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo is the latest high profile individual infected with the coronavirus and is in intensive care, the government said on Monday.
Trujillo tested positive for the virus last week, a day after Foreign Minister Claudia Blum tested positive for coronavirus.