ishop
Isaías Duarte Cancino, Archbishop of Cali (480km Southeast of
Bogotà),
was assassinated Saturday night in a popular neighborhood of the
Colombian city. The brutal crime was carried out at the end of the
mass celebration held in the church of the Good Shepherd, by two
young assassins who opened fire, hitting the Bishop with six
bullets. Archbishop Duarte, died shortly after 21:00 local time.
A Prayer for Colombia’s Government and Rebels
by Archbishop
Isaias Duarte Cansino
We ask you, God
that the guerilla fighters in Colombia
may feel deep sorrow in their souls
for the evil they commit when they kill
an innocent, defenseless brother or sister.
That they may understand that theirs is not a just war,
but merely a repeating of savage acts
of the saddest times of human history.
We pray they will be converted
and turn away from their evil deeds.
We ask you, Lord
that the government may guarantee
that the Constitution is observed
on the path to peace and social justice
in harmony among all Colombians.
Please God, may the civilian society
sit at the negotiating table to defend its rights
and obtain from the rebels
that which the government appears unable to accomplish.
Reworded from an interview of El Pais, Aug. 25, 2000
One of the most charismatic figures of the Colombian Catholic church leaves the stage, well known for his positions taken against the guerrilla’s and the narco-traffic. In an article published a year and a half ago in the local newspaper ‘El Pais’, the Archbishop asked an emblematic question to the readers: “Until we have to capture groups of vandals that feel they are authorized to spread violence and terror, only because they have a bracelet with the initials ELN or FARC, acting as a crowd of bloodthirsty fratricide’s (…) and committing crimes against humanity?”. In particular, the Bishop had denounced in the last few weeks, how the dirty money of the narco-traffic was used for the electoral campaign. 63 years old, Bishop Duarte was ordained priest in 1963 and consecrated Bishop on June 17, 1985.
Local press sources report that the assassination of the Archbishop raised sorrow and commotion in the whole of Colombia. While the news of the tragic episode spread, a ‘blackout’ without precedent – caused by an overload, according to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Mrs. Luisa Fernanda Lafourie – leaving the capital Bogotà and various regions without electricity. The Archbishops mourning was remembered on Sunday, at the end of the customary Angelus, by the Holy Father, John Paul II, who expressed his deep sorrow for the ‘barbaric’ assassination, underlining how the Bishop with his “firm opposition against all forms of violence and his commitment to social promotions”, paid with his life. In expressing his sorrow, the Pope also urged the Colombian population “to continue with the path of dialogue, excluding every kind of violence, blackmail and abduction and must firmly engage to follow the real paths of peace”.
The head of the Catholic Church in Colombia, Archbishop Alberto Giraldo Jaramillo, intervened on Sunday. “It was the distinction, the sincerity and the courage that always distinguished Bishop Duarte”, said Monsignor Giraldo Jaramillo, underlining the prophecy of the Archbishop’s mourning.
Meanwhile, always yesterday, at the end of an extraordinary security council held in Cali, the Colombian President Andres Pastrana announced that his government has offered a reward of a billion pesos (nearly $500,000), to who is able to give information that will lead to the arrest of the assassins of Bishop Duarte. In the last few hours at least 500 people suspected of being involved in the assassination have been stopped (MISNA)
(From MISNA)