or
the Church in Colombia the assassination of Archbishop Duarte is a
very clear signal: we must continue to work for justice and peace,
we must continue to fight drug-trafficking mentality and
drug-trafficking, we must work for reconciliation among all
Colombians". Fides was told this by Archbishop Luis
Augusto Castro Quiroga of Tunja, shortly after the funeral of
Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino, shot dead by gunmen in Cali on
March 16. The funeral was celebrated on Tuesday March 19, in Cali
Cathedral.
The people of Colombia look with horror as attacks against harmless civilians continue: while the militia claims to represent the people of Colombia at the negotiating table, they continue to humiliate and offend men and women and children with all sorts of violence, kidnapping and
death.
Archb. Isaias Duarte Cansino
Aug. 25, 2000
"This is a very difficult moment, but it is precisely the time to have apostolic courage. And the Church in Colombia is courageous and united. Tragic events like the assassination of Mgr. Duarte make us realize that we must continue the task of mediating between the conflicting parties, striving to approach them and bring them all to forgiveness, as Pope John Paul II teaches: “No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness” (Pope’s Peace Day Message, 2002)
On the investigation, the police are also coming under pressure, particularly after General Alfonso Roa's comment that he had received no information of threats, as this was directly refuted by a spokesman for the archbishop's office in Cali, Father Gersain Paz. The priest of Good Shepherd Church (“Buen Pastor”) where the archbishop was killed saw the suspects at 4:00pm on Saturday, he called the police and asked for security to be reinforced.
"I
don't know why they did not provide sufficient security, which left
him to die without any protection," said a distraught Father
Paz. The head of the Catholic Church in Colombia, Monsignor
Alberto Giraldo, was visibly crushed by the news. He asked: "What's going on? Who are the dark forces that
are trying to destabilize this poor country?"
The Colombian president has been heckled as he arrived at a cathedral to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of Archbishop Isaias Duarte, who was shot dead on Saturday.
How much longer will our country be left to suffer at the hands of vandals who think that the stripes on their shirts entitle them to sow panic and terror in our land, acting like blood-thirsty, fratricidal savages, committing violence, kidnappings, genocide and all sorts of violence against the defenseless civilians, in a word crimes against
humanity?
Archb. Isaias Duarte Cansino
Aug. 25, 2000
Archbishop Duarte was given the final salute by his archdiocese in Cali cathedral filled to capacity with many more people in the cathedral square. The funeral was presided on behalf of the Pope by Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz, Archbishop of Bogota, who concelebrated the Mass with all the bishops of Colombia, the Nuncio, and about a hundred priests. Mgr. Duarte was buried in the atrium of the cathedral as he desired.
"Before the funeral, we bishops and the Nuncio held a meeting to reflect on the outstanding figure of Mgr. Duarte and to identify priorities for the Colombian Church after this grave tragedy – Mgr. Quiroga continues-. We remarked on the amazing apostolic spirit of the late Archbishop: he combined love of God and charity to the poor with courageous denouncing of violence and corruption. Colombia is in the grip of various kinds of violence: political which is now armed subversion, economic violence called drug-trafficking, and cultural violence seen in common criminality. The city of Cali suffers in particular from all these types of violence. In the past the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC took the entire community of La Maria Church hostage during the celebration of the Eucharist. Shortly afterwards there was a second episode of group kidnapping. Mgr. Duarte was very firm with the kidnappers and demanded the immediate return of all the hostages to their families. As the elections drew near he openly denounced the involvement of drug-trafficking money. There is every indication that drug traffickers, seriously damaged by the Archbishop’s statements, hired gun men to kill Mgr. Duarte."
(From Fides and BBC)