Colombia: Bishop speaks out against violence caused by ELN and dissidents in Catatumbo

As a result of the clashes between armed groups in the Catatumbo area that left more than 30 dead, the Bishop of Ocaña (Colombia), Mons. Orlando Olave Villanoba, urged to continue searching for paths of peace, reaffirming that the Catholic Church is committed to achieve said goal.

Since January 15, this area of ​​the department of Norte de Santander has once again suffered from violence. According to information, the first incident was the murder of three members of a family, including a six-month-old baby.

The next day, fear reached the municipalities of Teorama and El Tarra, where clashes between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents forced families to take refuge in their homes to avoid being victims of crossfire.

“What is happening in Catatumbo is extremely serious,” said the ombudsman, Iris Marín Ortiz, and recalled that in November the entity “had issued an alert” that this could happen.

“More than 30 people are reported dead according to confirmed information, at least 5 peace signers killed, 10 injured,” he added. in your X account. The defender called on the ELN to respect human rights “and immediately cease attacks against the population.”

In a video published on the diocese website, Bishop Olave Villanoba expressed his solidarity with the victims and called on armed groups to put violence aside, since war “is human defeat” and with it “no one wins.” “We all lose.”

The prelate also addressed the national government and the military forces to ask them “to guarantee, first, a good, honorable standard of living for the people who have to turn to the paths of illegality and violence.”

The bishop encouraged the population not to get tired of praying, because “prayer moves the hearts of every man and every woman.”

President Petro suspends dialogue with the ELN

For his part, President Gustavo Petro pointed out in your X account that the dialogue process with the ELN was suspended because “they have no desire for peace.”

Given this, Father Jesús Albeiro Parra Solís, executive director of the Regional Coordination of the Colombian Pacific, asked the government “not to definitively close the possibilities of resuming the dialogue table with the ELN,” nor to interrupt “dialogues with the other illegal armed structures and the socio-legal roundtables that are in place.”

In a statement from the Regional Coordination of the Colombian Pacific, the priest rejected in a statement the violence of the ELN and the FARC dissidents.

He pointed out that without a doubt the ELN “has not shown that it has the decision to reach a peace agreement,” however, he warned that there are sectors that do not want peace and were waiting for this moment.

“On the other hand,” he added, “the national government has also made a series of errors in these dialogue processes, including the absence of a clear strategy and roadmap to advance in these dialogues.”

The statement culminates with a call to social, human rights and humanitarian organizations to generate broad citizen mobilization for dialogue, peace and the defense of life and not allow war and violence to be the matrix that guides the future. of our country.”