The Bishop of Istmina-Tadó (Colombia), Mons. Mario de Jesús Álvarez Gómez, rejected the new armed strike that the National Liberation Army (ELN) decreed in the department of Chocó and is causing the confinement of the population.
The armed strike, which began on February 18 and will culminate on Friday 21, mainly affects rural areas, such as the municipalities of Istmina, Medio San Juan, Nóvita, Sipí and Coast of San Juan.
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“With insistence, as a Catholic Church and as a bishop of the Diocese of Istmina-Tadó, I reject these in fact that they only feed the confrontation and create much more violence, and make inequality every day is even greater among us. This is not the way, ”he said in a video.
According to The Ombudsman saidfrom February 4 clashes between the ELN and the Gulf clan occur, “which seeks its territorial expansion in the area.”
He pointed out that before starting the armed strike, confinements had been recorded following the order to suspend navigation in the rivers, “as well as the presence of antipersonnel mines near hamlets and schools. Until now, at least 1,600 people have been affected by mass displacements and confinements in the region. ”
Mons. Álvarez Gómez said that as a Catholic Church does not point out “no line of political action”, but that it remains in the search for the common good, together with the communities.
“We are demarcated from all political, ideological appetite, only inspired by the gospel that calls us to be human and to work for humanism here in the department of Chocó, here in this San Juan River, in all the communities that compose it,” he said .
“It is the moment of peace, and in this we as a Church will continue to fight and continue to accompany all our brothers who in the midst of the war need our company, our word and our aid,” he said.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, in Colombia “at least eleven humanitarian emergency foci are active,” one of these is Chocó.
The others are in Nariño, Cauca, the Pacific Vallecaucano, Antioquia, the Sierra Nevada, Perijá, Magdalena Medio, Arauca, Meta, Guaviare, South of Córdoba, Buenaventura, Tolima and Putumayo.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.