Colombia: Diocese of Santa Marta raises alarm over worsening violence

The Diocese of Santa Marta published a statement yesterday to warn about the “situation of terror experienced” in recent weeks in the Colombian department of Magdalena, where the presence of armed groups causes insecurity in the populations.

In its text, the diocese of northern Colombia referred to the case of the Zona Bananera municipality and other places in the department, where violent actors “promote armed strikes.”

The Church in Santa Marta, expresses the statement“wants to raise its voice of alarm to society in general so that we do not condemn the communities that are at the center of this painful situation to oblivion.”

In that sense, remember that the media has the task of “giving visibility to this unconcealable reality that directly affects the lives of all the inhabitants of these municipalities.”

“With the exercise of acute investigative journalism we can maintain the attention of the entire society to the drama that this situation of unbridled violence has caused. And, thus, let us all mobilize to overcome this fratricidal violence,” he assures.

Likewise, it states that, together with the Diocese of El Banco, it maintains its “permanent willingness to collaborate, in whatever is within our reach, to open paths of reconciliation and peace in our territories.”

The Catholic Church, “due to its vocation and mission, is always willing to establish bridges of dialogue that allow us to raise hope for better times for our brothers and sisters of Magdalena,” he adds.

The statement recalls that during his visit to Colombia, in September 2017, Pope Francis noted that if the country “wants a stable and lasting peace, it has to urgently take a step in the direction of the common good, equity, justice “, respecting human nature and its demands.”

“Only if we help untie the knots of violence, will we unravel the complex knot of disagreements,” said the Holy Father. in his homily delivered in Cartagena on September 10, 2017.