Bishops say threats along Colombian coast interfere with church work

Published: 2007-04-10

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Recent threats against Catholic institutions, indigenous and human rights organizations along Colombia's Pacific coast have formed a pattern of intimidation that has increasingly interfered with the church's human rights work, said the Colombian bishops' conference. The bishops said in the statement April 1 that there has been a "considerable increase in selective killings, disappearances, massacres, displacements, threats and generalized fear in the civilian population in many parts of the region." Though the bishops did not give details of the threats they received by e-mail March 20, they said the group sending the threats called itself "New Generation." They added that "nothing has been done" about the problems and called on the military and government agencies to address the region's crisis. The central government "doesn't want to know about or recognize the events that attack people and institutions in outlying regions," the bishops said.

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