Colombian leaders reject claims that archbishop helped paramilitaries

Published: 2007-07-20

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- A right-wing paramilitary leader's declaration that an assassinated Colombian archbishop secretly helped lead the outlawed paramilitary organization has triggered objections from church and political leaders. Diego Fernando Murillo, a feared paramilitary leader known as "Don Berna," testified in court July 17 that another paramilitary leader had told him the late Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino of Cali was one of six secret leaders of the paramilitaries blamed for many of the worst massacres committed during Colombia's four-decade civil war. Murillo said that Carlos Castano, who was for years the right-wing organization's most powerful leader, ordered a search for the archbishop's killers. One man was convicted for killing the archbishop in 2002, but who ordered it is still a mystery. Castano was later killed by rival paramilitary leaders. Retired Bishop Fabian Marulanda Lopez of Florencia, secretary-general of the Colombian bishops' conference, called the idea that Archbishop Duarte had belonged to the paramilitaries impossible. Bishop Marulanda said he'd "always understood that (Archbishop Duarte) had a strong opposition to all of the outlaw groups."

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