Bishop of Zipaquira abducted

[Laredo]

FYI:

Catholic Bishop Kidnapped in Colombia

By CARLOS GONZALEZ, Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - One of Latin America's leading bishops was kidnapped as he went to hold a religious service in central Colombia in the latest attack on religious figures in this war-battered nation.

No group claimed responsibility for Monday's kidnapping of Colombian bishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez, but the abduction took place in an area where leftist guerrillas are active.

Jimenez is president of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, an organization of Roman Catholic bishops that determines church policy in the region. The conference's mandate covers the 22 nations of Latin America, which hold almost half the world's Catholics.


Jimenez was abducted along with the Rev. Desiderio Orejuela as the men headed to the town of Pacho, 35 miles north of the capital Bogota, for a religious ceremony, fellow clergyman Raul Alfonso Carrillo told Radionet radio station.

Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II sent a telegram Tuesday expressing "deep pain" over the abduction, the Vatican (news - web sites) said. The note said John Paul was praying that those responsible free the bishop and "abandon all forms of violence."

Carrillo said he was told of the kidnapping by the men's driver, who was also captured but then released.

"We don't have any information as to whether it was guerrillas or common delinquents," Carrillo said.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are active in the area. The FARC has kidnapped a number of high-profile Colombians to push its political agenda. The rebels also kidnap average citizens, using ransoms to help finance their insurgency.

Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina, commander of the Colombian army, called on Colombians to help rescue Jimenez, who works at the Zipaquira cathedral just outside Bogota. The army offered a reward of about $37,000 for help in finding him.

Earlier this year, the archbishop of Cali was shot and killed after performing a mass wedding in a poor neighborhood. Archbishop Isaias Duarte was an outspoken critic of all sides in Colombia's conflict. Authorities are still investigating the motive for his murder.

In 1999, the smaller leftist National Liberation Army abducted dozens of worshippers from a church in Cali, angering Colombians and church leaders.

Colombia has the highest kidnapping rate in the world, with more than 3,000 people taken hostage last year. Colombians currently being held by the FARC include former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Antioquia state governor Guillermo Gaviria and former defense minister Gilberto Echeverry.

Roughly 3,500 people are killed every year in Colombia's 38-year civil war, which pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against government forces and an illegal right-wing paramilitary force.

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So much for going to Zipaquira, I suppose, though I know this had to be outside of there. It seemed we Gringos don't venture much beyond there. But, it's just the sort of thing I would have to read on a dreary day in November … sigh …

Damn, I was in Zipaquira last Saturday.

Postscript

The military quickly hunted down the kidnappers and safely freed the two clerics.

The first step to winning the war, is to try to win it.