Bishop Tulio Duque Gutierrez of Pereira, Colombia, has lent his support to President Alvaro Uribe’s ultimatum against militias in the province of Meta, after a giant cocaine laboratory associated with the United Self-Defenses of Colombia was found.

Bishop Duque said the militias “are not helping the country” and that therefore the President “is right in getting upset and demanding acts of good will.”

The bishop lamented that “the coffee-producing region is experiencing these problems” and he encouraged authorities “to continue combating the drug trafficking associated with illegally armed groups” that “are enclosing themselves in various municipalities of my ecclesiastical jurisdiction.”