Buenaventura, Colombia, Feb 9, 2022 / 17:14 pm
Since 2017 Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya has led the Diocese of Buenaventura, centered on one of Colombia’s main seaports. His work announcing the Gospel and denouncing violence, drug trafficking, and organized crime has drawn more than one death threat.
The threats have recently re-emerged, prompting the Colombian bishops’ conference to post a video Feb. 7 expressing the bishops’ great concern for the personal safety of Bishop Jaramillo.
“He, as a good shepherd and carrying in his heart the suffering of his people, has denounced what is happening there: how the armed actors are acting viciously in this region against that population,” stated Father Darío Echeverri, secretary general of the National Conciliation Commission of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference.
“And since he has had the courage, the prophetic bravery to denounce what is happening there, now he is the victim. They have forbidden him to go to areas of his diocese. They’ve banned him from certain places,” explained the priest.