Bogotá, Colombia, Aug 19, 2020 / 15:04 pm
The Colombian Bishops' Conference appealed for peace following two brutal massacres of young people last week in the country.
In an August 18 statement, the bishops expressed their "deep grief and concern" over the killings.
"We pray to God for the victims and we express our closeness and solidarity with their families, the inhabitants of the cities where these crimes occurred, and the ecclesial communities of the Archdiocese of Cali and the Diocese of Ipiales," they said.
According to local media reports, eight young adults were killed by a group of armed men in Samaniego as they were having a conversation in a home on August 15.
Jhon Rojas, the governor of the Department of Nariño, where the town of Samaniego is located, told Semana Magazine that a wave of violence in the last two months has taken the lives of 20 people.