_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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An archbishop slain; others in danger
Bishops refuse government protection offer
One month after the slaying of Archbishop Isaías Duarte Cancino in Cali, Colombia, that country’s government was worried about the safety of other Catholic bishops and priests. And another killing, followed quickly by a kidnapping and a series of death threats, made it clear that the government’s concerns were justified.

Archbishop Duarte had been gunned down on March 16, outside a parish church in a run-down neighborhood of Cali. The killing took place shortly after the breakdown of talks between the country’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the government of President Andrés Pastrana. The archbishop had been highly critical of both FARC and another rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The two main Colombian leftist guerrilla groups, FARC and ELN, have each denied responsibility for the murder. While an impressive funeral Mass was being held at Cali’s cathedral, Pablo Catatumbo, FARC’s commander in the region, sent a cassette recording to several radio stations stating that “we have no responsibility whatsoever in the murder of Archbishop Duarte Cancino.” In his turn, ELN’s spokesman Francisco Galan said his group was “completely innocent” of the murder.

Soon after the killing, Archbishop Alberto Giraldo Jaramillo of Medellín revealed that the bishops of Colombia had turned down a government offer of police protection. President Pastrana had made the offer, saying: “We don’t want to lose another shepherd to the forces of evil and violence, so I am arranging with the police to protect the bishops.” However Archbishop Giraldo, the president of the Colombian bishops’ conference, reported that, “after speaking with my fellow brothers in the episcopate, we have all agreed to decline the protection.”

“We preach the truth of the Gospel, so we don’t need the state’s protection,” said the archbishop. “If someone is willing to kill us for that reason, we will gladly share the fate of our brother.”

Archbishop Isaías Duarte had been asked several times why he did not accept police or private protection, despite a series of death threats. The archbishop would reply: “If they want to kill me, they will not be stopped by security. Why should I put other lives at risk? Let them take only mine.”

The government continued to urge bishops to accept protection, however, and on March 25, Colonel Jorge Ivan Calderon was appointed to head a special task force providing security for Church officials. Calderon acknowledged that the bishops had declined such help, but said that “it is still the nation’s duty to provide security to all citizens, especially those who are so important for the people.” He also said that six priests and four bishops had received death threats—either from guerilla organizations or from drug cartels, and also said that the threats were “consistent and credible.”

The Archbishop of Bogota, Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Sáenz, greeted the appointment of Colonel Calderon, but said that “we trust in God and we know that the announcement of the Gospel comes with prosecution and suffering, so we will not be intimidated by the threats.”

On March 27, police arrested a suspect in the killing of Archbishop Duarte. Law-enforcement officials said that Juan Jairo Maturana, who was taken into custody in Cali, is the leader of one of the city’s most dangerous gangs. While stopping short of charging that Maturana himself killed the archbishop, a police spokesman said that the suspect “should be able to give information . . . because he is a person who deals in the business of death.”

The violence against Catholic clerics continued with a shocking murder on April 7. Father Juan Ramon Nunez was shot and killed as he distributed Communion during a Mass in the town of La Argentina. A layman, Joaquin Quebrada, was also killed by gunmen who marched up to the altar, shot the priest, and left the church without being apprehended.

In a telegram to Bishop Libardo Ramírez Gómez of the Garzón diocese, where the slain Father Nunez served, Pope John Paul II decried the “obstinate, ferocious, unjustified, and detestable violence” that had caused the priest’s death. He condemned the killers “who have no respect for the life of a priest of Christ, even as he exercises his sacred ministry.”

Cardinal Rubiano Sáenz said the Catholic Church in Colombia is facing “one of its darkest hours” after the murder of Father Nunez was quickly followed by the kidnapping of two Catholic priests and the forced exile of a close cooperator of the slain Archbishop Duarte.

Fathers Saulo Carreno and Luis Teodoro, pastors of the towns of Saravena and Arauquita in the Arauca province, were kidnapped by the ELN as they were on their way to meet members of the leftist guerilla group to negotiate the release of hostages.

On that same day, the director of communications of the Archdiocese of Cali, Father Gersain Paz, was asked by local authorities to leave the country. The priest had received 14 death threats during the weekend.