The Archdiocese of Popayán, where the municipality of Caldono is located, has expressed its “profound concern” over the violent attack on Bototo and Muñoz, “who would be ordained a priest next month.”
“We strongly condemn this attack that could have mowed down the lives of two people who on behalf of the Gospel are totally at the service of this community,” the archdiocese said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“Miraculously, their injuries are not seriously life-threatening today. Their injuries remind us, however, of the wounds of the entire civil society of Cauca who are ongoing victims of this armed violence beyond all principles of rationality and respect for international humanitarian law,” the archdiocese said.
According to the people’s ombudsman’s office, the municipality of Caldono is at extreme risk due to the presence of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that refused to accept the 2016 peace agreement reached with the government.
According to the government’s Early Warning 019-2022, those at risk from the armed groups are Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, ethnic government officials, children, students, women, adolescents, farmers; teachers, public servants, human rights defenders, and community leaders.
The Archdiocese of Popayán reminded the illegal groups that “war has parameters, that not everything is allowed.”