Jan 17, 2008 / 13:13 pm
The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Colombia, Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro, revealed this Wednesday that representatives of the bishops’ conference have made contact with the leaders of the Marxist rebel group FARC in order to negotiate an eventual humanitarian accord.
The archbishop announced that the bishops have asked the FARC to allow a team from the Red Cross to visit the camps where it is holding thousands of people hostage, in order to evaluate their state of health and if necessary provide them adequate medical care. “If the FARC accepts this request, the Church will be willing to accompany this humanitarian mission,” Archbishop Castro said.
He noted that contact with the FARC is “being carried out with absolute discretion” and that the bishops are “very grateful for the support that we have received from various quarters in order to move ahead with this proposal.”
“We must always have hope. All of the kidnapped survive on hope. We must be optimistic. If we lose hope we fall into despair and that leads to nowhere,” the archbishop added.