"The priest done it!": Colombia says priest led paramilitaries that committed atrocities

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia says priest led paramilitaries that committed atrocities
By Mike Ceaser
Catholic News Service

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian governmental authorities said a Catholic priest from a town outside Medellin led paramilitary groups that committed rapes and massacres and persecuted evangelical ministers and believers.

The priest, Father Oscar Ortiz Henao, was arrested in mid-April. Medellin chief prosecutor Martha Penagos said authorities had “a great deal of evidence” against the priest, including testimony and telephone recordings, from an investigation that lasted for more than a year.

Prosecutors said Father Ortiz created a paramilitary group in the town of San Antonio de Prado.

The paramilitaries, right-wing forces that have fought alongside the country’s own military, are notorious for committing human rights violations, including chainsaw massacres, recruitment of child soldiers and forcing peasants from their homes. The paramilitary groups are also known for carrying out so-called “social cleansing” operations, in which they kill prostitutes, thieves, drug addicts and other social “undesirables.”

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