Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo, Bishop of Buenaventura (Colombia) blessed this port city from a helicopter to ask for an end to the violence and poverty suffered by the population.
The Prelate blessed the city on Friday, 4 February in the afternoon, in a flyover that began at the Buenaventura airport and lasted approximately an hour and a half.
The Bishop sprinkled the holy water in the places in which he passed and repeatedly made the sign of the cross with a crucifix.
In a video shared by the Diocese of Buenaventura, Msgr. Jaramillo said that the blessing was made over “the city, the rivers, the estuaries, the population” to ask “God to bless our port, help the authorities and all those who build peace and have the goodwill to always seek the good of the entire community”.
“May God’s blessing come and enlighten and help those people who use violence to desist from their interests so that we see that life is sacred,” the Prelate said in statements to local media.
“We want to contribute and help so that we can return the peasants to where they have always been living. They cannot be taken out through threat or weapons,” he added.
At the end of January, the Ombudsman’s Office requested action in the face of the displacement of at least 700 people fleeing “intimidation and threats from armed men,” who identify themselves as members of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, also known as Clan del Golfo.