AMERICA/COLOMBIA - We need leaders who are committed and not "deaf and dumb authorities" says Mgr. Epalza

Buenaventura (Agenzia Fides) - "Violence destroys everything. Now we have to elect the Mayor, the Council, the Assembly and the regional government, and Buenaventura needs committed managers. I ask you not to sell your vote for money". This is what the Bishop of Buenaventura (Colombia) said to the faithful yesterday, Sunday, January 25. His Exc. Mgr. Héctor Epalza Quintero, P.S.S., also recalled that the port of Buenaventura is the most violent and poorest of Colombia.
According to the note sent to Fides from a local source, it was recalled that last year (February 19) it was the Bishop himself who organized the peace march under the slogan "Burying violence to live with dignity", to which the entire city of Buenaventura had participated and had provoked the intervention of the authorities of the central government to solve the most urgent needs.
Almost a year after, Mgr. Epalza stresses: "I told the President of Colombia that in Buenaventura there were more than a thousand deaf people that needed assistance, among many other groups of the population. But I realized that the local authorities are also deaf and dumb", alluding to the broken promises on health, education and safety and in particular young people.
The regional elections in Colombia will take place next October. But the critical situation of the port of Buenaventura has not changed since last year (see Fides 09/06/2014) and violence increases more and more (see Fides 20/01/2015). (CE) (Agenzia Fides 26/01/2015)