Colombia: A Catholic bishop used a helicopter to spray holy water over an entire city that he claims is being plagued by demons. Msgr Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, bishop for the Colombian seaport city of Buenaventura ad borrowed a chopper from the navy in a bid to cleanse the streets of “wickedness” earlier in July.
“We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura from the air and pour holy water onto it … to see if we exorcise all those demons that are destroying our port,” Msgr Montoya is reported to have told a Colombian radio station. “So that God’s blessing comes and gets rid of all the wickedness that is in our streets,” said the bishop, ordained in 2017 by Pope Francis.
Buenaventura, Colombia’s biggest Pacific seaport, is notorious for drug trafficking and the violence inflicted by criminal gangs. Human Rights Watch issued a report on the city detailing the recent history of abductions by successor groups to right-wing paramilitary guerrillas. The gangs have been known to maintain “chop-up houses” where they slaughter victims, states te report published by Independent.co.uk.
Although there have been efforts to tackle violence by creating a “humanitarian zone” in the city, the bishop said there have been over 50 murders in Buenaventura in 2019 so far.
