{"id":852,"date":"2007-05-08T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-08T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/jess-hunter-bowman-colombias-martyrs.html"},"modified":"2007-05-08T11:05:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-08T11:05:00","slug":"jess-hunter-bowman-colombias-martyrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/jess-hunter-bowman-colombias-martyrs.html","title":{"rendered":"Jess Hunter-Bowman: Colombia’s Martyrs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Too often, those of us immersed in Colombia get lost in the sheer magnitude of the horrors of the five-decade-old armed conflict: over 31,000 civilians murdered in just the last 10 years; almost 3 million people driven out of their homes since 1985; more than 1,350 massacres perpetrated between 1994 and 2004; at least 134 Protestant church leaders killed in the past four years; an archbishop, a bishop, 32 priests and dozens of nuns murdered since 1987; three presidential candidates murdered in the 1990 campaign; a whole political party\u2014the Patriotic Union, with over 3,000 members\u2014exterminated; and on and on\u2026<\/p>\n

Swimming in this sea of death and destruction, we rarely stop to mourn individual losses. We focus on the forest instead of the trees. Why is there no Colombian Oscar Romero or Martin Luther King Jr.? Some would say it is unfair to hold one life up as more significant than the rest. Yet martyrs, as representatives of a people\u2019s suffering, are powerful reminders of the human cost of violence.<\/p>\n

While many should be remembered for their sacrifice for justice and peace, this May we will commemorate two in particular.<\/p>\n

In the wee hours of Monday morning, May 19, 1997, paramilitary gunmen stormed the home of Mario Calderon and Elsa Alvarado. Mario \u2013 a former Jesuit priest who had dedicated his life to working for the poor, human rights, and environmental protection \u2013 and Elsa \u2013 a human rights worker who founded the Cien Dias<\/em> human rights magazine \u2013 were both human rights defenders at the Jesuit organization CINEP.<\/p>\n

Elsa and Mario were shot 40 times each. Elsa\u2019s father, Carlos, was also killed, and her mother, Elvira, was wounded. Mario and Elsa are \u201cmartyr(s) for social justice who tried to build a country based on human rights for all, rather than based on the privileges of a few,\u201d said Father Alejandro Angulo S.J., director of CINEP.<\/p>\n

On May 18, thousands will gather in Bogot\u00e1\u2019s central plaza to commemorate the lives of Elsa and Mario. The plaza will be full of photos of the thousands who have died in the conflict, and while they will be remembered, we will focus on two trees within the forest of memories.<\/p>\n

People of faith throughout the United States and Canada are invited to join in this commemoration of the lives of Elsa and Mario and all Colombians who have given their lives for justice and peace in Colombia. Join us for the second annual Days of Prayer and Action for Peace in Colombia on May 20-21. Find out how here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jess Hunter-Bowman<\/strong> is the Andean Regional Director for Witness for Peace<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too often, those of us immersed in Colombia get lost in the sheer magnitude of the horrors of the five-decade-old armed conflict: over 31,000 civilians murdered in just the last 10 years; almost 3 million people driven out of their homes since 1985; more than 1,350 massacres perpetrated between 1994 and 2004; at least 134…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":379,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nJess Hunter-Bowman: Colombia's Martyrs - God's Politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/jess-hunter-bowman-colombias-martyrs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jess Hunter-Bowman: Colombia's Martyrs - God's Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Too often, those of us immersed in Colombia get lost in the sheer magnitude of the horrors of the five-decade-old armed conflict: over 31,000 civilians murdered in just the last 10 years; 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