The Prague Post - Meet two women who uncovered clergy sex abuse in Colombia

EUR -
AED 4.176437
AFN 80.755833
ALL 98.648486
AMD 442.139184
ANG 2.049303
AOA 1041.541772
ARS 1324.68065
AUD 1.777787
AWG 2.049541
AZN 1.933025
BAM 1.953772
BBD 2.277336
BDT 138.106667
BGN 1.954281
BHD 0.428557
BIF 3380.591472
BMD 1.137055
BND 1.489454
BOB 7.853814
BRL 6.400827
BSD 1.13663
BTN 96.815095
BWP 15.518031
BYN 3.719739
BYR 22286.276316
BZD 2.28323
CAD 1.5734
CDF 3272.443989
CHF 0.93841
CLF 0.028021
CLP 1075.301608
CNY 8.26582
CNH 8.259794
COP 4772.219474
CRC 574.618796
CUC 1.137055
CUP 30.131955
CVE 110.150197
CZK 24.923104
DJF 202.40993
DKK 7.465445
DOP 66.98225
DZD 150.667745
EGP 57.808781
ERN 17.055824
ETB 152.14983
FJD 2.570256
FKP 0.848698
GBP 0.850756
GEL 3.121201
GGP 0.848698
GHS 16.254059
GIP 0.848698
GMD 81.292118
GNF 9844.696158
GTQ 8.753876
GYD 238.511413
HKD 8.819163
HNL 29.496646
HRK 7.534812
HTG 148.725646
HUF 404.548197
IDR 18880.228321
ILS 4.130978
IMP 0.848698
INR 96.330153
IQD 1489.054593
IRR 47870.012032
ISK 146.112985
JEP 0.848698
JMD 180.054715
JOD 0.806515
JPY 162.557884
KES 147.024932
KGS 99.435329
KHR 4550.237544
KMF 491.491876
KPW 1023.30654
KRW 1616.574042
KWD 0.348451
KYD 0.947217
KZT 581.42657
LAK 24585.484096
LBP 101843.402408
LKR 340.486628
LRD 227.333064
LSL 21.09141
LTL 3.357427
LVL 0.687793
LYD 6.218546
MAD 10.543611
MDL 19.561698
MGA 5129.721262
MKD 61.514437
MMK 2387.123721
MNT 4063.014709
MOP 9.082374
MRU 44.999693
MUR 51.349716
MVR 17.5123
MWK 1970.971772
MXN 22.221294
MYR 4.907553
MZN 72.782808
NAD 21.09141
NGN 1822.73333
NIO 41.826591
NOK 11.768064
NPR 154.909315
NZD 1.919124
OMR 0.437768
PAB 1.136615
PEN 4.167275
PGK 4.709092
PHP 63.461878
PKR 319.314909
PLN 4.277447
PYG 9102.552968
QAR 4.143681
RON 4.977689
RSD 117.078491
RUB 92.896576
RWF 1624.827971
SAR 4.265049
SBD 9.507254
SCR 16.188589
SDG 682.796347
SEK 10.968924
SGD 1.484846
SHP 0.893547
SLE 25.868169
SLL 23843.454557
SOS 649.631497
SRD 41.900187
STD 23534.741016
SVC 9.945678
SYP 14783.316789
SZL 21.084303
THB 37.969652
TJS 12.002679
TMT 3.991063
TND 3.400056
TOP 2.663094
TRY 43.77866
TTD 7.711996
TWD 36.357785
TZS 3064.36292
UAH 47.221906
UGX 4165.658378
USD 1.137055
UYU 47.859277
UZS 14717.725293
VES 98.409954
VND 29569.11304
VUV 136.91211
WST 3.147822
XAF 655.282682
XAG 0.035124
XAU 0.000346
XCD 3.072948
XDR 0.814961
XOF 655.276925
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.635358
ZAR 21.176909
ZMK 10234.862539
ZMW 31.797999
ZWL 366.131218
  • RBGPF

    -0.4500

    63

    -0.71%

  • BCC

    -0.8300

    94.5

    -0.88%

  • SCS

    0.1500

    10.01

    +1.5%

  • CMSC

    -0.0800

    22.24

    -0.36%

  • CMSD

    -0.1300

    22.35

    -0.58%

  • RELX

    0.4300

    53.79

    +0.8%

  • NGG

    0.1900

    73.04

    +0.26%

  • GSK

    0.9100

    38.97

    +2.34%

  • RIO

    0.0100

    60.88

    +0.02%

  • BTI

    0.4700

    42.86

    +1.1%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1300

    10.12

    -1.28%

  • BCE

    0.1100

    21.92

    +0.5%

  • AZN

    1.7800

    71.71

    +2.48%

  • BP

    -1.0600

    28.07

    -3.78%

  • JRI

    0.1300

    12.93

    +1.01%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.58

    +0.1%

Meet two women who uncovered clergy sex abuse in Colombia
Meet two women who uncovered clergy sex abuse in Colombia

Meet two women who uncovered clergy sex abuse in Colombia

They were working for a Catholic bishop and had clear-cut orders from Pope Francis himself -- probe reports of pedophile priests in a city in Colombia.

Text size:

What these two investigators -- two Catholic women with experience conducting criminal probes -- found was an utter bombshell: a network of predatory clergymen that sexually abused at least 20 people, reportedly taking turns with one of them.

The abuse was committed in Villavicencio, a central Colombian city of half a million people with a cathedral in the town square, and parts of the surrounding area that fall under one archdiocese.

The pope says fighting clergy sex abuse is one of his priorities, and in 2019, he told the bishop of Villavicencio, Oscar Urbina, to investigate alleged abuses by priests.

The bishop turned to Olga Cristancho, 68, a seasoned former prosecutor, and Socorro Martinez, 59, who used to work in the attorney general's office and has experience probing massacres in Colombia, a country that endured decades of conflict involving government forces, leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.

But shortly after the church probe began, these two women distanced themselves from Urbina, suspecting a cover-up and launching an investigation of their own.

Cristancho said she was shocked by what she learned.

"I never dreamed of such a thing," she told AFP. The women sleuths gathered evidence despite what they called interference from the bishop.

Among their finds: one man told them priests started abusing him at age 15 and took turns doing so.

Priests also used code words to communicate with each other, Cristancho said.

"One would say to the other, 'I am sending you a CD,' but that meant, 'I am sending you that boy'," Cristancho said.

The two investigators sent the conclusions of their effort to the Vatican in 2019 -- and are still awaiting a response.

A book published last year by journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos is based on their work and goes further, with testimony implicating 38 priests in sexual abuse. The church tried in vain to censor it.

- 'I felt dirty' -

The church has quietly sent away 20 of the priests accused of abuse. So far, two others are in prison after being convicted of abusing a 13-year-old choir boy.

"It will be up to the courts, both judicial and canon, to render a verdict," said William Prieto, a priest and spokesman for the archdiocese, in the church's only public comment on this scandal.

Colombian prosecutors opened their own investigation, and in late January, Cristancho and Martinez gave testimony. The attorney general's office declined an AFP request for comment.

Urbina's office also declined AFP requests for comment.

One of the victims is a man who for this story is being identified as Miguel.

As a child, his family used to vacation in Villavicencio, and his parents would send him to a rectory to see an uncle who was a priest.

There, a seminarian abused Miguel, forcing him into oral sex.

"He knew how to manipulate my uncle's trust, my family's trust, so that I would go to bed with him," Miguel said in an interview during which he hid his face.

As an adult, he said he suffered from suicidal thoughts and depression.

"I wanted to end my life," he said. "I felt dirty."

He filed a complaint with church authorities but has not received an answer.

Martinez says she hardly goes out anymore, and her son received a call in which she was described as a "sapa," or snitch.

The church hierarchy considers her an enemy, she said.

"We were the pebble in their shoe," Martinez said.

Q.Fiala--TPP