La Guajira (a department in the northeast of Colombia) is experiencing a humanitarian crisis, partly due to migration: in recent years, La Guajira has received more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants, assisted with local resources, and the aid it has received from the United States (USAID) has ended with the latest provisions of President Trump. Thus, in the face of the humanitarian, environmental and political crisis that La Guajira is experiencing, Monsignor Ceballos, Redemptorist bishop of the Diocese of Riohacha, tells us that “it is a land blessed with riches, but it is also a land that suffers and demands that we act urgently.”
With an urgent call for unity and dialogue, Monsignor Francisco Antonio Ceballos Escobar, bishop of the Diocese of Riohacha, puts on the table the serious crisis that La Guajira is going through. Through a forceful statement, the prelate highlights the need to achieve a “Great Agreement for Development” that will allow them to overcome the sociopolitical divisions that fracture them today, as well as build a prosperous future for this department, rich in resources but hit by inequality, corruption, and abandonment.
In his message, the Redemptorist Bishop of Riohacha highlights serious situations that affect them, such as the bankruptcy of agriculture, industry, tourism, and trade, with the consequent loss of food access. In addition, there is growing social inequality and clientelism (a social order which depends on relations of patronage).
In light of this situation, the prelate announced that he has accepted the invitation of some civil society organizations, such as the Civic Committee for the Dignity of La Guajira and the Broad Front of Users of Public Services of La Guajira, which are already moving in this direction, to facilitate and convene many more actors to a social dialogue that prioritizes the search for the common good, respecting the plurality and multiculturalism of the region.
Political leaders, ethnic communities, social organizations, productive associations, academia, and the media are being invited to this dialogue.
According to Monsignor Francisco Ceballos, the Church assumes this mission inspired by the Gospel, the Social Doctrine of the Church, the Social Magisterium of Pope Francis and the concern of the Holy Father for the construction of a culture of encounter that overcomes indifference towards those who suffer and makes possible the recognition of the dignity of every human person.
In this appeal, the Bishop recalls the words of Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, where the pontiff emphasizes that dialogue is the most appropriate way to overcome differences and build consensus.
The full statement by Monsignor Ceballos CSsR can be downloaded from this link
(source: Episcopal Conference of Colombia)
