SLAYS REBEL PRIEST
The announcement February 17 by the Colombian government thet the army.had slain the.rebel priest .Camilo .Torres. Restrepo touched off. bitter student demonstrations in- Bogota. vo ‘The: priest was: -pepoptedly ‘shot in a battle between | a guerrilla contingent and an army patrol. According to the version published in..the ; Bogota. press,:a-guerrilla group of. about twenty-five men, ambushed. the. ‘troops. In the .gunfire,.. ‘four soldiers were killed. . 7 and.three wounded. Five. of .the. ‘guerrillas were killed, including ~ Father Torres and a boy of sixteen. .
- The. battle took place in the municipality of. San Vincente de Chucuri in Santander Department. This is. near rich oil fields and -refineries: along. the: Magdalena. River. _ FoR te oy tk, Lote ‘The son “of, jan. upper-class family, ‘Torres was a » sociology. professor and chaplain at the National University. He became a.. prominent figure in Colombia because of his concern over social problems. Last June when he strongly criticized the Colombian government for its failure to solve the social and economic problems of the country,-he was hauled onthe. mat by the Catholic hierarchy.
The archbishop of Bogota pressed him to leave the country, and when the rebel priest refused, he was defrocked.
Torres made a tour of Colombia calling for. the overthrow of the government. At the beginning of January he created a nationwide. sensation when he. announced’ that he’ had Joined the National. Libera-, tion Army. — a
It would be a mistake to consider. the course followed by" ; Torres to be just an exceptional case. The social contradictions |. have grown so acute in many countries in Latin America that circles are affected which in past times remained aloof from the class struggle or. were, active ‘participants against those who. rebelled.
In the, intensifying upheaval affecting. vast areas of the ~ |. world, ‘there. ‘will ‘be many others who will demonstrate like Father. Torres that they do have a conscience and who will follow his example in dedicating their lives to the social and economic emancipation of the poor through the. only realistic means --. revolutionary struggle. co ,
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