Remains Of Legendary ‘guerrilla Priest’ Identified Decades Later

The Colombian authorities entity tasked pinch uncovering and identifying much than 135,000 group who person vanished during nan country's six decades of civilian conflict announced connected Monday nan recognition of Camilo Torres' remains.

Torres was a Catholic leader celebrated for his rank successful nan National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group and was killed successful combat successful nan 1960s.

The Search Unit for Disappeared People (UBPD) was created by a 2016 bid woody betwixt nan authorities and nan Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group.

Its domiciled is to return complaint of archival and forensic efforts to find vanished people, including those forcibly vanished by right-wing paramilitaries, rebel groups and authorities information forces, those forced to subordinate equipped groups, soldiers missing successful action and others.

The ELN, founded successful 1964, remains progressive and is itself accused of forced disappearances.

It has held sporadic bid talks pinch various governments and said successful December it was consenting to resume negotiations.

Torres, boy of a well-connected Bogota family, was an adherent of liberation theology, a Catholic, anti-imperialist societal justness movement.

He joined nan ELN immoderate 4 months earlier his decease and was killed successful February 1966 successful eastbound Santander state successful a skirmish pinch nan army.

UBPD Director Luz Janeth Forero told journalists nan hunt portion utilized nationalist and classified records, including from nan subject justness system, to find wherever Torres' remains had been interred by nan subject aft his death.

DNA samples from bones recovered successful 2024 successful nan subject conception of a cemetery successful Bucaramanga were compared pinch a sample taken from nan remains of Torres' begetter Calisto, which were exhumed for testing from a cemetery successful Bogota.

"After 60 years of disappearance, nan hunt portion found, identified and completed a honorable handover of Father Camilo Torres," Forero said.

The unit, which began activity successful 2017, has recovered astir 5,000 remains, identifying and handing complete immoderate 700 to loved ones truthful far, Forero added. It has besides recovered 500 surviving group who were reported arsenic disappeared.

Torres' remains were handed complete to Javier Giraldo, a Catholic leader well-known for his activism connected behalf of conflict victims, connected Sunday, nan 60th day of Torres' death, Forero said.

Giraldo, who recognised nan efforts of Torres' mother Isabel Restrepo to find her boy while she was alive, said Torres will beryllium buried astatine Bogota's National University, wherever he studied and worked arsenic a chaplain.

Though nan Catholic Church has historically rejected Torres' engagement pinch nan ELN, location is now much openness to discussing his bequest arsenic a chaplain, activistic and societal justness thinker, Giraldo added.