Children Massacred in Bombing of Church

...children of Bojayá, Colombia, caught in the crossfire of a ferocious battle...

The children of Bojayá (pronounced Bo-ha-JA), Colombia, were caught in the crossfire as a ferocious battle for control of this small town raged between FARC guerrillas and AUC paramilitaries during the first week of May 2002. As the fighting continued, some 300 civilians sought sanctuary in the parish church, which was decked with white flags. But many of these people were killed or injured when the building became the target of a bomb made out of dynamite packed around a gas cylinder.

According to El Colombiano, the following children, whose ages are given in brackets, were amongst the 98 dead:

At least 3 other children were killed, and a further 50 bodies have not been identified. Neither side has accepted responsibility for this apalling atrocity, but, according to the local press, suspicion is focused on the FARC who have used bombs of this type on previous occasions.

Fr Peter Walters, Director of Let The Children Live!, said, "The seemingly endless violence in Colombia claims the lives of children every day; but with this massacre of the innocents it has plunged to new depths of horror and wickedness."

"People in countries such as Britain sometimes find it hard to understand why more and more children end up on the streets of the cities in Colombia, in spite of the best efforts of organisations like Let The Children Live! and Funvini. But the massacre at Bojayá is only the latest incident in a long catalogue of rural mayhem. Last year alone this violence forced more than 190,000 people - more than half of whom were children - to leave their homes in the countryside in order to seek refuge in the cities," Fr Peter explained.

When the refugees arrive in places like Medellín, they often find that the very violence they are fleeing from is waiting for them there. Citing figures published in El Colombiano, Fr Peter continued, "Between 1st January 1992 and 6th April 2002, there were 42,393 violent deaths in Medellín, 3,524 of which occurred last year alone. In 2001 Medellín retained its uneneviable position as the murder capital of the world. Here, there were 220 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants; whereas in Bogotá there were 36; in Buenos Aires 34; and in Mexico City 14."

"In all this violence, it is always the children who suffer most. There was nothing we could do to help those poor children in Bojayá. But thanks to the generosity of our supporters, Let The Children Live! and Funvini will continue to help and protect children in the streets and shanty-towns of Medellín," Fr Peter concluded.