A picture of a dismembered body of Alma Rosa Jaramillo is jumping around in my mind. I've just begun reading Choosing Peace edited by Marie Dennis. The very first chapter mentioned the 2016 Appeal to the Catholic Church to Re-commit to the Centrality of Gospel Nonviolence. The chapter continues with the plenary discussion "Nonviolence and Just Peace." The point of the story was to show that even though the atrocities were horrific, the people demanded peace.
For over forty years the people of Colombia were torn apart by various groups: National Liberation Army (ELN), various paramilitary groups, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the current government in power. A lawyer, Alma Rosa Jaramillo, was working with the displaced small farmers was kidnapped by the ELN and then released. Later she was captured by a paramilitary group which tortured and sawed the limbs off her body with a chainsaw.
And Alma Rosa Jaramillo was only one of many who was viciously maltreated. What I want to know is why so little is known about her? Maybe there are stories and biographies written in Spanish but not even Wikipedia has anything. I couldn't even find a picture of what she looked like.
My heart is sick over humanity's heartlessness.
For over forty years the people of Colombia were torn apart by various groups: National Liberation Army (ELN), various paramilitary groups, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the current government in power. A lawyer, Alma Rosa Jaramillo, was working with the displaced small farmers was kidnapped by the ELN and then released. Later she was captured by a paramilitary group which tortured and sawed the limbs off her body with a chainsaw.
And Alma Rosa Jaramillo was only one of many who was viciously maltreated. What I want to know is why so little is known about her? Maybe there are stories and biographies written in Spanish but not even Wikipedia has anything. I couldn't even find a picture of what she looked like.
My heart is sick over humanity's heartlessness.
A broken world: While the last century knew the devastation of two deadly World Wars,
the threat of nuclear war and a great number of other conflicts, today, sadly, we find our-
selves engaged in a horrifying world war fought piecemeal...We know that this "piece-
meal" violence, of different kinds and levels, causes great suffering: wars in different
countries and continents; terrorism, organized crime, and unforeseen acts of violence; the
abuses suffered by migrants and victims of human trafficking;...
Pope Francis, World Day of Peace Message 2017
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