Colombia: Christian Leaders and Family Killed in “Premeditated, Targeted Assassinations”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Two protestant Christian church leaders and three Christian family members were recently assassinated in two premeditated incidents in Colombia, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.

Twenty-eight-year-old preacher Iván García was shot dead in Colombia’s Magdalena Department as he walked home from a church service with seven other people on January 8, CSW reports. Two men on a motorcycle reached Garcia’s party, stopped, got off the bike, and fired at Garcia before riding off again, CSW said. The attack was considered an assassination as Garcia had helped to grow the New Rebirth in Christ Church led by his wife Pastor Karen Nierles in the village of Garital.

Two weeks earlier, on 29 December, Pastor Marlon Lora was murdered by hitmen who also killed his wife Yurlay Rincon, his daughter Ángela, and his son Santiago, CSW reports. The family were killed in a restaurant as they ate lunch following a church service in Aguachica, Cesar Department.

CSW Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said in a statement: “The nature of the attack on Mr García, like the massacre two weeks ago of Pastor Marlon Lora and his entire family, indicate that these are premeditated, targeted assassinations.”

“Religious leaders have long been a target of illegal armed and criminal groups for many reasons, including the role many of them take up as peacemakers and their willingness to use their influence in their communities to encourage others to reject participation in violent and criminal activities. A full investigation into both sets of murders must take place and those responsible must be held to account,” Stangl said.

Plagued by organized corruption, crime, and clan oppression, Colombia ranks 46 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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