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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 14 February 2023

Portugal church sex abuse study: Victims may number 4,800

By BARRY HATTON having failed to grasp the
Associated Press scale of the problem.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Child sex abuse is a “hei-
More than 4,800 individuals nous crime,” Ornelas said
may have been victims of in a statement he read out
child sex abuse in the Por- later Monday, adding: “It
tuguese Catholic Church is an open wound which
and 512 alleged victims pains and embarrasses us.”
have already come for- The panel regretted that
ward with their stories, an the Vatican had taken so
expert panel looking into long to grant access to
historic abuse in the church church archives. Permis-
said Monday. sion came only in October,
Senior Portuguese church giving the panel just three
officials had previously months to go through writ-
claimed that only a hand- ten evidence of abuse.
ful of cases had occurred. Pedro Strecht, a psychia-
Senior clergymen sat in the trist who headed the panel
front row of the auditorium in Portugal, said it estimates
where panel members the true number of victims
read out some of the har- during the period under
rowing accounts of alleged study as being at least at
abuse included in their final The head of the Portuguese Bishops Conference, Bishop Jose Ornelas, centre, arrives for a news 4,815. That extrapolation
report. There were vivid conference to comment on the report released hours earlier by the Independent Committee for was made on potential
and shocking descriptions. the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church, set up by Portuguese bishops, in Lisbon, Monday, other victims mentioned
The Independent Com- Feb. 13, 2023. by those victims who came
mittee for the Study of Associated Press forward.The panel is not
Child Abuse in the Catho- has expired on most of the dress the sex abuse crisis in Europe at the time contin- publishing the names of
lic Church, set up by Por- alleged cases. Only 25 al- the church. ued to deny that clergy sex the victims, the identities of
tuguese bishops just over legations were passed to That meeting was held abuse existed or insisted on the alleged abusers, or the
a year ago, looked into prosecutors, the panel said. more than 30 years after giving little weight to the places the abuses alleg-
alleged cases from 1950 The report, criticized by the scandal first erupted in problem. edly happened. However,
onward. Portuguese bish- some as long overdue, Ireland and Australia and The head of the Portuguese it is to send to bishops by
ops are due to discuss the came four years after Pope 20 years after it hit the Unit- Bishops Conference, Bish- the end of the month a list
report at an extraordinary Francis gathered church ed States. op José Ornelas, asked the of alleged abusers who are
meeting on March 3. leaders from around the Bishops and other Catholic victims for forgiveness and still active in the church.q
The statute of limitations world at the Vatican to ad- superiors in many parts of apologized for the church

Colombian government, rebels resume peace talks in Mexico

By MARÍA VERZA and AS- The Colombian govern- porary, nationwide cease- based in areas where co- rural pockets of Colombia
TRID SUÁREZ ment representative, José fire” and that any agree- caine production is wide- that were abandoned by
Associated Press Otty Patiño, said the lat- ment should include “an spread. the FARC rebels after they
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Co- est round should produce alternative anti-drug policy Petro has said that peace made peace with the gov-
lombia’s government and “permanent solutions ... not that is no longer based on talks with the ELN are a cor- ernment.
its largest remaining rebel temporary truces.” repression and war.” nerstone of his plan to bring The ELN leadership is con-
group met in Mexico City Pablo Beltrán, the rebels’ The ELN, founded in 1964 “total peace” to the nation cerned by Petro’s plan for
on Monday to resume chief negotiator, said the and present in about 200 of 50 million people, where “total peace” with drug
peace talks aimed at re- talks were aimed at a “tem- Colombian townships, is some rural areas are still un- cartels and rebels, saying
solving a conflict dating der the grip of drug gangs the two groups should not
back to the 1960s. and rebel groups despite be treated equally.
It was the second round a 2016 peace deal with Petro has said his adminis-
talks with the communist- the larger Revolutionary tration would not negotiate
inspired National Libera- Armed Forces of Colombia, with drug traffickers, and
tion Army, known as ELN, or FARC. they would have to submit
in negotiations launched The ELN has around 4,000 to justice.
in November shortly after troops in Colombia and Andrés Macías, who studies
President Gustavo Petro neighboring Venezuela, armed conflicts at Colom-
was elected as Colombia’s where human rights groups bia’s Externado University,
first leftist president. The first have reported the group said the ELN had political
three weeks of talks in Ven- runs drug trafficking routes aims “at least when it was
ezulea’s capital yielded and illegal gold mines. founded,” and is wary of
only modest results. The rebel group was found- being thrown into the same
Negotiations between the ed by intellectuals inspired basket as powerful cartels
sides had been suspended Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard, center, by the Cuban revolution like Colombia’s Gulf Clan.
in 2019 following a rebel at- stands with delegations from the Colombian government and and was often smaller Mexico, Norway, Venezue-
tack on a police academy Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group after the opening ceremony of than the FARC. But in re- la, Chile and Cuba are act-
in Bogota that killed 23 the second round of talks in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. cent years, the ELN has be- ing as guarantor nations in
Associated Press
people. come more influential in the ELN peace talks.q