Preacher killed by members of criminal group in Cartagena

A Protestant preacher was killed allegedly by members of a local criminal group to whom he regularly evangelised in Cartagena, in Colombia’s Bolivar Department, on 7 October.

Jesús Alberto Puerta Pérez, who earned a living working as a motorcycle taxi driver and who was affiliated with the independent La Antorcha Encendida Church, regularly shared his religious beliefs with unhoused people and members of the local criminal groups operating in areas of the city considered to be dangerous. Sources told CSW that although he sometimes allowed members of the criminal groups to whom he was preaching to use his motorcycle, on 7 October he refused to do so after he was warned that they planned to use it to transport illegal drugs and that they had used it for criminal activities in the past.

CSW’s sources expressed their belief that members of the criminal group intended to entrap Mr Puerta Pérez by using his motorcycle to implicate him in a crime, and that they were enraged at his refusal and beat him to death in retaliation.

Mr Puerta Pérez and his wife served as missionaries for eight years and had been forcibly displaced from María La Baja, in the Montes de María region of Bolívar, approximately 70km south of Cartagena. This region has long been characterised by the presence of multiple illegal armed and criminal groups. They were displaced to Cartagena in December 2025 after receiving threats related to his preaching at the church they founded. While in Cartagena, Mr Puerta Pérez continued to receive warnings about his safety from friends and unidentified individuals urging him to be careful.

Preacher Puerta Pérez is survived by his wife, their three children, ages five, six and 12, and his wife’s elderly parents, for whom she is caregiver.

CSW advocacy主任兼美洲团队负责人安娜·李·斯坦格（Anna Lee Stangl）表示： ‘CSW expresses heartfelt condolences to the widow and loved ones of Jesús Alberto Puerta Pérez, and we assure them of our sincere prayers and solidarity in this time of grieving. We call on the authorities in Cartagena to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr Puerta Pérez’s murder as a matter of urgency, holding all those responsible to account.’

On 13 October CSW’s CEO Scot Bower met with Gustavo Andrés Gómez Gaona, the Counsellor for Foreign Affairs at the Colombian Embassy in London,  and presented him with a petition signed by over 1,600 people calling on the government of Colombia to restore specific protections to religious leaders in recognition of the particular risk they face in regions characterised by the presence of illegal armed and criminal groups.

Anna Lee Stangl added: ‘We are grateful to Counsellor Gómez Gaona for taking the time to meet with us on behalf of the new government to hear our concerns regarding increasing violence against religious leaders across Colombia. We hope that the government will take heed of our recommendations a recognise the specific vulnerability of religious leaders by restoring their access to government protection programmes and security mechanisms.’