{"id":47700,"date":"2026-10-16T12:36:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/?post_type=press&p=47700"},"modified":"2026-10-16T12:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:36:31","slug":"preacher-killed-by-members-of-criminal-group-in-cartagena","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/preacher-killed-by-members-of-criminal-group-in-cartagena\/","title":{"rendered":"Preacher killed by members of criminal group in Cartagena"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Protestant preacher was killed allegedly by members of a local criminal group to whom he regularly evangelised in Cartagena, in Colombia\u2019s Bolivar Department, on 7 October.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jes\u00fas Alberto Puerta P\u00e9rez, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s sources expressed their belief that members of the criminal group intended to entrap Mr Puerta P\u00e9rez 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Puerta P\u00e9rez and his wife served as missionaries for eight years and had been forcibly displaced from Mar\u00eda La Baja, in the Montes de Mar\u00eda region of Bol\u00edvar, 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 P\u00e9rez continued to receive warnings about his safety from friends and unidentified individuals urging him to be careful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preacher Puerta P\u00e9rez is survived by his wife, their three children, ages five, six and 12, and his wife\u2019s elderly parents, for whom she is caregiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW advocacy\u4e3b\u4efb\u517c\u7f8e\u6d32\u56e2\u961f\u8d1f\u8d23\u4eba\u5b89\u5a1c\u00b7\u674e\u00b7\u65af\u5766\u683c\uff08Anna Lee Stangl\uff09\u8868\u793a\uff1a \u2018CSW expresses heartfelt condolences to the widow and loved ones of Jes\u00fas Alberto Puerta P\u00e9rez, 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 P\u00e9rez\u2019s murder as a matter of urgency, holding all those responsible to account.\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 13 October CSW\u2019s CEO Scot Bower met with Gustavo Andr\u00e9s G\u00f3mez Gaona, the Counsellor for Foreign Affairs at the Colombian Embassy in London,  and presented him with a petition<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Lee Stangl added: \u2018We are grateful to Counsellor G\u00f3mez 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.\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jes\u00fas Alberto Puerta P\u00e9rez was killed allegedly by members of a local criminal group to whom he regularly evangelised.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47701,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[139,137],"class_list":["post-47700","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-colombia","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/47700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/47700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47702,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/47700\/revisions\/47702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47700"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=47700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}