"They want to see me as an ally of the ELN": Francisco de Roux

Fr. Francisco de Roux, who chairs the Truth Commission on the Conflict, denounces that he was a victim of violence. a montage with a video that circulates on social networks, which was edited and taken out of context, in order to show it as a sympathizer of the ELN.

The video was made at a conference he gave a year ago in Medellin and in which There was an ELN negotiator and he asked this organization to leave the war.

In a letter addressed to his family, the priest explains the reality of what happened at this conference

Also read: "If I have to risk my life and die to defend the leaders, I will will do ": Defender

Here is the text of the document:

" Dear Family, in the networks pbad a video in which I appear as an ally of the ELN.C is a montage I will not answer it.

A year and a half ago, I gave this lecture in Medellín.The negotiator of ELN, Juan Carlos, who is next to me on the picture was present.I arrived from Quito.I started by saying that I had a lot of trouble to see them engaged in the war.All the conference asks the l & # 39; ELN to leave the war.

I said that I appreciated Juan Carlos and Pablo, negotiators among them, to have admired Camilo Torres, but that I turned away from him when he took the road to war, mistakenly thinking that the Colombian people would follow him in the war.

I said that I had never accepted the armed struggle and that the armed struggle could not be inspired by Jesus. I said that ELN had valuable people, men and women, and that they had good ideas for change, but that we wanted them to come out of the war, and that They do not kill people.

I told them not to continue producing victims. I told them that I was sure that if Camilo was alive today, he would be devoted to the pursuit of peace, because he always taught that we had to follow the majority of people. And the vast majority of Colombians want peace.

I insisted, "Stop this war, stop it now! stop it out of respect for the victims, take the initiative to stop, if they are real friends of the people.

This was not an easy step because a lot of spectators were camilistas. But I insisted that it was not ethical to continue his war. Today I find the video edited on the networks as it is evident in the cut sentences, recording my speech that day. They leave only words and images of gratitude to Camilo before going to war and clear the criticism, leave my words in which I appreciate their proposals (such as the environment and basic democracy) and suppress my call to Stop the war and my pain for your insistence on war.

They give up my efforts to welcome the people who are in the negotiation and suppress my expressed pain and my cry (it was so) to leave the war. In the editing that they realize, my own words leave me as if I were doing a guerrilla speech by the ELN. It's very well done. With a lot of technology. I know that they want to hurt me. I know that they want to hurt us (but not only to me but to many, the same thing was done with Álvaro Uribe to put him in paramilitary.)

I will not react to the video for l & # 39; stop. On Tuesday, I will take the total recording of my conference and video badembly to the Prosecutor's Office for investigation. Before I did not do it because it was just my life. Now, I have to protect an institution. Pray for me. I do it for you. "

Francisco