• Briefing on the work of the Synod on the Family 2015

AMERICA/BOLIVIA - Cardinal Terrazas strongly condemns the "DIY justice"

Santa Cruz (Agenzia Fides) - Cardinal Julio Terrazas, Archbishop of Santa Cruz, has strongly condemned the scourge of the "DIY justice". "It is really scary to know when someone is lynched, as if it were a significant fact that every community can take the law into their own hands, it is horrible to take the life of another person and what is worse, if one says that it was a mistake," the Cardinal said in his homily on Sunday, May 27, referring to the execution of two people last week, including a policeman in the town of Ventilla. In this last case the authors admitted that the murder victim was killed by mistake, to avenge a wrong that was committed by another person. In the area the population tends to seek justice for themselves and often innocent people pay the consequences. The Cardinal has also complained about the growth of youth gangs in several cities: several of these groups are made up of children who are beyond parental control or occupy their leisure time in the wrong way. "It is painful to see how gangs increase, a phenomenon that should have been faced by those who have a responsibility towards society. But rather than counting the number of gangs, what should concern us is that these groups are children, boys and girls aged between 11 and 12 years," said Cardinal Terrazas. According to a study of the local Service of Social Policy, received by Fides, in Bolivia there are 2 million 800 thousand children living in a risky situation, victims of abuse, extreme poverty and neglect in the street. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 29/5/2012)