According to recent data published in the local press, there have been 38 deaths registered at the Caracas obituary between the 30th of December and the 1st of January alone, while 623 deaths have been reported in the whole month of December.
Even though no official record exists confirming this data, most of those killed have suffered violent deaths or have been killed by weapons. Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, celebrated mass on the 1st of January in Caracas’ Cathedral and called for peace, as has been reported by the Pontifical Mission Societies through their news-agency « Fides».
Monsignor Urosa Savino, 69 years old, studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he was awarded a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology and he has been a priest since 1967.
Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Caracas in 1982, in 1990 he became Archbishop of Valencia in Venezuela. On the 19th of September 2005 he was appointed Archbishop of Caracas, the see had been left vacant since the death of the Salesian Cardinal Ignacio Antonio Velasco Garcìa in July 2003.
In his address to the people of Venezuela he asked them to put an end to the violent deaths in the country, deaths which have been numerous in the last 15 days and extremely brutal. He invited all Venezuelans to live in tolerance and understanding of each other, but he also asked the authorities to do everything possible to fight crime and uncertainty.
« It is necessary for everyone to eradicate violence from one’s own heart, but it’s also necessary to fight crime and punish it according to the Law and Constitution» said Cardinal Urosa Savino, who according to statements he reportedly issued after Mass, has declared that the number of victims of violence in the month of December has been ‘too high and inconceivable’.
The Cardinal has also been reported to say that he hopes all political elections scheduled for this year will take place in a peaceful climate.
The Catholic Church is very present in Venezuela with 9 metropolitan dioceses, 24 suffragan dioceses, 3 apostolic vicariates, 1 military bishopric and 2 apostolic exarchates.
The Catholic Church counts about 25 million followers in Venezuela, equal to 90% of the country’s population.
In the meantime the creation of a ministry dealing with the penitentiary institutions has been welcomed by chief public defender Gabriela Ramirez and Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino Archbishop of Caracas; both hope that the initiative may put an end to the crisis affecting the Venezuelan penitentiary establishments that caused the death of over four thousand prisoners in the last ten years. Cardinal Urosa urged Minister Iris Varela to take steps to improve the living conditions of the Country’s 49,000 inmates.
In the last few months cardinal Urosa and the bishops in Venezuela have launched an appeal to solve the situation of the Venezuelan national penitentiaries, especially after the terrible violence in the ‘Internado Judicial Capital El Rodeo I’ prison at Guatire, in the state of Miranda. Cardinal Urosa Savino had then declared that « the country can solve this problem only with effective changes to the penitentiary system».
Therefore «it is necessary to build new penitentiary establishments. This issue needs to be addressed urgently and in full. It isn’t acceptable for jails to remain as they are now, ruled by the more violent inmates» warned the Cardinal.
He explained further « The Venezuelan people respect life, from its very beginning to its natural end; we are a people who throughout history has always fought against those evil forces from the outside that want to impose policies against Life»
Already in 2007, the bishops of the country had entered the public arena calling for national peace against the violent tides.
In order to ‘help restore the necessary peaceful climate of the country’ the Venezuelan Conference of Bishops (Cev) launched a desperate appeal to all the citizens and in particular to the authorities, who ‘because of their appointed role’ ‘always determine the Country’s pace of development’, to be sensible, to be thoughtful and to settle conflicts through ‘the rigorous and conscientious use of the Constitution and the Law’.
The president of the of the Episcopal organization, Monsignor Ubaldo Santana Archbishop of Maracaibo (together with Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino Archbishop of Caracas and Monsignor Ramòn Viloria Bishop of Puerto Cabello and secretary-general) addressed the Venezuelan people directly with a message entitled “Working towards the peace”, in which it is explained how the Constitution safeguards peaceful student demonstrations and expressions of dissent.
«These must not be demonized like they are a form of conspiracy» urged the bishops. The ecclesiastical authorities explained that both demonstrations and the dissent towards the government’s rule, ‘which have affected to some extent freedom of speech and the right to information’, are ‘a legitimate expression of political pluralism’. Cardinal Urosa has underlined the ‘urgent’ need to engage in talks as a way to reconcile differences, instead of showing contempt towards others, instead of attacking those who think along different lines, instead of automatically belittling those who disagree with an opinion.
« To talk we must recognize that the other person is important, has rights and deserves to be listened to » said Cardinal Urosa, he also prompted that article 19 in the Constitution obliges the State to guarantee to all citizens their human rights, «and I think it ought to be put into practice, it cannot be ignored», he added. Moreover, « human rights apply to all Venezuelans, not just one group » warned the Cardinal.
The Venezuelan Conference of Bishops, through its vicariates of human rights, has taken on from 2007 all the legal burden of the citizens under investigation for demonstrating.
The Archbishop of Caracas has disclosed that during the 5th General Conference of South American Bishops, in Aparecida (Brasil), many bishops have asked him about the situation in the Country.
He said «there has been a lot of interest and care shown for Venezuela in the hope that we can find ways towards a real progress in democracy, justice and peace ».
With the understanding, however, above all, that blood must stop flowing in the streets.