{"id":7042,"date":"2026-02-18T04:12:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=7042"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:12:41","slug":"colombia-identifies-remains-of-rebel-group-priest-killed-in-1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2026\/02\/18\/colombia-identifies-remains-of-rebel-group-priest-killed-in-1966\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia identifies remains of rebel group priest killed in 1966"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Article: https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/colombia-identifies-remains-rebel-group-priest-killed-1966-2026-02-16\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camilo Torres, a Catholic priest who was a member of the National Liberation Army was reported killed in combat in the 1960s, but his body was never found. The Search Unit for Disappeared People (UBPD) was tasked with finding and identifying over 135,000 people like Camilo Torres who disappeared during the decades of civil war in Colombia, and has had success in brokering peace deals between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in order to find disappeared people and return their remains to their families. So far, UBPD has found around 5,000 remains, and at least 500 living people who were reported as missing. Torres’ remains were handed back to his family on the 60th anniversary of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While brutal, the revelation that disappeared peoples now have a hope of being found is hopeful, in that Colombia may be on the slow path towards recovery. After decades of internal struggle, thousands – hundreds of thousands – have been lost and never returned to their families. For many, organisations like UBPD are the last hope that they have to ever see their loved ones again, so their work is, thus, incredibly important. When the dead are returned, finally, to the living, we may recognise the gravity of what has been lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For rebel organisations such as FARC, UBPD really has no downsides. They benefit themselves from the ceasefire, but can also increase their own domestic outlook by assisting in operations to return remains or other persons reported missing. The government of Colombia itself has, naturally, a duty to its citizens to provide such services, so no side loses in this scenario. One must only hope that the UBPD is allowed to continue its search until, at the very least, a majority of the missing people are found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such activities correlate extensively with rebel groups and what havoc they can cause to populations. When a country is left with internal struggle for over half a century, bodies rack up and at some point the civilian casualties become unrecognisable from the militant ones. If such insurgencies include even the clergy, then it is evident they have spread into society and it’s always unfortunate to see such examples where rebel activists fighting for their beliefs war with a government and the end result is death. Sometimes war is the fastest option, though, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article: https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/colombia-identifies-remains-rebel-group-priest-killed-1966-2026-02-16\/ Camilo Torres, a Catholic priest who was a member of the National Liberation Army was reported killed in combat in the 1960s, but his body was never found. The Search Unit for Disappeared People (UBPD) was tasked with finding and identifying over 135,000 people like Camilo Torres who disappeared during the decades of civil war in Colombia, and… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":7043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[171,15,168,170,172,169],"class_list":["post-7042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-civil-war","tag-colombia","tag-farc","tag-missing-people","tag-rebel-groups","tag-ubpd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7044,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042\/revisions\/7044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}