The Roman Catholic bishop of Buenaventura, Colombia, is planning to use a military helicopter to drop holy water on the South American port city in an effort to remove the evil from it.
Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya told a local radio station that “we want to go around the whole of Buenaventura, from the air, and pour holy water onto it to see if we exorcise and get out all those demons that are destroying our port, so that God’s blessing comes and gets rid of all the wickedness that is in our streets.”
Colombia’s military are reportedly on board with the bishop’s plan, and have offered him the use of an Army helicopter for his exorcism.
“Buenaventura should have the Devil taken away so that we can see if we can get back the tranquility the city has lost with all this crime, wickedness and the drug trafficking that is hitting our port,” Jaramillo Montoya said, according to the Daily Star.
Buenaventura has long been notorious for its crime, especially since the beginning of the Colombian armed conflict in the 1960s. Because of its key location on the Pacific Ocean, it is also a hub of drug trafficking. Though its high murder rate has dropped in recent years, 51 homicides have been reported in the first five months of 2019. Ten-year-old Diana Tatiana Rodriguez recently made headlines in the country when she was found dead with signs of torture and sexual abuse.
The exorcism is slated to occur during a local festival in July.
