BOGOTÁ, Colombia – A Franciscan friar was killed in Colombia in what is being described as unclear circumstances. Luis Alfonso Herrera Moreno, OFM, 46, was found dead in a rural zone outside Santa Marta, capital of the northern department of Magdalena. He was a member of the Santa Fe Province.
Luis, the accountant at the San Luis Beltrán School operated by the Franciscans in the costal city of Santa Marta, disappeared June 28 after he went out to run a few errands for the school. His body was found the following day near Bonda, with severe injuries apparently provoked by blows with a stone, according to forensic experts.
His death was only confirmed later, when his body was identified by Miguel Angel Arévalo, OFM, rector of the San Luis Beltrán School.
Investigators so far believe he was murdered in a robbery attempt, though there is still not sufficient evidence to name those responsible.
Luis was born in 1960 in Pacora, in the central department of Caldas, and studied at the University of La Salle and the University of St. Bonaventure in Bogotá. He, was buried in Medellín at request of his family.
Over the past 20 years the Colombian church has paid a high tribute in the persisting violence in the nation, with over 60 dead, among Bishops, priests, religious, missionaries and seminarians, as well as 19 abductions.