The explosive artifact was left by an unidentified person. The motive for the bombing has not yet been discovered.

Metropolitan Cathedral of La Paz. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Newsroom – Bolivia – La Paz (November 28, 2021, 3:45 PM, Gaudium Press) During the early hours of Wednesday, November 24, the entrance of the building that houses the headquarters of the Bishops’ Conference of Bolivia (CEB) was the target of a terrorist attack with an explosive object, which fortunately did not cause any casualties, only material damage.

According to security camera footage released by the CEB itself, a person, with his head covered by a hood and wearing synthetic gloves, left an explosive device at the entrance door of the CEB building, and then disappeared. Twenty seconds later the detonation took place.

Through a statement entitled “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19), the CEB’s secretary for Pastoral Care, Father Ben Hur Soto, pointed out that “although the material damage to the structure is repairable, we urge those responsible to consider that their action could have hit innocent people. As the Catholic Church, we call once again for respect for life and fraternal encounter between brothers and sisters.”

Motive for the attack has not yet been discovered

So far it is not known what motivated this attack, however, some believe that it is the result of the controversy that arose due to the position of the Bolivian Church regarding the recent case of an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant as a victim of rape.

At the time, Bolivian prelates urged the authorities to respect and protect the right to life of the child victim of violence, as well as the unborn baby, because both lives should be protected.

On October 27 of this year, a group of protesters, claiming to defend young victims of violence and challenging the Church’s position, gathered in front of the CEB headquarters and stained the walls of the building. Local indigenous women promptly expelled the attackers using lashes. (EPC)

Compiled by Zephania Gangl