Bishop receives death threats for denouncing human trafficking rings
ICC Note: This leader is under threat for preaching the gospel in opposing the sexual exploitation of women in Brazil. He is not the only one to receive death threats.
03/05/09 Brazil (CNA/Europa Press) - Bishop Jose Luis Azcona of Marajo, Brazil, has received death threats for denouncing the sexual exploitation of human trafficking rings in which “politicians, businessmen and police officers” are implicated.
Born in Pamplona, Spain, and a member of the Augustinians, Bishop Azcona met with a congressional committee on the exploitation of minors in the Brazilian state of Para, where he reiterated his protests. “They snatch girls from school and take them away to sexually exploit them, especially in French Guyana and in Spain,” he stated.
In a telephone interview with Europa Press, the bishop said he is taking the threats “with calm.”
“Thanks be to God I don’t feel any anxiety or anguish,” he said.
He acknowledged that he has refused the security detail offered to him by the Government not because he doesn’t trust them, but because there are two other bishops—one from Austria and the other from Italy—and 200 priests who have also received death threats... [Go To Full Story]
