On March 20, young hooded men interrupted the religious ceremony that took place in the Primate Cathedral. The act they themselves pointed out would be an artistic performance, I create a strong division, since that demonstration disputes two rights enshrined in the Political Constitution: the right to free expression and the right to freedom of worship.
On social networks, some of the people demanded about spaces of faith, among those figures such as Gustavo Petro and Federico Gutiérrez; and others in defense of the collective that relate to the frontline, pointed out that the break-in is valid in protest to all the denunciations that have been made against the church.
“Even faith wants to expropriate us! And so, by combining all forms of struggle, setting fire to the country and attacking those who think differently, they intend to win and govern us. For Colombia, for our families, for our future... We are going to defeat them in the first round,” wrote the presidential candidate of Team for Colombia.
Petro was not far behind and replied: “We put freedom of worship in the Constitution, Uribism, desperate, slaps it. I ask the Catholic Church to initiate criminal action against these people.”
Now after the controversy, on W Radio, they managed to talk to Simona, the leader of the hooded group that entered the Cathedral and in space explained her stance both in front of the church and in front of the presidential elections that Colombia will face on May 29.
The leader of the performance pointed out that the decision to go abruptly into the religious precinct, due to an emotional impulse: “It was our hearts outraged by so much pain and such lack of empathy in the face of so many deaths that died in the streets, that have not had social guarantees,” adding that “This is the power that also has art, has the capacity to influence unconventional spaces to draw attention to certain denunciations. Art does not ask permission to attend a certain space.”
He also clarified that his act was not violent or vandalistic and that the purpose was to question the participants of the ceremony, but that in the citizens' response it was very negative: “Right now we are the target of many threats, this action showed me how violent this country is and that it will not change at the polls but will change when I accept the difference. I am the victim of right-wing attacks and the fanatical petrista. I want to clarify that I am not Michelle Obando, who has been threatened.”
Likewise, he made a strong ideological separation from Gustavo Petro and said that the collective does not feel represented by the candidate: “Our actions do not fit in their ballot boxes and we have stated that we are not petrists or uribists (...) (our actions) are framing and instrumentalizing them,” Simona wrote to the Colombian radio station.
For his part, the parish priest of the Primada Cathedral, Father Jorge Marín, commented on the microphones of the local news program CityTV about what happened, “they entered with masks and took part in the benches to participate in the celebration, like anyone else. And when communion was about to begin, they hooded up right there, stood on the benches and started shouting harangues. But it was not understood what they were asking for or what movement they were from.”
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