BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - One of Latin America's leading bishops was kidnapped as he went to hold a religious service in central Colombia in the latest attack on religious figures in this war-battered nation.
No group claimed responsibility for Monday's kidnapping of Colombian bishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez, but the abduction took place in an area where leftist guerrillas are active.
Jimenez was abducted along with the Rev. Desiderio Orejuela as the men headed to the town of Pacho, 35 miles north of the capital Bogota, for a religious ceremony, fellow clergyman Raul Alfonso Carrillo told Radionet radio station.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are active in the area. Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina, commander of the Colombian army, called on Colombians to help rescue Jimenez, who works at the Zipaquira cathedral just outside Bogota. The army offered a reward of about $37,000 for help in finding him.
Earlier this year, the archbishop of Cali was shot and killed after performing a mass wedding in a poor neighborhood. Archbishop Isaias Duarte was an outspoken critic of all sides in Colombia's conflict. Authorities are still investigating the motive for his murder.
In 1999, the smaller leftist National Liberation Army abducted dozens of worshippers from a church in Cali, angering Colombians and church leaders.
Colombians currently being held by the FARC include former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Antioquia state governor Guillermo Gaviria and former defense minister Gilberto Echeverry.
