Children found dead in Colombia

[November 25, 1998]

The grim discovery of the bound bodies of 23 children and youths, almost all skeletons, were recently recovered in the western city of Pereira in Colombia. With a population of approximately 700,000 people some 110 miles from the country's capital, Bogota, Pereira is also home to a movement called "Satan's Youth" that has become increasingly active.

While cult activity is suspected, police have not ruled out extreme right-wing paramilitary groups or even organ smugglers. Authorities have been unable to make any arrests in the cases involving some 250 families in Pereira who have filed reports of missing children over the past year.

Police are investigating potential motives, from possible "social cleansing" of suspected juvenile delinquents by vigilante squads to cult members abducting victims to fulfill deadly ritualistic rites. Pereira Mayor Luis Alberto Duque stated, "It's a chilling thing. The big concern is we don't know what it's all about." State prosecutor Elena Osorio added grimly, "It's a city where Satanism is widely practiced, and there's a lot of talk that children are used in rituals."

Twelve victims were located this week in a riverbed by workers fixing electrical lines, who reported what they originally believed were animal bones in a nearby ravine. Other remains were discovered last week in underbrush by a child who stumbled on a skull. Liquor bottles were found beside many of the victims, two of whom had been tied to trees, having apparently been tortured. Experts estimate the oldest of the victims was 16, but many were 10 or younger.

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