Community Tension

The atmosphere in Cafezal has been tense the past few days as there was conflict Friday night between police and the residents. Two people were killed, whom the community is claiming were innocent and not connected with the drug traffickers. The community was outraged at this violence and two buses were burned that night (The buses that transport the residents of the slum here into the city areas). A helicopter has been circling the slum ever since then, monitoring the situation. The buses were shut down, which causes a large transportation problem for the residents here as many are unable to find ways to get to work. One lady we talked to said she had no way to get to the hospital for a check up after a recent surgery.

Sunday night, two more buses were burned and now many police have arrived in Cafezal, which is not a good sign as usually the police do not have a presence here. There are a lot of criticisms of the police here in the ways they do things or don't do things. It has been said that this is a large power struggle between the drug lords and the police, but the victims are by and large the citizens of this community.

Please pray for this situation that God's righteousness and justice would flow here and not that of man, and that God's Kingdom would come in this place and that God would use the darkness here for good.