May 3, 2023, 9:42 AM
May 3, 2023, 9:42 AM
The Society of Jesus formalized this Wednesday morning the complaint to the Police for the case of sexual abuse committed by the late Jesuit priest Alfonso ‘Pica’ Pedrajas, between the 70s and 80s in the country.
“In commitment assumed before the population and the government authorities with which we have made contact, we are going to formalize the complaint today; Father Bernardo Mercado is going to sign the complaint so that the investigation can begin”, said the lawyer for the Jesuits, Audalia Zurita, before entering the premises of the Special Force to Combat Violence, in La Paz.
For his part, the Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus, Father Bernardo Mercado, He pointed out that the complaint will be “generic” based on the journalistic note of the newspaper El País, of Spain, and that this measure is part of the commitment they assumed with Justice.
El País published a article about this pedophilia case thatIt involves the Spanish Jesuit, now deceased and who for several years worked in Bolivia.
According to the aforementioned publication, the Spanish priest admitted in a newspaper that he abused dozens of children while he was a teacher at various schools in Latin America, especially one in Cochabamba.
In his diary he recounted how the order (at least seven provincial superiors and a dozen Bolivian and Spanish clergy) covered up their crimes and the complaints of some victims.
After the scandal generated by that publication, the Society of Jesus suspended from their pastoral activities and other responsibilities the Jesuits who were Provincials at the time of the sexual abuse committed by Pedrajas and others who exercised that position in the years after the death of the religious pederast.
Mercado specified this Wednesday that there are eight Provincials suspended, after different figures were handled in some media during the past day.
“To be more precise with the press, it is convenient to have the specific data; Of the suspended Provincials there are eight, one is a former Jesuit, but he was Provincial in his time; Of the eight, five were Provincials during the life of Alfonso Pedrajas and another three are after his death, ”he explained.
