Colombian priest killed in Angola will be repatriated to Cúcuta to give him his last goodbye

After the violent murder of Manuel Ubaldo Jauregui, a Colombian priest who had lived for several years in Luanda, the capital of Angola, and who died after a car accident that ended in fatal stab wounds, his family will be able to repatriate Jauregui’s remains to Cúcuta, his city of origin.

According to La FM, Manuel Ubaldo’s relatives received help from the Colombian Foreign Ministry and the Catholic Church, who will allow the body of the murdered religious leader to arrive in the country in the next few days to say goodbye.

Meanwhile, it was known that the Government of Angola provided the guarantees to the Colombian Catholic Church so that Manuel’s remains reach Colombia, without the restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic affecting repatriation.

“It is expected that this Saturday, March 20, Manuel Ubaldo will be brought, I know that my mother would be calmer in the midst of her pain to be able to carry out the funeral on Sunday from nine in the morning in the Juan María Vianey parish of the Motilones neighborhood,” said the victim’s brother Sergio Jauregui, in dialogue with RCN Radio.

Sergio assured the media that after the news, his mother fell into depression, because when the priest was fighting for his life he said “Mother forgive me”, and that for that reason the victim’s mother wants to fire her son in her country and hometown.

The victim’s brother, who was 36 years old, invited family relatives and interested parties to accompany them, virtually, at the funeral of Manuel Ubaldo through social networks and digital channels of the parish where they will watch it.

Who was Manuel Ubaldo

The Cucuteño priest had been serving as a missionary in the African country for six years and he lost his life due to the severity of the injuries generated in an attack.

What priest Israel Prado, vicar general of the diocese of Cúcuta, explained to Blu Radio was that at the end of his pastoral work in Luanda, Jauregui went out to buy hamburgers when his vehicle collided with a motorcycle.

“When the father got out to check what had happened, the man on the motorcycle stabbed him seven times, which were fatal, because of that the father did not reach the hospital alive,” Prado explained to the radio medium.

The version of the priest Israel Prado was shared by the priest Hernán Pinilla, communications director of the Yarumal Missionaries, a congregation of the Catholic Church founded in 1927 to which Jauregui belonged, who told Caracol Televisión:

“He was finishing a work meeting, he was going to park the car to eat something and he hit a motorcycle that was parked in the place. It seems that it was nothing serious, but the owner of the motorcycle reacted with some people and we do not know his reaction, but they tell us that they lunged at him and stabbed him several times.”

Both priests also confirmed that Manuel Ubaldo Jauregui was transferred to a health center after he was attacked with a knife. However, as a consequence of the severity of the injuries, he died. Meanwhile, the aggressor was captured by the authorities and is in custody.

To Caracol Radio, Luz Marina Vega, mother of the priest who was trained in the Cuberos Niño neighborhood of Cúcuta, she told him that the most difficult thing about the murder of her son is that it happened in the distance, which is why she is overwhelmed by uncertainty.

“He was always a good person, he lived to serve the community and his departure hurts us, especially in these conditions where he is, so far away. We don’t know what will happen now and we need the government’s help to bring it to this border region,” Vega said.

Víctor Ramírez, who met him 20 years ago, also spoke of the vocation of priest Manuel Ubaldo Jauregui to help others, in the youth group of the San Juan María Vianey church: “He was very outgoing, community leader. He helped people a lot “.

Although Caracol Radio assures that the relatives are asking the Colombian Foreign Ministry for help for repatriation, which may be complicated by the situation of the pandemic, the priest Pinilla told Caracol Televisión that he is not clear about what will happen to the remains of Jauregui.

Although he considers that they may be left in Angola, as has happened in two other cases of deceased priests, one in a traffic accident and the other due to malaria.

Angola is a country in southwestern Africa that borders Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Gabon, and Congo. With about 31 million inhabitants, this nation gained independence from Portugal in 1975.