about camilo torres restrepo

Father Camilo Torres Restrepo (born in Bogotá, Colombia on 3 February 1929 – died in Santander on 15 February 1966) was a Colombiansocialist, Roman Catholic priest, a predecessor of liberation theology and a member of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillaorganisation. During his life, he tried to reconcile revolutionary Marxism and Catholicism.

Torres was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1954, but continued to study for some years at the Pontifical Catholic University of Leuven(Louvain) in Belgium. When he returned to Colombia, he increasingly felt obliged to actively support the cause of poor and the labouring class. Camilo Torres believed that in order to secure justice for the people, Christians had a duty to use violent action.