Colombian pastor murdered by members of gang he evangelized
A Colombian pastor has been beaten to death by members of a criminal gang he had been evangelizing in the city of Cartagena, after he refused to let them use his motorcycle, according to a report.
Jesús Alberto Puerta Pérez had at times lent the motorcycle to gang members he preached to. He turned them down that day after he was warned they intended to move illegal drugs on it and had used it for crimes before, the U.K.-based advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.
Sources told the group they believed the men planned to trap Puerta Pérez by linking him to a crime through the motorcycle, and beat him to death in anger when he refused on Oct. 7. No arrests have been reported.
Puerta Pérez drove a motorcycle taxi for a living and belonged to La Antorcha Encendida Church, an independent congregation.
In Cartagena, a city in Colombia’s Bolívar Department, he regularly preached to homeless people and to gang members in parts of the city seen as dangerous.
He and his wife had spent eight years as missionaries.
The couple founded a church in María La Baja, about 43.5 miles south of Cartagena in Bolívar’s Montes de María area, and in December 2025 left for Cartagena after threats over his preaching forced them out.
Illegal armed groups and gangs have long operated in Montes de María.
After the move, friends and people who did not identify themselves kept warning Puerta Pérez to be careful.
He leaves behind his wife, the couple’s three children, ages 5, 6 and 12, and his wife’s elderly parents, whom she cares for.
Anna Lee Stangl, CSW’s director of advocacy and leader of its Americas team, offered condolences to the family. She urged Cartagena authorities to open a “thorough and transparent investigation” into the killing without delay and to hold everyone involved to account.
On Oct. 13, the group’s chief executive, Scot Bower, met Gustavo Andrés Gómez Gaona, a foreign affairs counselor at Colombia’s embassy in London. Bower gave him a petition with more than 1,600 signatures asking Colombia’s government to restore specific protections for religious leaders, given the risk they face where armed groups and gangs operate. CSW says the government removed religious leaders from its protection programs for at-risk groups in 2023.
Stangl thanked Gómez Gaona for meeting the group on behalf of Colombia’s new government to hear its concerns about rising violence against religious leaders around the country. She said CSW hoped the government would restore leaders' access to state protection programs and security mechanisms.
Gunmen shot dead another Protestant pastor, José Otoniel Ortega, 54, on New Year’s Eve in Fundación’s Santa Elena neighborhood, in northern Colombia’s Magdalena Department, while he was with his family.
Police said Ortega was hit at about midnight on Dec. 31 as he and relatives welcomed the new year. He died of his wounds soon after reaching a nearby clinic.
Ortega, a religious leader in his community, belonged to the Foursquare Gospel Church.
CSW called Ortega’s death a “premeditated, targeted assassination” at the time.
At least 10 Protestant leaders were killed and one Catholic priest was kidnapped in Colombia from December 2024 through November 2025, CSW said.
