Police chief using exorcism to fight crime fired

Sanabria sparked a scandal in mid-March when he told an interviewer that he and other police officials were performing exorcisms to snag drug traffickers.

He also expressed his opposition to abortion -- which is legal in Colombia, a secular South American nation with Catholic traditions -- and to the use of condoms.

During the interview his office appeared cluttered with crucifixes, effigies of the Virgin Mary and other Catholic symbols.

"I appreciate General Henry Sanabria's hard work" for the Colombian police, leftist President Gustavo Petro wrote on Twitter, without giving details about why he was removed from his post.

A police official speaking on condition of anonymity to a local media outlet said Sanabria, who took over as chief in August 2022, has been urging his subordinates to attend religious retreats.

Sanabria was recently implicated for negligence after a violent protest against an oil company in which two people died and 78 law enforcement officials were held hostage for days by protesters.

According to a government official, Sanabria's ouster was not "based on this operation" or his religious beliefs.

"The president himself has told the country very clearly that we respect freedom of thought, freedom of religion -- not only for General Sanabria, but for all members of the institution and all Colombians," Interior Minister Alfonso Prada told reporters.

Sanabria will be replaced by retired general William Salamanca, who has been serving as consul general in Miami.

The outgoing chief told Semana magazine last month that exorcism and other religious practices have helped the police throughout the last 50 years of armed conflict, including police operations in which notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993.

He said in one operation a police officer had been able to kill a criminal by "praying while shooting".