LABATECA, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. — In the north-eastern regions of Colombia, erected on 15 June 1945 with territory taken partly from the diocese of Nueva Pamplona and partly from the Apostolic Prefecture of Arauca. It covers an area of approximately 15,000 sq. km. with a population of 14,000. In the northern part of the mission live several hundred indigenous people belonging to the Unkasias, Cesarias, Mijociones and Pedrazas tribes.
In the region between the Cubugon and Sinisga-Royotá rivers live about 4,000 Tunebos, divided into the Teguas, Tekankas, Cobaria, Bonkotas and Sinisgas tribes. They are Indians descended from the ancient Lagoa-Santa race (Brazil), who later merged with the Chibchas, from whom they took their language and customs. They do not obey a single chief. Each family is independent, under the authority of the father, who is also a sorcerer; he presides over births, adolescent initiations, marriages and sings over the sick to cure them. They practice a naturalistic polytheism: they worship waters, mountains and plants with very elaborate rites. They frequently change residence because they do not live in a house where someone has died. They do not trust whites, whom they consider far inferior to themselves. They usually have only one wife, whom they treat fairly well. Their language is political. Until the erection of the prefecture, the area was cared for by some fathers of the Congregation of the Eudists, who established their residence at S. Librada. There, the Sisters of the Immaculate and St Catherine ran a school, which was later moved to the parish of Toledo. The mission is entrusted to priests of the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Yarumal (Colombia). They number five, assisted in their apostolate by 10 nuns, 19 catechists and 31 teachers. The work is arduous because of the climate and the very refractory character of the population.
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