LABATECA, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. — In the northeastern regions of Colombia, erected on 15 June 1945 from territory detached partly from the diocese of Nuova Pamplona and partly from the apostolic prefecture of Arauca. It covers approximately 15,000 sq. km. and has a population of 14,000. In the northern part of the mission live several hundred indigenous people belonging to the Unkasias, Cesarias, Mojicones, and Pedrazas tribes.
In the region between the Cubugon and Sinsiga-Royotá rivers live approximately 4,000 Tusebas, divided among the tribes of the Teguas, Tekankas, Cobaria, Bonkotas, and Sinsigas. They are Indians originating from the ancient Lagoa-Santa race (Brazil), who later fused with the Chibchas, from whom they adopted their language and customs. They obey no chief. Each family is independent, under the authority of the father, who is also a magician; he presides over births, adolescent initiations, and marriages, and sings over the sick in order to cure them. They practice a naturalistic polytheism: they worship waters, mountains, and plants with highly complicated rites. They frequently change their dwelling, because they do not live in a house where someone has died. They do not trust whites, whom they consider themselves far superior to. They usually have only one wife, whom they treat fairly well. Their language is polysynthetic. Until the erection of the prefecture, the area was cared for by several fathers of the Congregation of the Eudists, who established their residence at S. Librada. There, subsequently, the nuns of the Immaculate and of S. Caterina had a school, which they later transferred to the parish of Toledo. The mission is entrusted to the priests of the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Yarumal (Colombia). They number 5, assisted in the apostolate by 10 nuns, 19 catechists, and 31 teachers. The work is arduous because of the climate and the population’s highly refractory character.