BOJAYA, Colombia - President Andres Pastrana stepped around human remains, bloodstains and torn baby clothes in a church where 117 civilians died in a rebel bombardment, saying Thursday that the world must condemn the killings.
The smell of death lingered in the air as Pastrana paused to look a wooden figure of Christ, its arms and legs blown off in the May 2 attack. Baby clothes — 40 of the victims seeking shelter in the church were children — and shards of bone lay strewn across the floor.
Rainwater had pooled inside the church where the rebel mortar round tore through the cement walls, collapsing the roof and killing civilians who had fled a firefight between rebels and paramilitaries.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, apologized earlier this week, saying the attack on the church was accidental.
Nevertheless, Pastrana, who broke off peace talks with the rebels three months ago, called the attack a massacre.
"We are here because a massacre was committed that should be condemned by the entire world," he said. "We are here to share their pain."
But some residents in the region, mostly home to the descendants of African slaves, accused Pastrana of abandoning them.
His government left the humid, jungle-cloaked region near the Panamanian border two years ago amid rebel attacks and counterattacks by the outlawed paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which has maintained secret links with members of the U.S.-backed military.
"Mr. President, why does only violence and barbarity cause you to remember our town?" asked a sign carried by one survivor of the attack.
Resentment also simmered in the provincial capital, Quibdo, which Pastrana also visited as he hopscotched Choco province by helicopter.
"How many more deaths will you need so you pay attention to us?" shouted a woman in Quibdo as Pastrana walked past.
Pastrana promised the military would start patrolling the wide and muddy Atrato River, which runs past Bojaya, also known as Bellavista, by gunboat to give residents some measure of security.
After taking a navy speedboat across the river to the neighboring town of Vigia del Fuerte, Pastrana said the government would rebuild police stations in both villages.
The chief U.N. representative in Colombia, Anders Kompas, also is expected to visit Bojaya after Pastrana called on the United Nations to investigate the killings.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said Tuesday that the attack on the church was accidental, and apologized.
The FARC and the paramilitaries are battling in the region to control the Atrato River, a main conduit to the Caribbean Sea and neighboring Panama and a corridor for running drugs and weapons.
Colombia's war, now in its 38th year, pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against the army and paramilitaries.