Once a Colombian cop, priest named administrator of two Racine-area churches

On June 18, Rev. Yamid Blanco was assigned to be the adminstrator at St. Paul the Apostle and St. Louis Catholic churches in Mount Pleasant and Caledonia, respectively.

Twenty years before that, Blanco found himself in quite different circumstances.

After graduating high school, Blanco joined the police force in his native Colombia with the country besieged by conflict and violence. As a young and single officer, he was often sent to the most unstable areas in rural parts of the country, where gunfights were not uncommon.


“I was in dangerous situations many different times,” Blanco said. “It was scary.

“Because of that, I made the decision to leave. Otherwise, I don’t know if I would be alive at this time.”

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