LAEN JANUARY APRIL 2012

Latin American Ecumenical News January - April 2012 • No. 1

LAEN

Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence.

Proverb 12,17

Information Service of the Latin American Council of Churches

Christian self-understanding in the context of indigenous religions Buenos Aires, February 14, 2012 (ALC/WCC)

With the help of participants from several regions of the world, a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation recently looked at Christian self-understanding in the context of indigenous spiritual traditions. he consultation was organized by the WCC program for Inter-religious dialogue and Cooperation in collaboration with the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and the Federation

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of Evangelical Churches Argentina (FAIE) and was held from 6 to 9 February in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The event brought 12 participants representing churches and Indigenous Peoples’ groups from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Philippines, Guatemala and New Zealand.

The discussions were framed in part by the document “Religious Plurality and Christian SelfUnderstanding” produced by the WCC in 2004. The document developed a process of reflection on Christian self-understanding in our modern religious plural world. As part of this process there have been intra-Christian consultations looking at the topic in relation to

Concerns of Indigenous Peoples were one of the topics for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Jamaica, 2011 (WCC)

Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

The present meeting was an intra-Christian gathering which explored the topic from the perspective of indigenous spiritual traditions.

It was felt important that Indigenous Peoples should also be taken into account in the process of drawing a picture of Christian selfunderstanding in contexts of religious plurality. This is because they are able to offer significant insights into life and the relationship between human beings and creation.

“No culture can conceive God as a whole,” said Miguel Salanic, coordinator of mission among Indigenous Peoples in CLAI. “Everyone knows part of God. It is by bringing people of diverse beliefs together that one can have access to the truth of God,” he said.

The traditional Maya religion understands God as the superior being, explained Salanic. “Their understanding embraces both sides of reality: male and female, night and day, life and death, light and dark. Therefore God is mother, father, woman, man, spirit and flesh.

All these elements are connected,” he concluded.

Bishop Alexander Wandag from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines said that he received challenging responses from Indigenous Peoples in his country, when he asked them about contributions they can make to Christianity in pursuit of deeper self-understanding. Among their responses was a demand for repentance for sins churches and their members have previously committed against Indigenous Peoples.

This article is adapted from a text written by Enrique Zerbin for the Agencia Latinoamericana & Caribeña de Comunicación (ALC).

Source: World Council of Churches, WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/christian-self-understand.html

Migrants risking their lives in search of a better future

“If the migrant is not your brother, God is not your Father,” say migrants in Mexico

By Amparo Beltrán Mexico City, February 18, 2012 (ALC)

With the theme, ¨I was a stranger and you took me in,” the assembly of the “Oscar Arnulfo Romero” International Christian Service of Solidarity with the People of Latin America (SICSAL) was held in Mexico City from February 8-14, with the participation of 45 delegates from 21 countries representing nearly all the continents, from Canada to Argentina, Europe, Australia and Japan. he focus of the assembly was on the issues having to do with migration. Various member organizations of SICSAL are involved in work on migration in their respective countries, and those not directly involved learnt about what is being done in this area. The result was an

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enriching assembly for all.

The assembly hosts prepared an excellent agenda that included the opportunity to get to know firsthand the experiences of the migrants who pass through Mexico. It is estimated that between 800 to 1,000 migrants travel across Mexico every day riding freight trains.

The participants visited “La Lechería,” one of the 54 shelters that the Catholic Church maintains along the train routes toward the different cities on the border with the United States, and where the migrants can rest and find food and clothing to continue their journey in search of a better future. It was an opportunity to talk with and listen to these migrants who risk their lives so as to maintain their families. One activity of the migrants when resting is that of painting and one in particular left an impression on the visitors because of a phrase saying, “If the migrant is not your brother, God is not your Father.”

That phrase motivated the SICSAL assembly to undertake a serious commitment to carry out a world awareness campaign.

Facing the imminent reactivation of a mining company, Churches in Peru demand respect for environmental regulations

By Rolando Pérez Lima, March 3, 2012 (ALC) he National Council of Evangelical Churches of Peru (CONEP) and the Archbishop of Huancayo have both expressed their indignation at the attempt by the North America mining company, Doe Run, to reactivate its operations without first meeting its contractual obligations regarding the environmental contamination that the company’s metallurgical plant has caused in La

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Oroya, where children in particular have been affected.

The company has solicited the reactivation of its operations, which have been shut down for nearly three years; furthermore, the company is requesting a new extension to its legally mandated Environmental Adequacy and Management Program (PAMA).

“We cannot remain silent because this new attempt to sidestep its responsibilities is a complete disregard of the dignity and health of the people of La Oroya and of the workers of the

Metallurgical Complex, who are obligated to work in lethal conditions,” said the communication from the Archbishop of Huancayo. For its part, CONEP declared that “providing an option between health or work, as proposed by several political leaders in order to resolve the problem, is not only irresponsible but also perverse, because what really is in play is the life of people that the State has an obligation to defend over any other private economic interest.”

A study done by the University of

St. Louis (USA), showed that during the years of operation of the plant, more than 90% of the children of La Oroya exhibited excessive levels of lead in their bodies. And, the levels of sulfur dioxide in the air that cause acid rain ultimately reached the record level of 27,000 parts per cubic meter, which is almost 100 times greater than the limit permitted by Peruvian law. The contamination has become so severe that La Oroya has been compared with Chernobyl, being included among the ten most contaminated cities in the

world, according to the Blacksmith Institute based in New York.

Both ecclesiastical institutions call upon all Christians to not remain silent in the face of such evil and impunity. Likewise, they encourage all citizens “to remain vigilant so that the authorities make morally sound decisions that contribute to a solution in La Oroya, so that the children no longer have to live with environmental contamination nor with disregard for their rights.”

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

2 Clai News

Operative strategy for the work between Faith Based Organizations and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Latin America and the Caribbean, is presented

By David Cela Heffel Panama City, January 5, 2012 (ALC)

From December 19-20, 2011, the regional meeting of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, was held in Panama City with the participation of some 20 organizations, including the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), the Argentine Commission for Refugees (CAREF), the Latin American Biblical University, and the Latin American and Caribbean Interreligious Network on HIV/AIDS. ince 2008, the UNFPA Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean has worked with different Faith Based Organizations, within the framework of the “Guidelines for the integration of Faith Based Organizations as agents of change.”

Those guidelines “… provide a key reference framework for integration with the Faith Based Organizations… They are designed to provide foundations for the participation of and with the Faith Based Organizations in the structuring of principles such as the commitments and the strategy of association.”

Although the main objective of the gathering in Panama was the

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presentation of the operative strategy of UNFPA in alliance with the Faith Based Organizations for 2012 and 2013, important time on the agenda was given to the sharing of experiences and lessons learned at the regional and national levels of the work between the Faith Based Organizations and the UNFPA, during the period 2008-2011, having to do with matters of sexual health and reproductive health, gender equity, and those of population and development.

It is important to stress that among the principles that guide the UNFPA plan of action, is the recognition on the part of this office of the United Nations system that, “the association with the Faith Based Organizations is fundamental for the application of the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, Cairo, 1994), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, New York, 2000), and the Document that came out of the 2005 World Summit (New York, 2005).”

Why did UNFPA decide to work closely with Faith Based Organizations on the matters men-

tioned previously? “In a moment in which the basic necessities are becoming more and more difficult to provide for more than half of the world’s population, we can no longer avoid recognizing these parallel development interventions (of the organizations) based on faith, that are able to reach so many and provide so much,” says the “Guidelines” document.

But it was also ratified by Mrs. Marcela Suazo, UNFPA Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, who personally encouraged the Faith Based Organizations to continue the strategic alliance with the UNFPA Regional Office.

For her part, Mrs. Cecilia Maurente, UNFPA Program Specialist for the region, is convinced that “in a continent such as ours (Latin America and the Caribbean), the most unequal region in the world in terms of income distribution, and with a population of 105 million young people that represents 30% of the population between the ages of 15 and 24, the work with and for youth is primordial if we want to achieve a true development of our societies.”

Climate justice on the agenda of the churches of two continents: Dialogue of Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CSC/CEC) and Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) continues

By Chris Morck and Peter Pavlovic Havana, January 20, 2012 (ALC)

In light of impacts of the global economic and financial crises, the delegations of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CSC/CEC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) met in Havana, from 16 – 23 January 2012. The meeting took place in the frame of a dialogue program between two regional ecumenical bodies, which started in 2009. his encounter followed the first stage of dialogue marked by meetings in Buenos Aires, Oslo and Budapest and the 2011 publication of outcomes and commitments from this dialogue, Threats and Challenges of Globalisation: Churches in Europe and Latin America in dialogue.

Continued from the first stage of the dialogue, the Havana meeting agreed to concentrate further joint work on the theme of climate justice.

The meeting focused attention on the theme of sustainable economic governance, the role and advocacy of churches in the public domain and theological perspectives on good governance from both continents.

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LAEN Latin American Ecumenical News is a quarterly produced by the Communication Department of the Latin American Council of Churches Editor: Christopher Morck Translation: Geoff Reeson, Patricia Morck and Christopher Morck.

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Havana CEC-CLAI participants (Rudiger Noll)

UNFPA Global Forum on Faith-based Organizations for Population and Development, Istambul, 2008 Report (UNFPA)

The link between political and economic governance is the critical problem of the current system. CSC and CLAI delegations discussed their approaches to various dimensions of debt in general, which includes public and external debts, as well as ecological debt and biblical approaches to them.

In his contribution to the dialogue, Bishop Julio Murray, the President of CLAI, noted: “We understand the dialogue as a space in which is expressed practical solidarity and mutual accompaniment in looking for responses to current world challenges.”

The content of the meetings was accented by participation of Cuban theologians and opportunities to learn from the social, political and economic context of the island nation.

In underlining the importance of the dialogue for churches in both continents, Bishop Murray said: “The dialogue has been transformed into a journey, in which we care one for another and we pray one for another. All of this makes us sensitive in our effort toward how to make us instruments of peace and love.”

The meeting confirmed joint commitments to work together particularly in view of the upcoming assemblies of the respective continental bodies of CEC and CLAI, as well as for the upcoming World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly.

Clai News 3

February 15, 2012 (LWF)

Quito, February 7, 2012 (CLAI/ALC)

The international financial crisis continues to be a threat to Latin America, yet at the same time is a great opportunity to make regional integration and the strengthening of its financial, economic, social and environmental sovereignty more dynamic, so as to bring about a “social and human development with equity and inclusion…”

(Union of South American Nations, UNASUR). he Latin American Debt, Development and Rights Network (LATINDADD), the 2000 Jubilee Ecuador Network, the National Debt Group, the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), the Ecuadorian Presidential Commission for the Bank of the South, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, organized an international workshop on “The New Regional Financial Architecture (NAFR) and the Audits of the Debt,” held in Quito, Ecuador on February 13, 14,

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and 15, 2012.

This international workshop was attended by representatives of the Ecuadorian government and UNASUR, the NAFR and Audit Group of LATINDADD, the 2000 Jubilee Ecuador Network and the National Debt Group, representatives of social organizations and academic circles, the Latin American Council of Churches, the Committee for the Annulment of the Debt, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Citizen’s Audit of Greece, the Citizen’s Audit of Portugal, Bread for All, and Jubilee USA. The progress made by UNASUR and its discussion of strategic matters, relevant among which are the issue of financing and the pertinence of the New Regional Financial Architecture (NAFR), open the door for a more active participation by the citizens and the social organizations in the denouncing of the international systems of financial domination at the service of capital, and in the building of a new regional financial architecture that has as its objectives the human integration and development (‘good living’) of our peoples.

The workshop also gave continuity to the actions begun at the international workshop of January, 2011, directed towards the building

of the new regional financial architecture with a human face, the definitive, just and transparent solution of the problems of foreign investment (Bilateral Investment Agreements – TBI and the International Center for Resolving Differences Regarding Investments – CIADI) and the debt of the countries of the South.

As these are matters that are on the agenda of UNASUR and of many of the governments of Latin America, who had official representatives in attendance to take part in this workshop as spokespersons of the social and citizens’ organizations.

Workshop Objectives 1. Evaluate the progress of the proposals and strategies for political incidence in favor of the NAFR, the debt audits, the financial code, and the alternatives to the TBI and the CIADI. 2. Promote new actions for political incidence with regard to those proposals.

3. Dialogue with official representatives on the proposed matters.

4. Foster social dialogue in light of the international crisis and the political and social transitions in the region.

“The presence of international ecumenical accompaniment is urgent,” say community leaders in Colombia

By Milton Mejía January 30, 2012 (CLAI/ALC) rom January 27-28, a commission of the National Reference Group of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Colombia visited the Caribbean region of Montes de María y San Onofre, where a pilot project of the program is planned to begin.

On the commission were Bishop Francisco Duque of the Episcopal Church and president of the Latin American Council of Churches, CLAI-Colombia National Roundtable, Bishop Juan Alberto Cardona of the Colombian Methodist Church, Zoraida Castillo of the ACTColombia Forum, Germán Zarate of the Presbyterian Church, Chris Ferguson, International Coordinator of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Colombia, and Milton Mejía of the support team for the implementation of the program in Colombia.

During the visit the delegation met with over three hundred persons representing some 30 communities, human rights, peasants, displaced persons, women’s and church social

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organizations and networks, to dialogue over the situation of danger they experience in the region and how the accompaniment process is to be carried out in Colombia.

These people shared with the commission their organizational processes for recuperating their lands, to make the reparation of what they have suffered because of the violence possible, and to achieve that justice is done. In their testimonies they expressed that during this work they are subjected to intimidations by the different armed

Montes de María region of Colombia (FPDPMM WOLA)

groups that continue threatening and murdering their leaders. They manifested that given the reality of insecurity and fear experienced, the presence of international ecumenical accompaniment is urgent since it would allow those who have returned to the region to gain greater confidence and protection so as to be able to continue on their lands and to strengthen their organizational processes.

At the end of the visit, the members of the commission concluded that the testimonies and petitions of the leaders of the communities indicate the challenge to urgently move forward with the implementation and beginning of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program.

This will allow the Protestant and Evangelical churches and the ecumenical organisms to strengthen their presence in the region and give a concrete witness through an international presence in these communities, which will contribute to the progress of their organizational processes for a worthy life, and make possible a peace that is the fruit of the justice proclaimed by the word of God.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, a Chilean theologian, said that the Colombian context, still characterized by situations of conflict, violence and injustice, offers an excellent opportunity to explore the dimensions of what it means to be a communion that commits to live and work together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world.

Together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world” is the theme of the 2012 meeting of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council to be hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO) 15-20 June in the capital city Bogotá.

The Colombian church is very pleased to have the opportunity to welcome the Council, said IELCO Bishop Eduardo Martínez in a letter to the LWF governing body.

“We consider that our main strength is to be part of a confessional family which is so extensive, diverse and wonderful, as is the Lutheran Communion in the world. Meetings such as the Council’s are tangible signs of communion among Lutheran men and women from around the world,” he stated.

The Council is the LWF’s governing body between Assemblies.

It consists of the President and 48 persons elected by the Assembly, as well as the Chairperson of the Finance Committee, who can be elected from among the membership Council or from outside.

In addition, advisers to Council Committees provide expertise for specific areas of work. The Council includes ordained and lay members, women, men and youth.

The Bogotá meeting will mark the first time an LWF governing body has met in Latin America since 1990, when the Eighth Assembly was held at Curitiba, Brazil.

Pre-Council exposure tours on 12-14 June will allow Council members to experience the life and witness of the IELCO, which is active in ministries such as

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Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia, Logo (IELCO)

work among people with disabilities and internally displaced persons; ecumenical accompaniment in conflict regions; peace and justice; education; inclusion of women and youth; and human rights of persons affected

by HIV and AIDS. The LWF Meeting of Officers and the Committee for Holistic Mission and Church Relations will meet prior to the Council sessions, as will Pre-Council Women and Youth gatherings.

The Council agenda includes the President’s address, and reports from the General Secretary and the Chair of the Finance Committee. On 17 June, members will worship in local churches.

Members of the Committee for World Service will visit projects of the LWF’s Department for World Service (DWS) prior to and following the Council meeting.

DWS has been active in Colombia since 2001 with humanitarian, human rights and sustainable development programs that address root causes of poverty, and promote just, peaceful responses to armed conflict.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, a Chilean theologian, said that the Colombian context, still characterized by situations of conflict, violence and injustice, offers an excellent opportunity to explore the dimensions of what it means to be a communion that commits to live and work together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world.

“The LWF understands its Council meeting in Colombia as a concrete contribution to the Program of Ecumenical Accompaniment in Colombia launched by the Latin American Council of Churches [CLAI] and the World Council of Churches in October 2011,” he noted.

Source: Lutheran World Information, LWI: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/colombianchurch-host-2012-council.html

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

International workshop analyzes the Colombian Church to host social implications of the Latin 2012 Lutheran World American foreign debt, Federation (LWF) Council in the context of the world crisis

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

4 Church and Society

Cuban Biblical Network Mexican Lutheran Church celebrates female leaders celebrates its 10 years of existence Mexico City, March 9, 2012 (LWF)

By José Aurelio Paz Havana, December 15, 2011 (ALC)

The Cuban Biblical Network of the Council of Churches of Cuba’s Center for Studies, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its having been founded as a space serving for analysis of the Holy Scriptures from the perspective of a popular and contextualized re-reading, according to the Cuban setting and with a broad ecumenical vision. s part of the celebration of the first decade of its existence, the network recently held a National Workshop on Popular and Community Reading of the Bible, in the so called House of Affection (CESERSE) in the Varadero beach location of the Province of Matanzas, as part of the celebration of the decade of its existence.

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Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC)

A total of 27 participants, representing different Christian denominations, centers and regions of the whole country, gathered together to consider the theme of “Crisis and Hopes in the Popular Reading of the Bible,” and devoted their first day to a debate on the implementation of the methodology.

Following that debate, the participants were then involved in an exercise of community reading of the passage from the Gospel of John, chapter 9, verses 1-12, about the man born blind who receives sight, to identify visions of crisis and of reaffirmation of the hope that a better world is possible.

“The opening and closing liturgical celebrations, as well as the different devotional moments, made for a lovely ecumenical communion, where we shared and celebrated life, and our diversity in God, with the warmth of the songs, prayers, symbols and the Word,” said Daylín Rufín, Coordinator of the Cuban Biblical Network, “when a new path to walk is not waited for, as our singer and songwriter Silvio Rodríguez would say, ‘in wine colored verse and life, joining the rest.’”

The Center for Studies of the Council of Churches of Cuba, through its Cuban Biblical Network, carries out an important work of bringing the Word near to the churches, from an ecumenical and community perspective that allows the socialization of the knowledge of the texts, so that the people become actors in the knowing of what is being told to them by all the wisdom enclosed within the most important book in the history of humanity.

When Rev. Karina García Carmona was installed as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Mexico City in 2011, her congregation posed a simple question: do you want to be called “Pastor”? “I don’t know if I did the right thing, but at the time I told them they could call me ‘Karina,’ since I felt that respect and authority had to be earned,” García said recently. arcía is one of three women ordained to the ministry by the Mexican Lutheran Church (ILM), a member church of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), in a groundbreaking move in April 2009.

“The dialogue and learning process [with the congregation] was long and sincere, a situation that made it possible to establish a relationship of fondness and respect that I greatly appreciate,” García reflected. “I feel supported and welcomed by a congregation that never considered my being a young woman to be an obstacle.”

Rev. Ángela del Consuelo Trejo Haager, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Mexico City, has experienced both highs and lows in her ministry.

“My experience has been a spectrum of emotions ranging from sadness to joy, from frustration to triumph, from despair to the belief that it is possible to continue believing in a church where men and women travel the road together side-byside,” Trejo recalled.

“My most powerful experience was with the women of the congregation; with them I learned to understand life through the lens of their experiences. Their presence and their enthusiasm motivate me to continue.”

They have shared the pain of death and illness, the “crisis” of being women –grandmothers, mothers, single, divorced, widowed – each of them illustrating what it means to live the gospel from a fem-

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Rev. Karina García Carmona pastors Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Mexico City (ILM LWF)

inine perspective.

“I have the hope that the church will become a space where men and women can meet as a community, a space for healing, for great joyfulness as well as for sadness; a space that encourages us to continue going forward hand in hand with our brothers and sisters, along the path of life, sharing the feeling of the very presence of God,” Trejo said.

For Rev. Sofía Deyanira Tenorio May, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Mexico City, being a woman in ordained ministry has been a marvelous experience that has allowed her to reaffirm the unmistakable presence of God in her life.

Still, it has not been easy.

Culture and traditions had to be overcome and she faced the daunting task of forming a church and nurturing its growth.

However, Tenorio is committed “to continue the difficult task of breaking new ground for the next generation of women and [to] be a witness to the fact that, with the help of God, anything and everything is possible when it comes to building the kingdom of God on earth.”

While he had never experienced being in a congregation with a woman pastor, lay leader Eliel Huerta said that he has listened closely to Trejo’s sermons, watched her pray with the sick and undertake projects with different groups.

“I am convinced that the min-

istry is not the exclusive prerogative of men,” he said.

Rev. Moisés Pérez Espino noted that the women’s ministry, though not without difficult moments, has had a great impact on their congregations.

“Female pastors have gradually gained respect and space through perseverance and by resisting patriarchal customs and ideas. But today their presence is appreciated and strongly felt,” Pérez added.

ILM president Daniel Trejo Coria maintained that there is only one ministry in the church. “The church is enriched by the work and ministry of believers, women and men, called to serve the community, do it with faithfulness to Scripture and for the honor and glory of God.” Rev. Dr. Elaine Neuenfeldt, secretary for the LWF’s Women in Church and Society (WICAS) desk, said that celebrating the witness of women in ordained ministry is a sign of ongoing reformation as the church journeys towards the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

“The dynamic ministry of these women gives us both a solid foundation and realistic hope of progress on the road to gender justice in the church,” she concluded.

Source: Lutheran World Information, LWI: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/mexicanchurch-female-leaders.html

President of Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC) welcomes papal visit with the hope that it will contribute to better ecumenical relations

By José Aurelio Paz Havana, March 21, 2012 (ALC) he Rev. Marcial Hernández, President of CIC, has said that “the Council of Churches of Cuba, representing a majority of the Evangelical and Protestant churches, is pleased that the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, is to visit our country, as is frequently done by the presidents of different countries and other world denominations and which always contributes to the benefit of the institution in the country.” The Pope is scheduled to arrive in Cuba on

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March 26.

Hernández, speaking to ALC this past Monday, added that these visits are especially significant “at a time such as the present, when we are all focused on recovering the human values that have also been lost here, due to the moral crisis in the world.”

“As a courtesy given the importance of this visit, our ecumenical organism decided to postpone its General Assembly until May, when we will evaluate the results and how relations between Catholics and Protestants can be improved,” commented Hernández.

He also referred to the present

good moment in the relations between CIC and the Cuban Catholic Church, an outcome of the joint work over the recent years through CIC´s Biblical Commission.

“We can mention here,” said Hernández, “the actions that have been carried out with the method of reading known as Lectio Divina, whose literature is received through our institution and the materials have benefitted the 11 dioceses of the Catholic Church in Cuba. Add to that the ‘Lectionaut’ workshops (Lectio Divina for youth) that have been held and very well received in that sector.”

“Also worth mentioning are the workshops sponsored by ‘Faith Comes Through Hearing,’ which includes a high technology audio version of the New Testament for persons who are visually impaired, and which are workshops that also contribute to the mission and evangelization of the Catholic sector.”

Hernández pointed out that “we should also add the celebrations that for many years now have been jointly held between the Evangelical and Catholic churches on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an event that has prompted simultaneous gatherings in church-

es of both denominations, in search of an even greater institutional harmony including the faith communities, that frees us from the great sin of inter-denominational disputes and divisions.”

“We welcome the arrival of Benedict XVI and trust that his visit will not only be a blessing for the Cuban Catholics, but also for the entire country, caught up as never before in the search for harmony among all the people and in the struggle for that integral peace with justice that Jesus Christ promised humanity,” concluded the CIC President.

Church and Society 5

By Mayra Rodríguez February 1, 2012 (ALC)

San Salvador, January 24, 2012 (LWF)

Some three hundred people gathered in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guatemala City to participate in the Ecumenical Prayer for Christian unity celebrated in the country for the eleventh consecutive year, led by bishops, priests and pastors of the Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Mennonite and Evangelical Churches.

The Salvadoran Lutheran Church has welcomed government celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the peace agreement that ended the country’s civil war but called for a new agreement that will return the country to peace and justice. n an open letter to the President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, on 16 January, Lutheran Bishop Medardo E. Gómez Soto said the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement that ended the 12-year civil in 1992 offers an opportunity for the country to focus on the insecurity, violence, poverty and injustice that prevail today.

“Twenty years after the signing of the peace agreements, it is important to review and assess what has been achieved with a view to finding an answer to the national reality that we are now experiencing… We need a national re-conceptualization of social peace,” said Gómez in the letter.

“The past 20 years have not been in vain. There have been changes with signs of progress on the road from madness to hope. Conditions at present are favorable for renewing the commitment,” stated the Lutheran bishop.

Gómez issued the letter the same day that President Funes travelled to El Mozote in the municipal district of Meanguera to ask forgiveness for the massacre by the army there in December 1981, when 1,000 defenseless peasants were killed.

Dozens of children were trapped in a convent there when soldiers attacked the venue with flamethrowers and grenades. Various mass graves were later found in El Mozote but those responsible for the crimes

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Bishop Medardo E. Gómez Soto (LWF DWS Central America M. Boulogne)

were never brought to trial.

In his open letter marking the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement, which was spearheaded by the country’s churches, Gómez noted the churches’ peace work was a faithful response to the call of Old Testament prophets and Jesus’ ministry to bring good news to the poor. The country’s churches forged a common ministry to help the victims of the civil war.

“It was a spontaneous response to the crying out of our people, whose blood was being shed, who were hungry, thirsty, persecuted, imprisoned, exiled, dying, victims of injustices amplified by war,” said the Lutheran bishop.

“Confronted with the suffering of our people, the churches learned to be ecumenical; we were able to bear witness, to travel the road together in the face of pain and hope. Responding together to the suffering of our people was more important than differences between or respective ecclesial bodies,” he noted.

The churches organized the Permanent Committee of the National Peace Debate for Peace, which contributed significantly to the dialogue process that ended the civil war and the signing of the peace

agreements. The Salvadoran Lutheran Church actively participated in the process, making numerous interventions.

The churches’ efforts were supported by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Council of Churches and other international bodies as well as churches in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

Rev. Dr. Patricia Cuyatti, LWF area secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, said the LWF endorses the Salvadoran Lutheran church’s call for a renewed agreement at this historical moment, urging the different actors in the country to rethink the notion of peace and justice.

The Salvadoran church “is contributing to the building of a social peace that is grounded in God’s grace and love, which needs to be at the foundation of any reconciling and healing process,” noted Cuyatti.

“Given the history of conquest, war, militarism and the many losses, accountability and just peace become crucial to the member churches, who together with the LWF Communion Office are working to promote actions that express peace,” she added.

Source: Lutheran World Federation, LWF: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/salvadoran-church-peace.html

Seeking Churches’ Commitment for People on the Move Geneva, March 15, 2012 (LWI) abriela Liguori is an Argentine social worker whose work on fighting trafficking and commercial exploitation of human beings illustrates how church groups can interact with international organizations on the topic of migration. Liguori represents CAREF, the Argentine Ecumenical Service for the Support and Orientation of Migrants and Refugees, which gets support from The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and other church-related organizations.

“We’re concerned about the commitment of churches in the con-

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Guatemalan churches pray for Christian unity and propose an ecumenical observatory

text of vulnerability of human rights,” Liguori told Lutheran World Information (LWI) on a recent visit to Geneva. She spoke about CAREF, which was established in 1973 to focus on refugees and migration, and increasingly works on human trafficking.

Human trafficking is an issue that has come to the fore for CAREF in the last seven years, said Liguori, the daughter of Italian migrants to the South American country. She pointed out that trafficking for sexual exploitation is more visible than for labor purposes in Argentina, which is a destination country for women arriving from Paraguay and the Dominican Republic. It is also

the exit place for women exported to Spain and Italy.

Between 2009 and 2011, CAREF, supported by the LWF Department for Mission Development, produced a study titled: “Trafficking and commercial exploitation of human beings in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay: contributions for a regional and ecumenical dialogue.”

The study found that human trafficking practices occur at both national and international levels but that there were remarkable differences among the three Latin American countries in view of their social and political realities.

Continue on page 5

he celebration held this past January 25 was organized by the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala and based on the liturgy proposed by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC), with the theme for 2012, “We will all be transformed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Cathedral parish priest, Father José Luis Colmenares, explained that the message is based on the text from First Corinthians 15 that speaks of the transforming power of faith in Christ, particularly in relation to the prayer for the visible unity of the Church. “The unity for which we pray can demand of us the renewing of the manner of daily living in the life of the Church,” said Colmenares, who invited all “to be disposed so that that transformation that we need in ourselves, in our churches and communities, in our country and in our world, come about.”

In the central message, Monsignor Rodolfo Valenzuela called for the giving of witness to unity so that the world may believe, and affirmed that this ideal is frequently blocked by our tendencies to close as a group

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and defend ourselves. “These attitudes are a product of our own insecurities,” he said, and added that “today’s prayer invites us to transform these tendencies and be open to an ecumenism based on understanding and respect, in this Guatemala full of social evils.”

For his part, Presbyterian pastor and general secretary of the Ecumenical Council, Vitalino Similox, said that it is necessary that Christians commit themselves so that there is transformation, especially at the present moment with the change in government.

Pastor Similox presented the initiative of an “Ecumenical Observer,”‘ saying that it is intended that the observatory work along two lines: first, to give follow-up to the democratic process that is being built in the country and monitoring the risks of an eventual setback should those responsible for crimes against humanity not be punished and, second, to also monitor the accomplishment of the electoral campaign promises.

The Presbyterian pastor invited the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala, the highest representative body of the Catholic hierarchy and with which the president of the country, Otto Pérez Molina, recently met, to channel the findings of the Ecumenical Observer.

As a symbolic expression on the occasion of the Ecumenical Prayer celebration, youth from the different churches shared a visual presentation with the map of Guatemala which they had prepared, and on which were written the social sins that this country suffers from, such as femicide, chronic infant malnutrition, poverty and violence, among others.

During the moment of prayer, those sins were replaced with the values of the Kingdom, so necessary to be built in this Central American country.

2012 Ecumenical Prayer for Christian unity celebration, Guatemala City (Mayra Rodríguez)

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

Salvadoran Lutheran Church urges new peace agreement to deal with today’s injustices

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

6 Church and Society

Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomes UN call for protection of Human Rights Workers in Honduras Tegucigalpa, February 23, 2012 (LWF) he Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has welcomed a preliminary United Nations report on human rights violations in Honduras that urges protection of human rights workers, who are facing death threats, extrajudicial executions, disappearances and torture. “We welcome the UN envoy’s preliminary statement,” said Eva Ekelund, regional representative of the LWF’s Department for World Service (DWS) in Central America. “The situation is one of ongoing violations of human rights.”

UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya on 14 February in Tegucigalpa said Honduras faces serious challenges in combating violence and insecurity. “The pervasive impunity and absence of effective investigations of human rights violations undermine the administration of justice and damage the public’s trust in authorities.”

Those under threat include journalists, National Human Rights Commission staff, lawyers, prosecutors and judges, as well as human rights defenders and those working on environmental and land rights issues, said the UN independent expert charged with monitoring the situation of human rights defenders at the end of an eight-day mission to the country. Her final report will be issued in 2013.

In August 2011, the LWF called for the establishment of an Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras in light of violence over land issues. LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge said

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Rabbi Richard Gamboa, a member of an interfaith peace group in Bogotá, says that peacemaking is about disarming hearts as well as hands (The Rev. Shannon Vance-Ocampo Presbyterian News Service)

Disarming hands and hearts:

Interfaith group works to build peace in Bogotá, Colombia

By Bethany Furkin March 2, 2012 (Presbyterian News Service) n the past, interfaith work in Colombia has mostly involved top-level clergy, not their congregants at the base, says a peace group here. But Tuesaquillo Territorio de Paz (Territory of Peace or TTP) is working to change that model. Based in Tuesaquillo, one of 20 districts in the capital city of Bogotá, TTP is an interfaith, secular group dedicated to peace in the midst of Colombia’s decades-long armed internal conflict.

Participants range from the local mayor’s office and academic institutions to many faith groups, including Presbyterians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Mennonites.

“We are very excited,” said Rabbi Richard Gamboa, speaking at La Paz de Dios Presbyterian Church here Feb. 11.”We want to clamor for peace from the base for a negotiated end to this conflict.”

TTP began when the mayor of Tuesaquillo gathered local faith groups to discuss their shared values.

They all agreed that peace was No. 1.

They decided to work together to make Tuesaquillo an engine for peace in Bogotá and throughout Colombia.

TTP’s ideological platform is made up of nine principles: We’re all made in the image of God and should treat each other with respect.

Respect for human rights as defined by the United Nations and Colombia’s constitution Peace with the environment and a respect for nature Nonviolent conflict resolution at every level of society No carrying of weapons and a goal for zero murders Food security A negotiated end to the armed conflict plaguing Colombia Support for conscientious objectors to Colombia’s military Respect for the dignity and rights of women In the area of women’s rights, TTP has become a major player in local society, said Magnolia Agudilo Velásquez, a member of TTP who works with the local human rights

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council.

“Peace is talked about in high levels of government and constitutions, but this group wants to be a local expression of peace,” she said.

True peace involves more than just a ceasefire, Agudilo said.

Peacemaking is an attempt to close large breaches between people, which is one reason why women are a central focus of TTP. In Colombia, women are not always treated the same as men, and violence against women is a huge problem. So TTP works to put forward a new vision for women — to show them as “transformers of society, builders of peace, constructors of wealth,” Agudilo said.

Last year, TTP sponsored a public recognition of women peacemakers in order to highlight the ways that women from all levels of society can work for peace.

As an interfaith group, the relationship between religion and peace is another focus of TTP. It hosts a three-month, weekend course at a local university where different religious leaders speak about peace in their traditions. The Rev. Richard Williams, a PC(USA) mission coworker in Colombia, led the discussion on the Reformed approach to peace.

TTP also hopes to start “schools of peace” throughout the country that will educate students about peace processes.

“We don’t just have to disarm our hands — we also have to disarm our hearts,” Gamboa said.

There have been various reactions to TTP’s model of interfaith peacemaking. Some faith groups admire the work very much while others don’t believe that different religions should work together. And the news media isn’t very interested in TTP because it focuses on peace, not fighting, Gamboa said.

But TTP’s efforts continue to grow and get results.

“The work ends up being more like photo ops in other instances,” said Fernando Luis san Miguel, a participant in TTP and the son of a Presbyterian pastor here. “This is real work.”

Translated from Spanish by the Rev. Mamie Broadhurst.

Source: Presbyterian News Service, PC(USA): /www.pcusa.org/news/2012/2/29/disarming-hands-and-hearts/

scrutiny brought by the UN office would help deter the violence.

Ralston Deffenbaugh, LWF assistant general secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights, stressed the continuing need for a UN presence in Honduras.

“Killings and other human rights abuses are carried out with impunity. There are no satisfactory investigations. There are no independent international observers,” he said.

Churches and human rights organizations report that over the past two years the killing of peasants in Bajo Aguán has become a horrifying part of daily life.

When two masked men shot Matias Valley on 20 January, he became the 45th organized peasant to be slain in the agrarian conflict in Aguán. “What happens in Honduras is attributed to organized crime and drug trafficking, but the offenders are the armed forces and police,” said Diego Almedo (a pseudonym), who has risked his life to denounce human rights violations in the region.

Honduras is one of the countries

El Aguán belongs to us (vamosacambiarelmundo.org)

with the highest rates of violence in the world, with 82 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the National Autonomous University in Honduras.

The situation in Aguán stems from agrarian reform in 1972 when the Honduran government gave land to a big landowner. The peasants have since organized to demand their land back. In response, the government has deployed 600 police and army officers to the region.

A recent DWS update on the human rights situation in Honduras warned that the situation in general, and especially in Bajo Aguán, was “alarming,” adding, “There is cause of great concern with massive loss of life.”

Ekelund said DWS continues work with existing networks to provide protection and refuge for human rights defenders.

Rev. Dr. Patricia Cuyatti, LWF area secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean with the Department for Mission and Development, said the LWF member churches in the region are establishing a network to monitor human rights violations.

“Having a UN office in Honduras will reinforce the work of the state institutions and civil society organizations, which includes the churches,” she stated.

Deffenbaugh noted that the voice of the church is particularly vital in the current situation. “Along with other civil society actors, the church calls for respect for human rights and dignity, and for an end to impunity,” he said.

Source: Lutheran World Information, LWI: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/un-call-humanrights-honduras.html

In preparation for its upcoming elections, the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC) strengthens its ecumenical integration

By José Aurelio Paz Havana, January 17, 2012 (ALC) or the elections of its directors who will lead during a new period, the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC), through its Area of Formation and Study, is travelling throughout the country in order to know its strengths and weaknesses that will allow for a more coherent projection of the Council’s ecumenical work at the national level.

The travels that will integrate the regions and vice-presidencies in which the work of CIC is distributed have as their objective being able to present to the upcoming assembly a real diagnosis of what the churches think of the Council and how they see its future in terms of the strengthening of the ecumenical work from a local and regional perspective, so as to know what the real needs are that require diagnosis and a strategy.

The Coordinator of the Area of Formation and Study of CIC, leader Dámaris González, explained to ALC that “this way we will come to an

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important moment in the history of the Council, with a consensus on what the needs and aspirations of the Cuban believers are in the new context of the changes that Cuba is experiencing, so that we be a Church that is immersed in the problems and concerns of the society, not as an element unaware of the future that is being built, not only from the streets and government offices, but also from the temples.”

“Our purpose is to complete the travelling throughout the whole country, so that we can arrive at the General Assembly with an exact knowledge of where the Council must work for the sake of serving as a guide and path for the strengthening of ecumenism in Cuba,” she pointed out.

González also spoke of a triennial project of Ecumenical Integral Formation, which will allow the formation and training of pastors and lay leaders of churches, as well as institutions and movements of the whole country, beginning with the making available of multiple disciplines “related to the ecumenical

work that contribute new knowledge and with that strengthen and/or transform attitudes and new practices.”

According to what is being planned, the project will end at the closing of 2013 with a publication titled, “Ecumenism in Cuba: history, reason for being and challenges”, which will serve as a guide and basis for the whole work.

Among the themes that the project will approach are: Ecumenism, Mission of the Church and of the Ecumenical Movement; Liturgy; Ecological spirituality; Methodologies for Group Participatory Work; Administration of Projects and Christian Education, besides Biblical Hermeneutics; Gender Relationships and Ecumenical Pastoral Ministry.

“We know that these aspects are indispensable for the current ecumenical leadership and that it is important that we receive feedback from the bases to know what their needs, aspirations and challenges are, which is the reason for doing the present travelling,” concluded González.

indigenous issues 7

Asuncion, February 1, 2012 (CWS)

“We are pleased that finally the Government has returned our land to us, land that has always been ours. After over 10 years we have finally managed to recover part of our ancestral territory,” says Celso Benítez, leader of Kelyenmagategma community. he 70 Exhlet Sur indigenous families who make up the community of Kelyenmagategma have been demanding legal title to this portion of their ancestral territory since 2000. Much of their decade long struggle was spent in a precarious campsite by the side of the road where they were subjected to human rights violations including two violent evictions, constant harassment and death threats and legal persecution of its community leaders – reportedly perpetuated by the livestock company El Algarrobal S.A. which is situated on the land claimed by Kelyenmagategma. The precarious living conditions also created serious health and food security concerns for the community causing a number of preventable deaths in old people and children.

In 2004 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued protection measures for the community and referred the case to the Inter-American court. In 2007 the court ruled in favor of the community instructing the Paraguayan state to restore the land to Kelyenmagategma within the

Panama City, February 11, 2012 (ALC)

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Exhlet Sur community gathering in Paraguay (Fionuala Cregan CWS LAC)

space of three years.

Chaco Program partners in Paraguay accompany two indigenous organizations which have been providing constant support to Kelyenmagategma. The Federation of Indigenous Organizations and Peoples of the Paraguayan Chaco, and the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Leaders of Chaco, provided technical support and advice and organized a wide range of advocacy actions including mass mobilizations to demand compliance from the Government with the IACHR ruling and to raise awareness of their case. They also provided essential moral support to the community as it began to lose hope of ever re-gaining their territory.

On June 17 the community received news that the Government had purchased 8,748 hectares of the land for them. The final handover of

the title was signed by the INDI on 29 July 2011 and the community was able to re-locate in December followed by a one week celebration as they begin to build a new life. The community will continue to demand the remaining portion of its land claim which includes an ancestral Exhlet Sur cemetery and other areas of spiritual significance to the community.

The Chaco program is a longterm tri-national effort led by Church World Service (CWS) to improve the quality of life of the indigenous peoples of South America’s Chaco region by strengthening the capacity of communities to promote their right to recover land and live free of hunger and oppression.

Source: Church World Service Latin America and the Caribbean, CWS LAC: http://cwslac.org/exhlet_sur_community_in_paraguay_recovers_ancestral_land-L2eX54.html

Indigenous Ixil University of Guatemala signs international agreement with the Martin Luther King Nicaraguan Evangelical University

By Mayra Rodríguez March 19, 2012 (ALC)

he recently created Ixil University of Guatemala has 200 students enrolled who rep-

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Churches mediate in the agreement reached between the Ngäbe-Buglé people and the Panamanian government

resent seven indigenous communities, and offers an education starting from the perspective of Ixil philosophy, traditions, knowledge and vision of the cosmos, for the purpose of strengthening the indige-

Ixil spiritual leaders preparing for Mayan ceremony

nous culture.

The agreement signed with the Martin Luther King Nicaraguan Evangelical University seeks to foment an integral education for the Ixil people, one of the 23 that are part of Mayan culture.

The cooperation agreement foresees student and teacher interchanges between Guatemala and Nicaragua, for joint projects of research on the Ixil culture.

With a population of around 250 thousand people, the Ixil people have historically resisted colonial dominance and the genocide during the civil war of 1996. At the present time, the neo-liberal policies of successive Guatemalan governments have reduced the rights of the indigenous people and plundered the natural resources of the regions in which they live.

This past February 7, the Ngäbe-Buglé and the government of Panama reached what appears to be a mutual understanding to end the seven day conflict that resulted in the blocking of roads and violent demonstrations leaving two dead in the northwest of the country.

For its part, the Panamanian National Assembly agreed to reconsider the elimination of Article 5 of proposed Law 415 dealing with mining exploitation and the construction of a hydroelectric dam, which had triggered the protests. he Catholic Church will continue to serve as mediator and guarantor for the dialogue process that has begun, along with representatives of Evangelical churches, the United Nations and the dean of the University of Panama as observers.

Among the initial agreements reached are, the ceasing of protests by the Ngäbe-Buglé, the withdrawal of anti-riot forces from the area, the reestablishing of the communications that had been cut off, the releasing of those arrested and compensation for the family of Jerónimo Rodríguez Tugrí who died during the protests.

The agreements also include the denouncing to the Public

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Ministry of the events that occurred during the conflict, as well as a thorough investigation by human rights organizations and the establishing of guarantees for the future.

After the reading of the document detailing the agreement, Silvia Carrera, a Ngäbe-Buglé general chief, signed it and expressed her thanks, and added that this time it will be honored and that what occurred the year before will not happen again.

“I will sign, but I hope that we do not have to be blocking streets in the days to come, because the people have told me that we do not want hydroelectric dams and that we do not want mines,” she said.

Meanwhile, the minister from the presidential office said that he was willing to dialogue with the Ngäbe-Buglé Coordinator, with Chief Carrera, and with Monsignor José Lacunza, an important figure in the reaching of the so-called San Lorenzo Agreement I. Lacunza thanked all those who had sat down together at the negotiating table, while the indigenous people gathered on the Pan American Highway shouted out their acceptance, but also their hope that tragic events like those that had occurred during the protests not happen again, and that the indigenous communities be able to live in peace far removed from threats by transnational corporations that want to exploit the natural resources of the region.

Ngäbe-Buglé protest in Panama (pulsamerica.co.uk)

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

Exhlet Sur community in Paraguay recovers ancestral land

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

8 Church and Society

Foreign company negotiates carbon credits with Munduruku indigenous people of Brazil March 21, 2012 (ALC)

The leaders of the indigenous Munduruku nation have signed an agreement with the Dublin based Celestial Green Ventures that gives the company full carbon credit rights for the next 30 years over 2.3 million hectares of indigenous lands in the municipality of Jacareacanga, in the northeastern state of Pará. In return, the Munduruku will receive US 4 million dollars each year. he contract prohibits any changes to the environment, including taking advantage of the forest lumber or the growing of crops. It also guarantees the company the right to carry out studies and technical analysis, including unrestricted access to all the area for its agents and representatives.

The agreement was denounced on environmental activist Telma Monteiro’s blog in September of last year, but has only now had national repercussions. The selling of carbon credits through the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is gaining ground and a number of foreign companies have negotiated agreements with the indigenous peoples.

REDD is a United Nations mechanism in the face of climate change to benefit the polluters.

Through it, companies, countries and states that produce greenhouse effect gases in quantities above the established limits, are to compensate for those gases by buying carbon credits.

Brazil does not have legislation regarding the sale of carbon credits. Nevertheless, the negotiations continue at alarming rates.

The British company that offers carbon credits for the Guardian Media Group – publishers of The Guardian newspaper – has announced that Green Celestial has for over 30 years had access to the 18-19 million hectares in the Amazon, the equivalent in size to Switzerland and Austria together. The largest areas are in the municipalities of Barcelos (2.9 million hectares), Caruari

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Munduruku people, Brazil

(1.06 million), Manizales (1.7 million), Canutama (1.4 million), and Borba (1.3 million), all in the State of Amazonas.

The Missionary Indigenous Council (CIMI) has repudiated these contracts and the buying of REDD, describing them as being a “new kind of colonization of our lands and the indigenous peoples that live there.” For his part, the President of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), Marco Meira, said that these contracts are illegal. “There is nothing in Brazil on the mechanism for regulating REDD. Therefore, these contracts are not legally valid,” he said.

The agreement signed with the Munduruku considers Celestial Green Ventures to be the “owners.” All indigenous lands belong to the Union and the contracts are a violation of the exclusivity granted to the indigenous lands. According to Juan Camenini, a lawyer for the Land of Rights NGO, the contracts are completely illegal. “The company places itself as being the owner of the natural resources and assigns to itself the right to enter to monitor whenever it so desires.

In some of the clauses it appears that it wants to take on the role of the state,” he said to an agency for investigation reports.

Speaking with Martha Salomón of the São Paulo daily newspaper O Estado, José Geraldo, Workers Party Congressman for the State of Pará and member of the Amazon Comisión, took the matter even further by saying that “the carbon credits are a cover, they have their eye on the products for the pharmaceutical industry and not only on the territories.”

The Evangelical Alliance of Panama asks that the dialogue between the government and the indigenous leaders be resumed in a climate of peace Panama City, March 6, 2012 (ALC)

This past Saturday, the President of the Evangelical Alliance of Panama, the Reverend Rolando Hernández, asked for the resumption of the dialogue in a spirit of tolerance and peace, following the events last Thursday, March 1, in the National Assembly when four indigenous leaders were injured, presumably as a result of the firing of pellet shots. ernández, in representation of the Evangelical Churches, released a statement asking the government officials and the leadership of the Ngäbe-Buglé people to maintain their dialogue despite the acts of violence that have hindered the continuation of the conversations between the parties involved, having to do with the conflict that arose as a result of the mining and hydroelectric projects in the region where the Ngäbe-Buglé are settled.

For its part, the Catholic Conference of Bishops of Panama, also a mediator in the conflict, has expressed its agreement with the finding of a “neutral” meeting place to continue the conversations toward reaching agreements convenient for both the Ngäbe-Buglé people and the

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Rolando Hernández (critica.com.pa)

national government. The Catholic Church, involved as a mediator since February 8, also rejected the confused incident in which the indigenous leaders were wounded, stating that it deeply deplores and repudiates the acts of violence, while at the

same time asking for an investigation to clarify who was responsible.

According to Pastor Hernández, it is important that an adequate setting be found based on the initial agreements of San Lorenzo, and that the incident in the National Assembly not happen again so as not to affect the dialogue out of which the Panamanian people can emerge as the only beneficiaries.

The incident in the National Assembly between Assembly security forces and members of the Indigenous Coordinator brought the Assembly sessions to a halt for a day and prompted a call to consider a change of venue that would facilitate a dialogue on equal terms.

The Minister of Government and chief spokesperson, Jorge Ricardo Fábrega, reiterated the commitment to reaching a consensus, while indigenous General Chief Silvia Carrera asked that the President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, be present because of the importance of the matter. Carrera also requested that the negotiating table be moved to the Province of Chiriquí, but Fábrega’s response was that this new demand is not included in the San Lorenzo Agreement I.

Seeking Churches’ Commitment for People on the Move From page 5

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) noted in December 2011, that “There are more people on the move than at any other time in recorded history: about 215 million international and 740 million domestic migrants moving within their own territory.” With about 7 billion people in the world, “that means about one out of every seven people is on the move,” the IOM points out. Every country in the world is either dependent on the labor, skills and knowledge migrants bring or on the estimated USD 404 billion they remitted in 2011, adds the IOM. The migration body notes that distorted communication about migration contributes to widespread anti-migrant sentiments that have resurfaced in many parts of the world. It sees an urgent need to help migrants “have a voice in the public arena so they can speak for themselves and talk about the contribution they are making.” Its 60th anniversary report focuses on “Communicating Effectively about Migration.”

CAREF takes part in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which will hold its November 2012 summit in

Mauritius. It is the largest and most comprehensive global platform for dialogue and cooperation on international migration and development, and 160 governments took part in the 2011 meeting. Liguori explained the GFMD “is not an event” but a process that started in 2006 as a high-level dialogue in the United Nations (UN) to talk about the migration issue beyond the UN. At the last GFMD meeting, “We noticed that unfortunately when we met in common space to talk about migration, development and human rights, there was not a word from the [United States of America] or European nations, the most important receiving countries.

Governments that said something were those that have people who emigrate,” she remarked.

“Governments resist talking about migration within a human rights framework. Often they only seem interested in preventing irregular migration. The power countries are interested in the migrant as a worker, or in the remittances,” she noted. She explained that “restrictive policies” make people become “irregular migrants.” So an ecumenical group such as CAREF needs to raise the voices of the migrants.

In Argentina, CAREF participated very strongly in a social and polit-

ical process that involved faith-based groups and civil society organizations in advocating for “a law in our country that was passed in 2003, in which migration is recognized as a human right,” said Liguori.

One of the ways CAREF’s work can be supported by church-related organizations such as the LWF is by developing resources that offer theological and biblical perspectives for pastors and local leaders to deal with migration, Liguori added.

Rev. Dr. Patricia Cuyatti, LWF area secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) affirmed the LWF member churches’ support for CAREF in advocacy and awareness raising “about human trafficking that is deeply interconnected with voluntary or forced migration in the region.” She emphasized that “education and empowerment, especially of women and girls regarding their self dignity and responsibility for sexuality are meaningful actions for the LAC region.

“Through CAREF’s ministry, the LWF member churches interact with other Christian denominations in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, promoting transformation at different levels in society,” Cuyatti added.

Source: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/seeking-churches-commitment.html

latin america and Environment 9

By Edgardo Ayala San Salvador, December 26, 2011 (IPS)

Lima, February 17, 2012 (Latinamerica Press)

Some 100 rural women in El Salvador demanded that the government halt mining and hydroelectric projects that are harming their communities and establish specific programs with a gender perspective for combating climate change.

A woman from rural El Salvador testifies at the Gender and Climate Justice hearing (Edgardo Ayala IPS)

hey did not have to stop and ponder in order to describe the impact of climate change on the lives of their families and communities at a public hearing, because they are still dealing with the ravages of a tropical storm that devastated most of Central America.

“Our maize and bean crops were ruined, and when El Espino lagoon burst its banks, the area was flooded and our rabbits drowned,” said Irma Solórzano, from the western department (province) of Ahuachapán.

The Gender and Climate Justice Tribunal hearing and a number of related activities took place in San Salvador Dec. 13-18 as part of the international “The World We Want” campaign, launched by the Global Call to Action on Poverty (GCAP) and Greenpeace, among other organizations. A score of rural women testified how climate change is destroying their harvests and damaging infrastructure in their communities.

Furthermore, at the Gender and Climate Justice hearing they described how the impact of climate change is an especially heavy burden for women, who face increasing stress from their responsibilities for providing meals and water for their families.

“When staple foods are scarce, it’s up to women to look out for where they can be bought most cheaply, because we are basically the heads of our households,” Vidalina Morales, a 43-year-old mother of five, told IPS. The organizers also held a day of environmental awareness-raising for children. Some children made cardboard clocks to send world leaders the message that time is running out, and urgent action is needed on climate mitigation and adaptation.

The activities concluded Sunday Dec. 18 at a square in central San Salvador, with an event called “A Bicentennial Without Hunger, A Bicentennial Without Poverty,” also aimed at public understanding of how climate change affects everyone’s lives and increases poverty and hunger in rural areas.

“The people in organized civil society are the ones who make the difference,” Marta Benavides, the Salvadoran global co-chair of GCAP, told IPS.

The hearing and other activities were originally planned for October, but had to be postponed due to storms that left 43 people dead, flooded 10 percent of the country and damaged 40 percent of the road network.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimated the cost of rebuilding damaged productive infrastructure in the region at 4.2 billion dollars.

The gravity of the situation prompted the Central American presidents at a Dec. 16 summit in San Salvador to call on international aid agencies to provide funds to begin reconstruction.

But rural women do not only have to cope with climate change, Morales told the panel of four women judges presiding the hearing. The livelihoods, habitat and health of people in their communities are also affected by productive initiatives fostered by successive governments that, in the long run, have a negative impact on their lives, she said.

Morales specifically referred to the El Dorado gold and silver mine in the central province of Cabañas, 65 km northeast of the capital city, operated since 2002 by Pacific Rim El Salvador, which has affected nearby communities like Santa Marta, her home village. The wells have dried up and the rivers are contaminated with cyanide and heavy metals as a result of exploratory drilling by the mine company, she said. “When water is scarce, we women have to walk further to fetch it,” she told IPS. Work at the mine, operated by a subsidiary of the Pacific Rim Mining Corp of Canada, has been suspended since 2008, when the government of rightwing president Antonio Saca (2004-2009) refused El Dorado a mining permit. Pacific Rim is suing the Salvadoran state for 100 million dollars at the World Bank’s Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

The El Chaparral dam, being built in the eastern province of San Miguel at a cost of 65 million dollars, has also encountered strong opposition from environmental groups and local communities because of the effects it will have on the environment and local people’s way of life.

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Meanwhile Ivette Aguilar, an expert on climate change and one of the judges at the hearing, said that governments should not use the vagaries of changing climate as an excuse to promote public policies that are harmful for the population, especially in rural areas.

According to United Nations statistics, 40 percent of El Salvador’s 6.1 million people live on less than two dollars a day, including most of the 22.7 percent of the population who make a living from farming.

Another problem that the campesina (small farmer) women emphasized was water. The study “Situación de los recursos hídricos en Centroamérica: hacia una gestión integrada” (State of Water Resources in Central America: Towards integrated management), published in April by the Global Water Partnership, found that El Salvador is the only country in Central America lacking enough available water. Salvadorans have access to an average of 1,700 cubic meters per person per year, which is the threshold for the definition of water shortage.

The declaration adopted at the end of the hearing recommended, among other things, that the human right to water be approved, as proposed in a water bill introduced in Congress in 2006. It also exhorted the government of center-left President Mauricio Funes to make food and nutritional sovereignty a central strategy in its agricultural policy, which should also promote sustainable farming practices.

In addition, the women at the hearing demanded that a gender perspective be included in a “food and nutritional security policy”, and that the right to food be enshrined in the constitution.

GCAP’s Benavides told IPS that the conclusions in the declaration, as well as the testimonies of the women who participated in the hearing, will be disseminated at international forums where the situation of women and their relationship to the environment is addressed. “We want to find out what impact we can have on governments and bodies like the World Social Forum and the Group of 20 (major industrialized and emerging economies),” she said.

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency, IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106289

Several hundred protesters marched 800 kilometers (500 miles) to Lima from the northern highland city of Cajamarca, the center of unrest over a contentious mining project, to demand that the government guarantee access to clean and safe water for the country’s citizens. arco Arana, former priest and head of the Land and Liberty Movement, and one of the organizers of the Feb. 1-10 march, said one of the demonstrators’ demands was for the government to amend the constitution to declare water a human right and ban mining in riverheads and near glaciers as well as the use of mercury and cyanide in these operations. The two chemicals are used to extract minerals, particularly gold, from ore. “The state should guarantee access to clean drinking water to all its citizens,” Arana told newspaper La República.

José de Echave, member of the nongovernmental environmental organization CooperAccion, said that the march helped bring the issue into public discussion and that it is “important for any sustainable development strategy.”

Gregorio Santos, president of the Cajamarca region, said that the march is bringing more visibility to risks in min-

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ing. Cajamarca is home to Minera Yanacocha, owned by US company Newmont Mining, Peru’s Buenaventura and the International Finance Corporation, and which operates one of the world’s largest gold mines.

The local population has been protesting the Conga, a massive, proposed gold-copper project, citing threats to local water resources, since the company plans using four lagoons that the populations depend on. The company proposed building the communities new lagoons, but the residents argued that these artificial water bodies wouldn’t have the irreplaceable ecosystem of the natural one.

The government had hastily approved the project’s environmental impact study, but a review of an evaluation made in November by the Ministry of Environment showed large omissions, such as an assessment of the potential impact on water resources. President Ollanta Humala defended the project, even though during his campaign he vowed to put water rights ahead of extractive industry.

The project has been stalled as a result of protests and dispute, and Humala’s first Cabinet resigned, which “will go down in history as the first mining conflict that in Peru and Latin America brought down an entire Cabinet and meant a shift in the government’s political orientation,” said de Echave.

Source: Latinamerica Press: http://www.lapress.org/articles.asp?art=6558

November, 2011 protest against Conga mining project in Cajamarca, Peru (BBC)

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

Rural women in El Salvador demand Peruvian rural protestors to be included in climate solutions march for water

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

10 latin america and Environment

Presbyterian agricultural project helps Cuban farmers reclaim their land

A woman grieves as she waits outside a morgue in Tegucigalpa to receive the body of her relative killed in the Comayagua prison fire (Reuters Jorge López Trust.org AlertNet)

The Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras (ICHL) demands inquiry into horrific prison fire Tegucigalpa, February 29, 2012 (LWF)

The Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras (ICHL) has expressed shock and sorrow over the fire tragedy at the Comayagua central jail and demanded an inquiry into the cause of the blaze that killed 350 prisoners on 15 February. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member church called on public authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the catastrophe, while praying for wisdom on the part of the country’s leaders as they decide how to safeguard the rights of prisoners.

Once again, the prisons of Honduras have become the scene of a tragedy; we are horrified by this hellish prison catastrophe; we are overcome by a feeling of panic and indignation to learn of the unsafe conditions in which our country’s prison populations live,” said Rev. José Martin Girón, president of the ICHL, in a communiqué following the tragedy.

The church called for international support as it continues to advocate for the rights of the Honduran people, who have had to suffer through many tragedies in addition to the problems of everyday life.

“As a church, we lift our voices in defense of the justice that is so cruelly lacking in our beloved, suffering Honduras,” Girón said.

ICHL General Secretary Rubi Flores lamented the fact that the Central American country contin-

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ues to struggle from one tragedy to the next, including human rights violations and daily murders.

A fire at the Comayagüela market four days after the Comayagua prison blaze destroyed the livelihoods of many people, including Lutherans, she added in a letter to partner churches and organizations.

The church was grateful for the many expressions of international solidarity, Flores remarked.

“We beg you to keep Honduras and the ICHL constantly in your prayers so that we find adequate means of accompanying our people, for, as the tragedies occur, we carry on our program of work,” she said.

Support is coming from the communion of Lutheran churches in Central America in particular. In a statement last week, the synod of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church added its voice to the call for an exhaustive investigation into the fire tragedy and emphasized the need for integral justice.

The LWF member church said it regretted “that such a fatality has to occur to make us react to problems such as this that are enormous time bombs.”

Rev. Dr. Patricia Cuyatti, area secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean with the Department for Mission and Development, emphasized that the LWF as a whole is committed to supporting the ICHL as it provides pastoral care and advocates for justice for the people of Honduras.

“Lutherans worldwide continue to pray that these situations in Honduras will change and to accompany the Honduran church as it stands with the people in such tragedies,” she stated.

Source: Lutheran World Information, LWI: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/honduranprison-fire.html

The deeply rutted road from this north coastal city up to the top of the nearby ridge makes for a teeth-rattling ride.

Upon reaching the crest of the steep hill, however, one is greeted by a vast expanse of gently rolling farmland with a spectacular view of the city and the sparkling blue Caribbean beyond. This is not just a place of spectacular beauty but of intense hope. It is called Centro Ecológico Diaconal, or “Demari,” by the peasant farmers who come here to learn and practice “spiritual ecology.”

By Jerry L. Van Marter Matanzas, January 6, 2012 (Presbyterian News Service)

our years ago Demari was just a dream. The land up here had been abused during the Soviet period - from shortly after the Castro revolution in 1959 until the collapse of the Russian empire in 1990. Soviet-style agriculture included the clear-cutting of vast stands of timber to make room for large collectivized, mechanized farms. When the Soviets left Cuba in the early 1990s, they took their disastrous methods and by-then antiquated equipment with them, leaving Cuban farmworkers with very little.

Now, says Ofelia Ortega, Demari’s original dreamer, “from our faith we are bringing them things they haven’t had - faith, love, hospitality, self-respect and self-development.”

In recent years, as the Castro government began to reinstitute private property ownership and encourage entrepreneurial agriculture, peasant farmers began to return to the land. From her base at the Evangelical Theological Seminary (SET) in Matanzas, where she served as president and still teaches, Ortega swung into action.

In the fall of 2007, Ortega founded Demari, which she still serves as director, with modest funding from the seminary-related Christian Institute for Gender Studies (ICEG), which she also founded. Demari soon acquired the ridgetop farm and began working with local farmers to assess their needs and respond with programs and resources designed to help them rebuild a small farm economy in the area around Matanzas.

“Our main target and goal is not production on this farm,” says Carlos León, who along with his wife, Rita Rubio, serves as Demari’s coordinator. “Our purpose is diagnostic, to help the farmers identify and resolve the problems they have. We’re teaching them how

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better to live with the land.”

More than 120 small farmers have formed a cooperative and use Demari as their base for training, capacity-building and community organizing and development. “We want to transform individual farmers’ successes into a stronger community here,” León says.

Demari began with basic programs in soil and water conservation, crop rotation methods and livestock husbandry. But over its four years - a fifth anniversary celebration is planned for November 2012 - Demari has grown to become one of the most innovative agricultural projects in the country.

The farmers of the cooperative have reforested 14 hectares (140,000 square meters) of land that was clear-cut during the Soviet period. Four windmills have been erected that extract deep water from the land. Five new bio-gas plants are about to go into production, converting animal waste into fuel rather than letting it contaminate land and water.

“One of the first problems the farmers identified was lack of nutrition for the cows,” León says.

“So we implemented a program of planting new varieties of grasses and trees with nutrition-rich leaves. Now we have much stronger cows and more milk.”

Ortega, a world-renowned Presbyterian theologian who is a president of the World Council of Churches and a strong advocate for

women, has taken special interest in Demari’s programs to empower women. “Gender issues are very important because so many women are involved in our project,” she says.

Last year, Demari conducted workshops on growing flowers.

“This is an excellent project for women because they can learn leadership skills, business methods and generate income for their families,” Ortega says. This year, workshops will be held on producing potted plants and flowers.

Demari recently threw open the doors of its newest facility - the Dean and Mary Ann Lewis Retreat Center, named for longtime Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leader Dean Lewis and his wife.

Lewis co-founded the Presbyterian Cuba Connection in 1996, a vast network of Presbyterian individuals and congregations that partner with the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba (IPRC) to inform Presbyterians in the U.S. about the life and work of the Cuban church and to generate financial support for its needs.

The retreat center “provides an excellent place for people to stay and examine their Christian vocation,” Ortega says, adding with a chuckle, “and, of course, it also generates income for Demari.”

As Demari enters its fifth year, Ortega hopes for more visitorsCubans and Americans. “A lot of people don’t understand the situation with the farmers here and what our center is trying to do, so support from the churches is limited,” she says. “But the peasants know what this means for them, so we encourage churches to come because when they see, they understand.”

Source: Presbyterian News Service: http://www.pcusa.org/news/2012/1/6/back-garden/

Carlos León coordinator of Centro Ecológico Diaconal, and Ofelia Ortega, founder and director of the center (Jerry L. Van Marter)

latin america and Environment 11

Green economy takes a beating at civil society forum

By Clarinha Glock Porto Alegre, February 2, 2012 (Tierramérica)

Voices of opposition to the concept of “green capitalism” as a means of salvation for the environment echoed loudly in every discussion and street protest during the Thematic Social Forum that drew thousands of activists to Porto Alegre, capital of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. ctivists gathered in Brazil from around the world doubt the political will of governments to attack the root causes of the environmental crisis, and demand drastic changes in the system of production and consumption.

In the face of the current global economic and financial crisis, the participants in this World Social Forum thematic event, held Jan. 24-29, called on governments to promote changes in the current system of production and consumption – although they do not expect commitments of this kind from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) taking place this June in Rio de Janeiro.

Edgardo Lander, a professor at the Central University of Venezuela and member of the Venezuelan Social Forum, referred to the socalled green economy - a central theme of Rio+20 - as “an attempt to recompose capitalism with a new façade: that of green capitalism.”

“The Rio+20 summit will take

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place at a time of a profound crisis for capitalism, when the severe problems resulting from reaching the limits of growth and the destruction of the conditions for life on the planet are more evident than ever,” Lander told Tierramérica.

In this context, “green capitalism” seeks a solution to the current critical situation, primarily for the financial sector, through the path of the growing “mercantilization” of everything, including education, health, and the knowledge of traditional peoples, he added.

What is really needed is greater effort to break with this model, stressed Lander.

Gathered at the same roundtable discussion in the auditorium of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, a member of the Occupy London movement, another from the North African Social Forum, a leader of La Via Campesina and activists from Brazil, France, Thailand and Venezuela symbolized this new historical era marked by popular uprisings, such as those of the so-called Arab Spring, and by one of the most acute crises ever for the capitalism system.

The situation currently facing the industrialized world could be compared to the crash of 1929, declared João Pedro Stédile, founder of the Brazilian Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) and member of the international civil society organization La Via Campesina. “But the difference is that for the first time it actually involves all of the world’s countries,” he said.

Stédile argued that international capital has no respect for the deci-

Labor and other activists flood the streets of Porto Alegre to demand more effective protection of the environment (Clarinha Glock IPS)

sions made by governments.

“Nobody places any importance on resolutions adopted by the UN (United Nations), which makes Rio+20 nothing more than a bad joke,” he maintained.

One part of the problem lies in “the eagerness of big international capital to protect itself for the next period of accumulation,” leading to a stampede to gain control over the world’s raw materials, land, water, oil and other resources, he said.

“They know that natural resources have the potential to be extraordinarily lucrative,” he added.

For his part, economist Marcos Arruda stressed the need to look for solutions in the short, medium and long term. One of these, he believes, is the expansion of networks like the one made up of 24,000 solidarity economy enterprises in Brazil, which currently encompasses at least 1.5 million people, according to a preliminary mapping.

“The solidarity economy is bringing about changes here and now, in the vital space of families and communities, and also at the

level of governments, through the creation of new legislation to facilitate and promote cooperatives and similar associations,” he told Tierramérica.

“Ownership rights are determined by work, not by capital,” said Arruda, coordinator of the Institute of Policy Alternatives for the Southern Cone, member of the Brazilian Civil Society Facilitating Committee for Rio+20, and one of the founders of the Global Network of the Solidarity Socioeconomy.

But Arruda fears that major environmental disasters will outstrip the population’s capacity for organization. And experience tells him that the changes needed will not come from the governments gathered at Rio+20.

“Our impression is that they (the governments) will come to this meeting once again without any real political will to take on commitments to meet targets for carbon emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, anything that implies the obligation to produce concrete results,” he said.

Arruda used statistics from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to demonstrate, in general terms, how the global capitalist system leads to the concentration of wealth.

He cited as an example that at the original Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, statistics on income were graphically represented as a “champagne glass”, one which has grown wider and wider in the intervening years.

At that time, the wealthiest 20 percent of the world population controlled 82.7 percent of total global income. Today, 20 years of neoliberalism later, their share has grown to 91.5 percent. In the meantime, while the poorest 20 percent accounted for 1.4 percent of income in 1992, this figure has shrunk to a mere 0.07 percent, he stressed.

The increased wealth of an ever smaller minority is one of the two consequences of globalized capitalism. The second is growing destruction of the environment to pursue unlimited economic growth, pretending that there are no limits to nature and the planet, and that everything they offer us can be exploited forever, Arruda declared.

“Then the solidarity economy comes along and says, this is not possible! This is a suicidal world. We have to put a break on growth, and plan in such a way that our needs can be met and a decent life can be lived by everyone, taking into account the future generations and the importance of continuing to meet these needs,” he concluded.

Source: Tierramérica: http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=3 881

Sustainable development: A critique of the standard model Official UN documents, as well as the current draft of Rio+20, devote substantial space to the model for sustainable development: It must be, they say, economically viable, socially just and environmentally correct. It is the famous triplet called The Triple Bottom Line (the line of the three pillars), coined in 1990 by John Elkington, from Great Britain, founder of the ONG SustainAbility. But this model cannot withstand a serious critique.

By Leonardo Boff Petropolis, February 20, 2012 (ALAI) Economically viable development: in the political language of business managers, development is equated to increasing the gross national product (GNP). Woe to the enterprise and the country that do not have positive indices of annual growth! They fall into crisis or recession with the consequent reduction of consumption and increase in unemployment: in the business world, it consists of making money, with the least possible investment, the maximum possible profitability, the strongest possible competitiveness, and in the least possible time.

When we speak here of development, we are not talking about just any development, but of the one that actually exists, that is, of industrialist/capitalist/consumerist development. It is anthropocentric, contradictory and wrong. Let me explain.

It is anthropocentric because is centered only on the human being, as if the greater community of life (the flora, fauna and other living organisms), that also need the biosphere and equally demand sustainability, did not exist.

It is contradictory, because development and sustainability obey opposing logistics. The development now in existence is lineal and increasing. It exploits nature and favors private accumulation. Its

political economics is of a capitalist character. The sustainability category, to the contrary, comes from the sciences of life and ecology, whose logistic is circular and inclusive. It represents the tendency of the ecosystems towards a dynamic equilibrium, an interdependency and cooperation of all with all. As can be seen, these are two contrasting logistics: one favors the individual, the other the collective; one promotes competition, the other cooperation; one the evolution of the fittest, the other the evolution of all, interconnected.

It is wrong, because it asserts that poverty is the cause of ecological degradation. Thus, the lesser the poverty, the more sustainable development would be, with less degradation. This is incorrect. By critically analyzing the real causes of poverty and the degradation of nature, one can see that they result primarily, if not exclusively, from the type of development now in existence. That kind of development is what produces the degradation, because it degrades nature, pays low salaries, and thus generates poverty.

This kind of development is a trap set by the prevailing system: it

co-opts the ecological (sustainability) terminology in order to gut it. It assumes the ideal to be the economy (growth), thus masking the poverty it produces.

Socially just: if there is one thing the present industrial/capitalist development cannot say about itself, it is that it is socially just. If it were, there would not be 1.4 billion starving human beings in the world, with the majority of nations in poverty. Let us look only at the case of Brazil. The 2010 Social Atlas of Brazil, (IPEA), states that 5000 families control 46% of the GNP. The government gives annually 125,000 million reales to the financial system to pay back the loans they received, with interest, and only gives 40,000 million reales to the social programs that benefit the great majority of the poor. All this reveals the fallacy of the rhetoric of socially just development, which is impossible within the current economic paradigm.

Environmentally Sound: the present type of development implies an endless war against Gaia, taking from her everything that is useful, and susceptible to profiting, espe-

cially by the minorities that control the process. According to the 2010 UN Living Planet Index, in less than 40 years, global bio-diversity suffered a 30% decline. From only 1998 to the present, there has been a 35% rise in the emission of global warming gases. Instead of talking of limits on growth, we should be talking about limits on the aggression against the Earth.

In conclusion, the leading model of development that calls itself sustainable is pure rhetoric. It advocates the production of less carbon, utilization of alternative energies, strengthening of degraded regions and the creation of better means of waste disposal. But let’s be clear: all this is dependent on not impairing profits and not reducing competitiveness. The use of the expression «sustainable development» has an important political meaning: the necessary change of the economic paradigm, if we want a real sustainability. Within the present one, sustainability is either localized, or non-existent.

Free translation by Servicios Koinoní a: http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.

Source: Latin America in Movement: http://www.alainet.org/active/52566&lang=es

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

Porto Alegre, Brazil

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • JANUARY - APRIL 2012

12 latin america and Environment

Mesoamerica ignores its water footprint

Reflection:

Life-giving water for ‘Living Well’

By Emilio Godoy Mexico City, March 12, 2012

It takes 1,600 liters of water to produce one kilo of bread. This is the type of calculation used to measure a water footprint, the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed by people and communities. water footprint can be applied to countries as a whole, or to specific industries or economic activities, such as mining or agriculture. The countries of Mesoamerica, however, have made no attempt to calculate this indicator, beyond a few isolated initiatives.

The region, made up by the southern states of Mexico and the seven countries of Central America, is generally rich in freshwater, but is extremely vulnerable to changes which, in the medium to long term, could diminish its availability.

Waste, pollution and lack of governance pose serious threats to the supply of this precious resource, sources consulted in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador told Tierramérica.

In Mexico, poor water management “is reflected by pollution and inequality in its distribution between different uses, between urban and rural areas, and between cities,” said Claudia Campero, Latin American regional coordinator for the Blue Planet Project, a global initiative based in Canada that works with partners around the world to protect the right to water.

Some 500,000 agricultural irrigation users consume 32 million cubic meters of water annually in this country of 107 million people, according to the National Water Commission of Mexico. At the same time, however, 30 percent of Mexican households do not have piped water and 15 percent receive water through other means only every three days, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

Access to drinking water is a basic human right, recognized by the United Nations through a General Assembly resolution in 2010. The UN has also declared it to be a legally binding right, which means that all member countries are obliged to incorporate it in their constitutions and national legislation.

Mexico must now reform the National Water Law in order to adapt it to the changes made in its constitution. Guatemala and El Salvador do not even have this type of legislation.

In Guatemala, agriculture accounts for 40 percent of the freshwater consumed, households use another nine percent, and other sectors, including industry, make up a combined share of three percent.

The remaining 48 percent goes to socalled non-consumptive uses, primarily the generation of hydroelectric power, according to the Secretariat of Planning and Programming of the Presidency.

Although the country’s freshwa-

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By Abraham Colque La Paz, March 26, 2012 (Ecumenical Water Network)

Do Not Throw Garbage or Rocks in the Lake, reads this hand-painted sign in Lagunas de Portobello National Park in Chiapas, Mexico (Mauricio Ramos IPS)

ter supply is sufficient in general, the Corredor Seco (Dry Corridor) area of central and eastern Guatemala is characterized by recurring droughts in the Northern hemisphere summer months and semi-arid soils with low crop yields. Unsurprisingly, the region has been repeatedly hit by food crises and suffers high rates of malnutrition, sometimes even fatal.

Some efforts have been made to improve water management in the country, said Ever Sánchez of the non-governmental Water and Sanitation Network of Guatemala.

“A specific government department was created to foster better interinstitutional coordination and develop a water policy,” he reported.

Nevertheless, serious problems persist in the management of household and industrial wastewater and solid waste.

El Salvador is the only country in Central America with a shortage of water, according to the report “Situación de los recursos hídricos en Centroamérica: hacia una gestión integrada” (Water Resources Situation in Central America: Towards Integrated Management), published in April 2011 by the Global Water Partnership (GWP).

With access to 1,700 cubic meters of water per person per year, El Salvador is very close to the water security threshold of 1,500 cubic meters per capita. Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of consumption, and no water-saving mechanisms have been established in the sector, says the Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES), an NGO that forms part of the National Forum for the Defense of Sustainability and the Right to Water.

The agricultural sector is also one of the biggest polluters of rivers and lakes, where the residues of chemical fertilizers and pesticides end up. In addition, only five percent of industrial wastewater undergoes any kind of treatment, said the president of UNES, Ángel Ibarra.

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of El Salvador has not moved beyond the stage of formulating proposals, such as the National Water Resources Policy, which have yet to be followed up with any concrete measures.

Policies in the region tend to follow “a mercantile model that does not tackle environmental problems or inequality, and which promotes the entry of private enterprise in the construction of infrastructure, administration and management,” said Campero, who will be attending

the World Water Forum in Marseille.

In the absence of an intergovernmental mechanism within the United Nations system, these international conferences organized every three years by the World Water Council have gained significant prominence, bringing together governments, multilateral agencies, NGOs and private companies.

The 12 priorities for action established for the 6th World Water Forum include guaranteeing access to water for all and the right to water; preventing and responding to waterrelated risks and crises; adjusting pressures and footprints of human activities on water; and promoting green growth and valuing ecosystem services.

An estimated 900 million people in the world do not have access to clean water.

“There are no public policies to protect the resource and to recover or treat it,” stressed Ibarra, who participates in an alternative forum of civil society organizations whose goal is “for the governments of Latin America to delegitimize the World Water Forum.”

They believe that the issue of water should be discussed instead at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, better known as Rio+20, taking place this June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“We civil society organizations are going to call for the creation of a United Nations agency and an international convention aimed at the sustainability of water resources,” said Ibarra.

For his part, Rubén Pérez of the Guatemalan Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering hopes that the World Water Forum will address the need to treat wastewater and guarantee sanitation services.

In Guatemala, less than five percent of wastewater is treated. And the second leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality is contact with unsafe water.

The World Water Forum should also emphasize the urgent need to guarantee water resources in order to combat food insecurity in places like the Corredor Seco in Guatemala.

“How is it possible that more than 50 percent of the country’s children are malnourished? Food and water are inseparable,” declared Pérez.

With additional reporting by Danilo Valladares (Guatemala City) and Edgardo Ayala (San Salvador) Source: Tierramérica: http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=3 915

The earth belongs to humans,as it does to the birds.

Did, by any chance, the rich make the earth?

Who is it that fences off the air?

Who becomes the owner of the water in the river?

And, just as no one owns the air or the water, no one is the owner of the land on which I walk.

Nilo Soruco n the world of the Andes, Lent is a time of silence, of the maturing of the crops. It is the eager waiting for the life that is about to appear, life in the form of the many crops that at harvest time will dance in the hands of their growers. It is a time for contemplating the miracle of the gestation of life in the plants, which will enable the next generation to celebrate together the festival of the harvest. This vitality enables us to reflect on the life-giving water, which is today being increasingly captured and restricted by the economic power of a few.

The people of the Andes used to think that water, like air, flowed freely and that it was impossible to capture them, but, when multinational corporations took possession of the water and began to ration it and sell it at a high price to people, they came to realize that they had to fight for the dignity and life of living beings. Bolivia has begun its collective fight for water to be recognized as a common good, and has succeeded in overcoming the power of one multinational. However, that is only an indication of how much more remains to be done. There are signs in many places in Latin America of God acting through the peoples. Dreams are being woven, alternatives being constructed, with the aim of ‘living well’ for the whole community and not the ‘good life’

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for a few individuals at the expense of the rest.

The strength for this hope and social energy comes from the wisdom of the ancestors. For them, water was a snake, symbolizing creative energy, which, when it sank into Mother Earth, caused thousands of living things to spring up. Water is the vital energy of the ancestors, who, when they died, went up into the mountains and shrank in size.

From their changed bodies there flowed a life-giving liquid, which trickled down from the mountains to the land, where human and divine hands had sown seeds. The water in the rivers flowed like a snake creating life in its path. However, when the water flow is interrupted, when it is restricted, the life of living beings is killed.

Water is collective human energy that transforms whatever it touches, keeping watch between the rocks over life in the process of maturing.

Therefore, water cannot be appropriated by individuals for their own benefit and profit. It is not the product of a single being, but of a community that has gone before us and was committed to the continuation of our life. Water is life’s own selfgiving for the renewal of all living beings. Water is a common good.

This material, spiritual water is today being polluted, bottled, contaminated, captured, and with it the life-giving spirit of the Source of Life.

We human beings are attacking our own very life source and the memory of those who have gone before us, and in particular Jesus, who said that he gives us living water, and in his life testified to solidarity, love and commitment to those who suffer. He was himself a peasant, as are many of those in the Andes who produce food for the great cities.

How good it would be if the world would learn from those who farm the land that in all food there is human, ancestral and present-day energy, which demands that bread and life-giving water should be shared for the whole of humankind and for all living beings!

Source: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/activities/ewnhome/resources-and-links/seven-weeks-for-water/week-6buen-vivir/reflection.html