LAEN MAY-AUGUST 2011

Latin American Ecumenical News May - August 2011 • No. 2

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Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence.

Proverb 12,17

Information Service of the Latin American Council of Churches

Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) chooses Cuba for its next General Assembly The Board of Directors of CLAI, at its meeting in São Paulo from June 16-19, decided that the continental ecumenical organization’s next General Assembly will be held in Havana, Cuba, from February 19-25, 2013. These general assemblies are the highest decision-making bodies of CLAI, at which its Board of Directors is elected, and the lines along which the organization will work during the following six year period are set. The CLAI Board of Directors has chosen as the theme for the Havana assembly: Affirming an Ecumenism of Concrete Gestures.

June 22, 2011 LAI came about in 1978 given the need to respond to a context marked by misery, violence and oppression. The misery of the people – a product of social sin – is in contradiction with the creative plan of God. For this reason, the option for the excluded is a matter of principle for CLAI. “The theme, ‘Affirming an Ecumenism of Concrete Gestures,’ arose out of a process of consultation with each of CLAI’s national tables, during 2009 and 2010,” points out CLAI General Secretary, Rev. Nilton Giese. “The national tables emphasized that the practical challenges are essentially ‘ecumenical.’

Violence, the destruction of the environment, unemployment, etc. affect all alike. Thus, the ‘preferential option for the poor’ has been an important ecumenical catalyst in the

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past, and CLAI is born out of a common yearning of the churches in Latin America and the Caribbean for a society whose inspiration is that of the values of the Kingdom. And so, an ecumenism of concrete gestures is what characterizes CLAI in the ecumenical movement,” continued Giese.

The choosing of Havana as the site for the VI General Assembly is in response to the invitation by the Cuban churches that have witnessed an extraordinary growth over the past years. “We want to meet the churches in Cuba and listen to each other with the conviction that faith and praxis condition each other, and should be distinguished, but never separated,” said the General Secretary of CLAI. The process of preparation for the VI General Assembly of CLAI will take place in the 20 CLAI National Tables over a period of 12 months,

and will look at specific issues such as: –Peace in Creation and the eradication of poverty –Gender justice in pastoral formation –Accompaniment of the victims of violence –The Church and Sexual and Reproductive Rights –Land and Indigenous Peoples The purpose of this preparatory process is the organizing of teaching materials that emphasize the Gospel call to concrete gestures in response to the specific issues that the national tables will be considering, For the ecumenical churches and organisms that are a part of CLAI, so as to carry out “the defense of God’s cause in this world, social action is so very essential for the ecumenical movement, as is love for the faith.” concluded Giese.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH) condemns police repression against demonstrators

By Héctor Carrillo Concepcion, July 28, 2011 (ALC)

tral government, and it denounces the police repression against residents of Dichato who asked for the reconstruction of their homes.

“We denounce the indiscriminate use of tear gas against the demonstrations that took place in Dichato, affecting women, children and elderly people, with great risk to their health, and the use of ‘dummy bullets’ to disperse the demonstrations.”

The Commission’s statement also points out that the student movement is suffering repression: Rercardo Gálvez, a leader in the University of Concepción, was brutally beaten by the police, accused of carrying a weapon illegally. It is, according to the Commission, a false accusation and an attempt by the police to frame Gálvez.

he Human Rights Commission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile has called on the government to respect those rights, free demonstrations by the people, and greater urgency in the reconstruction of the country after the 2010 earthquake.

The statement recalls the recent struggle on the part of Chilean students for the recuperating of public education in the country and points out the lack of political will to carry out the reconstruction of the areas affected by the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, especially in the regions of Bio Bio, Dichato, Chiguayante and the Province of Arauco.

The IELCH Human Rights Commission also laments the attempt on the part of the authorities to scare those demonstrating as a result of decisions taken by the cen- Residents of Dichato, Chile demonstrating for reconstruction (mercopress.com)

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Lúcia Fernanda Jófef (Faculdades EST)

The right to their lands is a needed guarantee for the indigenous peoples in Brazil August 3, 2011 (ALC)

The territorial issue is the central focus for the guaranteeing of the fundamental rights of health and education for the 240 indigenous peoples that inhabit the extent of Brazil, and who today total some 700 thousand inhabitants, less than 1% of the national population. presentation of the territorial issue was made by Professor Lúcia Fernanda Jófef, known to the indigenous movement as Fernanda Kaingang, who taught classes in the masters degree course in Education, Diversity and Indigenous Culture, a program sponsored jointly by the Council for Mission Among Indians (COMIN) of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession of Brazil (IECLB) and the Superior School of Theology Faculties (Faculdades EST) in São Leopoldo, related to the IECLB. Fernanda, who holds a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Brasilia (UnB), recalled that in the recent past the Indian was not considered to be a citizen with full citizenship rights, but rather a second class citizen subject to the tutelage of the State. She pointed out that “the idea prevailed that the indigenous peoples needed to ‘evolve’ so as to be able to inte-

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grate themselves into the national community, giving up their diversity.”

Beginning with the legal provisions imposed by the Federal Constitution of 1988, the rights of the indigenous peoples became respected, taking into account their particular way of being.

Today, said Fernanda, policies of attention to the health of the Indian are implemented, along with specific and differentiated educational experiences in their native languages and the compulsory teaching of the AfroBrazilian and Indigenous History and Culture in the official curriculum of the network of the public and private school systems.

Professor Fernanda also reminded her students that during the Rio-92 gathering, the indigenous peoples were able to change the paradigm of the discussion on the environment throughout the world, emphasizing that the interaction between humanity and nature can take place without the degradation or destruction of the biodiversity.

Scheduled for June, 2012, Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, intends to evaluate the effectiveness of the instruments created 20 years ago, during Rio-92. Three great themes will be the center of the discussions involving the indigenous peoples: green economy, environmental management, and the eradication of poverty.

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

2 Clai News

Struggles against discrimination can To combat racism benefit all: An Afro-Peruvian “agents of discomfort” in perspective on the issue of racism churches are needed Interview by Sean Hawkey June 30, 2011 (WCC)

Dr. Jorge Ramírez Reyna, president of Asociación Negra de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos (Black Association for Human Rights Defense and Promotion, ASONEDH) in Peru, reflects on the issue of racism in his country and the role of the conference on the Violence of Racism in Latin America, which was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), 22-24 June, in Managua, Nicaragua.

How is racism playing out in Peru today?

Racism and racist discrimination in Peru are still strong. This is something historical that isn’t over in the 21st century. There are people who think that because we have our origins in Africa, that we aren’t worthy of respect, that we don’t have the intellectual capacity to occupy public office or other positions of responsibility. There is generalized prejudice and discrimination against Peruvian people who have African origins. Afro-descendent people in Peru are one of the poorest groups in the country and we are perceived as second-class citizens.

I’ll give you an example: I am a lawyer, and I went to the office of a judge to talk to her about a client who had been detained unfairly. I asked the judge’s secretary if I could see the magistrate in charge of the case, and I was shown through to the judge’s office.

I stood in front of the judge’s desk and the judge asked me how long I had been in prison. Her presumption, based on the color of my skin, was that I was a prisoner. I told her I was a lawyer, but she didn’t believe me, she asked me for my identification to prove it.

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Dr Jorge Ramírez Reyna at the conference on racism in Latin America and the Caribbean (Sean Hawkey WCC)

This sort of prejudice is generalized. Crime is racialized, crime is synonymous with blackness and so anyone of African descent is suspected of being a delinquent. I was recently asked to give a paper at a conference in Miraflores, an upmarket district of Lima, and when I approached the reception I was asked who I was coming to pick up.

The presumption was that I was someone’s driver, that I couldn’t possibly be involved in the conference as a speaker.

The predominant attitudes often make me think that we have a long road ahead of us in this struggle against racism.

What is the role of the churches in combating racism?

Lamentably, the churches have been quite indifferent to this issue, they haven’t been our allies. It is important for the churches to begin an internal process of awareness building, and for the churches to incorporate the issues of racism and discrimination in their discourse, in their work.

The Latin American Council of Churches, CLAI, has asked me to help the churches to do this. But, we are just starting this process and we need support of different types. I think that it is important to do the work with other groups, not only with the churches, but other sectors of society. This is a struggle that everyone needs to be involved in.

Struggles against discrimination are for everyone’s benefit, we all need to be convinced of that. A more just society, a more just world, is for the

common good.

How do you assess the WCCCLAI conference on Racism in Latin America?

This has been a very important meeting. Firstly, because we’ve been able to meet, as people of African origin from different countries who are all committed to the work of the churches in a spiritual way, and who are all working against racism. I believe this sharing of experiences is very important and strengthening in and of itself. On this foundation of sharing experiences there is an emerging commitment to continue this work by going back to our churches to spread the word, to begin and to strengthen processes of awareness-raising.

We all understand that there is a long road ahead, and we are all willing to continue along it. We are doing this for the young people, and we need to involve the young people in the struggle, most of us who are involved in the struggle are in our forties or fifties.

The Afro-descendent people in Peru, the black people, have never lost hope. Despite the discrimination, the very limited possibility of educational and professional fulfillment, the racist attitudes, we have hope. And it is this hope that will allow us to continue along the path against racism, to vindicate our rights as human beings, in search of a better world for everyone with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Source: World Council of Churches, WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/struggles-against-discrim.html

Latin American Ecumenical News is a quarterly produced by the Communication Department of the Latin American Council of Churches

Managua, June 23, 2011 (WCC)

tices, even policies, right across the region.”

Church leaders from across the Americas and the Caribbean met in Managua, Nicaragua, to discuss the violence of racism, and the challenges it poses for churches and ecumenical organizations.

The conference was sponsored by World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with the Latin America Council of Churches (CLAI) and brings together people working with Afro-descendent and indigenous communities across the region.

“We have been called primarily to seek the kingdom of God and its justice. But there cannot be justice while racism continues, so we have to do something about it,” he said. “The idea is to come together, to unite forces and build up our struggle against racism. This is an ongoing struggle, and to be successful we need to be united and strong. We want to build a network among our churches and organizations, to strengthen each other and to strengthen this struggle.”

The Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, minister for ecumenical and interfaith relations at the United Church of Christ in the USA, says that “there are many threats that connect the plight of Afrodescendent people globally. The systems that created racism are the same across the Americas. We share a lot of history, and that informs our present. I want to see those who are here name what is happening to them, and see from wherever we are in the world how we can connect, how we can coordinate together against racism.”

The Rev. Dr. Deenabandhu Manchala, program executive for the Just and Inclusive Communities program at the WCC asks how we can deal with racist attitudes and values in the churches, and he questions what we have done recently in our churches to combat racism. Manchala affirms that “we should continue to be agents of discomfort in our churches. We need to be troublemakers.

We need to work constantly to destabilize oppressive structures and cultures.”

The next two days of the conference received presentations on racism from countries including Colombia, Peru and Honduras.

Working groups gave deeper consideration to the implications of racism for the churches and ecumenical groups and made proposals for follow-up work. A publication bringing together the presentations, conclusions and recommendations of the meeting will be produced with the aim of strengthening the struggle against racism.

r Rolf Malunge of Brazil opened the first panel discussion with a presentation on the reality of racism in Brazil, where thousands of mainly young people have been killed in violence in recent years. ”Many more black people are killed than white people, and many of them are killed by the police,” he said. “This is systematic, state-sponsored, and it is year after year, the statistics show it.”

“Racism isn’t just about violence though, it is also about opportunities”, Malunge added.

“Many more white people go to university than black people in Brazil. Some people say that this isn’t a race issue, but a class issue, but the fact is that the lower class in Brazil is predominantly black, so in actual fact it is both a race issue and a class issue.”

“The question is what should we be doing? We are not prepared to deal with racism as churches. In Brazil, at least, the theological colleges do not offer courses on ethnicity or race or racism,” Malunge said.

“Seek the kingdom of God” The Rev. Alfredo Joiner, CLAI regional secretary for Central America and the organizer of the event, says that this meeting “is an exchange of experiences between church people who see racism on a daily basis. We understand that there are racist and discriminatory attitudes and behaviors and prac-

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Source: World Council of Churches, WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/to-combat-racism-agent.html

Editor: Christopher Morck Translation: Geoff Reeson, Patricia Morck and Christopher Morck.

Layout and Editorial Coordination: Amparo Salazar Chacón Press service: ALC, Methodist News Service, ENI, Presbyterian News Press, ACNS, Zenit, Factiva, ACPress.

Departamento de Comunicaciones CLAI Inglaterra N32-113 y Av. Mariana de Jesús Casilla 17-08-8522, Quito, Ecuador Telepone: (593-2) 255-3996/252-9933 Fax: (593-2) 256-8373 E-mail: nilton@claiweb.org www.claiweb.org ISSN 1390-0358 Subscriptions: Latin America and the Caribbean: One year US$ 12, Two years US$ 20 Other regions: One year US$16, Two years US$26

See us online www.claiweb.org The Rev. Alfredo Joiner and Rev. David Batiz at the conference on Afro-descendant minorities in the Americas (Sean Hawkey WCC)

Clai News 3

By Susana Barrera San Salvador, June 3, 2011 (ALC)

The Bogotá Process involving the Latin American Bishops Council (CELAM), the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), and Religions for Peace of Latin America and the Caribbean, will shortly present a Latin American and Caribbean Inter-Religious Theological Document on Arms Control for the Promoting of Citizens Security and the Reduction of Poverty. ccording to the General Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Council of Religious Leaders and Regional Director of Religions for Peace Latin America and the Caribbean, Elías Szczytnicki, the Bogotá Process is an initiative presented by the faith communities of the region, with the objectives of procuring the eradication of the use of small and light weapons by civilians; the promoting of the control of

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Managua (WCC)

Disarm Poster, CLAI

production and trafficking of weapons in the region; and the incorporating of the perspective of the victims of the armed violence, defending their rights and accompanying them.

It also includes the urging of the governments to keep military expenses in proportion with the investment destined to the reduction of poverty and the promotion of human development, in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The document was presented at a parallel event during the XLI General Assembly of the

Affirming an ecumenism of concrete gestures (CLAI VI General Assembly 2013, Poster)

Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Church of Norway and the Norwegian Church Aid Family,

he first-ever gathering of churches and organizations of Afro-descendent minorities across Latin America took place in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, 22-24 June 2011. The conference was jointly sponsored by the recently launched pastoral department for Afro-descendant minorities of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and the WCC Just and Inclusive Communities program. It follows up on the Conference on Racism Today and the Rationale for Continued Ecumenical Engagement held in Cleveland, Ohio, United States in August 2010.

Numerous communities of African descent, often small and scattered, exist without any visibility or political power in Latin America and the Caribbean. They are exposed to multiple forms of discrimination that often go unnoticed. More than other segments of society they are faced

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Organization of American States (OAS), which took place in San Salvador from June 5-7, 2011, dedicated to “Civilian Security in the Americas.”

At the presentation of the document, important religious leaders of El Salvador, such as Monsignor José Elías Rauda, Bishop of San Vicente and President of the Bishops Commission on Youth of the Bishops Conference of El Salvador (CEDES), and the Reverend Carlos Rivas, General Pastor of the International Revival Tabernacle (THAI), shared their comments.

Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) expresses its solidarity with the Church of Norway and Norwegian Church Aid

Quito, Ecuador July 22, 2011

First-ever gathering of churches and organizations of Afro-descendent minorities in Latin America

The images we have seen today from Norway have frightened us, because we would never have imagined that they could come from a country with a culture of peace such as yours. We, who seek for peace and reject all

violent actions, want to express our solidarity with the Norwegian people who at this time suffer pain as a result of the deaths and injuries afflicted on so many families.

The people and the Church of Norway have stood in solidarity with Latin America during our most difficult moments. We especially remember the successful 2007 campaign by the Youth of Norway to bring about the condoning of the external debt that Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia had with Norway.

With you we learnt that difficult times are opportunities to reaffirm trust in others, to be understanding, to be in solidarity, to learn to listen, to look at all with love, to hold hands together and move forward with hope.

The Psalmist also encourages us in moments of sadness, when saying: “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.” (Psalm 62:5)

with problems such as extreme poverty, unemployment, lack of education, poor housing, ill health and malnutrition.

Institutionalized racism is expressed in government policies that deprive these minorities of their livelihoods and deny them equal opportunities: Territories and natural resources are snatched from them, forest concessions granted to transnational companies and the political and administrative systems of indigenous and afro-descendant people, their knowledge, beliefs, values and languages are disrespected.

The gathering in Managua brought together people from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela with a view to facilitate sharing of experiences and to forge solidarity and plans for common action.

Source: World Council of Churches, WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/events/ev/se/article/1634/afrodescendent-minoritie.html

Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) applauds condemning of former members of the Guatemalan military August 6, 2011 (ALC) he CLAI General Secretary, Pastor Nilton Giese, sent a letter of congratulations to Edgar Pérez, the lawyer who defended the victims of the massacre that took place in 1982 in Las dos Erres, Petén.

Four former members of the military were condemned to 6,060 years of prison.

The Guatemalan court of justice condemned Daniel Martínez, Manuel Pop Sun, Guolip Reyes Collin and Carlos Antonio Carias, sentencing each one to 30 years for each victim. In 1982, 201 farmers and their relatives were barbarously massacred by the former members of the Guatemalan military. The investigations in the process against the

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four accused former members of the military began in 1994, and three judges handed down the sentencing 17 years later.

This case, points out Giese, is “encouraging because it proceeds with shedding light on and the condemning of 668 other documented massacres” in the report of the Commission for Historical Clarification, published in 1999, with the title, “Guatemala: The Memory of Silence.”

According to the report, children were killed by hammer blows to the head, with one of them thrown against a tree, and women suffered sexual abuse. The people were taken from their houses to a church and school where they were beaten.

May the Lord of Life grant you consolation and bless you with His Peace for Norway.

Fraternally yours in Christ Jesus, Rev. Nilton Giese CLAI Secretary General

Former members of the Guatemalan military on trial in Guatemala City (Latin Daily Financial News)

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

Bogotá Process to present proposal on arms control in Latin America and the Caribbean

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

4 Church and Society

Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC) graduates 87 Prison Ministry Chaplains

By José Aurelio Paz Havana, June 30, 2011 (ALC)

The Chaplaincy Pastoral Ministry of the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC) has graduated 87 Prison Ministry Chaplains to serve in the six most eastern provinces of the country.

The graduation exercise took place in the city of Gibara, Province of Holguín.

The I Conference of Chaplains of the region was held from June 13-16 with 110 persons participating and who are involved in the missionary work that is beginning to grow in Cuba. n three seminars, the themes of spiritual formation, restorative justice, ethics, violence and liturgy were dealt with, focusing on pastoral accompaniment, conflict resolution and psychological problems. The conference was supported by the Evangelical Theological Seminary (SET) of Matanzas, and other organizations interested in deepening the formation of the persons trained for the mission of attending to those imprisoned and their families.

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By Mayra Rodríguez Guatemala City, August 12, 2011 (ALC)

The Chilean Catholic bishops have made public a document entitled “The Humanizing of Education, A Task for All,” in which they affirm that the students protesting for improvements in the education of the country need to be heard, which will also be good for society. lthough they recognize that progress has been achieved in the Chilean educational system

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Student demonstration in Chile

n a historical gathering on August 10, representatives of AIPRAL and of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church met for the first time in the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Guatemala, with the expressed purpose of strengthening the ecumenical bonds between both bodies.

“We have visited the Catholic Bishops Conference of Guatemala and we were received by Monsignor Rodolfo Valenzuela, Secretary for Ecumenism, and Monsignor Oscar Julio Vián Morales, who we encouraged to continue working in unity with the Protestant churches in this country,” said the Reverend Germán Zijlstra, Executive Secretary of AIPRAL, who added that he was accompanied by a delegation from the Executive Committee of AIPRAL, as well as by Dr. Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

The Guatemalan Catholic bish-

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Prison Ministry Chaplains graduation in Gibara, Holguín, Cuba (CIC)

The prison authorities have recognized the work of these pastoral agents as well as the positive influence that worship services and the accompaniment of the prisoners is having on them and their family circles. Particularly impacting were the testimonies given by ex-convicts, who one day heard the Gospel message and now share that grace serving as prison chaplains, proclaiming the Good News, and not concerned about a denominational message but rather with one that is Christ centered and with an ecumenical perspective.

“It is worth saying that that group of chaplains that is now grad-

uating, almost all of whom are volunteers and without any financial support at all, carry out what Hebrews 13:3 proposes: ‘Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them,’” commented Baptist pastor Reverend Francisco Rodés, Director of the Kairos Center of Matanzas, the entity that coordinates the CIC Prison Pastoral Ministry.

The basic course of the Prison Pastoral Ministry is being taken to the other provinces of the country, where the churches already have voluntary workers carrying out that task.

Chilean Catholic Church says that it is necessary that students be heard

By Héctor Carrillo Santiago, June 29, 2011 (ALC)

Historical meeting of Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of Latin America (AIPRAL) and Roman Catholic Church leaders in Guatemala

over the recent years, the bishops affirm that the students’ questioning of the system is a sign that there exists an “indisposition” that needs to be faced by the society.

“It is a long road to be travelled toward consolidating an educational model that offers quality learning, proper and balanced, in which each student, despite his or her personal and social condition, is assured a formation needed for an integral self-development,” says the document by the Chilean Episcopal Conference.

On June 23, more than 90 thousand high school students participated in a protest march in the capital city of Santiago, to question

the lucrative nature of educational enterprises. The march was adhered to by teachers, students and staff of private universities, and rectors. The president of the Foundation for Education 2020, Mario Waissbluth, said that it is necessary to clarify that private universities have made a business of education over the last 22 year period, which would be illegal, once they have been classified as being “non-profit” institutions.

The students are investigating how the founder of the University for Development, Joaquín Lavín, was invited by the previous government to assume the leadership of education in Chile, while being a member of the Board of Directors of the private institution that received funding from the State.

The president of the Students Federation of the Catholic University, Giorgio Jackson, said that the discussion over the profit being made by private institutions of higher learning is a fundamental issue. He recalled that such institutions are legally prohibited from working for profit.

The agenda of the high school students is a little different: they are asking for free transportation, that the schools be federal institutions again and not municipal, and that scholarships be offered for needy students.

ops expressed their pleasure with the ecumenical gesture by the AIPRAL delegation, and shared their experiences at the national, regional and world level with regard to religious and ecumenical dialogue, in addition to affirming that they will continue along the path of further strengthening these opportunities for meeting and coordination that in Guatemala have been channeled through the Christian Ecumenical Council.

For his part, Setri Nyomi gave his greeting to the Catholic bishops and shared with them the experiences that there have been at the level that he represents with the Pope and other Vatican officials, as part of the ecumenical dialogue that needs to continue being strengthened in each country where there is a presence of so many different Christian denominations.

In a sublime act of prayer and ecumenism, the Catholic bishops and the AIPRAL delegation joined hands and prayed the Lord’s Prayer out loud together.

Gathering of AIPRAL and Roman Catholic leaders, Guatemala (AIPRAL ALC)

Assembly of God church in El Salvador launches campaign against violence

By Susana Barrera San Salvador, July 21, 2011 (ALC) he Church of The Way of the Assembly of God in San Salvador has placed posters on the streets of the capital city remembering the commandment of the divine law, “Thou will not kill.”

Official statistics indicate that everyday 11 to 12 people die in El Salvador, victims of violence.

According to a United Nations

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report, Central America is one of the most violent areas on the planet that is not at war.

The leader of the church, Pastor Mauricio Navas, said in a televised debate that the spiritual dimension is lacking in the prevention of the violence, and that is the contribution that the churches can make to the campaign. He exhorted the people to be better businesspersons, better workers, and that they look to God to confront the violence.

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June 26, 2011 (United Church of Canada)

“We have recently learned of the murder of a fourth environmental activist from Cabañas, El Salvador, who was part of a group opposing a Canadian mining operation in his community.

Demand a full investigation into this crime and the causes of this wave of violence in Cabañas.” The Santa Marta Association for Economic and Social Development (ADES), a non-governmental organization that is a partner of The United Church, calls us to take action in response to the latest killing of an environmental activist in Cabañas, El Salvador.

Background On June 2, in the city of Ilobasco, Cabañas, a university student, Juan Francisco Duran Ayala, was hanging flyers and banners as part of a Cabañas Environmental Committee (CAC) campaign against mining and the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim. The CAC reports that Ilobasco’s mayor ordered municipal police to remove the banners and to intimidate the activists hanging them.

The next day Juan Francisco left for his classes at the Technological University in San Salvador and was not heard from again. His body was

found after midnight on June 4; he had been shot twice in the head, execution style. The medical examiner declared his body “unidentifiable” and buried him in a common grave in San Salvador. The following week, CAC members visited the morgue and learned that Juan Francisco’s body had been found. His father positively identified his son’s body on June 14.

Juan Francisco’s murder comes two years after the brutal torture and killing of community leader and anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera. Since then two other antimining activists have been killed, Dora Alicia Sorto and Ramiro Rivera. Death threats continue against anti-mining activists, particularly the young journalists of Radio Victoria, a community radio station founded by ADES. In September 2010, two gang members were convicted in the

death of Marcelo Rivera. To this day, however, investigations into the torture and killing of Marcelo Rivera haven’t produced the capture of the intellectual authors. Nor have the investigations into the murders of two other anti-mining activists, Dora Alicia Sorto and Ramiro Rivera. In addition, threats against journalists of Radio Victoria continue with impunity.

ADES and the Cabañas Environmental Committee have been among those organizations in Cabañas that have defended the right of communities that would be affected by the proposed mine to a healthy environment. Miguel Rivera, brother of Marcelo, explains that the community’s opposition to the development of the gold mine is largely due to the threat it represents to the community’s already depleted water sources: “People don’t need gold.

They need water.”

ADES states that the threats and murders violate the right to life and freedom of expression and seek to silence the voice of community and environmental organizations in Cabañas.

As people of faith who care about the Earth and its inhabitants, and as part of a church that has a strong tradition of global partnership where we both give and receive from partners, you are invited to respond to this call to international action Source: United Church of Canada: http://www.united-church.ca/getinvolved/takeaction/110623

Pentecostalism should respond with small local “miracles,” suggests researcher in Mexico A theoretical and social reading of the situation faced by the classic Pentecostal churches in relation to the new church models was the focus of a roundtable dialogue entitled “Pentecostalism and Neo-Pentecostalism in Mexico Today,” held on May 21 in Mexico City.

Mexico City, May 25, 2011 (ALC) t the dialogue held in the Mexican Evangelical Seminary of the Church of God (SEMID), were Jean-Pierre Bastián, professor and researcher at the University of Strasbourg, and Ariel Copus, a social sciences researcher of youth and religion.

Referring to his book, “The Dissidents, Protestant Societies and Revolution in Mexico,” Bastián pointed to the link between Pentecostalism and historical Protestantism in the development of a culture in response to the hegemony of the Catholic Church in Mexico. Bastián said that the Pentecostal churches provided a way out of poverty, allowing the people to recover their self-esteem within the

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so-called Protestant or Evangelical culture, in which the classical Pentecostals are also included when the term “Evangelical” speaks of a Protestant plurality that converts the poor into true citizens.

The researcher made reference to how some of the Protestants that turned to the revolution wanted an educated Mexico, so much so that they read the Bible and the political Constitution simultaneously.

Bastián further pointed out that although the Protestant revolutionaries did not receive the historical recognition as happened with Villa and Zapata, they were, however, recognized at the regional level, as in the case of Pascual Orozco and of other “military colonels, lieutenants, teachers and pastors” who contributed to the struggles for inde-

pendence.

For Bastián, Neo-Pentecostalism is a “Christianity of emotion,” that creates miracles in what can be defined as a contemporary religious market, more attracted to popular religiosity than other currents of theological thought. He recommended to the Pentecostal churches that they not respond to that market, but rather aim toward an educational project for the creation of a true Evangelical conscience based on “miracle in action,” moving away from the spectacular and responding more to the needs of the neighborhood and of the community in which the church is inserted.

“In a Mexico marked by violence, that generates exclusion from the workplaces, there is no other way for many people but drug trafficking. That is where the church should intervene, in a machista society, in which women suffer sexual violence.

There the miracle of life should be brought about and the dignity that can come from Pentecostalism.”

Bolivian shares indigenous theology of “sacredness with the Earth” May 20, 2011 (WCC)

Sofía Chipana Quispe has become a primary voice of an indigenous theology that values living in dignity and sacredness with the Earth and respect for all forms of life. She was able to share some of her wisdom and experience as coordinator of a workshop on this theological perspective during the second day of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Kingston, Jamaica. ofía Chipana Quispe is part of the first generation of her family born in the city. Her parents migrated to La Paz, Bolivia, from the Andean mountain rural areas before she was born in 1952. Along with two other representatives of the Aymara people in South America, Chipana offered a reflection on peace based on ancestral values that have accompanied their communities through generations and help them to seek peace and harmonious relations in their communities.

“Qullan suma qamaña, Taika Utasana” (Living in dignity and sacredness in the great house of Mother Earth) was the title chosen by the Aymara team to explore how one can have dignity even in today’s situations marked by injustice. The team said the concept of “ayllu” provides valuable clues for a holistic view of peace. “Ayllu” is a community where one experiences an interrelationship and interdependence between Mother Earth and human beings and all creatures.

“Everything is part of everything,” said Chipana.

For the Andean communities, the rites, the celebration and practice of justice are very impor-

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tant. “This is the way to peace restoration,” she said. The rite is a way to establish peace. “So throughout my childhood, even living in the city, my parents always took me to have contact with the grandparents in the countryside,” Chipana said describing the influences in her life that countered the pressures of an urban setting.

Any prospect of peace is, for Andean people, the search for balance and harmony among all beings that live in the same space. According to Vicenta Mamani Bernabé, one of the coordinators of the workshop, the quest for just peace takes place in three levels: the rites, the festivities and the experience of justice.

Mamani and Chipana are part of the Community of Indigenous Women Theologians of Abya Yala (COTIAY), a group supported by the World Council of Churches. Abya Yala is the indigenous name for the region of Latin America and Caribbean.

After starting work as a Roman Catholic missionary, Chipana lived for several years among the Quechua people, of the Andean regions as well. “This experience was decisive to define my spirituality, because I rediscovered the integral relationship that each person has with God’s creation,” she said. The Andean spirituality is unconditionally linked to the “Pachamama,” the Mother Earth. But it is also marked by ethical standards of living these values within community and expressions of solidarity with others. In many situations of conflict or need, the support comes from members of the community. “Asking for and receiving help is an important part in building our relationships more equally,” Chipana concluded.

Source: World Council of Churches, WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/in-highly-violent-communi-1.html

Living in dignity and sacredness with the Earth IEPC workshop organizers Carlos Intipampa, Vicenta Mamani Bernabé and Sofía Chipana Quispe (IEPC WCC)

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

United Church of Canada demands investigation into killing of El Salvador activist

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

6 Church and Society

Colombian refugees struggle to rebuild lives in Ecuador After an eight-month separation from them, Antonio boarded a plane with his wife and their three children in Cali, Colombia, last winter and flew to Quito, Ecuador, where they petitioned the Ecuadorian government for asylum. It was the ultimate act in a 10-year-saga that included an attempt on Antonio’s life, four internal displacements within Colombia’s border and the loss of everything material and familiar. The family landed in metro-Quito in a “safe house” belonging to the Diocese of Central Ecuador.

Excerpt of story by Lynette Wilson Quito, June 20, 2011 (Episcopal News Service)

olombia’s half-centurylong armed conflict — characterized by displacement, violence and human and drug trafficking — has forced more than 116,000 refugees across the border into Ecuador. They are among the more than 15 million refugees worldwide whose plight is spotlighted each June 20 on World Refugee Day, commemorated annually since 2001.

On a Tuesday in May, Ricardo, his wife and their three children stood waiting outside the Iglesia Cristiana Menonita, a Mennonite house church in the La Inca section of Quito that houses the Colombian Refugee Project, a shared ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Ecuador and the Quito Mennonite Church that addresses refugees’ long-term needs. Patricia Morck, an Episcopal Church-appointed missionary who coordinates the project, unlocked the gate and welcomed the family inside, where she unpacked her laptop and listened to their story.

Paramilitaries dealing in narcotics forced Ricardo, who is from Colombia’s Antioquia region, into Ecuador after insisting he had information on drug routes — they wanted him to work for them.

A couple of weeks later, the International Committee of the Red Cross provided safe transport out of Colombia for his wife and children, he explained as Morck translated from Spanish to English. The couple’s children – two girls and a boy – played with toys across the room as their parents described their situation. The mother fought back tears.

On one hand, the family is fortunate. Their request for refugee status was granted in less than three months, and Ricardo found work as a motorcycle mechanic earning $150 a week in a country where $220 is the monthly minimum wage and refugees and Ecuadorians alike often struggle to find work. On the other, paramilitaries have continued to harass Ricardo’s mother in Colombia for information about him; his wife’s nephew was kidnapped; and paramilitaries followed the family to Ecuador, causing Ricardo and his family to fear for their lives.

“This is an extreme case,” Morck said. “The kids don’t leave the apartment. They [the parents]

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think the only thing they can do is go back to Colombia. They have family in Colombia; if they go back and are killed, they know their children will be cared for.”

The couple said they felt as though they’d be dead before their case was resolved.

Morck typed a record of the threats against Ricardo and his family to present to the public defender’s office. And she sent an email to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees director for protection and security for the family, an action she said she rarely took. UNHCR will help refugees resettle in another country if their situation is perilous or the first host country cannot meet their needs.

In addition to the total of more than 400,000 Colombian refugees and asylum seekers (including those in Ecuador) the conflict, which has been waged by government forces, right-wing paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas, has internally displaced more than 3 million people, more than in Sudan and Iraq combined, according to UNHCR, the U.N. agency that leads and coordinates international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.

As the story of Antonio and his family attests, an international border doesn’t stop the terror and persecution of Colombian refugees who enter Ecuador. Before leaving Colombia, Antonio, his wife Carmen and the children tried to get visas to Canada and the United States, but the applications were denied.

In Colombia, Antonio ran his own paper-product distributorship and was assigned a territory in the “red zone,” or territory controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the leftist-guerilla organization commonly referred to as FARC. His approach, and that of others trying to make a living in the region, was to mind his own business, he said. But he found himself on the “wrong side” of the paramilitaries after selling school supplies to a community activist in Valle del Cauca who gave them to public-school children. The activist was killed in May 2002, according to a newspaper article Antonio saved. (Community activists, teachers, union and labor activists have been labeled “subversives” and killed in large numbers in Colombia, Amnesty International has documented.)

“I never imagined that a relationship like that would lead to

Patricia Morck, an Episcopal Church appointed missionary who heads the Colombian Refugee Project in the Diocese of Central Ecuador (Lynette Wilson ENS)

this,” said Antonio, “but when it’s the military, the paramilitaries and the FARC, if you are not in trouble with one, then it is the other.” Paramilitaries once tried to kill Antonio. In December, a nephew was told he’d be killed if he didn’t disclose the family’s whereabouts. The family doesn’t keep in touch with relatives in Colombia because they don’t want to endanger their lives. They left behind a pickup truck to be sold, and the young man who bought it was murdered, the family said.

When the family arrived in Ecuador, Antonio said, he felt “a weight had been lifted.” But, Carmen said, they fear that the people who are after them will find them. “The border is so open anyone can come here.” For the sake of their children and his own sanity, Antonio said, he must keep working. While he waits for his visa, which is necessary for official work, Antonio sells bags of chips in busy intersections around Quito with money loaned him to buy inventory.

It’s not uncommon to see faces of people he knew in Colombia.

One day, one of the daughters recalled, she was selling chips with her father when he saw someone he recognized. “He turned completely white, and we got out of there.”

Resettlement needs and reality on the ground The United States, which resettles more refugees than any other country, began resettling Colombian refugees referred to it

by UNHCR in 2002 but provides more funding than resettlement opportunities. Fifty-two of the 74,654 refugees resettled in the United States in 2009 were Colombians, according to the President’s Report to Congress for 2011; in 2010 the number rose to 123. Refugees from Iraq and Burma respectively numbered 18,838 and 18,202 in 2009.

Since 2000, in the form of “Plan Colombia,” the United States has given the Colombian government more than $8 billion in military and financial aid, with some of that aid spent on protecting the interests of multinational corporations. Since the 1980s, competition and disputes over land for agriculture, cattle ranching,

resource extraction and coca cultivation have figured prominently in Colombia’s conflict as the armed groups have fought for control of territory.

In late May, the Colombian government passed a law aimed at returning some 17 million acres of misappropriated land to its rightful owners. Paramilitaries, guerillas and drug dealers had used violence and fraud to take control of the land. The government also said it had identified the remains of some 10,000 people who “disappeared” as a result of violence among leftwing guerillas, right-wing paramilitaries, government and security forces and drug gangs, who have used kidnapping as a tactic of war.

The government added that it was working to identify the remains of 10,000 additional “disappeared” people.

“This crisis is really in our backyard,” said Ana White, the Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based immigration and refugee policy analyst, in a telephone interview. “In November I visited Lago Agrio, an oil town on the border where there’s a lot of money and illegal activity. There were 85 registered brothels. There’s a lot of prostitution, trafficking, kidnappings. The things we heard … the levels of violence and torture. People live in fear; they are completely unprotected, disenfranchised.”

White participated in a Refugee Council USA Mission to Panama and Ecuador last fall that produced a report, “Living on the Edge.” The report suggests the United States increase assistance to Ecuador in response to its efforts to expand protection to refugees, support integration programs and programs to combat xenophobia and expand protection for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

Seeking help from the church Morck sees clients in her office for three hours every Tuesday morning, plus makes on-site visits throughout the week. On the day Ricardo’s family visited, she saw at least eight other cases, directing new cases to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), which partners with UNHCR to addresses immediate humanitarian and basic needs. She also sees

regular clients who come for food rations or assistance and others who come just to talk. (HIAS provides refugees with food assistance for three months. After that, the project provides assistance for six more months.)

The government officially has three months to evaluate an application for a refugee visa, but in reality it takes between six to nine months, Morck said. With a green card, which they receive when their request is processed, asylum seekers can access medical care and schools, but a visa, which includes a social-security number, is necessary for work, she said. A third of Ecuador’s 13.7 million people lives in poverty, which makes finding work difficult for both populations and leads to resentment and discrimination against refugees.

In January, HIAS temporarily suspended its operations to restructure its program. In March, Episcopal Relief & Development granted the Colombia Refugee Project $7,500 for basic care items, sleeping mats and blankets, items typically provided by HIAS to newly arrived refugees. The Mennonite Central Committee in Colombia provided money for food. Since March, the number of new families seeking help from the project has increased from two to eight a month, mostly by word of mouth, Morck said.

Despite its own economic problems, Ecuador keeps an open border and hasn’t restricted the number of asylum seekers it allows to enter the country. Besides the more than 116,000 refugees, an estimated 250,000 more Colombians – people who have been denied legal status or who haven’t applied for protection – live in Ecuador, as the Refugee Council USA report noted.

Patricia Rosero has worked on the border for 11 years, the last two as the head of UNHCR’s field unit in Tulcán, a border city of 60,000 in Ecuador’s northeastern Carchi province where some 5,000 refugees live. During that time, she’s witnessed an increase in the number of asylum seekers crossing the border and an increase in the Ecuadorian government’s willingness to address their needs, she said. “It’s important to emphasize that Ecuador is a poor country and that it accepts more refugees than any other Latin American country,” Rosero said.

UNHCR registers asylum seekers at the border, guides them through the processes for receiving recognized refugee status and directs them to public and private assistance agencies. Each day, Rosero said, UNHCR registers five new cases, on average, which can be individuals or families. “The cases are becoming more complex because of the context,” she noted.

“There’s not just one military factor.”

Paramilitaries and the FARC have embedded in Ecuador’s borContinue on page 7

Church and Society 7

Mexico City, July 5, 2011 (Catholic News Service)

A Catholic priest died of his injuries July 2, shortly after being caught in the crossfire of a shootout between drug cartel gunmen and the military in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. ather Marco Antonio Duran Romero, 48, pastor of the St. Robert Bellarmine Parish and host of a local television program, was shot in the chest after encountering the shootout while driving, said Father Alan Camargo, spokesman for the Diocese of Matamoros. Father Duran, who had just left a prayer meeting in his parish, died after emergency surgery. “He was very dynamic, creative, very charismatic and had a way being very open and direct with young people,” Father Camargo said.

A funeral Mass was celebrated July 4. The death was the latest difficulty for the Catholic Church

as it serves regions of Mexico rife with violence from drug cartels and organized crime.

One priest in the Diocese of Matamoros fled a violent region of Tamaulipas state earlier this year due to threats from drug cartels, which are disputing a region coveted for its smuggling routes to the United States.

Source: Catholic News Service, CNS: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110705.htm#head9

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der provinces, as well as in the country’s interior, where they have terrorized local and refugee populations while trafficking in drugs, arms and people, the Refugee Council USA report said. The influx of Colombians seeking asylum has led to tension, and sometimes physical violence, between Colombians and Ecuadorians.

Shelter, Rosero said, is the most immediate need of asylum seekers crossing the border, which is one of the things that brought UNHCR into conversation with the Episcopal Church. “Here in Tulcán there are no shelters to receive people when they cross the border,” Rosero said. “HIAS has agreements with hotels and restaurants.” Refugees used to stay in modest hotels, where families might be given one blanket, and eat in restaurants, where their accents quickly identified them as Colombian.

Immediate identification as “the other” can aggravate an already stressful situation, said Alexander Vaca Tapia, a church lay leader who works at the Diocese of Central Ecuador’s mission station in Tulcán. “There are many con-

Cuiabá, June 13, 2011 (ALC) he Mato Grosso regional organization of CONIC-MT, held the 2nd Peace Conference in the Legislative Assembly of the state capital city of Cuiabá. The theme and objective of the conference are of importance for the churches, municipal districts and the State of Mato Grosso, because peace, justice and quality of life are pillars for a harmonious coexistence between human beings, overcoming covetousness, greed, oppression and violence, pointed out Evangelical Lutheran Pastor Teobaldo Witter.

The theme of the gathering was “Peace on Earth,” focusing on the biblical understanding, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Brazil and on the reality of the State of Mato Grosso. The partici-

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National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil, CONIC, Logo

pants studied, discussed and presented proposals for the work of the churches and the society toward prompting action on the part of the citizens in the seeking for peace, justice and quality of life in relation to the use of the Earth.

The conference was inaugurated

by Irmã Cleofa, of the Roman

Catholic Apostolic Church. Then followed participants such as Jesuit Inácio Werner, who spoke about the reality of the state; Attorney Dieter Metzner, who underlined the notion of peace present in the text of the Federal Constitution, and the Reverend Elinete Wanderley Paes Miller, of the United Presbyterian Church and vice-president of CONIC, who dealt with the theme from the biblical perspective.

The discussion was moderated

by Pastor Fredolino Seiboth, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB), and the proposals systematized by Gloria Maria. The closing of the conference was led by the Reverend Paulo Tamaki, of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Campo Verde.

Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights (MEDH) Campaign in Argentina calls for boycott of products of the Ledesma Company Father Marco Antonio Duran Romero, a Matamoros priest, was killed Saturday, July 2, 2011, in a crossfire between gunmen and the Mexican military (themonitor.com)

Colombian refugees…

From page 6

The National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (CONIC) facilitates Peace Conference

frontations. There is a movement to get them [Ecuadorians and Colombians] to live together, but there are rivalries,” he said.

“There’s a lot of jealousy on the side of the Ecuadorians for the help Colombians receive. Another source of confrontation is [that], with the increase of Colombians, delinquency has risen, but not all Colombians who come here are delinquents. Many Colombians have values, are hard-working and want to move past their problems, but people don’t recognize it.”

In January, the diocese submitted a $32,000 grant application to the United Thank Offering to buy close to an acre of land just outside Tulcán, where it plans to build a shelter for asylum seekers.

Besides registering asylum seekers, UNHCR works with local governments to establish integration projects and with small border towns to offer services that benefit both populations and encourage integration. The mission station has partnered with the UNHCR on integration efforts and holidaycentered events focused on bringing people together.

Source: Episcopal News Service, ENS: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_128774_ENG_HTM.htm

Buenos Aires, August 10, 2011 (ALC)

The Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights (MEDH) in Argentina has called for a national boycott of products of the Ledesma Company, as a protest against the repressive actions by the company directed at the families of farmers, in which four people were killed, 60 others injured, and two farmers arrested.

Ledesma boycott poster (MEDH)

ith the boycott, “we are refusing to be accomplices of a financial, economic and social system that forces an enormous majority of human beings to subsist in poverty, discrimination and repression,” says the call for the boycott.

Last week, the police of Liberator General San Martín, in the Province of Jujuy, in the northwest of the country, and private guards of the Ledesma Sugar Mill, repressed with gunfire and tear gas the 700 families that were demanding the construction of homes that the company had

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promised them.

Ledesma produces paper, fruits, juices, meats, grains, sugar, corn and alcohol for the Argentinean national market, Congregations of several denominations were given posters calling for the boycott being led by MEDH.

Inter Church Center for Theological and Social Studies (CIEETS) in Nicaragua calls for commitment to the common good of the Earth and humanity

By Marcelino Bassett Managua, June 23, 2011 (ALC) n the occasion of the 25th anniversary celebrations of CIEETS, a forum was held June 22 in the capital city of Managua to discuss the “Environment, Childhood and Gender,” with particular attention given to the issues of soil and water contamination, the destruction of forest areas and the loss of sources of water for rural communities. Given the need to implement effective measures for the conservation and care of “our great house, the Earth that we live in,” the forum

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made public its commitment to: 1) Call on our churches, and the urban and rural populations, to reinforce the care of the environment, giving special attention to the treatment of garbage. This will be achieved by eliminating the garbage and depositing it in proper places; increasing our own awareness and transmitting it to our children.

2) Solicit from our municipal authorities their support in this effort, by providing the necessary resources so as to be able to achieve the wanted success.

3) Eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides that are in the ‘dirty

basket’ of the countries that produce them and which are sold and indiscriminately applied in Nicaragua, affecting the flora and fauna of the country, much worse when applied aerially, and in that way the largest affecting the smallest.

4) The creation of a committee to see to the implementing of these proposals.

The participants in the forum have expressed their certainty that through this commitment and the actions to support it, the care and protection of Mother Earth will be a continuing effort.

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

Mexican priest dies after being caught in cartel-military crossfire

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

8 latin america News

Haiti’s reconstruction still an uphill battle

By Thalif Deen July 29, 2011 (IPS)

As Haiti struggles to recover from the deadly January 2010 earthquake that killed over 200,000 people and forced nearly 1.5 million into camps, international funding is failing to keep pace with the generous pledges made last year, and in-fighting in Haiti’s new government is hindering the disbursement of aid. ”The amount of debris still littering the streets could fill 8,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools,” the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) said in a study.

Most of the rubble is still clogging the capital, Portau-Prince, preventing people from moving back to their homes, resuming their lives and allowing the recovery process to truly take hold in Haiti’s capital city. he estimated cost of rebuilding Haiti is a hefty 11.5 billion dollars “and the organizations working in the country need continuous support,” says UNDP. In March 2010, U.N. member states pledged more than nine billion dollars to rebuild the country, including 5.3 billion for 2010-2011.

Just 352 million dollars have been delivered to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund to date, with 237 million of that sum disbursed for 14 reconstruction projects, according to the fund’s first annual report released on Jul. 22.

At least 600,000 people still live in tent camps, and more than 5,500 have died from the cholera epidemic that broke out last October.

Reconstruction efforts in Haiti are being led not only by donors from rich and poor nations but also by international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank and IBSA, the coalition of three emerging nations in the developing world: India, Brazil and South Africa.

Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri of India, an active member of IBSA, told IPS his country had made a “modest contribution” of five million dollars in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake followed by 500,000 dollars to the U.N.’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

“We have also pledged to reconstruct one of the government ministries to be identified by the government of Haiti,” he added.

Additionally, IBSA is planning to expand its joint Trust Fund waste management project to provide other basic amenities, such as shelter, drinking water and sanitation.

Currently, the three countries are spending over two million dollars in this effort, and also in the recon-

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Reporters Without Borders shocked by court ruling in Ecuador on President Rafael Correa’s lawsuit ending with jail terms, huge fine for newspaper directors and columnist Guayaquil, July 22, 2011 (Reporters Without Borders) eporters Without Borders is shocked by Wednesday’s court ruling in the western city of Guayaquil sentencing three directors of the El Universo daily – Carlos Pérez, César Pérez and Nicolas Pérez – and columnist Emilio Palacio to three years in prison and ordering them to pay a fine of 30 million dollars and 10 million dollars in damages in a libel suit by President Rafael Correa.

“Even if the columnist’s comments were excessive, we condemn the three-year jail sentences and the exorbitant fines and damages awards imposed on him and El Universo’s directors,” Reporters Without Borders said. “These sentences are all the more inopportune for coming at a time when the future communication law is being debated.

“Contrary to the general trend in Latin America of decriminalizing media offences, Ecuador’s legislation still provides for prison sentences for defamation. Jailing someone for a media offence is contrary to the jurisprudence established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which Ecuador is required to follow as a member of the Organization of American States. “This kind of judicial persecution suggests that the authorities are pursuing a strategy aimed at silencing the country’s media, which are heavily criticized by President Correa in his radio and TV broadcasts known as ‘cadenas’ and ‘enlaces.’ We call again for the decriminalization of media offences and we urge the courts to overturn this ruling. Upholding it will just encourage self-censorship.”

Filed on 21 March, President Correa’s complaint against El Universo and its former columnist requested three-year jail terms and 80 million dollars in damages. It was prompted by a column by Palacio on 6 February headlined “No to lies!” about the president’s response to a mutiny by police offi-

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Construction workers fasten the base of the pre-fabricated Haitian Parliament facility, being built with funds from the U.N. peacekeeping mission (UN IPS)

struction of a community health center in Haiti.

Meanwhile, the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) - created in June 2010 by the government of Haiti, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, the World Bank and donor nations - has disbursed about 71 percent of the 335 million dollars received by donors. In its annual report released last week, HRF says strong financial support is essential to ensure that the reconstruction process addresses Haiti’s key priorities, including agriculture, job creation, investments, shelter and education.

Asked about the progress made so far, Josef Leitmann, manager of the HRF, told IPS, “We have to be realistic and recognize that reconstruction under these exceptionally hard circumstances takes time.” He cited the difficulty of rebuilding Aceh, Indonesia, for example, the closest point of land to the epicenter of the massive 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and noted that recovery was slow even in the United States following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And both those nations had well-functioning central governments.

“The 2010 earthquake exacerbated Haiti’s existing development challenges: weak government capacity and lack of economic and physical infrastructure and services,” Leitmann said. The human, economic and institutional toll makes reconstruction a long-term endeavor, he stressed. By the same token, he said, “We have made important progress in key areas: housing reconstruction, debris removal and education.” “This progress in building back better is, and has been possible, when the government, the international community, the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work together putting people first,” he added.

Brazil was the first donor to the HRF with a contribution of 55 million dollars, while the United States remains the largest single donor with 120 million dollars, followed by Canada, Japan, Norway and Spain, contributing at least 30 million dollars each. But contributions have also come from developing nations and from non- Western donors, including Colombia, Nigeria, Oman, Thailand, Cyprus, Estonia and Latvia.

When the United Nations Security Council recently urged the international community to increase its assistance towards the long-term recovery and reconstruction of Haiti, the outpouring of support was reflected in the commitments both from rich and poor nations. Perhaps one of the biggest collective pledges a reflection of what the United Nations describes as “South-South cooperation” - came from the 12member Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) which is providing some 100 million dollars in financial support to Haiti. And at least 65 percent of the funds has already been disbursed and coordinated by a newly-created UNASUR office in Port-au-Prince.

Cuba, in conjunction with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, is rebuilding Haiti’s national health services, which is treating over two million patients in 23 community hospitals, 30 rehabilitation wards and 13 health centers throughout the country. Peru is providing some 10 million dollars towards the UNASUR special fund for Haiti. Venezuela has not only forgiven Haiti’s debt to Petrocaribe Oil, amounting to over 400 million dollars, but also given an initial contribution of 20 million dollars to the Cuban medical mission and an additional 50 million dollars to a humanitarian fund.

The Mexican government, which airlifted some 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid immediately after the earthquake, has set up a ‘Mexico Alliance for Haiti,’ described as a joint public-private sector initiative for institution building in the fields of health and education. The funds include about three million dollars from private foundations in Mexico.

The West African nation of Gabon has provided a million dollars to Haiti primarily towards its reconstruction efforts.

Meanwhile, after a meeting last May, the U.N. Security Council urged Haiti’s new government, headed by President Michel Martelly, to focus on the critical tasks of rebuilding the country and ensuring stability and rule of law in the Caribbean nation.

However, Martelly has been locked in a stalemate with Parliament over his choices for prime minister, leaving the country without a working government.

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency, IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56628

on 30 September cers 2010. Without naming Correa, the column called him a “dictator” and said he could be tried for “crimes against humanity.”

In a hearing that Judge Juan Paredes held behind closed doors on 19 July, although such hearings are normally open to the public and press, the newspaper’s directors proposed an out-of-court settlement under which they would publish the correction that the president deemed necessary. But President Correa rejected the offer, although he had previously said he would withdraw his lawsuit if the El Universo published a correction.

Reporters Without Borders wrote to President Correa on 1 April asking him to withdraw his lawsuit against El Universo and another one against Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, the authors of “Big Brother,” a book about the president’s elder brother. No answer was ever received.

The El Universo case is similar to the kind of lawsuit specifically designed to intimidate and silence critics that is referred to in Englishspeaking countries as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation or SLAPP. It is carried out with the aim of forcing the target, a news media or NGO, to fold or retract because of legal costs or the threat of a ruinous damages award.

According to El Universo’s directors, more than 4,000 people would be put out of work if the newspaper were forced to close.

Palacio resigned as one of its columnists on 7 July in the hope that it might induce the president to withdraw his suit against the newspaper.

Reporters Without Borders has already highlighted the positive aspects of the proposed communication law, which offers a chance to democratize the media landscape in Ecuador. But the organization would like the proposed law to include the decriminalization of media offences and to drop the concept of “good information.”

Source: Reporters Without Borders: http://en.rsf.org/ecuador-presidents-lawsuit-ends-with-jail-21-07-2011,40675.html

Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador (Reporters Without Borders)

latin america News 9

Two indigenous women are seeking to make history by reaching the two top jobs in politics: Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú, presidential candidate of the leftleaning Frente Amplio coalition and lawyer Laura Reyes, vicepresidential candidate for the Compromise, Renovation and Order party, known as CREO. Still, many indigenous activists point out that most parties continue to pay lip service to inclusion for the elections to be held this coming September.

By Louisa Reynolds Guatemala City, July 25, 2011 (Latinamerica Press) enchú is one of the most famous faces in Guatemalan politics and this is her second attempt to run for the office. But Reyes is a newcomer, running on ticket with Eduardo Suger, a mathematician of SwissGuatemalan origin and founder of the private Galileo University.

Reyes, a Mayan Kaqchikel woman from the municipality of Tecpán, in the department of Chimaltenango, two hours from Guatemala City, describes herself as a resilient woman who had to fight against the odds to have a career. “I had nine brothers and sisters, two of whom died at an early age,” she said. “My family was very poor even though my parents were so hard working. My mother sold corn tortillas and atol [a thick drink made from rice flour] and my father was a builder. But they always told me: ´If you study your life will be different from ours.´ I started to work as a teacher but one day I told my father: “´I’m going to Guatemala City because I want to get a university

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degree no matter what it takes.´” Reyes enrolled in the state-funded University of San Carlos to study law but was forced to quit her studies during her fifth semester due to financial hardship when she lost her part-time job. On three occasions Reyes had been offered a place on a computer studies program for students with special needs (she was born missing the lower part of her right arm) at the private Francisco Marroquín University. When she found herself unemployed she decided to rethink the offer. Eduardo Suger, founder of the university, agreed to give her a placement on the condition that she would stay on after the course and work with him.

Reyes completed the course, worked as a secretary for the university´s information technology department and gradually worked her way up the ladder until she was promoted to the position of director of the same computer studies program where she had been a student a few years earlier. Meanwhile, Reyes completed her law degree as well as many postgraduate courses on indigenous customary law, labor issues and constitutional law. She continued to work with Suger when

he left the university to found the Galileo University. “Why did Dr Suger choose me as vice presidential candidate? Because I’ve been loyal to him,” said Reyes.

When Suger announced that he would run in tandem with Reyes he said that more needed to be done in order to include indigenous Guatemalans – who account for 38.4 percent of the country’s population of 14 million, according to World Bank figures – in the political sphere. He also criticized the Álvaro Colom administration, which came to power in 2007, promising to build “a government with a Mayan face” but who only appointed one Mayan cabinet member: Minister of Culture Jerónimo Lancerio.

Suger’s CREO party – a new moderate right wing organization in fourth place in the latest polls – has promised it will do things differently.

However, whereas most parties’ propaganda – both TV adverts and posters – usually include the presidential and vicepresidential candidates together, Suger appears alone or with Roberto González, who is running for mayor of Guatemala City. “There is a contradiction between discourse and reality. An indigenous woman is allowed to participate but then she is made invisible”, says Ana Silvia Monzón, coordinator of the gender studies program of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, or FLACSO. Under Guatemala’s institutionally weak political system, parties rarely survive two administrations and are regarded by ladinos – nonindigenous Guatemalans – and Mayans alike as mere vehicles to get

Laura Reyes is one of two indigenous women vying for top offices in the September 2011 elections in (Louisa Reynolds Guatemala Latinamerica Press)

to office. Unlike other countries with large indigenous populations – such as Bolivia and Ecuador – Guatemala has no parties founded by Mayan leaders and based on indigenous identity, with the exception of Menchú’s tiny Winaq party, one of the three political organizations running under the Frente Amplio coalition.

For this reason, indigenous candidates at a local and national level are spread across the political spectrum. Speakers at a public debate on indigenous participation in politics, hosted by the Central American Institute of Political Studies on July 11, brought together Mayan candidates from four of the nine political parties running for office. Speakers came from parties with different ideological leanings, including the farright Patriot Party, currently leading the polls with 40.1 per cent of the

votes.

Many members of the audience asked Carlos Batzín, a Congressional candidate for the Patriot Party, why he joined a party whose presidential candidate, retired army general Otto Pérez Molina, took part in the genocidal “scorched earth” policies, under which 10,000 Ixil Mayans were massacred during the early 1980s in the department of Quiché.

Pérez Molina also advocates neoliberal economic policies with an emphasis on the relentless exploitation of the country’s energetic resources, despite the fact that indigenous communities have repeatedly rejected such projects due to their detrimental impact on the environment. Batzín defended his choice, arguing that he “sought to belong to a space where decisions are taken, a winning party”, as only by betting on the winning horse in the race could Mayans exert any influence. He added that Pérez Molina was one of the army generals who signed the 1996 Peace Accords that brought an end to Guatemala’s 36year-long civil war.

However, Otilia Lux, who is seeking re-election in congress with the Frente Amplio, replied that Batzín’s hopes were naive: “I swear that Carlos will never be able to change anything. In all the commissions in Congress, members of the [Patriot Party] and other parties did nothing but protect the interests of those who financed their campaigns and my indigenous brothers had no other choice except to shut up and tow the party line.”

Source: Latinamerica Press: http://www.lapress.org/articles.asp?art=6431

Indigenous in Paraguay still marginalized 200 years later

By Gustavo Torres Asuncion, June 13, 2011 (Latinamerica Press) hile most of Paraguay’s population was concentrated on the bicentennial of the nation’s independence from Spain on May 14, there was little to celebrate for the country’s indigenous peoples.

Representatives of indigenous organizations headed to the capital, Asunción, to demand the government take immediate action to stem the severe problems afflicting Paraguay’s 20 native peoples: extreme poverty, little access to land and a loss of their culture due to migration to urban centers so they can eke out a living.

The demonstration, called by members of the Coordinating Group of Indigenous Organizations, an umbrella group, the demonstrators arrived at the capital on May 14 to demand that their native lands be returned to them and that the government fulfill its commitments outlined by local and international norms on indigenous peoples.

For Gabriel Fernández, a leader of the Enxet community in Bajo Chaco, the bicentennial was a perfect time to unite Paraguay’s indigenous peoples to demand the government follow its own laws, such as the Indigenous Communities Law, which aims to ensure that indige-

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Indigenous leader Mario Rivarola demands ancestral lands be returned to his people (Gustavo Torres Latinamerica Press)

nous peoples have the right to social and cultural preservation, to defend their patrimony and traditions and to improve their economic condition.

“We are yet again demanding that the Paraguayan state … see a better life for our people and that it guarantee that our demands will stop being criminalized,” he said.

“We demand that our land be returned to us; international organizations have already spoken out on our behalf but the state continues to put off complying. We can say that as an indigenous people, we have very little to celebrate.”

The organizations also demanded that indigenous Paraguayans be protected from large infrastructure projects, particularly the Ava Guaraní and Mbya Guaraní communities, living near the Binational Itaipú and Yacyreta dams, which are

shared with Brazil and Argentina.

Land and food security Mario Rivarola, secretary-general of the National Organization of Independent Native Peoples, known as ONAI, and a leader in the Coordinating Group, echoed his sentiment that the bicentennial is far from a joyous occasion for the country’s indigenous peoples.

“We don’t have enough reason to consider the bicentennial as a festive date,” he said. “Instead, we are taking advantage of it to protest.” In addition to demanding that their native lands be returned and recognized, he said the indigenous groups also need food security. “The paradox is that in 1811 we freed ourselves from the yoke of Spain so they could put a new yoke on us,” he said of the new power-holding class in Paraguay.

In the wake of the 1865-1870 War of the Triple Alliance, fought between Paraguay and an alliance between Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, the local government gave massive swaths of land to foreigners, some of the best lands in the country, said Rivarola. “We inherited a lack of access to education and health care and zero government policy for the indigenous population, making us orphans in any state project.”

He added that three rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights require that the Paraguayan state return the ancestral lands of the Enxet and Sanapaná people of the Chaco region. “We also have cases in which indigenous communities have been invaded by Paraguayan campesinos, he said, alluding to the expansion of the country’s soy farming industry.

National Living Well campaign According to Paraguay’s 2008 census of indigenous households, the country’s indigenous population totaled 108,803 people, living mainly in rural areas. But there are also growing indigenous communities in large cities like Asunción, Ciudad del Este, Encarnación, Villarica, Caaguazú, and others, due to the massive expulsion of the native population from rural areas because they lack land titles.

According to the poll, 45 percent of the indigenous communities have

no guarantees to their native lands, even though the constitution states that they have the right to community-held land that is of “sufficient” size and quality so that their way of life remains intact.

On May 14, more than 2,000 indigenous people marched on the capital to give President Fernando Lugo a copy of their proposed National Living Well Program, which aims to help indigenous communities get out of poverty. Rivarola said the plan outlines how to ensure food security for the country’s 603 indigenous communities. The proposal asks for immediate government assistance to strengthen farms run by native peoples and in between eight to 10 years, so they can transition away from subsistence farming to sell their products.

The right to collectively hold land that has been granted to private companies is the focal point of the fight, said Oscar Ayala Amarilla, a legal advisor to indigenous communities and coordinator of the nongovernmental organization Tierra Viva. He said the country has advanced its own laws, based on the International Labor Organization´s Convention 169, but that laws on the books that say indigenous peoples have a right to land is not enough –they need laws to implement this.

Source: Latinamerica Press: http://www.lapress.org/articles.asp?art=6397

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

Indigenous women in presidential race in Guatemala

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

10 latin america News

Indigenous groups mobilize against Return of ousted president escalation of war in Southwest Colombia to Honduras does not

By Constanza Vieira July 25, 2011 (IPS)

The powerful Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), in southwest Colombia, has called a “minga” or protest march to “curb the militarization driven by the army and the FARC,” the main guerrilla group, which set off a car bomb on a busy market day in a Nasa Indian town on Jul. 9.

In the minga (a term that refers to a traditional indigenous meeting or activity for the collective good), we set out, but we don’t know when we’ll return,” Darío Tote, a Coconuco indigenous leader who is the regional coordinator of the educational program of the CRIC, which represents the nine native ethnic groups in Cauca province, told IPS. “The local indigenous children are terrified,” said Tote. “When they’re on their way to school, armed actors appear on the road, and you don’t know who they are: army, guerrillas or (far-right) paramilitaries. “The children are terrified by the uniforms, weapons, shooting, helicopters, planes,” he added. “We are on the alert, in permanent assembly,” which means “being together with our families, our children,” he said.

Tote told IPS that the “minga of resistance for autonomy and peace and an end to the war” will set out within one or two weeks, to march across indigenous territory that has been occupied by armed groups. The immediate aim of the protest is to force the army, police and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) to dismantle the bases and camps that they operate in the midst of the civilian population.

“We don’t want to give either side a military advantage; what we want is to defend the lives and the autonomy of our communities,” the CRIC said in a strongly worded statement issued Thursday Jul. 21 but dated Jul. 20, Colombia’s Independence Day. “We hope both sides understand that our objective is humanitarian in essence. We are calling on our friends to help the government and the FARC understand this,” adds the CRIC communiqué, which was published Thursday.

On Wednesday and Thursday, some 6,000 indigenous people gathered in a hearing with the CRIC regional directors in Toribío, a town of 4,000 that is surrounded by Nasa Indian reserves in the Andes Mountains in the north of Cauca province. The municipality of Toribío is comprised of the town and the reserves, which have been recognized as indigenous territory since the Spanish colonial authorities did so in 1702, and is home to some 28,000 people, 90 percent of whom are Nasa Indians.

It was in Toribío where indigenous leader Quintín Lame led a

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mean repression is over

By Dana Frank May 29, 2011 (Honduras Human Rights)

Toribío is not a battleground" Poster by Nasa-run Center for Education, Training and Research for Integral Community Development, CECIDIC (CECIDIC IPS)

rebellion in defense of native land rights against landowners encroaching on their territory in Cauca, starting in 1910. And it was in that town that the CRIC was created in 1971, to defend and fight for “unity, land and culture”. It was also in Toribío that Álvaro Ulcué, Colombia’s first indigenous Catholic priest, was assassinated in 1984. Ulcué, a Nasa activist, was the driving force behind Project Nasa, a local indigenousbased development initiative launched in 1980 that gained international recognition for its local governance and anti-poverty efforts.

Because Jul. 9 was market day, some 1,500 people were packed into the central plaza in Toribío.

Suddenly, shooting was heard nearby, and there was a loud explosion in a street parallel to the plaza, in back of the church where some 40 people were attending mass. Over a radius of 400 meters, pieces of gas cylinders – used by the leftwing rebels to make homemade bombs – as well as the bumper of a rural bus sliced down from the sunny sky that morning.

The bus transmission was blasted 70 meters before it ended up embedded in the wall of the parish priest’s house. The explosion came from a bus full of gas cylinders that the insurgents apparently rolled down from the Project Nasa central offices to the police station, one block downhill. But the station is a concrete fortress and barely suffered a scratch.

The FARC also launched explosives “that fell in places with a heavy civilian presence”; the guerrillas had no concern for “the magnitude of the damage,” the office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) said in a communiqué.

“We didn’t know which way to run,” one resident of Toribío told the UNHCHR delegation that visited the town after the attack. The attack by the FARC, which first emerged in 1964 in the same impregnable region where government forces are now pursuing FARC chief Alfonso Cano, lasted an hour and a half.

“It’s hard to believe that in the plaza, only the butcher, Jesús Muñoz, died,” Henry Caballero, a business administrator who was working in the Project Nasa office at the time and somehow managed to escape injury from the broken glass, told IPS. “You would have expected more people to die in the plaza, because it was jam packed with people,” he added.

A total of three civilians and one police officer were killed, and 122 people were injured in the attack, which destroyed 27 houses and dam-

aged another 433. In addition, 1,175 students were left without classes because the school was damaged, as was the church, while the town’s only bank was destroyed.

“There is no possible justification for such contempt for human life and for a political process that has proven that it is capable of building dignity, democracy, autonomy and social justice,” says the CRIC statement. “This was an attack against all indigenous people,” it adds. “We feel they have destroyed the house of each one of us, that the rain and cold felt in the past few days by those who have lost the roof over their heads has been felt in every indigenous reserve in Cauca. “If we don’t stop this war, the country will witness a terrible massacre of civilians and the destruction of a good part of the peaceful political and democratic initiative that we indigenous people have brought to fruition with an enormous effort over the space of many years,” the CRIC added.

According to the mid-year report by the Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris, a think tank in Bogota, Cauca is one of the five regions where the armed conflict has recently escalated and the government forces have reportedly “adopted defensive strategies.”

There are some 15,000 troops in the northern part of Cauca province, and another troop increase was announced. In response, the FARC are bringing in fighters from other regions, and have stepped up recruiting of both adults and minors, according to the local indigenous groups.

In the meantime, “the State has subordinated the law and its own economic interests to sustain a war and the economic-military mafias that drive it forward,” the CRIC statement says. “For the insurgency, it is no longer a question of having an armed force to defend a political project, but to destroy all political projects – including their own – for the purpose of maintaining their military apparatus,” it maintains.

“Every actor in the war consciously violates humanitarian law, under the argument that the other side had already done so,” the CRIC says.

The “minga” protest includes a humanitarian commission made up of women, elders and former indigenous governors who will present the points of view of the traditional indigenous authorities, recognized by the constitution as the governing authorities in the reserves, directly to the government and the guerrillas.

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency, IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56598

The return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras doesn’t mean democracy, civil liberties and the basic rule of law are returning to that country any time soon. Far from it. The very same oligarchs who launched the coup remain in power, and in the past two months the government’s repression has accelerated. That’s why more than 70 members of Congress are calling for a suspension of U.S. military and police aid to Honduras. n May 22, Zelaya and the current president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, signed a pact permitting Zelaya to return free of the trumped-up charges the coup makers leveled against him when the Honduran military packed him onto a plane to Costa Rica on June 28, 2009. Lobo also promised to allow plebiscites and to recognize the National Front of Popular Resistance, the broad coalition uniting labor, women’s groups, peasant organizations, gay alliances and Afro-indigenous movements. But both of these “concessions” are already legally on the books, and grant nothing concrete to the opposition.

Zelaya’s return itself does have enormous popular significance. For hundreds of thousands of Hondurans, including those who are quite critical of him, he is the grand symbol of resistance to the ongoing military coup. He represents constitutional order, the rule of law and a hope for a different Honduran future based on social justice. But neither Zelaya’s return nor the pact

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address the horrific human rights situation in the country.

Lobo appointed the same officers who ran the coup to control the armed forces, the stateowned telephone company, the airports and the immigration service. And the government’s authoritarianism in the past two months now exceeds the period right after the coup.

Police and the military now routinely shoot tear gas canisters directly at peaceful demonstrators at close range.

Paramilitary gangs have killed more than 40 peasant activists since Lobo took office, including four in the last three weeks.

Since Lobo came to power in the coup, more than 300 opposition members have been killed, according to human rights groups. Impunity reigns. You can drive by and shoot a teacher, an indigenous activist or a trade unionist, and nothing - nothing - will happen to you.

Lobo, in the accord, promised to create a new ministry overseeing human rights.

But his promise means nothing.

Indeed, three days after the accord, his police launched live bullets and tear gas against a group of high school students protesting the suspension of their math teachers.

Despite growing congressional recognition of the crisis, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton keeps insisting that “democracy has been restored” and that Honduras should be readmitted to the Organization of American States at its June 5-7 meeting. Rather than join Clinton in whitewashing a repressive regime, we should unite with members of Congress in demanding an immediate suspension of U.S. military aid to Honduras — and an end to support for the ongoing coup government of Porfirio Lobo.

Source: Honduras Human Rights: http://hondurashumanrights.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/ousted-president%e2%80%99s-return-to-honduras-doesn%e2%80%99t-mean-repression-is-over/

The return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras

latin america and Environment 11 LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

What would Jesus do?

Latin American Catholic Bishops Council Seminar looks at extractive industries Lima, July 15, 2011 (Catholic News Service)

When Archbishop Pedro Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo first considered the high lead levels in the blood of children living in the Peruvian highland city of La Oroya, he asked himself, “What would Jesus do?” ive years ago, the U.S.owned mining company Doe Run was running a minerals smelter complex that was mainly responsible for the poor air quality in the fifth-most polluted city in the world, the archbishop told delegates at an international Latin American bishops’ council seminar on extractive industries.

The archbishop told delegates he answered his own question by beginning an ultimately successful campaign to close the complex. Now, as the new president of the Latin American bishops’ council department of justice and solidarity, Archbishop Barreto has a four-year

mandate to encourage the Latin American church to consider and act on the question at the root of his ministry.

During the three-day seminar sponsored by the council, known by its acronym CELAM, 80 church representatives from Latin America said they would seek dialogue with U.S., Canadian and European bishops on extractive industries and the mission of the church and strengthen links with the Pontifical Council for

Justice and Peace. They also called on northern countries to value the rich Latin American biodiversity that is threatened by extractive industries.

The seminar’s final statement noted an accelerated expansion of extractive industries fed by “a fossilfuel energy model, the pursuit of profit at any cost and a surge of materialistic greed.”

Doe Run Peru multi metal smelter, La Oroya (La República)

The march toward unsustainability in El Salvador gains speed:

An environmental analysis of the first two years of the Mauricio Funes Administration

By Ángel María Ibarra Turcios San Salvador, June 16, 2011 (Upside Down World) ccording to ECLAC, we already suffer from hydric stress, meaning the availability of water for human consumption tends to be less than 1750 mts3 per person per year. In the 2010 Report of the Global Fund for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, our country tops the list of highest-risk countries in the world: 88.7% of the territory is considered at risk of disaster, and 95.4% of the population is at risk. At the same time, the organization Germanwatch located El Salvador in the first place in the Global Climate Risk Index 2009.

Regarding the environment, there are several rather unfavorable recent reports produced in the country, including from government agencies. In terms of water quality, the Ministry of Environment announced in March this year that none of the water samples tested last year resulted in the level of excellent, only 2% were good, and the rest were fair, poor or very poor. Of total surface water samples tested, 90% are not drinkable by conventional methods and 88% of those from the

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Lempa River, including three highly polluted rivers (Acelhuate, Dirty and Suquiapa) showed that the water is not even suitable for irrigation.

Similar or worse results are obtained when evaluating the situation of inland and coastal marine ecosystems, agricultural biodiversity and increasing food insecurity and nutrition, environmental quality of cities, including solid waste pollution and waste, along with the sonic, electromagnetic, and visual pollution, among others. In this context,

President of El Salvador Mauricio Funes (Upside Down World)

By Gonzalo Ortiz Quito, June 5, 2011 (IPS)

Source: Catholic News Service, CNS: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110714.htm

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In the last year, El Salvador has been cited in at least three reports issued by international institutions that have credibility among public officials, politicians and businesspeople. However, this grave situation has gone unnoticed since then, to the point where it is referred to as an exaggeration or attempt to discredit certain actors.

Nature’s rights still being wronged in Ecuador

due to the social, economic, and political vulnerability accumulated for decades in El Salvador and its interaction with environmental degradation, climate risk and other threats such as earthquakes and epidemics put the majority of the population at great risk of disasters, especially the most impoverished and vulnerable sectors.

Despite this difficult situation, in his first two years of presidential administration, touted as the government of change, Mauricio Funes has shown a remarkable insensitivity and unjustified dismissal of the environmental crisis that the country suffers from, and he accelerates progress towards the social and environmental unsustainability inherited from previous governments. It is no coincidence that in his annual address to the nation in the Legislature this past June 1st, he did not even remotely address any central element of this problem.

As if that were not enough, the other government bodies such as the Legislature and the Judiciary branch also accompany Funes down this unfortunate path. The lack of creation of environmental courts and the recent court ruling favorable to employers in the case of lead pollution in Sitio El Niño illustrate this.

The passing of the Law on Land Management and Development earlier this year benefits real estate speculations and ignores the environmental role of the territories and Continue on page 12

Recognition of the rights of nature in Ecuador’s 2008 constitution was widely applauded by environmentalists around the world.

However, putting them into practice is still problematic due to the lack of legislation and an institutional framework. It is true that in this country “enshrining the rights of nature has gone beyond philosophical discussion,” and they have passed from being diffuse and vague to being objective and regulated, at least at the level of the constitution, said environmental lawyer René Bedón, dean of the law faculty at the Universidad de los Hemisferios.

Furthermore, nature is beginning to file lawsuits,” he told IPS, referring to the constitutional court sentence against the Provincial Council of Loja, a province on the border with Peru, 500 kilometers south of Quito. On behalf of the rights of nature, and particularly of the Vilcabamba river, Richard Wheeler and Eleanor Geer Huddle, foreigners living in the area, asked for constitutional protection against damages caused by the widening of the Vilcabamba-Quinara highway, being carried out without an environmental permit.

The case, the first lawsuit in Ecuador’s history on the rights of nature, was analyzed at a seminar on “El derecho y las políticas ambientales más allá del papel” (Beyond the letter of the law and environmental policies), held by the Ecuadorian Center for Environmental Law (CEDA) to commemorate its 15th anniversary.

The court ruled in favor of protection as the only effective way to put an end to, and immediately remedy, localized environmental damage, and ordered comprehensive redress of the harm caused to the river, in which stone and excavation materials had been dumped.

Environmental lawyer Mario Melo, one of the driving forces

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behind the recognition of the rights of nature, said the verdict put into effect the legal standards outlined in the constitution.

Among the standards applied by the court are the enforceability of the rights of nature, the precautionary principle - that is, the duty to protect and make provision against possible harm - and the concern that environmental damages will impact on future generations.

The main thing was the reversal of the burden of proof, said Melo: the plaintiffs did not have to prove harm, but the provincial government of Loja had to provide hard evidence that their work on the road did not, and would not, affect the environment.

In spite of this milestone, the contradictions between the 2008 constitution and national environmental legislation prior to that date continue to provide loopholes for citizens, companies and even the state to evade the regulations, environmental lawyer María Amparo Albán, the head of CEDA, told IPS. For example, the constitution calls for the appointment of an environmental ombudsperson and the creation of an environmental monitoring and oversight office, but this has not yet been done, said lawyer Ricardo Crespo, an expert on environmental issues.

An environmental code, bringing together all the relevant laws, is also still lacking, although the Environment Ministry is working on it, said Yuri Iturralde, a ministry official.

Special environmental judges have not been appointed, either, “although there has been an interesting experience with the creation of an environmental prosecution service in the Galápagos Islands,” Crespo said.

The islands in the Pacific Ocean have a special regime, as they are a national park and marine reserve. Crespo also pointed to a lack of coordination between economic and environmental policies. In his view, more political will is needed in order to enforce the laws and provide human, financial and equipment resources for environmental management.

Continue on page 12

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • MAY - AUGUST 2011

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People’s Tribunal against the criminalization of protest in Ecuador During three days in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, hundreds of representatives from several Latin American countries gathered to share experiences and strategies during the Continental Conference in Defense of Water and Mother Earth. The event took place between June 17 and 23, and was organized as an act of resistance against development projects that threaten this vital resource, Yakumama, our mother water.

By Sofía Jarrín June 29, 2011 (Upside Down World) letter of intention by the organizers reads, “We hope this gathering will become a permanent process of fellowship to protect water and food sovereignty, to create a new social order in harmony with nature, with justice and equity.”

The conference began with a visit to sites where environmental conflicts have taken place, in Cochapata and San Bartolomé, more specifically, in the southern province of Azuay, both areas affected by mining companies. The delegation was composed of the Ombudsman, representatives of national indigenous organizations, the Inter-American Platform of Human Rights, Democracy and Development (PIDHDD), Real World Radio, and a team of FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) International. There they witnessed cases of abuse of power by developers, often in complicity with state agencies, which are laying out mining projects despite clear opposition from the communities where they plan to implement them.

In Cochapata, for example, a community of about 7,800 people, there has been great resistance against the construction of a dam by the mining company Explorsur SA. Seven community leaders were accused of sabotage and terrorism for engaging in public protest, and were recently sentenced to eight years in prison. This occurred despite the fact that the Constituent Assembly had granted them amnesty in July 2008, recognizing their role

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as environmental defenders. Since then, all seven have been in hiding with serious financial and emotional consequences to their families.

Unfortunately, like in many other cases, the courts favor private interests instead of communal decisions on how to manage land and water resources. Currently, there are more than 189 pending cases of terrorism and sabotage in Ecuador.

Back in 2007, at the beginning of his government, President Rafael Correa made a public statement setting the stage for what was to come.

“Don’t believe in romantic environmentalists. Anyone who is opposed to development in this country is a terrorist,” he said about the community of Dayuma, Orellana province, who at the time was protesting the environmental devastation in their territory that resulted from oil drilling in the region. The protest was met with police repression and 25 people were detained.

For this reason, one of the main objectives of this conference was to expose these kinds of cases, thus exemplifying the ongoing criminalization of protest in Ecuador. An integral part of the conference was a Court of Ethics that analyzed “the criminalization of defenders of human rights and nature.” This people’s court took place on June 22nd with the presence of a jury of four international authorities: Elsie Monge (Ecumenical Commission of Human Rights, CEDHU, Ecuador), Raul Zibechi (writer and journalist, Uruguay), Leah Isabel Alvear (poet and academic, Colombia), and Mary Hamlin (International Movement for People’s Health). They listened to more than four hours of testimonies

and 17 cases of people accused of terrorism.

“Democracy can only be guaranteed when citizens are guaranteed their rights to protest and resistance,” testified Ramiro Avila, a lawyer and professor at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.

“These laws are being used to suppress protest and should be immediately repealed.” Avila explained that the law under which the right to protest is criminalized in Ecuador dates back to the early republic, based on the Penal Code of 1920.

The current government of Ecuador, under President Correa, is driving an aggressive development program that is fueling social conflicts all around the country, mostly around mining and oil industries and the control of water sources.

Unlike other countries such as Peru and Bolivia, large-scale mining is new to Ecuador and it’s expected to have severe consequences to its many ecosystems. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, there are 1,990 registered mining concessions in the country, causing serious concerns among civil society, particularly campesinos and indigenous people. “The social leaders are speaking out to defend their human rights, but instead of welcoming them the State is criminalizing their right to protest,” said Fernando Gutierrez, the National Ombudsman.

The most prominent case is that of four top indigenous leaders, all of them charged with terrorism and sabotage: Pepe Acacho, vice president of the National Confederation of Indigenous People (CONAIE), Marlon Santi, ex-president of CONAIE; Delfín Tenesaca, president of the Kichwa Confederation of Ecuador (ECUARUNARI); and Marco Guatemal, president of Indigenous and Campesino Federation of Imbabura (FICI).

They were tried for participating in marches against the Water and Mining Acts during the ALBA Summit in Otavalo in June 2010.

“Is it a crime to defend the water? Is it a crime to defend Mother

Nature’s rights still being…

From page 11

Bedón emphasized the need to make a distinction between environmental damage and personal interest. Many lawsuits are brought by individuals who use the rights of nature as an excuse for “their own enrichment,” he said.

Environmental legislation and policies in Ecuador have expanded to a great extent since international initiatives like the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro or local landmark events like the creation of the Environment Ministry in 1996, said Gabriela Muñoz, the executive director of CEDA. The country’s legal system has also made

steady progress. The peak seemed to have been reached with the 2008 constitution, but secondary legislation still needs to be developed.

The constitution “embodied international trends in environmental policies,” said Muñoz. “It ratified the principles of environmental law and upheld the declaration of public interest in conserving biodiversity, the duty to protect the natural heritage and the recognition of civil and collective rights to a healthy, ecologically balanced environment and to citizen participation in environmental decisions.” But the constitutional reform also had a profound effect on the country’s laws and regulations in general,

including recognition of the rights of nature, a new form of guardianship of environmental rights and an institutional proposal that will reform the present structure. “This advanced constitutional development poses a challenge for Ecuador: to make these constitutional rights operational, and to serve as a model for other countries, contributing to the development of international environmental law,” she said.

The seminar, attended by experts from several countries, is part of the preparations for the next sustainable development summit, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 (Rio+20).

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency, IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55922

Blanca Chancoso, an indigenous leader, blesses the water (Sofía Jarrín Upside Down World)

Earth?” said Carlos Perez, an indigenous leader of Azuay. “Ecuador was a pioneer in recognizing the rights of nature, thus the Constitution should be above a criminal code created in times of a dictatorship.” Ecuador was the first country to recognize the Rights of Nature in its Constitution of 2008.

The jury’s decision did not wait.

The verdict given was resolute, not only in acknowledging that people opposed to the government’s extractive activities are currently living in an atmosphere of fear and criminalization in Ecuador, but that the State is directly responsible for promoting and maintaining this situation.

“These cases confirm that there is a systematic practice to discipline social protest and thus eliminate it,” reads the verdict. “While justice is employed to criminalize the defenders of nature, it remains passive before human rights violations committed against them and against

nature.”

It furthermore recommends that the President refrains from making public statements that “delegitimizes and stigmatizes” defenders of nature and human rights. To the judicial powers it recommends to comply with the amnesty granted by the Constituent Assembly in 2008 to all people prosecuted for crimes against the State under an ambiguous Penal Code that is largely considered obsolete.

Although this Court of Ethics does not have jurisdictional powers, it does hope to fill up the space created by the State’s omissions of abuses committed against peaceful social protesters and its exoneration of private companies “that operate in the country with impunity.” Correa´s government has yet to pronounce itself before the court’s decision.

Source: Upside Down World: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuadorarchives-49/3099-peoples-tribunal-against-the-criminalization-of-protest-inecuador

The march toward…

From page 11

ecosystems of the country. These actions typify this Legislature’s neglect. It is clear that environmental problems are not a priority for any public institution in the country.

Contrary to the sustainability and quality of life of the population, this administration continues to promote social and environmental projects with severe damages to infrastructure, energy, agriculture, investment, trade, tourism, and housing developments, among others. In addition, it continues to strengthen and look for new free trade agreements with the European Union and Canada, and exerting their status in CAFTA. Meanwhile, big business, with increasing dominance of transna-

tional corporations, continues to enjoy incentives, permissiveness, and impunity in its destructive practices, which convert the remaining ecosystems and natural resource into booty that they must continue exploiting to the maximum.

Like previous years, this June 5, 2011, there is nothing to celebrate.

In these two years of the government of change, beyond the propaganda, there are no new public policies to halt environmental destruction or to guide our country towards a path of social and environmental sustainability. In the end, we have arrived at 22 years of neoliberal policies that privatize and commodify life and the common natural goods.

Translation by Maggie Von Vogt, Communications, UNES

Source: Upside Down World: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/3083-the-march-toward-unsustainability-in-el-salvadorgains-speed-