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Latin American Ecumenical News September - December 2011 • No. 3

LAEN

Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence.

Proverb 12,17

Information Service of the Latin American Council of Churches

Ecumenical Accompaniment Program for victims of violence in Colombia October 11, 2011

Since August 2010, the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) has challenged the CLAI member churches and ecumenical organizations in Colombia to structure a program to assist the victims of violence in that country. The initial idea arose from a 2009 meeting in Colombia between leaders of CLAI, the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation and ACT Alliance. he first meetings to structure the accompaniment program occurred in 2010, but it was in February 2011 that the CLAI-Colombia National Roundtable made a visible commitment in Rincón del Mar, in the north of Colombia, a region marked by violence by armed groups, where CLAI churches and ecumenical bodies began to create the first draft of the program.

In Colombia, according to government statistics, there are about three million people who are displaced due to the armed conflict, though human rights organizations say that right now there are close to five million people internally displaced by violence.

The government of Juan Manuel Santos, President of the Republic of Colombia, has shown interest in addressing the humanitarian crisis

In Costa Rica, Auxiliary Bishop of Managua calls on Evangelicals and Catholics to unite in dealing with migration

By Trinidad Vásquez Managua, September 29, 2011 (ALC)

The Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Báez, called on Nicaraguan politicians to no longer interest themselves in the votes of the thousands of immigrants, but rather to be more concerned with providing them with the documents they need to obtain a passport, so as to be able to work peacefully in Costa Rica.

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e also called on Costa Ricans to put an end to xenophobia and discrimination caused by Nicaraguans wanting to become nationals of that country, because “God calls us to be one and the same family.”

Blanca Fonseca, a delegate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, attended the “Two Peoples, One Family” ecumenical gathering on the situation of migrants held at the María Caterina Dimaggio House in Moravia, Costa Rica, September 21, and upon her return to Managua said that she was impressed with the “Migrants and Migration in the Old Testament” lecture given by Monsignor Báez, based on passages from the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It was a simple but profound and concrete preaching. Fonseca added that each of Báez’s statements were based on the biblical verses of the Old Testament that exhort the protecting of the foreigner and not considering him or her to be a stranger, but rather, besides giving them food and clothing, to treat them as if they were

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

experienced by victims of the internal armed conflict. However, he has continued with the economic policy of opening the country to encourage foreign investment and, because of this, the new armed groups, now called criminal gangs (BaCrim) – many of whom are demobilized paramilitaries – fight for control of territory and seize or reject businesses linked to this economic policy.

The meeting in Bogota during

October 6-8 brought together representatives of the WCC (Carlos Ham y Manuel Quintero), ACT Alliance (Carlos Rauda), World Communion of Reformed Churches (German Zijlistra), Lutheran World Federation (Silvio Schneider), PCUSA (Mamie Broadhurst), CREAS (Humberto Shikiya), Kairos Canada (Jim Hodgson), ACT-Colombia Forum, the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Continue on page 5

The case of the Granadillas Mountain in Guatemala heard by the Inter American Court of Human Rights in Washington

By Mayra Rodríguez November 1, 2011 (ALC)

Grouping, and Mynor Pérez of the Mutual Support Group.

to the water of the inhabitants of Zacapa and Chiquimula.

Among the hearings by the Inter American Court of Human Rights (ICHR) during its 143rd period of sessions in Washington, from October 19 to November 4, are those of four Guatemalan cases. One of them is the violations that have occurred in the Granadillas Mountain, presented on behalf of the affected communities by Lutheran pastor José Pilar Álvarez, Gerardo Paiz of the Mother Forest Ecological

The case was presented on October 24 in the Padilha Vidal Hall of the Organization of American States (OAS), requesting the recognition of the struggle in defense of the water, the forests and the biodiversity in the Granadillas as being a legitimate one and, in itself, right, and petitioning the ICHR to order the Guatemalan State to declare the area to be a reserve for the protection of springs, as a human right of access

“That the State of Guatemala look after the security, integrity and protection of the human rights of the communities that defend and protect the Granadillas Mountain, and prohibit the practice of uncontrolled deforestation in all the national territory, so as to preserve the sources of water and prevent the risks of landslides or shortage of water in periods Monsignor Silvio Báez (El Nuevo Diario)

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one of the resident people’s own.

“The Lord tells us that we are one and the same family and for that reason it is necessary to give the foreigner protection in all meanings of the word. In the dramatic violence that the people of Mexico are experiencing, and above all in the border cities, it is the migrants who have to pay organized crime the price to cross the border, or otherwise they will be killed,” Monsignor Báez had pointed out. He called for the respecting of the churches and the Migrant Houses, as sanctuaries where food and drink are offered. Báez added that there are priests that have received death threats and mass graves have been found with 200 bodies, the majority of whom have been identified as Honduran migrants.

Báez, who was the center of attention at the gathering, also called for the unity of the Catholic and Evangelical Churches, as they are one family in the faith and in the service of aid to the neighbor. The “Two Peoples, One Family” ecumenical gathering, was convened by the Association of Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans, which works toward fraternity between the people of the two countries.

Besides work table discussion on the theme from a biblical-theological perspective, attention was given to the forced trade of persons, girls and boys, xenophobia, and an analysis of the pros and cons of the Costa Rican Migration Law. The bishop of Alajuela, Costa Rica, Monsignor Ángel Sancasimiro, shared the experiences of the Migrant Houses and about the care given to the children’s networks. A recommendation made at the end of the gathering was that a new one be held in Nicaragua in October, to continue discussing the issue of migrants and refugees.

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LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2011

2 Clai News

Churches in Costa Rica establish lines of action as therapeutic communities for people with HIV and AIDS

By Sergio Talero San José, November 22, 2011 (ALC) health condition is not a moral matter. This affirmation with regard to HIV and AIDS, marked the beginning of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI)-Costa Rica International Gathering on “The Church as a therapeutic community for people with HIV and AIDS,” held from November 17-18 in the Central Offices of the Costa Rican Episcopal Church. Over 25 participants were present at the gathering, between the hosts and invited persons from Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.

The culture of stigma that persists, exclusion and discrimination, the permanent and systematic violation of the human rights of persons living with HIV and AIDS, challenge the faith communities to deepen their knowledge of the fac-

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tors that will facilitate their becoming therapeutic communities, offering safe and reliable spaces.

Approaches to these realities were developed with the sharing of life experiences that made evident the need for work in awareness-raising among the faith communities. The participants profiled a therapeutic community as a model for intervention, treatment, prevention, reduction of the damage caused, and the social reinsertion of persons living with HIV and AIDS and of those affected by the illness.

Lines for action for the faith communities were also prepared in a respectful way, taking into consideration the specificities characteristic of each ecclesial context, and calling for their being approached and implemented in the context of a reality that touches all believers within the evangelical mandate to love their neighbor as they love themselves.

The gathering concluded with a

statement that says: “We share this message so that through the churches, organisms, faith based organizations (OBFs) and CLAI and its different Secretariats and Pastoral Ministries, an ecumenical work with a Human Rights focus be continued, for persons directly or indirectly affected by HIV; in an Integral way and using tools that lead to healthy lifestyles, changes in attitude and behavior, fostering a better quality of life, free from stigma and discrimination.”

The statement thanks CLAI, the CLAI-Costa Rica National Roundtable, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA-Costa Rica), the Home of Hope of Costa Rica, the Latin American Biblical University (UBL), INERELA+ AL/C, the Costa Rican Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Costa Rican Episcopal Church, and all who facilitated the gathering.

Public letter to the Colombian government from Christians that support the creation of a Palestinian state November 4, 2011

Between October 10-14, men and women of different Christian churches in Colombia that are part of the expanded CLAI-Colombia National Roundtable, “have signed this letter to join in the days of prayer and public petitions by our brothers and sisters of churches in Palestine and Israel, so that there be peace that is the fruit of justice in their region.” o have this clamor for peace become a reality, we also join

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

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

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Central American and Caribbean women theologians and pastors gathering, Panama City, 2011 (CLAI)

Network of women pastors and theologians gathers in Panama Panama City, November 30, 2011

The Women and Gender Justice Pastoral Ministry of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), gathered a group of women theologians and pastors from Central America and the Caribbean in Panama City from November 28-30, for the purpose of strengthening the network and sharing the challenges for the Continental Consultation on Churches and Sexual and Reproductive Rights to take place during 2012. he member churches of CLAI affirm that as Christians we need to act responsibly in society in the light of the Holy Scriptures and according to our conscience. We believe in a God that not only creates life, but also wants it in all fullness. Because of that, added to the matter of the reproduction of life, the quality of life is a matter of equal importance. Quality of life is understood from an integral perspective: of the child, of the mother, of the father, of the family, of the society and of the environment.

In 2008, CLAI signed a Letter of Understanding with the Regional United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). With that agreement, CLAI and UNFPA have been working together with ecumenical churches in 11 coun-

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Faces of Palestine (KAIROS Palestine)

with the social organizations in several regions of the world, and ecumenical organisms such as the World Council of Churches (WCC), that have permanently urged the United Nations to take positive measures on behalf of Palestine, particularly at this time when the United Nations Security Council is considering that Palestine become with full rights a member of this community of nations.

“In this way we share the statement by Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the WCC, who recently said: ‘It is now a unique opportunity for the UN to take important decisions to fulfill its role and mandate according to the UN Charter, to make peace with justice prevail between Israelis and Palestinians, and with their neighbors.’

“In accord with these days of prayer of our brothers and sisters and identified with the international ecumenical community, we request of the Colombian government not to abstain but rather give its positive vote in the United Nations Security Council, so that Palestine be accepted as a full member in the United

Nations.

“To recognize the Palestinian people as a State would be an important step for peace with Israel, since it would facilitate the building of a process of dialogue solidly built on international law, so that both states find themselves obligated to assume and comply with commitments that have been achieved within the framework of negotiations, the international law of human rights, international humanitarian law, and the surveillance of the international community.

“We make this request taking into consideration the current Colombian government’s willingness to listen to the communities and the citizens who from the standpoint of our faith work for peace, and also its willingness to adjust its actions in accordance with the international law of human rights and international humanitarian law, which allow for a legal framework that makes justice possible, and in this way attend to what the majority of the countries in the region have done, which is to recognize Palestine as a State.”

tries on matters such as: Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gender Equity, Reproductive Rights, the reduction and elimination of violence against women, HIV-AIDS in relation to youth, migrants and human rights, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Declaration of the PreWorld and World Forums of Youth, and analysis of the conclusions of the Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) Population and Development (PD) Forums of Buenos Aires and Istanbul in alliances with UNFPA and its Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO), its world network and country offices. The methodology included a phase of national sensitizing, followed by a second phase of training at regional events.

The objective of the Continental Consultation during 2012 is to present, approve, launch and introduce in all the ambits of education and the forming of leadership of our churches, a concrete proposal of action on sexual and reproductive rights from a perspective of respect, that assures that “all pregnancies be wanted, all births be safe, all youth be free of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), especially that of HIVAIDS, and that all girls and women be treated with dignity and respect,” and to advocate for “the right of each woman, man, girl and boy to enjoy a healthy life, with equal opportunities for all.”

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Clai News 3

October 14, 2011 (WCC) fter a meeting with Ricardo Ecuadorian Patiño, Minister of Foreign Affair, Trade and Integration, World Council of Churches (WCC) officials called the Yasuní Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) initiative of the Ecuador government a courageous model of development.

The meeting took place at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 10 October, organized by the WCC on request from the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) to talk about the Yasuní project (http://mdtf.undp.org/yasuni), which implies that Ecuador would definitively forego the extraction of over 840 million barrels of oil from the Yasuní area. This represents 20 percent of Ecuador’s known oil reserves.

Yasuní National Park is an area of 9,820 square kilometers between the Napo and Curaray rivers in Amazonian Ecuador. The park is about 250 kilometers from Quito and was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989. It is home to two indigenous cultures and one of the most bio-diverse areas in the world.

Ecuador launched its Yasuní project last year to protect rich natural assets in the area, seeking some 3.6 billion US dollars in donations by 2024 from developed nations and foundations in exchange for leaving an estimated 846 million barrels of oil in the ground.

“This initiative is based upon a paradigmatic shift towards a sustainable, post-fossil fuel model of development,” explained Patiño. He requested the churches’ support to disseminate information and rally as part of a worldwide civil society campaign to materialize this initiative.

“Due to the council’s work for ecological justice, issues of indigenous people, especially in relation to ecodebts, along with CLAI in the 1990s, we seek mutual collaboration to find support for the Yasuní initiative,” said Patiño.

“Ecuador is seeking support from government, foundations, pri-

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vate sector and the public at large to sustain the initiative,” said Ivonne Baki, government representative and head of the Yasuní initiative negotiating team. The Yasuní initiative, which Baki termed as “historical and revolutionary”, protects the diversity, supports the livelihood and culture of the indigenous communities and reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.

These comments made during the meeting are significant, since the exploitation of these reserves would represent an emission of 407 million tons of CO2, one of the main culprits of climate change, an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of countries like Brazil and France.

Preserving integrity of the inhabited world The initiative was qualified as courageous by Georges Lemopoulos, deputy general secretary of the WCC. “You are moving against the current in a world that is too eager to exploit natural resources with no consideration to the need to preserve creation. You are pioneers and courageous in this endeavor,” said Lemopoulos.

Dr. Rogate Mshana, director of the WCC program on Justice, Diakonia and Responsibility for Creation, also signified the need for the ITT project to be pro indigenous

people. “The Yasuní ITT initiative of the Ecuadorian government – to refrain from extracting 846 million barrels of oil reserves with a view to protecting Ecuador’s rich biodiversity and supporting the voluntary isolation of indigenous peoples living in the Yasuní Park – deserves to be commended,” he said.

The WCC together with partners such as CLAI and Jubilee South has advocated for the conduct of debt audits and the cancellation of illegitimate debts being claimed from the developing world at immeasurable cost to its peoples. Franklin Canelos, coordinator of CLAI’s program on Faith, Economy and Society, stressed the importance of church voices supporting Ecuador, “ITT is an important ecological proposal to avoid the exploitation of oil in the Amazon region in order to reduce environmental contamination and climate change, along with reciprocal contributions from the industrialized countries. Therefore, our support is significant for Ecuadorian government and society.”

The WCC program for indigenous people supports the struggle of indigenous people in Ecuador, who are urging the government to keep the promise to protect biodiversity and the Earth.

Source: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/wcc-supports-ecuadors.html

From left to right, Melanie Macario, Ivonne A-Baki, Georges Lemopoulos, Ricardo Patiño, Rogate Mshana, Daniel Ortega (WCC)

Black Pastoral Ministry presents “Black Pearls” October 28, 2011 (ALC) o black pearls exist in Brazilian society? For the Coordinator of the Black Pastoral Ministry of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) Brazil Region, Vera María Roberto, they abound everywhere. That is what the book “Black Pearls” points out, in a selection of 15 women’s testimonies that tell of their experiences of life, and the perceptions that each one has of being a black, Christian woman.

The 15 women of Black Pearls live, dream and grow both personally and professionally, says Vera María Roberto. Besides the activities they

carry out, they balance the care of the family with their religious

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Pérolas Negras, cover (CLAI)

involvement, “without losing their grace and gentleness.” So as to be able to achieve that, they make use of sustaining strategies which come from their principal characteristics: their strength and their beauty.

The book is an initiative of the CLAI-Brazil Black Pastoral Ministry and was presented on Saturday, November 12, in the Pious X1 Salesian Institute in São Paulo. Vera María Roberto has a Master in Religious Sciences degree, and is a specialist in Public Health and Collective Health. She resides in Camboriú Beach, Santa Catarina, and is a member of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil.

Latin American Council of Churches petitions President Obama to consider the release of the “Cuban Five” Quito, Ecuador August 31, 2011 Ref: Regarding the case of the Cuban Five The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States of America The White House Washington, DC. Dear Mr. President, In fulfillment of our commitment to peace and justice, it is necessary that we intercede in situations that demand justice and a humanitarian treatment.

In September of 1998, officials of the government of Cuba were detained in Florida. They had been sent to the United States by the Cuban government to monitor the activities of the anti-Castro mercenary groups in the south of Florida. The attacks on Cuban territory by the mercenary groups had already caused various cases of arson, sabotage, murders and also the use of biological weapons. Following a repeated lack of action on the part of the government of the United States to take measures to avoid such attacks, the Cuban government decided to send these officials to the United States so as to keep itself informed of the intentions of this antiCastro group.

Those who later came to be known as the Cuban Five were arrested by F.B.I. agents in 1988. After 17 months of isolation, their cases were brought before the courts, with the accusations of conspiracy, use of false names, and of not having informed the United States federal authorities that they were working in United States territory on behalf of Cuba. One of them, Gerardo Hernández, was accused of conspiring to commit murder, in response to the shooting down of two anti-Castro group light planes, which had over the previous 20 months violated Cuban airspace on 25 occasions.

In the downing of the light planes the four occupants lost their lives.

The jury found the Cuban Five guilty, and under intense pressure from the Miami news media sentenced the accused to long sentences of confinement in five maximum security prisons. Gerardo was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms. Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino were each given life imprisonment sentences, Fernando González was given a 19 year prison sentence, and René González was given a 15 year prison sentence.

The United States government asked the 12 judges to review the panel decision. In 2005, a United Nations work group on Arbitrary Detentions determined that depriving the Cuban Five of their liberty was arbitrary and exhorted the government of the United States to take the necessary measures to correct this arbitrariness.

On June 4, 2008, a panel of three judges gave its opinion, ratifying the guilty verdicts, and in addition reiterated the sentences given to Gerardo and René, and annulled those for Antonio, Fernando and Ramón. However, the cases of appeal against the Cuban Five are still before the Eleventh Circuit of the Court of Appeals of Atlanta.

During those years, the family members have had unending difficulties to visit the imprisoned, if only once a year. Since 2006, the waiting periods for the issuing of a visa to family members have worsened. Adriana Pérez, Gerardo’s wife, has made 8 visa applications and has never obtained the permission of the United States government to visit her husband. Olga Salanueva has been unable to visit her husband René since 2000. She has on 9 occasions applied for a visa to visit him and on each occasion her application has been denied. When she was last denied a visa in 2008, she was told that her being denied a visa would be permanent. The couple’s small daughter, Ivette, has not seen her father since she was a baby.

After 13 years having passed, the Latin American Council of Churches, CLAI, requests of the government of the United States that: Family visits be permitted. The denying of visits is a violation of the humanitarian treatment of prisoners guaranteed by the Charter of Human Rights and the obligation of the States to protect family life.

The Eleventh Circuit of Appeals of Atlanta again immediately take-up the case of the Five. In the event that that not be done, that you as President of the United States consider granting the release of the Five for Christmas 2011.

The word of God in Psalm 82 and verse 3 exhorts us to: Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.

Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus, affirming an ecumenism of concrete gestures, Rev. Nilton Giese, General Secretary, Latin American Council of Churches

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2011

World Council of Churches (WCC) supports Ecuador’s Yasuní project

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LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2011

4 Church and Society

Latin American and Brazilian ecumenical youth organizations form strategic alliance

By Marcelo Schneider September 1, 2011 (ALC)

By Susana Barrera San Salvador, August 20, 2011 (ALC)

Representatives of Latin American and Brazilian ecumenical youth organizations gathered together for an Mutirão”, “Ecumenical August 26-28 in São Leopoldo, with the purpose of establishing new forms of collaboration in Brazil. he meeting was to seek the broadening of the presence and programs of the World Student Christian Federation (FUMEC) in Brazil and also the facilitating of relationships of the Ecumenical Youth Network of Brazil (REJU) with other countries of Latin America.

As a historically important organization for the ecumenical formation of young people around the world, FUMEC has recovered its presence in several countries of Latin America since the arrival of its new Regional Secretary, Marcelo Leites of Uruguay. REJU, in turn, has been broadening its incidence in the country, seeing that the regions are strengthened with more youth.

One of the most important undertakings at the meeting was the

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Youth of historical churches in El Salvador participate in peace culture workshops series of workshops on building a culture of peace were begun in El Salvador, involving youth of the historical churches and coordinated by the Reformed Church. Carmen Martínez, of the Reformed Church and facilitator for the workshops, said that the purpose of this training is to provide the young leaders of the churches with the necessary tools with which to become agents of peace.

“I am inspired by working for peace, because we want to improve the daily living of our communities… there is a not single family that has not suffered violence,” said Osman Arévalo of the Reformed Church.

The methodology used was suggested by the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and validated by the government of El Salvador. Among the instruments for peacemaking taught are a logbook of good practices and a listing of situations and persons who are inspirational to youth for becoming agents

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Daniel Souza, second from right, REJU National Facilitator (REJU)

decision to have the REJU Ecumenical University Pastoral Ministry (PASUNE) become the official arm for the presence and programs of FUMEC in Brazil, so as to increase the work carried out by Christian student movements.

REJU and FUMEC also committed to unite efforts, with the support of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and the Lutheran Diaconal Foundation (FLD), in the organization of the participation of ecumenical youth from Brazil and Latin America at Rio +20, keeping in sight the holding of a youth con-

ference during the Conference of the Peoples.

This is not the first time that REJU and FUMEC have dialogued together. The gathering in São Leopoldo picked up on the conversations held during the 4th Ecumenical Gathering in Campinas, São Paulo, in November, 2010. “The intention is to offer a more visible integration of our ‘Afro-Amerindia,’ with the strengthening and extending of networks and common work in the construction of a house truly habitable for all,” said the National Facilitator of REJU, Daniel Souza.

of peace, among others that are to be socialized and applied in their respective circumstances.

Central America is considered by the United Nations to be one of the most violent regions in the world not at war. In El Salvador alone, 12 murders are committed each day according to official statistics. Members of the churches do not escape violence and recently an Anglican priest received death threats.

“These opportunities are useful to us for knowing the reality of other communities and how the churches respond,” shared Vicenta Hernández, an Episcopal youth.

Martínez explained that education for peace is not new, and that a campaign was launched in The Hague in 1999. She pointed out that the principal characteristics of the educators for peace are investigation, action and education for peace. The facilitator added that the workshops will continue through December and it is expected that a good number of youth will be prepared, so that in a systematized way and with an ecumenical focus they will multiply and build a culture of peace.

Meso-American theological education institutions point out precarious advance of the Millennium Development Goals in the region

By Mayra Rodríguez and Carlos Tamez San Salvador, September 28, 2011 (ALC)

Representatives of 14 ecumenical theological education institutions of the Meso-American region, both universities and seminaries, met September 1617 in San Salvador to analyze the progress made toward reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in their region, and came to the conclusion that there is a delay in their achievement, especially with regard to the reduction of poverty, rights and reproductive health, access to potable water, and the rights of migrants.

At this Meso-American forum, we verified the slow process in the building of peace with justice and dignity,” said Carlos Tamez of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and coordinator of the meeting, which gathered outstanding personalities

between rectors and educational representatives of institutions and universities from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, such as the Latin American Biblical University, the Theological Communities of Mexico and Guatemala, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Nicaraguan Evangelical University, and the Salvadoran Lutheran University, among others.

The gathering was convened by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and CLAI, as part of a process of agreement for the preparing and validating of a manual and methodological guide on Rights and Sexual and Reproductive Health, to be used in the different institutions of theological education with an

ecumenical focus in Latin America and the Caribbean, under the direction of Eduardo Campaña, an expert in that area.

An achievement to be highlighted is the decision to form the MesoAmerican Regional Platform of Institutions of Ecumenical Theological Education, with the perspective of coming together in a strategic alliance that strengthens and accompanies actions and processes of theological reflection for advocacy and fostering of public policies within the framework of human rights, and to support the search for concrete and radical solutions in response to the delicate problems that the region is experiencing.

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Gathering of theological education institutions in El Salvador

CLAI youth workshop on building a culture of peace in El Salvador (ALC)

Student killed by police bullet in Chile was a Methodist who wanted to become a pastor

By Héctor Carrillo Santiago, August 31, 2011 (ALC) 16 year old Manuel Gutiérrez, a member of the Methodist Pentecostal Church of Villa Jaime Eyzaguirre, Macul, in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, died from a gunshot wound by a policeman the night of August 25, during the student demonstrations calling for quality and non-profit education.

Manuel Gutiérrez was being accompanied by his brother Gersón, who is confined to a wheelchair, and who saw how from a police patrol car three shots were fired, one of which hit his brother in the chest.

Manuel, calling for help, was taken to a hospital emergency room where, despite the efforts by the doctors, he died. Manuel’s relatives, also members of the Methodist Pentecostal Church, said that he was a good boy in his third year of high school, and that he wanted to study to be become a pastor.

The Human Rights Commission of the House of Representatives, through their president, Rep. Sergio Ojeda, manifested that “it is inexplicable that the police have not opened an investigation into the youth’s death. It is strange that they Continue on page 5

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Church and Society 5

By Carlos Cesar Tamez Lima, October 24, 2011 rominent leaders of different faith communities, including bishops, pastors, lay leadership together with CLAI program facilitators, gathered together in Lima, Peru on October 20, 2011, to dialogue over and validate the contents, focus and methodology of the Manual on Incidence and Advocacy in the areas of Reduction of Poverty, Migration with a Human Rights Focus, and Rights

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and Sexual and Reproductive Health.

This is a joint initiative of the CLAI/UNFPA agreement for the preparing of several manuals to be done within the framework of the Program for Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and in line with the agreements arising out of the World Forum of Faith Based Organizations for Population and Development, held in Istanbul, Turkey, and on the route of the celebration of

Cairo+20.

The Manual and methodological guide on the matters discussed will also be base material for the actions program for the years 2012 and 2013 of the CLAI/UNFPA agreement. Consultant Ibis Liulla was responsible for the developing of the dialogue and validating tools used at the gathering in Lima and facilitating was done by the Rev. Carlos Tamez, Regional Focal Point of the CLAI/UNFPA agreement, and the Rev. Nilton Giese, General Secretary of CLAI, who convened the activity.

The case of the Granadillas Mountain… of dry weather,” requested José Pilar Álvarez, Lutheran Church pastor in Zacapa who has for years accompanied the rural and indigenous struggle to preserve that natural resource.

Speaking to the ICHR, Álvarez said that the State has not acted to stop the threats, false accusations and even illegal detentions carried out against the defenders of the Granadillas and, furthermore, has interrupted access to the water resources through not stopping the deforestation on that mountain.

“In the present case, Article 64 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, which regulates the natural patrimony and declares the conservation, protection and improve-

ment of the natural patrimony of the Nation to be of national interest, has not been complied with. We see that the State has taken a passive and

negative attitude, allowing the illegal cutting down of the forest and, therefore, allowing the lack of access to this vital liquid,” said Álvarez.

OAS ICHR hearing in Washington on Las Granadillas Mountain, Guatemala (Juan Manuel Herrera OAS)

Student killed by police bullet in Chile…

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have not begun an investigation that would do the institution well, as only that way will it cease to be the object of criticism.”

On the other hand, General Sergio Gajardo, Chief of the Metropolitan Zone Police, said that he had spoken with the major in charge of the patrol car and that participation by those in the patrol car is discarded. However, the witnesses at the site of the shooting say just the

By Claudia Tron and Ana de Medio Buenos Aires, October 3, 2011 (ALC) onvened by the CLAI Women and Gender Justice Pastoral Ministry’s Gender Forum, a gathering for reflection on the question of voluntary interruption of pregnancy was held on September 24th at the ISEDET University Institute in Buenos Aires.

Some fifty persons from different church denominations and representatives of the Gender Forum of Buenos Aires, Resistencia, Córdoba and Bahía Blanca, shared in an in-depth analysis prompted by presentations given by: Mabel Gabarra, a lawyer for the Observatory on Violence Toward Women, who approached the issue from the current legal framework, pointing out its limitations; psychologist Silvia Vera, who shared

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her experience of accompaniment with women in prison; and Pastor Lisandro Orlov, who shared an approach to the question from a perspective of the theological principles of the Reformation, and the consideration of voluntary interruption of pregnancy as a right of citizenship that summons us to being reunited with our freedom.

From a political perspective, Rep. Cecilia Merchán shared the consequences of the proposed bill of decriminalization and legalization of voluntary interruption of pregnancy in Argentina. The speakers provided a context in which all the participants could continue thinking, analyzing and asking questions, which allowed for an interchange of views, reflections and experiences that will foster the continuing of the analysis in the various groups and communities represented at the gathering.

Ecumenical Accompaniment …

UNFPA CLAI gathering, Peru, October 20, 2011 (CLAI)

From page 1

Latin American Council of Churches gender forum on voluntary interruption of pregnancy held in Buenos Aires

opposite.

The Confederation of Students of Chile (Confech) held Monday, August 29, as a day of national mourning for the student killed, ending with a night vigil. The family of the young student held a wake in the temple of the church, and his funeral took place on Sunday, August 28, with the presence of a crowd showing its support and solidarity with the family.

Manuel Gutiérrez

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Commission of Colombia, the General Secretary and Regional Secretary of CLAI (Nilton Giese y Geovanny Santana), one of the coordinators of the CLAI Faith-Economy and Society Program (Christopher Morck), as well as representatives of the CEDECOL churches and the Association of Evangelical Churches of the Colombian Caribbean.

At that meeting it was affirmed that the core of the accompaniment program is its clear and unambiguous option for nonviolence.

Nonviolent love is the strongest force in the universe. Through the practice of accompaniment and advocacy, this program seeks to support local and international efforts to achieve a negotiated solution to the conflict in Colombia, based on international law. It seeks to be a permanent witness of the supportive and solidary presence of churches and the national and international ecumenical community among communities and organizations who work for and support the return of the land of displaced communities, the defense of human rights, the search for justice and the construction of life and peace through dialogue in Colombia. Alongside these communities, the program wants to encourage the presence of International Ecumenical Companions for periods of up to 3 months.

The CLAI-Colombia National Roundtable will be the official representation in terms of administration, budget (according to established

agreements) and personnel. The programmatic structure, priorities and the scope of the project, will be decided by the Colombian National Reference Group, made up of the members of the CLAI-Colombia National Roundtable, the CLAI General Secretary (or the director of the Faith-Economy and Society Program), a representative of the ACT-Colombia Forum, a representative of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, a representative from each of the communities being accompanied, and the national and international coordinators of the accompaniment program. To this committee may be added other organizations involved in the accompaniment. The convening and moderation correspond to the President of the CLAI-Colombia National Roundtable in coordination with the CLAI General Secretary through the Faith-Economy and Society Program.

The program is coordinated in Colombia by the Rev. Chris Ferguson, who was assigned by the United Church of Canada. Rev. Ferguson has extensive experience in ecumenical organizations such as the World Council of Churches and was one of the founders of the International Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel.

The Latin American Council of Churches considers this program to be a way of affirming an ecumenism of concrete gestures, the theme of the next CLAI General Assembly to be held February 19-24 in Havana, Cuba.

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United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) gather religious leaders together in Lima, Peru

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LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2011

6 Church and Society

World Day of Prayer and Action for Children celebration in Guatemala City

By Mayra Rodríguez November 24, 2011 (ALC)

With an art and culture afternoon for children held on Sunday, November 20 in the Constitution Square, facing the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guatemala City, the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) celebrated the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children, with the theme, “Building a Culture of Peace in the Family.” t a press conference, details of the event were given by representatives of GNRC in Guatemala. Misael Méndez of the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala shared that the celebration ended with an interreligious prayer, in which the Baha’i Community, the Tibet House, the Church of Saint John the Apostle, and the Youth Christian Association took part. It was requested that the State respect the rights of children and youth and that the necessary resources be designated for the wellbeing of these sectors of the population.

“We invite the churches and religions present in the country to be vigilant of the new government, so that it foster policies and programs that respond to the realities of the majority of Guatemalans, especially the youth,” said Méndez, who added

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By José Aurelio Paz Havana, November 22, 2011 (ALC)

World Day of Prayer and Action for Children 2011 celebration, Guatemala City

that “it is necessary to create spaces in our churches that have an effect at the social level of raising awareness with regard to the importance of the family and the prevention of violence, because it is in the family nucleus where, regrettably, violence rages against children.”

Héctor Castañeda, Youth Coordinator at the Church of St. John the Apostle, said that “it is time to be united to fight for the children, who need justice, solidarity, wellbeing, identity and freedom, and the most important thing is that we can all be part of this action and change the history of our nation.”

Karen Muhum, of the Youth Christian Association, added that the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children was declared by the United Nations in 1954, and that, in addition to the artistic and religious

activities that took place in the Constitution Square, there were also walks and workshops on ethical education for children and adolescents in Jutiapa and Sololá, between November 20 and December 6.

The celebration of the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children in Guatemala took place in a context where violence has cut short the lives of more than 1,771 children, according to what the Office of the Attorney for Human Rights has documented between January 2008 and August 2011. This entity asserts that intrafamily and sexual violence affects girls more and, according to its statistics, of 651 cases, 443 are of girls.

Sexual crimes are committed principally against girls between the ages of 9 and 17 years, says this entity responsible for watching over the respect for human rights.

Disarmament campaign congregates religions in Brazil October 25, 2011 (ALC)

The Instituto Sou da Paz is mobilizing the participation of churches and faith communities of São Paulo to motivate the Campaign for Voluntary Handing-In of Firearms and Ammunitions (CEVAM), during the World Week for Disarmament. he mobilization has the support of Zen Buddhists, Hare Krishna, Kumaris Brahmas, Spiritualists, the followers of Afro Religiosity, Jews, Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodists, Lutherans, and Roman Catholic.

“The engagement of the religions is important because they have the support and trust of the population, which feels more at ease handing in weapons in a church, for example, rather than in a police station,” said one of the coordinators of Sou da Paz, Alice Ribeiro.

The Director of Sou da Paz, Melina Risso, informed that with every 18 firearms collected a life is

Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC) Communities for Life ecumenical project advances toward new strategies

saved. This year the National Campaign for Disarmament collected 27,000 firearms. The person who hands in a firearm is not required to identify him or herself and in addition is given a compensation of between 100 and 300 Reales (approximately US$60.00).

During the campaign, São Paulo will have 137 reception

points for the handing in of weapons. In the last decade, this state capital city has shown a decline of 70% in the number of suicides, said Ribeiro. The index of suicides in São Paulo is ten of every 100,000 inhabitants, a number considered to be below the epidemic level by the World Health Organization.

Representatives of various projects showing the work of the Church in its assistance with helping to solve the local problems of the communities shared the results achieved in a recent gathering in the central city of Camagüey, fostered by the Area of Diaconal Ministry of the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC). n this Second Interchange of Experiences of their Integral Initiatives for Community Development (IIDC), the participants shared their experiences in the carrying out of the different projects, beginning with the results achieved and the difficulties encountered in reaching their initially proposed objectives.

It was pointed out that in 2010, and after an arduous work of sensitization in each of the geographical areas of the country, 6 IIDCs were begun, in which the necessities of the communities were visualized, beginning with the work that the different denominations and participant churches in this common effort are carrying out, so as to be able to formulate and implement proposals in favor of a sustainable community development.

It was possible to see how work being carried out in areas so dissimilar yet urgent, as in sustainable agriculture, com-

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munity health, gender, treatment of addictions, sexually transmitted illnesses, intrafamily violence, work with handicapped persons, ecological raising of animals and the work in patios and family plots, among others, is moving forward despite the difficulties to be expected, both material and of awareness-raising during implementation. It became apparent that further work is now needed on these and other aspects, and six other initiatives have come about this year which were also presented at the Second Interchange of Experiences, covering other territories of the country.

In reflections on community service from a biblical perspective, the Reverend Ernesto Bazán, a Baptist pastor and Vice-President of CIC, and the Reverend Esther Quintero, a retired pastor of the Orthodox Church of God, shared on the diaconal function of the Cuban Church today, with its particularities, successes and conflicts, but always striving to live out the sense of hope in Jesus’ teachings.

The event facilitated by the Communities for Life program of the Council of Churches of Cuba was once again an opportunity to evaluate the progress of the different projects, clarify doubts and project strategies that will make it possible to reach out to other areas of the country that also need the support of the churches with their community needs.

Note: This news story was prepared with the help of Aymara Cepeda

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Instituto Sou da Paz, Logo

Council of Churches of Cuba Communities for Life ecumenical project gathering in Camagüey (Aymara Cepeda)

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Church and Society 7

November 11, 2011 (WCC) r Marlon Weichert, a Brazilian prominent human rights advocate, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) offices in Geneva on 8 November. In an interview, he appreciated the role of churches in assisting Brazil as it comes to terms with its painful past and envisions a better future.

Weichert is a regional prosecutor with the Federal Public Ministry of Brazil. His visit to the WCC is timely as the truth commission bill to investigate atrocities committed under the military rule from 1964 to 1985, already passed by the senate, is awaiting approval from President Dilma Rousseff to be turned into a law. The WCC supports implementation of this commission, a stance communicated by Rev. Dr. Walter Altmann, moderator of the WCC Central Committee, to the Brazilian minister of human rights, Maria do Rosário, in a recent meeting in Brasília.

In his interview with the WCC staff writer Naveen Qayyum, Weichert talked about Brazil’s struggles for democracy, the churches’ role in supporting victims of violence during the military regime and today’s need to initiate a process of reconciliation in Brazil.

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What human rights violations occurred under the 19641985 military rule in Brazil?

Dr Marlon Weichert, visiting the WCC offices in Geneva (Mark Beach WCC)

And why is a truth commission necessary?

The human rights violations range from killings and disappearances to torture, which became worse after 1968, when a more conservative military element became influential. This resulted in curbing dissent by force, when this dissent was taking the shape of a movement, especially by the students. We do not have the exact numbers but around 500 people were killed and more than 50,000 people were charged as political prisoners. Still today we do not know the correct number of the victims, because there has been no truth commission implemented so far.

As Brazilian society, we have a right to know. We should be able to start a process in which we can hold

democratic institutions accountable to the people. To complete the democratic process in Brazil, it is necessary that we challenge totalitarian spaces within our society that exist even today.

Countries like Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay a nd Chile have gone through this process. Therefore this is an opportunity we should take advantage of.

How do you see the role of churches in Brazil’s struggles for democracy?

Churches have always played a special role in the struggles for democracy in Brazil. In the dictatorship years, church leaders were protecting the victims of violence through their own networks.

Churches from different traditions including Catholics and Protestants

Politics of Chavez has visible “signs of the Kingdom,” say Venezuelan Pentecostals

were a voice of dissent during the dictatorship years.

We know that after 1979 church leaders and lawyers gathered evidence of atrocities committed by the military regime. This information was documented and sent from Brasilia to São Paulo and outside.

The WCC and Center for Research Libraries in Chicago were key partners in this initiative and the content was kept in the WCC archives in Geneva. This documentation includes significant legal evidence for victims providing information about their perpetrators later in the courts.

This is when Presbyterian pastor Jaime Wright, Rev. Charles R. Harper, coordinator of the WCC program on human rights in Latin America, and Rev. Dr. Philip Potter, former WCC general secretary, and other church leaders got involved with this project in the 1970s and 80s.

At that time an account of 707 legal cases from the military era was published in Portuguese under the title “Brasil: Nunca Mais” meaning “Brazil: Never Again”. I remember reading this as a teenager, which was a motivation for me to choose the field of human rights. This book came in 1985, only a few months after the end of military rule, and was one of the best sellers in Brazil.

This is a great accomplishment of the churches in Brazil, and shows their commitment to the cause of human rights, which fits well with the faith values they preach.

he incorporation of the Bolivarian ideal to the expression of Pentecostal faith is part of the foundation roots of the Venezuelan Evangelical Pentecostal Union, which originated in 1957, according to a pastoral letter signed by Bishops Gamaliel Lugo and Esearino Zonza, following the III Bolivarian Pentecostal Congress, held at the end of August in the Municipality of Palavecino.

The Pentecostal Union recognizes “the formidable progress in

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Nobody is to be discriminated against because of their sexuality

By Luis Alberto Rubiano October 5, 2011 (ALC) n the Face the Country program of the on-line broadcasting station “Punto 4 Radio” of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO), Lutheran Bishop Eduardo Martínez and Episcopal Anglican Bishop Francisco Duque applauded the content of the law against discrimination that is to be signed and put into effect by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Both Martínez and Duque stressed that a priority, once the law has been signed, will be the process of making the content of the law be known. They said that it is necessary to be extremely careful with fundamentalist readings of the Bible.

“Nobody can be discriminated against, for any reason, much less because of issues of gender and sexuality,” affirmed the bishops.

Although they do not foresee difficulties with the application of the law within their respective churches, the two bishops admitted that the

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UEPV Bolivarian Congress (Prensa Palavecino)

the areas of education, health, the broadening of democratic spaces and popular participation, the recovering of our natural and financial resources and, in general, a fairer distribution of the social wealth of the nation,” achieved by the government of Hugo Chavez.

This progress coincides “with our Bolivarian Pentecostal struggle for the common good and the build-

ing of a human community of solidarity, in light of the Kingdom of God, which, as Jesus said, ‘is already among you’.”

They recognize, however, that there still persist “painful realities that challenge us to continue in the struggle for a truly socialist Venezuela.”

Source: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/prosecutor-encourages-chu.html

Colombian Lutheran and Episcopal bishops

Caracas, September 21, 2011 (ALC)

The Venezuelan Evangelical Pentecostal Union (UEPV) understands the establishment of Bolivarian socialism to be a valid proposal “since it contains visible signs of the Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus Christ, our redeemer.”

What are your views on the return of these “atrocity documents” by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit to the Brazilian government earlier this year?

The ceremony, in which the WCC handed over these documents to the Brazilian attorney general in São Paulo in June, was an emotional moment for all of us. The churches have come through a long journey since the dictatorship years, and now are helping the society to face up to its past and working together for better democratic institutions in the future.

This contribution manifests itself in the restored court records, which are now available for public consultation on an internet site called “Brasil: Nunca Mais Digital” [Brazil: Never Again Digital]. The name pays tribute to the earlier book detailing state crimes committed in the era of military rule.

Churches have a strong role to play now that the truth commission has been passed by the Senate and is now on the desk of the president to be signed. The process will only make sense if civil society including churches follows the process, especially by helping communities to understand the truth, and to learn crucial lessons from history.

members are not used to the radical nature of the Gospel, of hearing the love of God spoken about without limitations for all persons and creatures.

They proposed a campaign to have the text of the law made known in the churches, so that any outbreak of discrimination may be definitely swept away with. Duque shared what a relief it will be for members of the churches to be able to talk about their homosexuality without any problems.

“It is Jesus’ teaching. He did not refuse anybody, showing solidarity with the excluded, with the persecuted, with the oppressed, with the sad, who he encouraged for change,” said Duque With Jesus, Christians should welcome those who are vulnerable, so that they know the love of God incarnate, added Martínez. The two bishops agreed that the law opens up a great possibility for the churches, to begin to speak, systematically, the language of love, instead of that of recrimination and censorship.

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2011

A truth commission in Brazil will start to make sense when churches continue using faith values in protecting human rights: Dr Marlon Weichert, Regional Prosecutor, Federal Public Ministry of Brazil

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8 Church and Society

At 83, Honduran priest returns to help his country face its past An 83-year-old Honduran priest has returned from exile to help the Central American nation face its past. A member of an alternative truth commission established by human rights groups, Father Fausto Milla fled Honduras July 8 after a series of threats and other acts of intimidation against him and his assistant.

By Paul Jeffrey October 19, 2011 (Catholic News Service)

or the more than two months he lived in neighboring Nicaragua, Father Milla said, he missed his homeland.

The priest suffers from chronic back problems and started using a cane while in Nicaragua. He returned home Sept. 18 and said that, within four days, he quit using the cane and began walking normally.

He had wanted to keep his return quiet, hoping to continue his work without attracting attention, but it’s hard to keep his presence a secret.

“Even the dogs on the street recognize me and greet me,” said Father Milla, who lives in Santa Rosa de Copán, a regional capital in the northwest. He helps celebrate Mass at a local parish and runs a store that sells natural herbs for healing.

Father Milla is no stranger to controversy. In 1980, scores of Salvadoran refugees were massacred at the Sumpul River along the Salvadoran-Honduran border in a combined operation of the two countries’ militaries. Father Milla’s parish was nearby, and he widely condemned the massacre and participated in an international tribunal to investigate the crime. In response, he was threatened repeatedly and finally kidnapped in 1981.

Following an international outcry, he was released after five days. Later that year, he was forced into exile for four years, allowed to return to his parish only after lengthy negotiations between the Honduran military and his bishop.

Now, Father Milla wants to know the truth about what happened before and after the 2009 military coup that overthrew Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

In May 2010, international pressure led the Honduran government to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that includes Honduran and foreign members.

Yet many Hondurans doubted that such an official commission would produce anything critical of the coup plotters and, with violence increasing across the country, human rights groups created an alternative commission that June.

They called it the “True Commission.”

Father Milla is one of two Hondurans on the alternative commission, which is chaired

by Maryknoll Sister Elsie Monge, an Ecuadorian who serves as president of that country’s Ecumenical Commission on Human Rights.

“The official commission was

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created by the delinquents who carried out the coup. If I kill you but also function as judge in my trial, my verdict isn’t going to be legitimate,” Father Milla told Catholic News Service.

“The official commission’s creation was part of the clown act in the circus, something to distract the attention of the people from the growing violence around them. It’s entertainment, like football,” he said.

The alternative commission’s creation put pressure on the official commission to produce a more balanced report, Father Milla said, admitting he was pleasantly surprised at the Truth Commission’s final report, released recently.

“We were surprised, first of all, because they recognized that what happened was indeed a coup d’état.

The coup plotters had worked hard to convince the world that it was a legitimate change of presidents. And now even (current Honduran President Porfirio) Lobo has recognized that it was a coup,” Father Milla said.

“They pointed out that the (post-coup) government of Roberto Micheletti was illegal, which is a serious charge. And they pointed out a variety of crimes that need to be processed, but that won’t happen because there’s complete impunity here,” he said.

Since the 2009 coup, the security situation in Honduras has deteriorated dramatically. Demonstrators protesting what they consider to be an illegitimate government have been beaten and killed. Journalists asking hard questions about government corruption or involvement in drug trafficking have been frequently threatened; according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 12 Honduran journalists have been murdered since March 2010. And landless peasants seeking rich farmland they claim is rightfully theirs under the country’s agrarian reform laws have

been assassinated and had several of their settlements burned in the fertile Aguán Valley.

Thelma Mejía, an independent journalist and political analyst in Tegucigalpa, said the official commission’s report is a good contribution to resolving the country’s many problems — if anyone would pay attention.

“The report is well-written and very professional. It says a lot about where the country should be headed. But there was no reaction to it.

Its recommendations, such as the creation of a constitutional court, are being ignored,” Mejía said.

The alternative commission’s mandate is broader in scope, but several obstacles have slowed its work. The commission’s requests for U.S. records under the Freedom of Information Act, for example, have been stymied by U.S. officials.

“The Department of Defense can’t seem to find any records for the week before or the week after the coup,” said Tom Loudon, executive secretary of the True Commission.

Loudon, a former representative for the American Friends Service Committee in Central America, said the increasing violence in the Aguán Valley stems directly from the policies of the post-coup government.

“Zelaya was beginning a process to address some of the land conflicts and move toward significant land reform in that area, and so people felt hopeful that the poor who had lived there for years would finally be able to get titles. But that came to an abrupt stop when the coup happened. And then the evictions started. The evictions are the gasoline fueling the violence there,” Loudon said.

Father Milla said that, instead of ordering the police to stop the evictions, Lobo has ordered officers to put on a friendlier face.

“The people aren’t stupid,” he said. “They’ll believe in the police when there’s a different police.

They’ll believe in the police when they put the criminals in the police in jail. The people think (the president’s) order is a joke. (The president) and his people live up there in another world and don’t have a clue what the people think.”

Source: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1104021.htm

Churches for peace assume public commitment for justice and dignity in Mexico Mexico City, September 10, 2011 (ALC) n September 2, around 100 religious leaders representing more than 40 Christian denominations and faith based institutions met in the El Altillo Church in Mexico City, with members of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, for an open and ecumenical dialogue on the main challenges that the context of violence and insecurity present to the churches and people of faith, with the urgency of furthering avenues of non-violent civil resistance, in a national scenario marked by pain and national disaster.

In frank solidarity with the victims, the participating churches and institutions assumed a public commitment to overcome fear and the insecurity that prevail today in the country, first of all recognizing that they have not responded sufficiently forcibly to this situation, as persons and communities of faith that are bearers of a message and an ethical proposal that can help a great deal to heal the social fabric torn apart by violence, injustice and impunity.

With the participation of Araceli Magdalena Rodríguez (victim),

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Emilio Álvarez Icaza, Pietro Ameglio and other members of the Movement for Peace, the Churches for peace roundtable dialogue made a firm call for justice to the government authorities and asked the hierarchies of their churches not to remain silent in the face of the violence and insecurity to which Mexico is being subjected.

As a result, and as an expression of solidarity and Christian witness, those present committed themselves to undertake a series of combined actions of peaceful civil resistance from a faith standpoint and to sign a public position statement that reflects this commitment to Mexican society.

Chilean Methodists advocate for changes in country’s education system

Demands for reform of education system in Chile (Pablo Ruiz FASIC)

Santiago, October 21, 2011 he Methodist Church of Chile (IMC) supports the student movement demanding changes in the Chilean education system with the introduction of free public education. In a statement signed by Bishop Mario Martínez Taipa, the IMC says: “We believe that the country has the necessary human and financial resources to move forward with these structural changes.”

The Chilean Methodists have called for “an economy with a more human and social face,” in pointing out the “structural sin” in the accumulation of wealth by a few while most of the population faces debt.

The statement was issued at the meeting of the General Board of the

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Father Fausto Milla before going into exile (Honduras Human Rights)

Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, México, Logo

Methodist Church of Chile, gathered in Angol from October 15-16.

The statement highlights the 133 years of Methodist presence in Chile and its commitment to education and social work, and recalls its pioneering work in pre-school education and the founding of rural schools. Today the Methodist educational network in the country has 13 thousand enrolled students.

“That commitment is not only part of the past, but also an indication of what we project for the future, assuring an improvement in all of the necessary aspects that will lead to a better quality of our service in all of the educational institutions,” says the statement.

Note: Taken from a news story by the Foundation for Social Aid of the Christian Churches, FASIC

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indigenous issues 9

Guarani Chief Pedro Alves lives with his people in Tekoa Vy’a Renda Poty, a tiny village owned by the city of Santa Helena in the southern Brazil state of Paraná, where the city provides for their basic needs. During the last 35 years or so, the Guarani, once a selfsustaining nomadic people in what was then their sub-tropical, deeply forested, biodiverse aboriginal lands, have been driven into dependency with the rise of industrial agriculture in Brazil and the accompanying construction of Itaipu, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam.

By Lynette Wilson Friday, September 16, 2011 (Episcopal News Service) At the time when the dam was built, our forests, our natural land, everything was destroyed, so we had nothing at all,” said Alves, in Portuguese, through an interpreter. “Before construction of the dam, the Guarani lived in an area of protection near what is now the lake, or the reservoir.

Itaipu took us away from there and gave us an area of 231 hectare [570 acres], and at that time there were only 19 families. And then more families joined, and there wasn’t enough room to grow crops.”

From occupying more than 500 acres, the tribe today – 25 families numbering 85 people – lives on less than 10 acres in the village, 75 miles from Itaipu. They live in houses made of large sticks, the roofs reinforced with discarded plastic materials. Water drips from a communal spout.

Beginning in the 1970s, the Guarani living near the planned hydroelectric plant were forced to relocate to reservations, sparking problems since studied and documented by academics: a rise in population, conflict over the reservation boundaries, religious conflicts and rejection by other indigenous people who in prior years had settled on reservations.

The Rev. Luiz Carlos Gabas, an Anglican priest in the Diocese of Curitiba, visited Alves’ village three years ago. After that, with the assistance of diocesan Bishop Naudal Gomes, Pastoral Anglicana da Terra, or Earthly Anglican Care, emerged as a way for individuals, parishes and the diocese to work on issues of climate justice and the rights of indigenous people, peasants and the landless.

Earthly Anglican Care also is supported by a companion relationship between the Diocese of Curitiba and the Episcopal Diocese of California and facilitated by Michael Tedrick, an Episcopal Church-appointed missionary from the California diocese. “We see the relationship between their struggle and the struggle of the indigenous in North America, the struggle of the small farmers and their families and that of documented and undocumented immigrants in the United States,” Tedrick said. “It is in our struggles that we gain a deeper understanding of our likeness.”

Earthly Anglican Care’s purpose is not to evangelize, said Gabas in Portuguese through an interpreter, but to understand indigenous peoples’ problems and advocate for their rights. Indigenous peoples, specifi-

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cally the Guarani, have rich spiritual lives and beliefs that have inspired others, including leaders in the liberation theology movement.

“The Guarani people have a utopian dream, and that is to walk eastward in search of the ‘promised land,’” said Gomes. “The Indians themselves call it the ‘harmless land.’”

Gabas explained further: “When the Portuguese and Spanish arrived, the Indians started to lose their territories. Before the foreign occupation and the violence, they visualized a harmless land where no harm could exist.” In fact, this vision of a utopian “promised land” inspired liberation theology, and liberation theologian Pedro Casaldaliga, who worked with indigenous people, created the Missa da Terra sem Males, or Mass of the Land Without Evil, based on this dream, Gabas added.

“What I have learned from secular people working with both the landless and the Guarani is that while there is great gratitude for the solidarity the [Roman] Catholic Church has shown to both those groups and the poor in the past, the new advocates standing courageously with the landless and the Guarani are the Episcopal Church and other partners,” said Diocese of California Bishop Marc Andrus, who visited the Guarani in April 2011. “I saw it very, very concretely in Cascavel, where the local parish led by Gabas is working in a parallel way with both groups and very powerfully bringing the two disempowered groups together, the Guarani and the landless, to begin to make common cause together … That is a new thing that really is being mediated by the local parish in Cascavel so that’s fantastic.”

The dam When Itaipu was built, it flooded 800,000 hectares of indigenous land, and Itaipu only compensated them for that loss after lots of pressure.

Ultimately, they were given 6,000 hectares spread over three areas, for what they had lost, said Porto Borges. “Itaipu could only be built during a dictatorship,” he said.

Driven mostly by high demand for electricity in Brazil, the governments of Brazil and neighboring Paraguay began negotiating the hydroelectric dam’s construction in the 1960s, signing the Itaipu Treaty, an agreement necessary to harness the Paraná River’s power, in April 1973. In May 1974, Itaipu Binacional was created to build and later manage the power plant, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam in terms of power generation, supplying 20 percent of Brazil’s and 90 percent of Paraguay’s electrical demand.

Phase 1 of the dam’s construction began in 1975 with the Paraná River channel excavation, eventually diverting the river from its natural bed, under the government of Ernesto Beckmann Geisel, a military-elected president. The hydroelectric dam at Itaipu, with a height of 196 meters, was modeled after the 80-meter-high Iguaçu Falls, a world heritage site; one a natural wonder, the other an engineering marvel.

In 2003, Itaipu Binacional changed its institutional mission to incorporate environmental responsibility and sustainable development into its strategic corporate goals, as noted in its booklet “Cultivating Good Water.” The change has required Itaipu Binacional to open a dialogue and form partnerships with the “numerous players,” including the Guarani, in the 29 cities included in the Paraná basin, or set of waterways connected to the dam’s 109-mile watershed.

Indigenous people Brazil’s indigenous population numbers half a million people, divided into 400 tribes, speaking 170 different languages, said Porto Borges. “They are all very distinct,” he said, adding that three individual tribes live in Paraná.

The Guarani were hunters and farmers, but very little land remains for them in Paraná after the building of the dam and the rise of

Spiritual life In Alves’ village, as in most Guarani villages, the prayer house is at the center of life. “They are a very spiritual people,” said Paulo Humberto Porto Borges, a professor at the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná. “They are understood as some of the most spiritual people of the Americas. And the Guarani’s cultural resistance is also due to their spirituality.”

Porto Borges, who introduced Gabas to the Guarani, began working with indigenous people in 1990 alongside Jesuit missionaries. For many years, he worked on landdivision issues with Indians in the Amazon, and for the last 11 he has worked with the Guarani.

With a population of more than 200 million people, Brazil is the 10th largest economy in the world, yet more than 26 percent of the population lives in poverty, many in extreme poverty. A wealthy few and multinational corporations own most of the land, which has led to ownership conflicts, violence and death.

Both Brazil’s landless and

agribusiness, which has increased the demand and competition for land. “In old times, they used to have wide, wide extensions of land, and now they are supposed to adapt to small land,” Porto Borges said.

“Their holy men say the world is out of balance and that the white man commits a huge sin when the white man states that the lands have an owner. Because the only owner of the lands is God; God is called ‘nhanderu,’ ‘father of all.’ And Jesus Christ ‘nandejara,’ that means ‘our owner.’

There is a big difference between God and Jesus Christ.”

One of the great challenges for the indigenous people is self-sustainability; they are aware that their dependency on government to supply their basic needs harms their political struggle.

“There are some indigenous communities – like in Amazon – where you can find reserved areas that are very extensive, large tracts of land where they can still be autonomous,” Porto Borges said.

“But for the rest of Brazil, south and southwest, and northeast, these areas are too small for the needs of the Guarani or other indigenous [people]. Only in the Amazon do some of them have enough land to exist. In our region, for example, the indigenous people are supposed to adapt themselves to another logic of living [involving economics and different ways of organizing], and that is their great challenge.”

Without sufficient land, indigenous people become dependent on help from others. Moreover, the indigenous leadership is beginning to understand their continued native existence depends on the political projects of the state. “A Brazilian project that praises and gives advantages to agribusiness will always be harmful to native people,” Porto Borges said. “A Brazilian project that

gives advantage to Brazilian families and small farmers is likely to be more favorable to indigenous people, and that is why nowadays the indigenous people in Paraná are now joining the landless movement and La Via Campesina.”

Still, he said, cooperative indigenous involvement in national politics is greater in other South American countries, such as Peru and in Bolivia, where people elected an indigenous president, Evo Morales. “In Brazil, there are conflicts among the Indians: Some are for joining the movement, and some are not,” Porto Borges said. “There are some Indians in Brazil who have no contact with civilization as we know it, and there are others who are in full contact with civilization.

Some of them have lots of land, some have no land at all, or a small or little bit of land. Because of this, conflicts of interest have arisen.”

The government doesn’t have written policies favoring one tribe over another, but there are cases in which it has gone further to address the needs of some over others. In Paraná, for instance, the Kaingang have received the most attention, Porto Borges explained. “There are fewer policies for the Guaraní, and the Kaingang people are strung together with FUNAI, but the Guaraní are not and have less strength,” he said. “So, depending on the fight strategy, the results are different.” The National Indian Foundation, FUNAI, is the government agency that establishes and carries out policies related to indigenous peoples.

A great national debate exists concerning indigenous matters, and Brazil’s modern-day progressive constitution defends the rights of indige-

indigenous people fight for territory and are concerned with the country’s industrial agriculture practices, with the landless training leaders for political life. Gabas also works with the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, the Landless Workers Movement, a large social movement organized by rural workers that fights for land and agrarian reform in Brazil.

“The Guarani want to recover the traditional territories of their ancestors, and their main focus is to keep their culture, their language,

their religion,” said Gabas. “They are also worried about agricultural chemicals and pesticides. And they want to be able to provide enough food for their people without any help from the government. The landless, on the other hand, get involved in politics and government. “Indigenous people never had title to the land because they were indigenous.” The land where Tekoa Vy’a Renda Poty sits today once belonged to his ancestors, the chief, Alves, said.

Continue on page 11

Guarani Chief Pedro Alves of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná (ENS Lynette Wilson)

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Brazil’s Anglican Church works with indigenous people in their fight for land, existence

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10 indigenous issues

First graduating class of indigenous theologians of the Kaqchikel Presbytery in Guatemala “I thank Mother God for her awakening in my life, for the wisdom she has inherited in me, for making me feel this need to seek her, to find and above all to experience her; to Father God for allowing me to recognize that a creation cannot exist only with a masculine presence,” said Noemí Cuéllar, one of 15 persons who on November 6 received their Bachelor in Advanced Theology certification, after having successfully completed three years of study in the Reformed Theological Institute of the Kaqchikel Presbytery of Chimaltenango.

By Mayra Rodríguez November 18, 2011 (ALC) ith the scent of pine, flowers and fruits in a living room adorned with graduation caps and diplomas, where family and friends were accommodated, some seated, others standing, and the Symphonic Orchestra of Comalapa providing the music, all a multicolored scenario, the graduation ceremony began with the Reverend Ronaldo Similox, General Director of the Reformed Theological Institute of the Kaqchikel Presbytery, welcoming all present. Then thanks were offered to God, to the “grandfathers and grandmothers, to the Heart of the Sky and the Heart of the Earth,” from the Christian prayer by the Reverend Josefina Inay and the Reverend Peter Nord, in addition to the expression in the Kiché language of Mayan spiritual guide Felícita Rixqiacché.

Shortly afterward, the students entered adorned with their best garments and prepared to listen to the reflection and words of encouragement and congratulation by Pastor Peter Nord of the Baltimore Presbytery of the United States, who for years has strongly supported the Kaqchikel Presbytery, especially in the area of education.

The graduation ceremony was led by the Reverend Vitalino Similox, Academic Director of the Reformed Theological Institute and General Secretary of the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala,

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who dedicated the occasion to the martyrs “who with their blood prepared the fruits that are being harvested for the renewing of the leadership and continuity in the Christian task of being ‘salt and light for the world’ and for Guatemala, specifically in Chimaltenango.”

Each one of the 15 students presented a summary of their graduating paper on the study of poverty in Guatemala. Berta Segura and Evangelina Pichol, who devoted their study to the principal reactions of the women of the faith community of San Andrés Itzapa in the face of their temporary poverty, concluded that the dignifying of women is an imperative for achieving the dignifying of humanity and the overcoming of poverty. Juan José Ochoa, of the Suchitepéquez Presbytery, linked poverty with the senior citizens of the Línea Ferrea of the Uno sector of

Palín, Escuintla, identifying the forced displacements to sources of informal work, because the companies of the sector do not employ them.

“Conformism, machismo, the religious and cultural system have produced impoverished people, but, by means of an objective orientation, it is possible that they find alternatives to their impoverishment,” said Sabino García when sharing his findings from the study in the Santa Isabel community, Chimaltenango.

The graduation exercise ended with the presentation of diplomas and recognitions by the institutions that facilitated the Bachelor in Advanced Theology program for the students, and with the honoring of the Godparents of this first graduating class, Betsy Jenkins and Saúl Pérez, for their contribution to the successful completion of the process of studies.

This first graduating class had the support of the “Martin Luther King” University of Nicaragua, and the academic and theological provisions facilitated by the Evangelical Center of Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA), the Presbyterian Seminary, and the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala.

Mapuche territory in Chile again suffers new acts of violence Santiago, November 10, 2011 (ALC) hrough a public statement, the Wente Winkul Mapu Mapuche community of Chequenco, in the Ercilla commune of the southern Araucanía Region in Chile, has informed that a contingent of police travelling on roads within the community fired shots against its members without any provocation at all.

As a result of the police action, three people were seriously wounded and given medical attention in hospitals of the area. Others have been arrested.

Daniel Melinao, leader (werken) of the community, in communication with the Citizens’ Observatory, confirmed that the events took place around 6:00 pm on Wednesday, November 2. “At that time some 20 special forces police troops, without provocation, fired pellets against members of our community,” recalled Melinao, who then clarified that, “at this time the community remains under strong police surveillance.”

With regard to the injuries to members of this community as a result of the disproportionate action by the police, Melinao informed that “a woman had to be attended to urgently in the Victoria Hospital, having been shot in the chest, and a six month old child was taken for treatment after being affected by tear gas.” He further denounced that “the police arrived shooting at the houses.”

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In conclusion, Melinao anticipated that the Mapuche community is considering the possibility of soon presenting charges against the police involved, so that there would be an investigation into the serious events and disciplinary measures taken.

Members of the communities of the Mapuche territory have for years been claiming ancestral lands in the face of the usurpation caused by the state and private interests and the resulting impoverishment. In addition, they have been protesting against the destruction caused by timber companies with the expansion of pine and eucalyptus growing, which has serious impacts on their development.

Pastor Hugo Marillán M., of the Indigenous Pastoral Ministry of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) in Chile, informed that last weekend he was in the jail where recently two youth were being detained because of the conflict in Chequenco. One is only18 years old and the other 23, and still visible are the signs of their having been beaten in the face when subjected to harsh punishments without having been tried. According to what the lawyer told Marillán, it seems that the charges brought against them are too serious for their being promptly released.

“In spite of this, our brothers remain strengthened,” concludes Marillán, when requesting solidarity and prayers for those fighting for the rights of the Mapuche people.

Sources: Citizens’ Observatory and ALC

Berta Segura and Evangelina Pichol, Kaqchikel Presbytery of Guatemala graduates

Militarized Mapuche territory in southern Chile

Native protesters in Bolivia celebrate law cancelling rainforest road

By Franz Chavez La Paz, October 26, 2011 (Inter Press Service News Agency) ith victory cheers and predictions of future campaigns in defense of their ancestral territory, indigenous protesters from Bolivia’s Amazon jungle region celebrated the new law that banned the construction of the road through their rainforest reserve. The 66-day march by the demonstrators to La Paz and the controversy over the road undermined the backing for President Evo Morales among his main support base, the country’s indigenous majority.

On October 24, Morales signed into law the agreement putting an end to the plan to build the road that was opposed by some 1,000 native protesters from the Amazon, who

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made the grueling 600-km march from the rainforest to La Paz. The demonstrators, who were subjected to a brutal police crackdown in late September near a remote village 330 km north of La Paz, were greeted as heroes by thousands of people who took to the streets on Wednesday, October 19, to welcome them when they reached this city in Bolivia’s western highlands.

“The threat is latent, but the message sent out is that the native peoples have thought deeply about the defense of our territories,” indigenous lawmaker Pedro Nuni told IPS. The legislator, who belongs to the governing Movement to Socialism (MAS) but disagreed with the Morales administration over the issue of the rainforest road, said “the government knows it cannot decide

on the future of our land without consulting us.”

Nuni was pleased that, as he said, 95 percent of the 16 demands set forth by the protesters were addressed. The chief demand was the full cancellation of the project to build a 177-km road across the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS).

The 415-million dollar stretch of road was one small portion of a highway funded and built

by Brazil across Bolivia, which will form part of an international corridor for the transport of goods from Brazil to the Pacific Ocean. The 300km stretch joining the cities of San Ignacio de Moxos in the northern province of Beni and Villa Tunari in the central province of Cochabamba, which was to cut across TIPNIS, would have reduced a 16-hour drive

between the two cities to just four hours.

The local communities in TIPNIS are actually divided over the road, with peasant movements, trade unions, transport workers, shopkeepers, traders and some indigenous communities defending its construction on the argument that it would bring development.

The TIPNIS national park covers more than one million hectares in the provinces of Beni and Cochabamba and is collectively owned by some 15,000 people from three indigenous groups: the Moxeño, Yuracaré and Chimane Indians.

The law enacted by Morales was hastily approved by the legislature as the demonstrators held a vigil outside the building. The new legislation confirms the importance of the

sociocultural and natural heritage of TIPNIS. Recognition of the indigenous groups’ collective right to the territory was achieved 21 years ago, when native people from the country’s Amazon rainforest first marched to the highlands of La Paz and secured government recognition of four indigenous territories that were threatened by logging companies and the exploitation of other natural resources. The 1990 march threw the forgotten and neglected indigenous communities of the Amazon region into the limelight for the first time.

But this time the roughly 1,000 men, women and children from the jungle did not march alone. They were joined along the way by a similar number of indigenous people Continue on page 12

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latin america and Environment 11

If civil society activists create their own action plan to save the planet, there would be no need for governments to negotiate common standards for nations and communities widely unequal in wealth and technical capacity.

By Bhaskar Menon November 17, 2011 (Tierramérica) nless civil society activists launch their own program of action at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro next summer, the event will be little more than an expensive talkfest. That is because government delegates at the conference will not address the matter of reorienting the world economy, a task the United Nations has acknowledged is essential to deal with the growing crisis of environment sustainability.

The secretary-general’s report submitted earlier this year to the committee preparing for the conference noted that to succeed in “fundamentally shifting consumption and production patterns onto a more sustainable path,” public policy would have to extend “well beyond ‘getting prices right.’” However, it did not say what specific policy measures would be necessary. Indeed, nowhere in the massive body of documentation the United Nations has produced since it convened the first Environment Conference in 1972 can we find a single analysis of that issue.

Agenda 21, the voluminous action plan adopted at the 1992 “Earth Summit” in Rio, did not deal with the matter, and the Commission on Sustainable Development that has overseen its implementation for most of two decades has not considered it. The U.N.’s World Economic Survey earlier this year estimated the cost of “greening” the world economy at 72 trillion dollars without spelling out a specific process.

These lacunae reflect an inescapable contemporary political reality, the power of the giant corporations that run the world economy.

They have established existing global patterns of production and consumption with the singular aim of maximizing their own profits, and strongly oppose accommodations to

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constrain negative social and environmental effects.

For 17 years, from the 1970s into the 1980s, the United Nations tried without success to negotiate a Code of Conduct for transnational corporations. In the subsequent decade, the U.N. tried a softer approach, inviting corporations to join a Global Compact for voluntary compliance with a set of environmental and human rights standards. Fewer than 5,000 of the 60,000 corporations with annual revenues over one billion dollars have joined the Global Compact; even that minuscule figure inflates their participation, for it includes small and medium enterprises, many from developing countries.

During this continuing standoff, environmental problems have assumed crisis proportions.

Pollution and habitat loss are now driving species to extinction at a rate not seen since the dinosaurs disappeared. Over the last decade, extreme weather patterns that scientists associate with global warming have caused unprecedented natural disasters in countries around the world.

Unless the warming is stopped, scientists project significant shifts in patterns of precipitation and aridity, with major implications for agricultural productivity. If nothing is done about global warming, we could be facing an era of turf wars that could destroy any semblance of international law and order.

Despite these frightening prospects, few governments are willing to take on corporate interests: with world population set to reach 10 billion by 2050, official policy makers have no stomach for confrontations that could upset the applecart of current benefits from corporate globalization. Poverty reduction and job creation are their immediate and most urgent priorities.

In this scenario, civil society activists are uniquely capable of fashioning a safe exit strategy. They know the nature and scope of environmental problems, and the

Internet and the Worldwide Web have given them unprecedented capacity to network globally.

If they combine that with a local capacity for effective action – the easiest way would be by allying with entrepreneurs running small and medium enterprises – they could create a powerful and flexible mechanism capable of mapping, monitoring and addressing environmental issues while promoting ecofriendly economic activity at local and regional levels.

Overall, that would gradually move the world economy from global exchanges massively wasteful of energy and other resources to much more efficient regional and subregional patterns of activity. Such change would be minimally disruptive of wealth and jobs creation; indeed, as small and medium enterprises are far more labor-intensive than the behemoths that now control the world economy, we could see an uptick in employment, consumer demand and socially equitable growth.

Also on the plus side, there would be no need for governments to negotiate common standards for nations and communities widely unequal in wealth and technical capacity. With decision-making and action entirely in the hands of national and sub-national authorities, the global network would become a strong mechanism of international solidarity, extending technical and financial support, coordinating action where necessary, and disseminating best practices.

To initiate this process, activists should go to the Rio+20 Conference prepared to agree on a Manifesto and Action Plan outlined in the following draft.

Rio+20 Activist Manifesto Activists gathered at the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012 are convinced of the need for urgent action to reorient the world economy toward more sustainable patterns of production and consumption. We aim to do so while enhancing the global creation of wealth and decent employment in an inclusive frame of freedom, full enjoyment of fundamental human rights, and support for weak and vulnerable sections of

Rio+20 Messages of the World Echo your Voice (UNCSD)

the world’s people.

To those ends, we intend to create a global network supporting and drawing support from a new form of community level organization formed by the alliance of environmental and social activists and business entrepreneurs. We call upon the world’s governments and peoples to support this initiative and contribute to its processes.

Action Plan Within the framework of the aims and values expressed in the Manifesto, activists at the Rio+20 Conference agree to do the following: 1. Network: Activists will create a global electronic network arranged in an easily accessible hierarchy (local, national, regional, global), to facilitate sharing of information, interactive discussion, and concerted action.

2. Organize: Activists will work with entrepreneurs running small and medium businesses to establish community-level organizations for cooperative action. These organizations will be the basic units of the global network and will have two primary aims, environmental protection and accelerate economic growth at the local, sub-regional and regional levels.

3. Survey and Monitor: The network will share the best available expertise in national and interna-

tional agencies, with the U.N. Environment Program playing a coordinating role. Activists will begin a global environmental survey based on community-level feedback, creating a permanent monitoring system to provide real time status reports for consideration by government policymakers at the national, regional and global levels 4. Analyze: On the basis of the information collected, a panel of governmental experts working with the network will create a technical plan of action setting out the remedial and preventive measures to address all global environmental issues. Implementation of the plan will be by community-level action wherever possible, with governments and international agencies providing financial and technical capacity.

5. Educate and Mobilize: The community level organizations and their networks will engage in educating and mobilizing popular support for environmental action.

These steps should create a global apparatus capable of monitoring damage to the natural environment from human activity and taking remedial action. That process should reorient the full range of economic activities to eco-friendly patterns and create the general public awareness and support for continuing action.

Source: http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=3822

Brazil’s Anglican Church works with indigenous people…

From page 9

nous people, Porto Borges said. For instance, mining is prohibited on land belonging to indigenous people, he said, adding that business interests also exert great pressure to modify the laws. “Eleven percent of the national territory belongs to the indigenous [tribes], but in the constitution the ‘union’ can only explore them if the Indians permit it,” he said. “In government, laws are now being made so that the indigenous, mining and farming monoculture interests can all exist, with the Indians favored.”

In early September, the Guarani Indians demanded that Shell, a

global oil company, stop using their ancestral lands for ethanol production.

Indians’ understanding that they have interests in common and their increased connectedness through knowing each other’s demands are recent phenomena, he noted. Throughout history and up to 100 years ago, Porto Borges said, some or all of the indigenous people were enemies. The Kaingang came into contact with modern people in the 1930s, but the Guarani have been in contact with modern people for 500 years.

Despite language, cultural and religious differences, Porto Borges said, most indigenous tribes share or have lived a form of “primitive com-

munism,” sharing housing, food and work. “For example, the Guarani have a word to describe their economy: ‘Jopoi.’ It means ‘open hand,’” Porto Borges said.

“That describes their economy. They are generous … Because they are not people who accumulate, they don’t close their hands.”

The Guarani people see the people of European descent, in both North and South America, as closed handed, said Andrus, explaining his encounter with the Guarani’s “open hand,” society. “When they receive something they are already asking themselves how do I pass it on, so not to necessarily pass it on unchanged, but how can they pass it on enhanced to the right person who is

right to receive it,” he said. “It’s a dynamic that is open so that if they receive money, or wisdom, or emotional understanding, or possessions of any kind, they are asking themselves how can that pass from the one hand that receives it and the other that gives it away.” Applying an “open hand” to an economy – looking at how to enhance and pass on what is received – could be transformative in an economy, he added.

“For me there are other ways of life and organization than capitalism,” said Porto Borges. “There are other ways of culture than the white, Western Christian culture. And there are cultures that have rich responses to reality… and these cultures com-

pound humanity ... they are part of it.”

“When any given human culture disappears, humanity becomes more fragile and poorer,” Porto Borges said. “They teach us that it is possible to resist and to maintain their integrity and culture even though they are fighting a globalized culture like ours. And besides all that, we owe a historical debt to these people. What we call the discovery of America was actually a true holocaust for these people.”

Source: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_129809_ENG_HTM.htm

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A Rio+20 Activist Manifesto and Action Plan

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12 latin america and Environment

It is necessary to change the development paradigm: Carolina Amaya, Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES) Panama City, October 9, 2011 (Upside Down World) arolina Amaya, participant in the Alternative Forum on Climate Change held this weekend in Panama, member of the Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES), came from El Salvador to discuss “Climate Change: Responses from the Power and the Alternatives of Social Movements”. In an interview with Tatiana Félix of ADITAL, Amaya said that the current crisis that the planet is experiencing was caused by developed societies and warned that the limits of nature and the planet have already been exceeded. In the spaces in which she works, Carolina has the job of ‘climate literacy’; to get people to understand the processes of change that are occurring globally.

The Alternative Forum on Climate Change took place on October 1st and 2nd as a response of social movements and peasant, environmental and indigenous organizations to the preparatory meeting for the Durban Summit on Climate Change, where leaders from nearly 200 countries gathered in the Panamanian capital from October 1st to 7th. The primary demand of the grassroots movements is to participate in decision-making in government policies, since many of these communities are most affected by the impacts of environmental crises.

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ADITAL: In your opinion, what are the most divergent points from those presented by governments and community demands on the issue of climate change?

Carolina Amaya: Well, first there is a gap between vision and the path of the states and the vision and path of the people. States, despite clear evidence that there is a theoretical, scientific and lived evidence

Carolina Amaya (ADITAL)

that this economic model is unsustainable and incompatible with nature’s capacity and limits, instead of redirecting and transforming this development paradigm that has led to the climate crisis, they continue on the same route. States still insist on a green makeover, and that now the economy is friendlier towards nature, which is the entire proposal in this time leading up to Rio +20.

There is a whole infrastructure around the global green economy.

But this model, this system, has failed. It is an economic model that has led to this climatic chaos, and yet states continue along the same route that led to this crisis.

Within the social movements there are other expectations. In the social movements we propose: first, we must recognize that this crisis we are experiencing is different from others, different from other climate changes that have occurred in history from a natural origin and have been distributed in proportion to the time and space, and time is necessary in order to adapt to that change.

What we are experiencing now is not natural. It is a man-made change that has been constructed by society,

and mainly by the developed societies.

Secondly, although all the information that climate change is anthropogenic and socially created exists, they deny that this is a social crisis. There are important perspectives of social movements that see this as a result of the predominant development model and propose that we restructure the development model in a way that is compatible with nature. This is what we call social sustainability.

Where does socio-environmental sustainability start from, and where do we defer from the state perspective? First, we recognize that this crisis is associated with additional crises. There has always been an economic crisis. There has always been climate change, but now it meets every other crisis; it joins with the food crisis, it joins with the climate crisis, and it joins with the financial crisis.

We, as social movements, differentiate the climate crisis from other social crises, because this crisis has a component that cannot go unnoticed. It is the component of capacity: to recognize the capacity that the planet has. What do we say? First, as social movements we have to deconstruct the false paradigm of development because societies that are rich don’t want to give up this paradigm, and southern societies aspire to it, despite the fact that this is development that has lead us to climate change. The first challenge to the movements is to deconstruct the false paradigm of development that has led us to the climate chaos that threatens civilization.

Second, we need to reorient the way of life. We need to restructure our standard of living, according to the load bearing capacity of nature.

Our ecosystem is finite, it has a limited capacity and this chaos is a result of exceeding the carrying capacity and limited capacities that

the planet has.

This factor is the challenge we face. We must start placing limits and recognizing that we live in an ecosystem that is a planet that has limits and a limited capacity. This is our challenge because many of us also saw nature as infinite, but now we see it as a living organism, and that we are part of it, and can’t keep seeing it as a commodity from which we take. This is the challenge that we must face as social movements.

ADITAL: What are the alternatives presented by the movement as a solution to the crisis?

Carolina: Personally, I think that indigenous people give us life lessons, with words of wisdom and life experiences that are alternatives and lead us to a new way of revaluing the land and our relationship with the land. If we have food, water, and somewhere to produce, that provides us with the basis for life.

ADITAL: What are your expectations from this forum in the sense that the governments listen to the communities?

Carolina: Well, you said that we continue to believe that another world is possible. We still believe in the power of resistance and struggle of our people. In this sense, we gather here as El Salvador to unite forces with colleagues from Panama, other regions, and all over the world to how to continue in this struggle of social movements and I would expect here that we can establish better mechanisms for coordination, for example, with our colleagues from Panama, who for those of us who come from El Salvador we are very close by.

We come here because we believe that another world is possible, because we believe it is necessary to strengthen and articulate an alliance in the face of the social and environmental crisis, and third

because the governments who come here with official country perspective need to know that citizens, communities and organizations are watching and monitoring what they commit to and commit us to.

ADITAL: What are the activities UNES is involved in?

Carolina: We are part of a network called the Mesoamerican Climate Justice Campaign. We have organized ourselves to make our voices heard and continue pushing for the demands we have made. In this sense, there is a necessity to do climate literacy work, because this issue needs to be taken out of the scientific language and be made more collective, based on the experiences of the people. So literacy is to raise awareness about the climate change we are experiencing. These are not natural changes, but are socially constructed changes that have an economic, social and political dimension.

Secondly, public policy advocacy, regardless of the official negotiations, is a space that moves very slowly and sometimes goes backward or stagnates. And in much of what is discussed there are agreements that do not benefit the people. One very clear example is the agreement in Cancun. Our governments need to institutionalize and ensure policies and plans that make the communities, peoples and territories better able to cope with the impacts.

We need to do advocacy on a government level in decision making, and for governments to convey the truth to our people, because it has always this way: the positions are far from benefiting all of those who are weak, and they are fragile against these major disasters that are predicted.

Note: Translated from Spanish by Maggie Von Vogt Source: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/3251-elsalvador-for-salvadoran-activist-it-is-necessary-to-change-the-developmentparadigm

Native protesters in Bolivia…

From page 10

from the highlands and the Chaco grasslands region who are worried that many of the country‘s 84 collectively-owned indigenous territories, known as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen or TCOs, are under threat because they are rich in oil, forests, minerals and other resources that foreign corporations are keen to get their hands on.

The indigenous peoples of the Amazon region make up 10 percent of the 10 million inhabitants of Bolivia, where over 60 percent of the population are native people, mainly belonging to the Quechua and Aymara ethnic groups concentrated in the western highlands. Morales, the country’s first-ever indigenous president, is an Aymara Indian.

In an interview with IPS, environmentalist Carmen Capriles, one of the leaders of the Save the Madidi Campaign, discussed the concept of the “plurinational state”, as established by the new constitution that

went into effect in 2009, in which she said indigenous communities and people of mixed-race or European descent mutually recognize their different identities while declaring their unity in the Bolivian state.

The activist, who is working to defend the 1.9-million-hectare Madidi National Park in northwestern Bolivia, said the plurinational state was achieved by a struggle waged along the country’s roads and in its jungles and mountains, in the face of repression and stiff opposition. Capriles also said there is a growing sense of unity between indigenous people from poor rural areas and from urban slums, who are forging a natural alliance to defend nature.

Morales’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost champions of the environment was hurt by the plan to build the road across the TIPNIS reserve.

The leader of the TIPNIS native communities, Fernando Vargas, defended the rights of the people living in the reserve to use the natural

resources there in a sustainable manner that preserves the park. He also urged Morales to build a country that is based on the conservation of nature, while alluding to future battles by indigenous people to preserve their lands.

But Capriles said the law putting an end to the conflict over TIPNIS was an isolated solution that leaves other protected areas and TCOs vulnerable. She was referring to areas like the Madidi National Park and the Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Lands in the north of the province of La Paz which are close to recently discovered oil reserves.

In addition, the projected El Bala hydroelectric dam would flood some 300,000 hectares of land in the Madidi National Park and the adjacent Pilón Lajas biosphere reserve and indigenous territory, including the TCO owned by the Leco indigenous community.

“The people of the eastern lowlands and the western highlands should not treat each other as enemies,”

Police action against marchers in defense of TIPNIS in Bolivia (isiborosecure.com)

said Vargas. “Let’s continue forging ahead with the process of change, but without destroying the ‘tierras comunitarias de origen’, and with full respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.”

The head of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB), Adolfo Chavez, who led the march, called for “unity in peace” but urged Morales’ minis-

ters to avoid provoking “popular outrage.”

Morales, meanwhile, said all responsibility for the cancellation of the road fell on the heads of the indigenous leaders who led the march. He told them they would have to explain the decision to the inhabitants of TIPNIS who wanted the road built.

Source: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105596