wfn.org | 25th anniversary of coup de Chile

[Libby VISINAND <lvf@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
9 September 1998

WCC MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHILEAN COUP

On the 25th anniversary of the military coup which overthrew President Salvador Allende of Chile, the World Council of Churches' General Secretary, Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, has written to the leaders of the Protestant, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic Churches in Chile, and to the leadership of the Chilean Jewish community. An English translation of the original Spanish follows:

"Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Twenty-five years have now passed since that dark day of 11 September 1973 which sowed terror in the Chilean nation and moved the entire world.

We have not forgotten that day.

We have not forgotten the suffering and the loss of loved ones which occurred then and during the following months and years of military repression.

We have not forgotten the witness, the efforts, or the risks assumed then by the leaders and faithful of the Chilean churches and other religious communities, together with people of other convictions, to save lives and defend the human rights of all.

We have not forgotten the signs of peace and hope they gave to their people and to the whole world.

We have not forgotten the welcome you gave Chilean exiles upon their return to their homeland, their families and their loved ones.

During the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, in Harare next December, the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated; this will recall all those who have given witness to human dignity and especially those who have given their lives for their brothers and sisters in this cause.  You and the whole Chilean people will figure in our prayers of intercession.

Now you have recovered democracy, thanks be to God.  But we know that the consequences of those years still weigh on the people and on your own communities.  The solidarity which we were able to offer a quarter of a century ago we offer you now in your struggle for justice, truth and reparations, and against impunity.

We continue to pray for you.  We pray that God will give you the strength to continue until you achieve that justice, and to pursue the task of reconciliation of the people which is essential in order that such a tragedy not be repeated in your land ever again!

May God illumine your path and accompany you, and give you his peace, today and evermore.

In His Holy Name"

Contact: Geneviève Jacques, Executive Secretary, WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. 
Tel:+41.22 791 6207 (office), +33.4.50 40 91 09 (home); e-mail: <gej@wcc-coe.org>

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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