wfn.org | Latin American Church News Noticias Feb 15 2004

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

ALC HEADLINES:
URUGUAY: We must not convert our faith in a bonsai, said Waldesian pastor
COLOMBIA: Evangelicals denounce plan to accuse Ricardo Esquivia of 
supporting the FARC
NICARAGUA: CEPAD holds march with brooms to sweep up corruption
PERU:  Leaders of the National Evangelical Council calls on people to set 
aside their own agendas
ECUADOR: FEINE president rules out mobilization against the government

URUGUAY
We must not convert our faith in a bonsai, said Waldesian pastor

MONTEVIDEO, February 9, 2004 (alc). We must not convert our faith, which 
should be a robust tree, into those tiny dwarf decorative trees, called 
bonsai, said Pastor Dario Barolin, in his sermon at the opening worship 
service of the XLI Annual Synod of the Waldesian Evangelical Church in the 
River Plate.

The assembly of the Waldensian Churches of Uruguay and Argentina began last 
February 7, in the XVII of February Park, in Playa Fomento, in the 
department of Colonia. The theme of the event is For it is with your heart 
that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you 
confess and are saved. (Romans 10:10).

The annual assembly, maximum decision-making body of the Waldesian Church 
in the region, brought together 70 representatives from the seven 
Presbyteries in Argentina and Uruguay. Pastor Blanca Armand Pilon was 
elected president of the Synod Assembly, after the religious celebration. 
The meeting will conclude next Wednesday with the election of new 
authorities.

Different sister Churches and ecumenical bodies sent greetings. 
Participants also included delegates from the American Waldesian 
Association (AWS), the Presbyterian Church of the United States and the 
Association of Presbyterian Reform Churches of Latin America (AIPRAL).

In his message, Pastor Barolin used the image of an Ombu, a resistant tree 
that is characteristic of the Argentina plains, converted into a bonsai, to 
explain that here we have a bonsai, a millenary Japanese technique that 
can make great trees small.

Trees that were born to shine, to shelter birds, to be giant, are 
dominated, their will bent and they become tiny, with all their greatness 
reduced.

He then said, this is what humans have learned to do with their faith in 
Jesus Christ. The one who came to us, who allows us to be in peace with 
God, we do not allow it to regenerate us, we do not allow it to grow, we do 
not give it space, we cut back its roots, its food and we bend the 
branches, adapting it, making it imperturbable. Something great becomes 
something manipulated, domestic, he said.

And faith, dear brothers and sisters, was not born to be a bonsai in our 
lives. It was born to grow. Our encounter with Jesus Christ gives new 
meaning to our lives or dies on the periphery of our thoughts like an 
insignificant ornament. The love of God cannot be transformed into a 
Bonsai, killing its vocation, its gift, he said.

Brothers and sisters, a bonsai is a symbol of tree that could not be, a 
tree that has been tamed and doubled. Do not allow the same thing to happen 
to Jesus Christ in our lives. Do not let the same thing happen to our 
Church, he concluded.

COLOMBIA
Evangelicals denounce plan to accuse Ricardo Esquivia of supporting the FARC

BOGOTA, February 11, 2004 (alc). The Evangelical Council of Colombia 
(CEDECOL) denounced it had received diverse reports of a plan to detain the 
vice president of this institution and the national director of the 
Restoration, Life and Peace Commission, Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas, falsely 
accusing him of being a member or collaborator of the Armed Revolutionary 
Forces of Colombia (FARC).

CEDECOL, constituted in 1950 and officially recognized as a representative 
of Colombian evangelicals in 1997, groups together 70 percent of Churches, 
missions and denominations in the country. Esquivia, founder and up until 
recently director of the Justapaz association, is nationally and 
international known for his work in favor of peace.

A few months ago he resigned from his position in Justapaz to travel to the 
mountainous zone of Montes de Maria, between the department of Bolivar and 
Sucre on the Atlantic coast, to collaborate with the Mennonite Church in 
ecumenical efforts to construct peace, ensure sustainable development and 
to mediate the conflicts in the region.

In this highly conflictive zone, President Alvaro Uribe proposed creating a 
Concentration and Rehabilitation Zone as a security measure but the 
controversial project was overturned by the Constitutional Court.

In a statement Justapaz said it has received information that some military 
commanders were  unsettled by Esquivias plans to travel to the zone and 
feel threatened by the resources and capacity of the organization led by 
three bishops and Esquivia.

According to the military officers, the social strengthening of the 
communities favors the guerrillas and they fear that Esquivia and the 
foundation will destabilize the zone.

CEDECOL rejected the accusations being levied against Esquivia because, it 
states, we know his integrity and his work as a messenger of peace before 
the different parties in conflict in Colombia.

Justapaz said that last January, the regional office in Cartagena of the 
Administrative Security Department, sent a report to its headquarters in 
Bogota, about Ricardo Esquivia.

The report affirms that approximately 15 years ago, Esquivia was a member 
of the Popular Liberation Army, mentions the international trips he has 
made in recent years, gives details of his work with Justapaz and the 
Restoration, Life and Peace Commission and concludes he is a member of the 
Frente 27 of the FARC.

CEDECOL stated that many Churches, pastors and members of Evangelicals 
Churches are still attacked, kidnapped, threatened and falsely accused by 
different armed groups. Last year 40 pastors and leaders were murdered.

Justapaz also denounced that a refuge from the Montes de Maria zone told a 
pastor that a Marine Captain is traveling through the region with a photo 
of Esquivia, asking former guerrillas if they know him and asking them to 
testify against him According to this source, there are plans to digitally 
manipulate a recording of Esquivia when he was facilitating a Church 
workshop to make it sound like he was moderating a meeting with the FARC.

The Justapaz statement said that last December the FARC kidnapped a young 
man in the Restoration, Life and Peace Commission land who had worked for 
Justapaz previously. Last year a Justapaz promoter was murdered by the 
Frente 37 of the FARC.

It added that, in a similar case, former guerillas were paid informants and 
gave false testimony against Amaury Padilla, a lawyer who worked on 
development projects and is the link between the Bolivar Government and the 
UNDP. He was in jail for more than a month.

NICARAGUA
CEPAD holds march with brooms to sweep up corruption

By Trinidad Vasquez
MANAGUA, February 13, 2004 (alc). A march with brooms to demonstrate a 
desire to sweep up corruption, and above all the civil servants and 
politicians who have ransacked Nicaragua for many years, walked the streets 
of Managua, from the Republica Plaza up until the Paz Park.

The march, held Saturday February 7, was lead by Gustavo Parajon, founder 
of the Evangelical Pro Denominational Alliance Council of Churches (CEPAD) 
the entity that promoted the march and by CEPAD leaders Damaris Albuquerque 
and Gilberto Aguirre.

At the end of the march they turned over a document that details the 
ransacking of public funds carried out by politicians and government 
officials for several years. The documentation was carried out over an 
eight-month period by CEPAD director Damaris Albuquerque and revealed that 
the corrupt have stolen some $1.7 billion from Nicaragua.

Heading up the list is former president Arnoldo Aleman and several of his 
ministers. From May 26, 2000 to December 31, 2002 they stole millions, 
according to cases denounced by the daily La Prensa.

Albuquerque said that gathering the data demonstrated how injustice and a 
loss of values, like honesty, exists among the rich and powerful in the 
nation, who are above the law and sanctions. These only affect the poor who 
do not have people to bail them out of trouble or the money to win a trial 
, she noted.

Xiomara Flores, who arrived from the extreme eastern part of the capital, 
said that the march against corruption led her to write a poem. In the 
verses she affirmed that God has blessed Nicaraguans with land and natural 
riches, but that corrupt politicians and civil servants have ransacked the 
country, leaving a great deal of poverty. Hopefully this Movement To Sweep 
Up Corruption will allow us to see a clean Nicaragua one day, she said.

Parajon cited the Bible, the book of Amos and emphasized that in Nicaragua 
there will only be peace if there is justice. We are not in favor of any 
party: our goal is to call peoples attention so that they are aware that 
we must clean up the country but first we must clean up ourselves, he said.

He called on Nicaraguans to elect leaders with integrity in the next 
elections.

Veteran Baptist leader Mireya Rammrez arrived with difficulty, for her age 
and arthritis but made her protest as she lent on her cane. She called on 
the president and political authorities to hear the clamor of the people 
who do not want any more corruption or increases in the cost of basic 
services and food.

Professor Aguirre, announced the creation of the Broom Movement, which will 
carry out civic action so that all citizens are aware that there is a need 
to sweep up the corruption political and to elect exemplary citizens who 
govern with wisdom and justice, he affirmed.

Pastor Marcelino Basset, who supports the movement, said that there are 
still people in Nicaragua who are more concerned about taking care of their 
horses for riding club parades that to fight corruption and promote moral 
values.

PERU
  Leaders of the National Evangelical Council calls on people to set aside 
their own agendas

By Fernando Oshige
LIMA, February 13, 2004 (alc). The general secretary of the National 
Evangelical Council of Peru (CONEP), Victor Arroyo, called on political 
organizations and the government to defend the interests of the country and 
to set aside their own political interests and confrontations to overcome 
the serious political crisis affecting the country.

It is time to set aside legitimate particular expectations and contribute 
to the consolidation of democratic governance, said Arroyo in statements 
to ALC.

In the past two weeks, the political situation has grown worse and the 
conflict between the government and the opposition grew worse, after a 
scandal broke involving a recorded conversation between Cesar Almeyda, 
former advisor to President Alejandro Toledo, and a man involved in the 
corruption networked headed by now-jailed Vladmiro Montesinos, advisor to 
the former President Alberto Fujimori.

This is compounded by the sometimes-violent demands of the people due to 
the economic policy, the governments failure to fulfill electoral promises 
and accusations of nepotism against several ministers in the current 
government.

According to Arroyo the crisis is not a passing one and will not be 
resolved with a simple cabinet shuffle or moving forward elections, as some 
political forces proposed.

CONEP is a member of the National Accord, a platform that brings together 
political parties, unions, Churches and civil society organizations. Arroyo 
believes that it could define a road map that will make it possible to 
seek solutions to the structural problems in the country.

If we reach minimum agreements about the priority problems to confront, if 
we define the mode of action and if we are clear about national objectives, 
it is more feasible to elect those who are called to implement these 
programs, said Arroyo.

The Evangelical leader said he did not agree with the proposal to move 
elections forward. Elections are slated to take place in April 2006.

Far from resolving the problem, these proposals will weaken the democratic 
governance generate uncertainty and it is possible that, in the midst of 
the desperation of the impoverished sectors, some organizations could 
provoke a social explosion, he warned.

 From a Christian perspective, the crisis is also an opportunity to review 
the causes of the problems and seek the sustained development of the 
country, said Arroyo, who concluded by calling for serenity to keep the 
crisis from worsening.

ECUADOR
FEINE president rules out mobilization against the government

By Manuel Quintero
QUITO, February 13, 2004 (alc). As the specter of political instability 
once again appears on the horizon of this Andean nation, the organization 
that groups together Evangelical Ecuadorian indigenous people called for 
dialogue and wisdom through its president Marco Murillo.

Murillo, leader of the Ecuadorian Federation of Evangelical Indigenous 
(FEINE) said on February 12 that the grassroots of his organization are not 
in agreement with the proposal made by other indigenous organizations that 
are calling for the resignation of President Lucio Gutierrez.

On February 10, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador 
(CONAIE), during a march of nearly 5,000 people in Latacunga, a city with a 
significant indigenous population, 90 kilometers South of Quito, convened a 
national protest against the government.

The Ecuadorian people are mobilized and we have ratified that as of 
February 16, a major national mobilization will be initiated, said 
Leonidas Iza, president of CONAIE, an organization that represents a 
significant number of the 4 million indigenous people in the country.

He said that the mobilization is against the abuse, we cannot allow the 
government to sign a Free Trade Agreement (with the United States) without 
having discussed it with all the people.

Two days later another indigenous organizations, Ecuarunari, convened a 
national uprising for February 16 against President Gutierrez. Teachers 
unions and other organizations have voiced support for the protest. The 
Ecuarunari is the most influential organization within the CONAIE and one 
of its bastions is the province of Cotopaxi.

Humbero Cholango, president of Ecuarunari stated that the mobilization will 
be of such a magnitude that it could put Gutierrez stability at risk. 
Gutierrez took office in January 2003.

If the president falls it will not be the responsibility of the indigenous 
movement, he warned.

In open contrast, Murillo indicated that the FEINE rejects the aim to 
remove Gutierrez and said he considered the attitude of his organization to 
be mature and responsible.

Removing the government means breaking constitutionality. However, the 
solution does not lie in changing the executive branch but in dismantling 
the entire state apparatus.Mobilizing against President Gutierrez sounds 
like political revenge, he said, referring to the fact that the CONAIE and 
its political arm, the Pachakutik party, co-governed from January until 
2003, when the alliance with the president broke down.

To date we have not heard an auto-criticism of the CONAIE for having voted 
in favor of Gutierrez and having been part of his government he said.

According to Murillo, Evangelical indigenous do not want to repeat what 
happened with two major national mobilizations, in which indigenous people 
had significant participation and which led to the overthrow of President 
Abdala Bucaram in 1997 and Jamil Mahuad in 2000.

In both cases, political parties and Congress then maneuvered to put people 
in government from the traditional political class, leaving aside 
indigenous representatives.

FEINEs position, said Murillo, is the result of a careful analysis of the 
situation and consensus at the grassroots level.

We believe that there are groups that want to encourage violence and 
create instability. In the face of these attempts at destabilization the 
fundamental point that should motivate the entire country, is to avoid 
creating the conditions to make Ecuador a country dominated by violence, 
he added.

We will support a peaceful march, against violence, he said. He 
recognized that the FEINE leadership has not been invited by CONAIE or by 
other indigenous organizations to dialogue about a mobilization, a sign of 
the disagreement within the indigenous Ecuadorian movement.

Murillo made these statements on Thursday at a meeting of the Christian 
Political Reflection Forum, a group of Catholics and Evangelicals who meet 
regularly to analyze the political reality in the country.

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