wfn.org | ALC Noticias 21 June 2004 Ecuador, Columbia Peru

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

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

ALC HEADLINES:
ECUADOR: Sub-Director of La Hora lobbies for investigative journalism in 
Churches
COLOMBIA: Despite the rain, 25,000 Evangelicals march through the center of 
the City
ECUADOR: Sally Burch:  They didnt expect us to make so much noise
PERU: Peasant patrollers released after Supreme Court decision
PERU: Congress receives Baptist delegation

ECUADOR
Sub-Director of La Hora lobbies for investigative journalism in Churches

By Fernando Oshige
QUITO, June 14, 2004 (alc). While Church leaders prefer to keep quiet about 
their internal problems and cases of corruption that exist in many 
Churches, one Cuban journalist spoke out in favor of total transparency.

Alejandro Querejeta, Cuban, sub-director of the daily La Hora in this 
capital and a Baptist lay worker, said that many leaders believe that 
journalists should only disseminate edifying news and the positive events 
of the Evangelizing work and the service of the Church. They believe that 
we should ignore issues of corruption and violence because these things 
damage the image and credibility of the Churches.

Querejeta made these declarations after concluding his presentation about 
the importance of investigative journalism in a seminar-workshop on 
Telecommunications and Editorial Skills, convened by the Latin American 
and Caribbean Communication Agency (ALC). The event, which brought together 
30 editors and communication directors from Churches and journalists from 
Christian organizations on the continent, will conclude June 15.

The Cuban journalist asked if those who postulate constructive journalism 
in the Churches are not presenting an image that hides a painful part of 
the Church reality. Does this benefit the Churches? Historically, has it 
been positive for Churches?, he asked. I dont think so, he said.

It is time for a great inter-Church or ecumenical reflection about the need 
to be sincere about many aspects of Church life, bringing them out into the 
light of day. He added that this has a Biblical foundation.

Genres like research and opinion are very necessary in Churches and it is 
time that the Evangelical press, which is still very incipient in some 
places, begins to propose this type of journalism, he added.

In recent years in the Evangelical world some important leaders have been 
involved in cases involving usurpation of funds, sexual harassment, 
adultery, domestic violence and in general these cases have been kept under 
wraps to avoid damaging the Church. This attitude takes away moral 
authority before society, said Querejeta.

It is time to rebuild the Churches, from the foundation, they should first 
look at themselves and then look outside, to see political and social 
problems, he said.

According to Querejeta, the Catholic Church was strengthened after becoming 
caught up in controversy due to the case of the pederast priests. It won 
credibility and improved its image and authority before society, he
concluded.

COLOMBIA
Despite the rain, 25,000 Evangelicals march through the center of the City

By William Delgado
BOGOTA, June 14, 2004 (alc). Rain, thunder or lightening, we will testify 
to the Colombian people and tell them with fire in our souls that it is 
worth serving the Lord, said Pastor Marco Fidel Rammrez, who led 25,000 
Evangelicals on a march down a main street in this capital on June 13, in 
the midst of a rainstorm.

We feel the support of Christian Churches and institutions in 90 percent, 
said Pastor Hector Pardo, former president of the Colombian Evangelical 
Confederation (CEDECOL).

Although it rained a little and this kept many people from joining the 
March, we feel and we are sure that we have carried out important work in 
communion with the ministerial body. We have made a great effort to 
mobilize the Church and to show the awakening that has taken place among 
the Christian people, underlined the Evangelical leader.

The march was not only accompanied by denominations convened by 
associations of local and national pastors, but delegations form Churches 
in other parts of the country also joined as did the Christian press.

The event concluded with praise, adoration and prayers to overcome 
denominational barriers and intercession for peace in the country.

ECUADOR
Sally Burch:  They didnt expect us to make so much noise

By Manuel Quintero
QUITO, June 15, 2004 (alc). The year 2003 was the scene of an important 
battle between major corporations on the one hand and civil society 
organizations over a fundamental human right: the right to information.

   A battle that, in the opinion of Sally Burch, concluded with weak 
government commitments to overcome technological and international 
inequalities and the postponement of any decision regarding a more 
democratic control of the Internet.

   Burch, executive secretary of the Latin American Information Agency 
(ALAI) addressed the issue of the UN Summit on the Information Society 
during a seminar-workshop of Christian communicators held in the Ecuadorian 
capital that was sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean 
Communication Agency (ALC).

   The summit was convened by the International Telecommunications Union 
(UIT) and the United Nations in order to analyze ways to overcome the 
so-called digital gap between rich and developing nations, but from an 
essentially technological perspective.

   While the summit, held in Geneva in December last year, adopted a 
declaration and an action plan that outlined policies for the global 
administration of information and communication technologies the weak 
commitments contained in official documents demonstrated the limited 
political will of world leaders, on this issue, said the ALAI official.

The UIT initiative and the UN organization lead organizations that work in 
the communications field to launch the campaign: Communication rights in 
the information society  (CRIS).

They did not expect us to make so much noise, said Burch, referring to 
the role of a broad, representative coalition of communication NGOs in the 
preparatory debates and the summit itself in Geneva, where they questioned 
the technological determinism of the UIT and United Nations proposals.

  The results of the summit, in her opinion, reflect a commitment, although 
they do not decrease the frustration of countries in the south whose two 
main demands - a review of the Internet control mechanisms and the creation 
of a Digital Solidarity Fund - were postponed for a later date.

This commitment is expressed, she said, in the final declarations section 
on communication media, which encourage legislators from different 
countries to guarantee the independence and plurality of that media.

However, at the same time it proposes that the media should use and treat 
the information in a responsible manner according to the most demanding 
and professional ethical principles, something that some organizations 
have interpreted as an invitation for governments to exercise censorship.

Beyond the specific results, the simple fact of having opened a space in 
the UN framework to initiate a debate about these issues is a notable step, 
at a time where there is a growing tendency toward the privatization of 
policies and the imposition of agreements negotiated by northern 
governments on the rest of the world.

Burch called on communicators present in the workshop in Quito take this 
debate to their respective countries in the framework of the process 
leading up to the second summit, to be held in Tznez in November 2005.

It is essential to affirm that neither information nor knowledge can be 
appropriated for commercial purposes; we must protect the privacy of 
communication and peoples intimacy; there is a need to continue struggling 
in favor of legislations that limit the concentration of media ownership 
and that are in favor of cultural diversity and media pluralism, she 
concluded.

PERU
Peasant patrollers released after Supreme Court decision

By Josi Regalado
LIMA, June 16, 2004 (alc). Eleven members of the peasant patrols from a 
isolated village in the Amazon in northeastern Peru were released after a 
Supreme Court decision determined that they should not be in jail. They had 
served four months.

The patrollers, including two women, live in Pueblo Libre, an area that is 
difficult to access on the left hand side of the Mayo river in the 
department of San Martmn, 1,400 kilometers northeast of Lima. It is a small 
farming village with no running water or electricity. There is no police 
station in the area.

In order to provide security, area residents had organized peasant patrols, 
a mechanism that dates back more than 30 years in Peru. These patrols were 
made up of men and women from the community itself who were take shifts, 
help resolve conflicts and administer justice. They applied norms based on 
their customs and the State has had to recognize their validity.

At the beginning of 2002 there were a series of robberies, attacks and 
rapes in Pueblo Libre. On March 22 that year, the peasant patrols captured 
Segundo Sanchez, Abel Olivera, Blanco Uribe y Segundo Cubas who confessed 
to the crimes. The peasant patrols sanctioned them by forcing them to do 
watches in the communities.

However, the Judicial Branch tried the patrollers for kidnapping, 
usurpation of duty and resisting authority. The following were arrested: 
Maximiliano Torres, Leonidas Fernandez, Eframn Bustamante, Pedro Medina 
Rammrez, Jeszs Acuqa, Wilfredo Cueva, Josi Hilario,  Josi Bustamante, Maria 
Llatas, Elita Rammrez and Oscar Huaman.

In February 2004, the San Martmn Superior Court sentences them to three 
years in jail and obligated them to pay 1,000 soles for the victims and 
1,000 soles for the state.

The Evangelical Peace and Hope Association assumed their defense, with the 
collaboration of the Ombudsman, the Legal Defense Institute and the 
Federation of Peasant Patrols in San Martmn. They also received the support 
of the press and the regional society.

Finally, the Supreme Court annulled the previous sentence and ordered their 
immediate release.

The sentenced is based on the ILO 169 Convention, Perus Constitution and 
the Law on Peasant Patrols, that authorizes them to intervene and judge 
people involved in committing crimes in their respective jurisdictions.

Peasant patrols in the Andean region, many led by Evangelicals, played a 
decisive role in stopping the Shining Path in the 1980s and 1990s.

PERU
Congress receives Baptist delegation

By Hugo Livano
LIMA, June 19, 2004 (alc). Perus Congress approved, by acclamation, a 
motion to send greetings to the Evangelical Baptist Convention in the 
country and the International Crusades missionary organization.

The motion, presented by Evangelical congressman Walter Alejos and others, 
was approved when a delegation from the two mentioned Christian 
organizations visited Congress and emphasized the important social and 
ethical work carried out by Evangelicals in Peru.

International Crusades, a missionary organization led by the Rev. Francisco 
Nuqez that is based in Lewisville, Texas, is carrying out an Evangelical 
campaign this week in Lima and the port of Callao.

Sixty-one Evangelicals from the United States and 31 from different South 
American countries are participating in the campaign called There is Life 
in Jesus. Thirty-six Baptist Churches, members of the Convention, led by 
Pastor Ramon Correa of the Ebenezer Church are also involved. These 
Churches are distributed in different neighborhoods in the capital.

The campaign began last Saturday with a celebration in the Cathedral of 
Faith Church in downtown Lima and will end next Sunday with a worship 
services in the Hotel Maria Angola Convention center in Miraflores, 
Judicial, municipal authorities and legislators are expected to attend.

------------------------
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