wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Rally spotlights border deaths, abductions

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8707 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05194
April 7, 2005

Rally spotlights border deaths, abductions

Presbyterians seek justice for families of 1,400 female victims

by Toya Richards Hill
 
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - The sun warmed the backs of about 200 Presbyterians
as they crossed the invisible line between the United States and Mexico in an
effort to save the women.
 
	Hardly any of the travelers knew them personally, but that didn't
matter. The women's fates - abduction and death - had pierced their hearts.
And they knew they couldn't turn back. 

	"I have an employee whose cousin is one of the women who was killed,"
Virginia King, a commissioned lay pastor in the Sierra Blanca Presbytery,
said just before making the journey. The families that have lost women, she
said, are "absolutely helpless." 

	Over the past 12 years, about 400 women have been turned up dead and
about 1,000 more have vanished from the streets of Ciudad Juarez. No one
knows why. Local authorities have yet to make a solid arrest.

	On Sunday, April 3, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - following the
lead of the 216th General Assembly - marshaled its forces to bring public
attention to the disappearances.  

	The Save the Women rally was a combined effort of the Tres Rios,
Sierra Blanca and Palo Duro presbyteries; the National Presbyterian Church of
Mexico; and Pasos de Fe Border Ministry. Participants were U.S. Presbyterians
seeking justice and Mexican Presbyterians who daily experience the pain of
the missing women. 

	The mid-day rally in Chamizal Park in Juarez, directly across the
border from El Paso, TX, involved more than 500 people who gathered in dust
and grass, settling on chairs, benches and blankets around a small stage. A
local vendor with a makeshift refrigerated cart peddled homemade popsicles
and ice cream.
 
	"It is now time for something to be done ... so that these deaths
will stop occurring," Juarez resident Narveta Perez said through a translator
while waiting for the rally to begin. "I have two daughters (ages 15 and 12),
and they go to school, and I fear for them."
 
	"It's a real ugly feeling when you hear that they have killed another
woman," Perez added. "I hope that God can offer a solution to this."
  
	Among those in attendance were the Rev. Jean Marie Peacock, the
PC(USA) vice moderator, and ecumenical leaders including the Rev. George P.
Bithos, executive director of the Texas Conference of Churches.
 
	Old-time hymns mixed with contemporary Christian praise songs were
punctuated by speeches in English and Spanish about the need to bring an end
to the deaths and disappearances. And there were seasonal acknowledgements
and celebrations of Christ's resurrection. 

	"We are here because we believe we can make a difference," said the
Rev. Jose' Luis Casal, general missioner of Tres Rios Presbytery. "We are
here because we believe God is on our side."
 
	Perhaps the most poignant part of the event was the recitation of a
poem by the father of Elena Peralez, who disappeared in Juarez, in broad
daylight, in 1997. She was 14 years old, and had been on her way to the
neighborhood store.
 
	"How can she disappear from the streets?" the father asked during a
later interview. "She just never came back."
 
	Organizers of the event said no other relatives of missing women were
on hand because they feared retaliation.
 
	"We care deeply that these crimes against women have gone unsolved,"
Peacock, the PC(USA) vice moderator, told her listeners, choking back tears.
When one of God's children hurts, she said, "All of creation groans and cries
for justice."
 
	The rally didn't end without a call to action. A theological
statement read in English and Spanish urged the Mexican government "to
quickly apprehend and arrest those who are responsible for these crimes."

	Participants were told about a number of Web sites - among them
www.pcusa.org/womensadvocacy and www.juarezwomen.com - through which they
could stay involved.  
 
	"We can make a difference," Casal said. 

Note: Special thanks to Viola Johnson of First Presbyterian Church in
Alamogordo, NM, who represents Sierra Blanca Presbytery in the Presbyterian
Border Ministry, for translation services.

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