ALC NEWS SERVICE E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org
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CONTENT
ARGENTINA: Evangelical organizations call on the governor of Chaco to receive Indigenous communities. PERU: Congress salutes 100 year anniversary of Maria Alvarado Methodist School BOLIVIA: Proposal put forward that new Constitution modify exclusive recognition of Catholic religión MEXICO: Warn of danger that Catholic hierarchy induces vote for determined candidates CUBA : United States suspends call system for visa applications
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ARGENTINA
Evangelical organizations call on the governor of Chaco to receive Indigenous communities.
BUENOS AIRES, June 9 (ALC). Church organizations and human rights groups called on Roy Abelardo Nikisch, the governor of the Argentine province of Chaco to address the reiterated demands from indigenous people who have been displaced from their lands.
" We call on them to receive them and listen to them as they deserve and to truly take into account their justified demands," read a paragraph of the letter sent from the Latin American Council of Churches, the US World Churches Service (Southern Cone Region), the Argentine Federation of Evangelical Churches (FAIE), and the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights (MEDH).
On June 6 a meeting with the governor did not take place as he refused to meet with 20 delegates from different ethnic groups while hundreds of indigenous people demanded a solution to the land conflict outside of his offices.
The Evangelical leaders expressed concern about the land issue which has led to numerous demands on the part of the affected population, which have not been addressed by the authority.
The representatives of the Evangelical organizations and the MEDH indicated that it does not correspond to them as "white people to interpret the needs of these communities that were on the lands before our ancestors got off the boats," but affirmed that it does correspond to them to recognize their current needs and suffering.
"We must hear their voices and from there act, bringing about justice according to the role that society has granted each of us in this historic moment," they said.
It stated that the demand of the indigenous is legitimate in the National Constitution, which recognizes the pre-existence of indigenous peoples, their right to the lands they traditionally occupied, to an inter-cultural bilingual education, to their own language and culture, as well as their participation in issues that affect them.
We understand that their attitude and response to the just clamor of indigenous communities, as well as facilitating dialogue, will be the first step in the search for urgent and necessary immediate and long term solutions, the letter concluded.
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PERU
Congress salutes 100 year anniversary of Maria Alvarado Methodist School
LIMA, June 8 (ALC).During a plenary session Thursday, Congress approved a motion to salute the Maria Alvarado school, previously called Lima High School, founded a century ago by US Methodist Missionary Elsie Wood, during a ceremony attended by authorities from the school.
The motion, which was presented by Evangelical Congressman Walter Alejos because of the 100th anniversary on June 18, emphasized the trajectory of the Methodist school that has offered quality education with a formation in values and principles for life for 100 years.
The Maria Alvarado School was at the forefront of Peruvian education when it set up a primary and secondary school for girls in 1906, in contrast with the educational culture of the time that emphasized education for boys.
"The Maria Alvarado School has been one of the pioneers in the educational formation of women.in particular in demanding universal voting for women, teaching democratic values and principles, as well as gender equality in all areas of life," according to the motion.
It indicated that the contribution of the school is not limited to an integral education of human knowledge but also in "Christian values and principles, under the slogan: Love, honor and service."
The celebrations will begin June 12 and end June 18 and include a thanksgiving service, meetings for alumni, a photo exhibit, the unveiling of a bust of Elsie Wood and a civic parade.
Principal Piedad Roman de Alcazar told ALC that the Maria Alvarado has reached a high standard of educational quality and throughout its history has provided integral, academic and spiritual formation to thousands of students.
One of the events that attracted the greatest amount of attention was the awards to former students such as anthropologist Rosa Fung Pineda, novelist Laura Riesco, soprano Jacqueline Terry, Doctor of Chemistry Lucía Pozzi Scott and the oldest former student Luisa Saito who graduated in 1933 and former South American Champion of 100 and 200 meters Martha Huby and South American and World Shooting Champion Ketty Baldwin.
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BOLIVIA
Proposal put forward that new Constitution modify exclusive recognition of Catholic religión
LA PAZ, June 9 (ALC). Several political parties and citizen groups proposed that the new Bolivian constitution modify the exclusive state recognition of the Catholic religion, an issue that is being addressed by the majority evangelical citizen group called National Unity (CN for its initials in Spanish).
"One of the central objectives is to propose religious freedom in the country and eliminate the privileges of the Catholic Church as the official State religion," CN candidate Manuel Morales told the daily La Razon.
The CN proposal is to move from a confessional State to a lay state, said the Pastor of Ekklesia, Alberto Salcedo, who said that the priority demand of the movement is based on the "struggle for life, for equality and for dignity."
In CN, 90 percent of the representatives are from Evangelical Christian Churches, as well as left wing groups and religious communities.
The ruling party Movement to Socialism (MAS) supports the argument. On the other hand, the group Democratic and Social Power considers that the constitutional text should remain the same and National Unity supports the position of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference, which admits religious freedom but with an expressed recognition of the Catholic Church. According to La Razon, the Bolivian Catholic Church has voiced its opinion prior to the debate as last May the bishops published a message where they said that reviewing article 3 of the Constitution would be opportune to "remove the doubts and often the prejudices that certain sectors of the population have manifested regarding the current text."
Article 3 sustains that the "State recognizes that sustains the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion. It guarantees the public exercise of all other religions. Relations with this Church will be governed through concordats and agreements between the State and the Holy See."
Francisco Flores, adjunct secretary general of the Bolivian Bishop's Conference said that the position of the Catholic Church is to go to "broad religious freedom." However, he said, the country "should recognize the Catholic Church and perhaps other religions as part of the history of the formation of Bolivia."
The proposal of the MAS does not contemplate this recognition in its Constitutional project. Rather it seeks to ensure a lay state and freedom of worship.
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Warn of danger that Catholic hierarchy induces vote for determined candidates
MEXICO CITY, Mexico, June 9, 2006
The danger that the Catholic hierarchy could influence people to vote for determined candidates in the July 2 elections was pointed out by the Ecclesial Observatory, which said the risk is higher in this process given the close relationship between the federal executive and the Secretary of governance.
The Ecclesial Observatory, made up of the Antonio de Montesinos Center, Catholics for Free Choice, the Ecumenical Studies Center, the Center for Theological Reflection, the International Franciscan Family, the National Center for Social Communication and the Alas Collective, affirmed that the risk exists that the "tenuous frontier between orientation and imposition is broken" by bishops, priests, religious and Catholic lay people.
According to the representatives of this organization "in this electoral process the growing political militancy of the Catholic hierarchy has joined misinformation, together with the risk of inducing the vote in the name of the sexual and reproductive moral norms in official Catholic doctrine."
The spokespeople from El Observatoro indicated that the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) is promoting the workshops "Participate and Decide Common Good in Justice and Peace," without any monitoring on the part of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE). They said that accusations against Bishop Onesimo Cepada and the private presentation of the presidential candidates in the last CEM assembly are signs that the Catholic hierarchy has the intention of having a strong impact in these elections.
They announced that on June 11 they would distribute flyers about the clear separation between religious and state institutions in the electoral field and Catholic norms and Mexican laws regarding the responsibilities and limits of the faithful and the religious hierarchy in the elections.
The flyer will inform the Catholic community that there are Church documents that establish that the Catholic Church cannot substitute the State and will exhort it to maintain its independence regarding political parties and their ideologies.
At the same time it will list laws that impede bishops, priests, religious and lay people from taking advantage of their religious authority to promote the vote for a political party or candidate, to carry out campaigns, to induce the vote and to promote absenteeism.
It called on people to report any Church authorities who take advantage of their religious position to call on people to vote for a party or candidate or to impede them from doing so.
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CUBA
United States suspends call system for visa applications
HAVANA,June 8 (ALC). The US Interests Section suspended the new call system for non immigrant Cubans to apply for visas, including those done from the United States in the Religious Visas program.
In a statement signed June 5 by Robert H. McCutcheon, head of the visas unit, the section indicated that as of June 2 the new system is suspended, including for visas corresponding to the religious section.
The document indicated that while the new system had the support of the public the volume of calls caused it to collapse. On June 2 alone it received 500,000 calls.
The new service allows persons in the United States to make a visa appointment on behalf of Cuban friends and relatives and allows US Churches to request interviews for Cubans who have been invited to participate in religious meetings in the United States.
The section stated that in the six days it was operating, from May 25 - June 2, it programmed interviews to January 2007.
"The suspension of the system affects all visitors, including those who apply under the Religious Visas Program," it said. According to the statement the section will not be able to schedule new interviews until further notice.
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