wfn.org | NCCUSA Asks President Clinton to Forgive Central

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

American Debt

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: news@ncccusa.org

Contact: Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227

126NCC12/1/98  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC LEADERS ASK PRESIDENT CLINTON TO FORGIVE DEBT AND TO 
PROTECT CENTRAL AMERICAN NATIONALS IN WAKE OF HURRICANE 
MITCH

 NEW YORK, Dec. 1 ---- In a letter signed by the 
General Secretary and 13 other representatives from the 
National Council of Churches' (NCC's) 35 member 
communions, church leaders ask President Clinton to 
cancel debt owed by Latin American countries affected by 
Hurricane Mitch and to give "temporary protected status" 
to nationals from those countries.

 The Nov. 24 letter commends the Clinton 
Administration for its continuing response and assistance 
to the region in the wake of devastating Hurricane Mitch, 
but urges "additional measures which we feel are 
essential to relieve the great burden which these 
countries face as they seek to rebuild."  The Rev. Dr. 
Joan Brown Campbell, NCC General Secretary, signed the 
letter along with leaders from 13 Protestant and Orthodox 
communions.

 The church leaders encourage President Clinton to 
enact measures including to "follow the example announced 
by France . . . and write off all of the aid and 
development debt owed by Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador 
and Guatemala."

 Besides granting the cancellation of debts, the 
Clinton Administration is also asked "to grant an 
eighteen month `temporary protected status' for Central 
American nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras 
and Nicaragua currently in the United States."  The 
letter explains, "This status was created precisely to 
respond to crises like the one Central America is now 
facing, where countries are temporarily unable to handle 
the return of its nationals."

 The full text of the letter, including the 14 
signatories, follows.

-end-

November 24, 1998

President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20500

Dear Mr. President:

As representatives of the 35 member communions of the 
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., 
we write to commend your administration for its 
continuing response to the devastation facing Central 
America in the wake of Hurricane Mitch.  The additional 
assistance which first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton 
announced in Tegulcigalpa is a welcome supplement to the 
assistance which we know has already been sent to this 
region.  We write today to urge additional measures which 
we feel are essential to relieve the great burden which 
these countries face as they seek to rebuild.

We are gratified that the United States has joined other 
nations in acknowledging the burden of the foreign debt 
owed by these countries.  The NCCC just unanimously 
passed the enclosed resolution regarding debt 
cancellation at its annual General Assembly last week.  
Your decision to grant a two-year moratorium on bilateral 
debt payments for Nicaragua and Honduras, while seeking 
to encourage the same of multilateral lending 
institutions, is a welcome first-step.  We now urge that 
you move to follow the example announced by France -- who 
has also extended to Guatemala and El Salvador this 
relief -- and write off all of the aid and development 
debt owed by Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and 
Guatemala.  It is predicted that it will take years for 
these countries to restore their destroyed economies.  
Diverting funds to debt payments from the critical tasks 
of restoring infrastructures and rebuilding schools and 
clinics will only serve to magnify and extend the human 
cost inflicted by this disaster.  To ask that these 
countries maintain their structural adjustment policies 
and continue to repay their debt while trying to recover 
from such devastation is to pour salt into the wounds of 
these nations.

Besides granting a cancellation of debts owed by these 
nations, we also ask that your Administration act 
immediately to grant an eighteen month "temporary 
protected status" for Central American nationals from El 
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua currently in 
the United States.  This status was created precisely to 
respond to crises like the one Central America is now 
facing, where countries are temporarily unable to handle 
the return of its nationals.  There are already countless 
numbers of homeless in these countries, and many of them 
have lost their means of employment as well.  Allowing 
these nationals a temporary extension of their stay in 
the United States will protect them from a similar fate 
while helping to alleviate the suffering in the region.

Again, we commend the steps which you have taken already 
and the concern which you have shown in the wake of this 
disaster.  We thank you for the consideration of our 
concerns regarding the specific issues of the debt burden 
and temporary protected status.  

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell
General Secretary
National Council of the 
Churches of 
  Christ in the U.S.A.

Rev. McKinley Young
Office of Ecumenical and 
Urban Affairs
African Methodist Episcopal 
Church

Rev. Dr. Daniel E. Weiss
General Secretary
American Baptist Churches, 
U.S.A.

Rev. Metropolitan Philip 
Saliba
Primate
Antiochian Orthodox 
Archdiocese of 
  North America

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian
Primate 
Armenian Church

Bishop Nathaniel Linsey
Bishop
Christian Methodist Episcopal 
Church

Rev. Judy Mills Reimer
Executive Director
Church of the Brethren

Rev. H. George Anderson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
  America

Rev. Dr. J. Ralph Shotwell
Interim Executive Director
International Council of Community 
  Churches

Rev. R. Burke Johnson
President
Moravian Church-Northern Province

Most Blessed Metropolitan Theodosius
Archbishop of Washington, 
Metropolitan 
  of all America and Canada, Primate
Orthodox Church in America

Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
General Secretary
Reformed Church in America

Bishop William Boyd Grove
Ecumenical office
United Methodist Church

cc:    Hillary Rodham Clinton
        Tipper Gore
        Sec. Treasury Robert Rubin
        Lawrence Sommers, Treasury Department
        Attorney General Janet Reno
        Dorris Meisner, INS
        Brain Atwood, USAID
        Select Members of Congress

 -0-