wfn.org | ELCA Synod Issues Statement on U.S. Military Operation on Vieques

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 19, 2000

ELCA SYNOD ISSUES STATEMENT ON U.S. MILITARY OPERATION ON VIEQUES
00-136-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Caribbean Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) issued a statement May 12 that calls for an
end to U.S. military occupation on Vieques, an island eight miles east
of Puerto Rico.  The synod, one of 65 of the ELCA, is made up of 6,992
Lutherans in 26 congregations of the ELCA.
     "Now is the time where God is calling us to be a voice for
Vieques," said the statement.  "There are times where we need to give
witness to the gospel with bold actions and take a clear stand for
principles.  This is just what we are doing in Vieques -- standing for the 
principles of justice, dignity and peace."
     The statement called for Lutherans in the United States to join
ELCA members in Puerto Rico "to pray and witness to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ."  It said, "We need a strong and clear word of commitment from
the ELCA.  We need the ELCA, motivated by a sense of compassionate
solidarity, to take sides with the oppressed people of Vieques and leap
into this struggle with us, firmly and positively, to promote justice
and human rights."
     "Ever since the second World War, U.S. military personnel have
used Vieques to exercise its war tactics," the Rev. Francisco L. Sosa,
bishop of the ELCA's Caribbean Synod, Dorado, Puerto Rico, said.  "As a
consequence of live-fire ammunition and bombing, the island and health
of the people on Vieques have suffered tremendously."
     "There are more than 9,500 human beings that have been...forced to
live in a war-like environment for more than 60 years.  We are taking a
stand on behalf of God's creation, God's little ones, and God's desire
for justice and peace," the statement said.
     Lutheran pastors and lay people from Puerto Rico have participated
in a Christian ecumenical campaign to halt military activity on Vieques.
Their protest began last year after a local man, working as a security
guard on the target range, was killed by a stray bomb.
     Sosa said the death of David Sanes Rodriguez has magnified the
claim for justice and peace by the people of Puerto Rico.  "We are
pledging that not one more bomb is dropped on Vieques," he said.
     "Our plea to the rest of the church is to pray and witness to the
gospel with us," Sosa said.  "We need a strong and clear word of
commitment from the entire church."
     The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution that called
on the U.S. government "to seek reasonable solutions" that will end all
U.S. military operations on Vieques.  The assembly resolution also asked
that the land be returned to the people of the island "while not
compromising our nation's security."  It asked the ELCA Division for
Church in Society, through the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs
in Washington, D.C., to "encourage the U.S. government to seek
reasonable solutions."
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The full text of the statement from the ELCA Caribbean Synod is on the
Web at www.elca.org/dcs/vieques.html.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html