wfn.org | Lutherans Continue Effort to End U.S. Military Activity on Vieques

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 17, 2000

LUTHERANS CONTINUE EFFORT TO END U.S. MILITARY ACTIVITY ON VIEQUES
00-237-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- More than 20 Spanish-speaking staff and
leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA)
churchwide organization met here Oct. 5 to discuss how best the
church can continue its effort to put an end to U.S. military
training on Vieques, an island eight miles east of Puerto Rico.
     "The church's Latino community stands together in its struggle
for promoting justice and peace for the people of Vieques," said the
Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, director for ethnic leadership development,
ELCA Division for Ministry.
     "We are a 'community of communities' that stands together on
issues of justice," Villalon said.  "The community is made up of
people of a variety of cultures that use Spanish as their primary
language, who were born or trace their heritage to Mexico, Central
and South America, and the Caribbean."
     "The suffering of people on Vieques continues, and it should
not be forgotten," he said.
     The purpose of the meeting was to determine ways the Latino
community and the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the
ELCA, and the Rev. Francisco L. Sosa, bishop of the ELCA Caribbean
Synod, Dorado, Puerto Rico, can work together to end U.S. military
training on Vieques, said Villalon.
     As a result of the meeting, the group will organize a letter-
writing campaign designed for members of the church to encourage
Congress to terminate all military training and activities on
Vieques.  The group will work with the Lutheran Office for
Governmental Affairs (LOGA), the ELCA's federal public policy
advocacy office in Washington, D.C., to organize the campaign.
     Selected members of the group will develop resources designed
to offer congregations other methods for action and advocacy, and
will prepare a litany to guide congregations in prayer for the people
of Vieques.  The litany and resources will be made available to the
10,851 congregations and 65 synods of the ELCA in spring 2001.  A
letter from Anderson, who plans to visit Vieques March 22-23, will
accompany the materials.
     "The group will also work to organize a meeting among the
ELCA's various ecumenical partners to address the issue of peace for
Vieques," said Evelyn B. Soto, director for multicultural and
culture-specific resources, ELCA Division for Congregational
Ministries.  Soto said such a meeting will help to unify and
strengthen the efforts of various faith groups working for peace in
Vieques.
     "We must continue to remain united as a church and stand with
our brothers and sisters on Vieques, who have endured more than 60
years of living in war-like conditions.  U.S. military personnel use
the land as a bombing target," said Sosa.
     "Residents of Vieques are contaminated by chemicals released
from bombs.  About 40 percent of the island residents are
contaminated with chemicals, as well as the environment," Sosa said.
     "It is important for the church to keep the situation in
Vieques alive in our members' minds and in the public eye because,
like many other important issues, it gets submerged in the daily flow
of news," Anderson said in an interview.
     "This is an ongoing crisis for people who are living in
circumstances that are dangerous to their health.  It is our church's
policy to ask that the island be returned to the people of Puerto
Rico.  We need to continue action in terms of informing our people of
the need for congressional decision on this matter and to work with
Congress to help them understand the importance of taking this step,"
he said.
     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 LOGA, to "encourage the
U.S. government to seek reasonable solutions."

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