wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Missouri Presbyterians' confrontation in Peru

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Note #7473 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Missouri Presbyterians' confrontation in Peru
spurs local citizens movement
02402
October 16, 2002

Missouri Presbyterians' confrontation in Peru
spurs local citizens movement

Resulting media blitz, government action is great news for lead-poisoned
children

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE -  Hunger activists from Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery traveled to
Peru recently to meet with a partner group trying to protect children from
lead poisoning caused by a U.S. mining company.

Their relatively low-key visit became a media sensation when overzealous
Peruvian police and judicial officials burst into a public meeting on the
issue and confronted the "agitators" from the United States.

The result was a huge boost for the fledgling campaign to save the kids the
Peruvian media have dubbed "the children of lead."

Four members of the Missouri presbytery's Joining Hands Against Hunger (JHAH)
Coordinating Team - an international ministry of the Presbyterian Hunger
Program (PHP) - went to Peru with the Rev. Lynn Connette, a member of the
hunger program's staff, to meet their Peruvian counterparts to learn about
hunger and environmental issues there and to help train pastors for
environmental-justice ministries.

Together with Hunter S. Farrell, a PC(USA) missionary in Peru, the delegation
from the St. Louis-based presbytery traveled to the village of La Oroya for a
press conference organized by two partner groups - the Movement for the
Defense of Health in La Oroya and Asociacion Filomena Tomaira Pacsi - that
are trying to force a Missouri mining company, Doe Run, to clean up its
operations in the area.

The Giddings-Lovejoy group has been demanding a similar cleanup at another
Doe Run site in Missouri.

Peruvian and international media, including the Wall Street Journal, have
documented the effects of Doe Run's mining operations on the children of La
Oroya. Health officials say as many as half of them need hospital treatment
for severe lead-poisoning caused by the company's contamination of air, water
and soil.

Just after the press conference, while the activists were meeting with the
village mayor, the chief of police and a provincial judge stormed in to break
up what they called an "illegal" meeting and demand that the U.S. visitors
explain their presence. Local radio and TV, which were presenting live
coverage of the press conference and the meeting, got the brouhaha on tape.

Farrell said Jose Regalado, a Peruvian human-rights lawyer who also serves as
coordinator of JHAH-Peru, "rose to defend the delegationand the two
officials backed down and left."
Later, however, as the group was leaving La Oroya, their van was stopped and
they were subjected to further harassment.

The confrontation, Farrell said, "was the catalyst for a series of events
that continues to unfold."  

The Rev. George Humbert, the chair of the presbytery's JHAH network, told the
Presbyterian News Service that "a pretty scary situation" resulted in "a
stronger commitment by us and our Peruvian partners to right the wrongs being
done in La Oroya."

Over the next few days, the Peruvian and U.S. activists met with a number of
Peruvian national officials to demand respect for Peruvians' rights, and the
Peruvian Congress launched an investigation of the environmental degradation
of La Oroya and the health problems of its children. A Peruvian national TV
program called Contrapunto - the Peruvian equivalent of "60 Minutes" -
broadcast a lengthy segment titled "Children of Lead." 

All of which resulted in exposure and support for the JHAH partner
organizations in Peru.

"The beauty of it is the power of God's authority," said Humbert, a former
Peace Corps volunteer. "Even with our best-laid plans, God has other
designs."

Lionel Derenencourt, the hunger program's coordinator for the JHAH ministry,
said: "We now have a synergy that, if we had tried to plan it, it wouldn't
have happened. It's a mutual transformation."

Farrell praised the Giddings-Lovejoy group for its courage under fire. "They
responded admirably to the pressure and uncertainty of the experience," he
said. "Their experience has galvanized their commitment, and the movement in
La Oroya has been significantly strengthened."

Esther Hinostroza, director of Asociacion Filomena, said: "This is what
happens to all of God's children who work for justice in this evil world of
ours. We know what's coming, but 'We are more than conquerors in Christ
Jesus.'"
	
In addition to Humbert, the pastor of College Avenue Presbyterian Church in
Alton, IL, the Giddings-Lovejoy delegation included: the Rev. Elinor "Ellie"
Stock, co-pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Dellwood, MO and
chair of the Giddings-Lovejoy JHAH Environmental Justice Commission; Carolyn
Newcomb of St. Charles (MO) Presbyterian Church; and Karen Wilson of the
College Avenue Church.

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