wfn.org | ALC News Service 29 June 2003

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

ALC HEADLINES:
PERU: Encounter of Evangelical Indigenous Peoples promotes unity
ARGENTINA: Evangelicals lobby for Worship Law
CHILE: Evangelicals presented President with their proposals about Human 
Rights law
ECUADOR: Evangelicals to render homage to economist
CHILE: Day of the Victims of Torture brings together key personalities

PERU
Encounter of Evangelical Indigenous Peoples promotes unity

LIMA, June 26, 2003 (alc).  The II Latin American Encounter of Evangelical 
Indigenous Peoples declared that strengthening the unity of Christ is a 
priority for the defense of peoples rights and to achieve joint solutions 
for development.

The event took place in the Andean city of Huanta in southern Peru from 
June 17 - 20 with the participation of 1,300 delegates from Bolivia, 
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. Representatives from the United 
States and Korea also attended.

Speakers included Mexican leader Abdias Tovillas who addressed the theme 
Human rights among indigenous peoples, Fernando Quicaqa, of Peru spoke 
about Bilingual Education and Tito Paredes, general secretary of the 
Latin American Theological Fraternity, who presented Anthropology and 
Mission to indigenous peoples.

Marcos Murillo, President of the Federation of Evangelical Indigenous of 
Ecuador (FEINE) and president of the Latin American Council of Indigenous 
Evangelical Peoples, presented the theme Participation in politics.

Participants also agreed to constitute the Evangelical Latin American 
Political Movement in order to participate in the political life of our 
countries and at the will seek to jointly construct a political project 
sustained in Biblical principles.

They also decided to constitute an interdenominational Council of 
Indigenous Pastors of Latin America and agreed to promote the integral 
training of pastors and indigenous Evangelical leaders and the 
participation of indigenous

Participants agreed to demand recognition for the rights of indigenous 
peoples contemplated in the UN Declaration and the Organization of American 
States and that there be another Decade of Indigenous Peoples of the World. 
They also will lobby governments to approve Agreement 169 of the 
International Labor Organization (ILO).

The Latin American indigenous people declared that they reject the Free 
Trade Area of the Americas (ALCA) for its detrimental affect on the life of 
indigenous peoples and because the proposal only favors multinational 
firms. Rather, they are lobbying for an America that is marked by 
solidarity, justice, equity and is intercultural.

The III Encounter of Latin American Evangelical Indigenous Peoples will be 
held in Cochabama, Bolivia in 2005.

ARGENTINA
Evangelicals lobby for Worship Law

BUENOS AIRES, June 27, 2003 (alc). Representatives from the National 
Evangelical Christian Council (CNCE) emphasized the need for a Worship Law 
in Argentina during a meeting held June 23 with the Worship Secretary, 
Ambassador Guillermo Oliveri.

During the course of the meeting CNCE representatives referred to 
conversations they have held both with the Worship Secretary and the 
Argentine Bishops Conference.

The CNCE insisted on the need for a legal framework that recognized the 
religious legal status, pointing to progress in the search for consensus.

The CNCE, which groups together the Argentine Federation of Evangelical 
Churches (FAIE), the Evangelical Pentecostal Confraternity Federation (CEP) 
and the Christian Alliance of the Churches of Argentina Federation 
(FACIERA), clearly manifested their opposition to the so-called Worship 
Registry sanctioned by the de facto government in 1978, considering it to 
be unconstitutional.

Registration in the so-called Worship Registry as a condition to operate as 
a Church or religious community is considered to limit religious freedom. 
Evangelical Churches were opposed to the very first law, passed in May 1946 
and overthrown five months later at the request of the Federation of 
Evangelical Churches and the Evangelical Baptist Convention.

During the interview Evangelicals said they have been present in the 
country for the past 200 years and outlined the process that led to the 
constitution of the federations and the CNCE. They spoke about important 
progress in the past decade in the road to unity, dialogue with the Roman 
Catholic Church and other religions.

Oliveri said the Secretariat is open to discussion in order to obtain a 
broad based consensus for the new legislation.

The director of the Worship Registry, Jose C Cardoso and his advisor Ana 
Zagari were present. For the CNCE the presidents of the federations, 
pastors  Emilio Monti (FAIE), Roberto Prieto (CEP) and Rubin Proietti 
(ACIERA) attended as well as pastors Rodolfo Couto, Hictor Petrecca, Ciro 
Crimi, Hugo Baravalle and Norberto Saracco.

CHILE
Evangelicals presented President with their proposals about Human Rights law

SANTIAGO , June 27, 2003 (alc). Leaders from the Committee of Evangelical 
Organizations (COE), lead by Pentecostal Bishop Francisco Anabalon and 
Methodist Bishop Neftali Aravena met this week for 45 minutes with 
President Ricardo Lagos about the Human Rights law that the government 
seeks to present.

In recent weeks the government has received proposals from different 
parties and even army commander in chief Juan Emilio Cheyre.

The proposals put forward by the Evangelicals, which represent 16 percent 
of the population according to official statistics, call on the government 
to not include a final point law, to increase the number of judges 
exclusively dedicated to human rights and to offer incentives to people who 
have knowledge of where the detained-disappeared are buried.

These incentives, including a type of repentance law, would be offered for 
a determined period (possibly six months). Once that period was up the 
sanction would be more severe for those who had knowledge of the crime but 
did not collaborate with justice.

Lagos was reportedly sympathetic to the proposals presented by the 
Evangelicals. COE told Lagos that they back his efforts in the 
reconciliation process. Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza was also 
present at the interview that took place June 24.

Bishop Aravena, who is also the Evangelical chaplain at the La Moneda 
Palace told ALC that a final point law will not lead to reconciliation in 
the country. He said that nearly 30 years have gone by since the September 
11, 1973 coup and reconciliation has not been achieved because events have 
not been fully clarified and the Armed Forces have not been willing to 
indicate where the detained-disappeared are buried.

The families of those who have been kidnapped and disappeared have not been 
able to properly mourn and the soul of the country is wounded because its 
ethical moral values were violated. Society calls on the military to make 
concrete gestures, to tell the truth of the facts, where the bodies are 
buried, affirmed Aravena.

Army commander in chief asked for forgiveness several weeks ago in the name 
of the armed forces and said the military would not support any more coups. 
He said that the country couldnt continue to life with this pain, that 
reconciliation should be broad and include the military that have been 
processed.

ECUADOR
Evangelicals to render homage to economist

QUITO, June 27, 2003 (alc). The Ecuadorian Evangelical Confraternity (CEE) 
and the Christian Center for Political Reflection will render homage to 
economist Wilma Salgado, manager of the Depository Guarantee Agency (AGD) 
for the courage she showed when she managed to collect the savings of 
thousands of people, many of them poor, after a dozen banks were closed in 
1999.

One of our responsibilities as Christian citizens is to recognize those who 
struggle in favor of transparency and justice, said the invitation to the 
act to be celebrated next Tuesday in the Lutheran Adviento Church.

Pastor Estuardo Lopez, president of the CEE, said that Salgado had the 
courage to collect from those considered untouchable so that the collected 
funds could serve to pay clients who were adversely affected by the closure 
of a dozen banks five years ago, for which she deserves the backing of the 
Evangelical community.

The closure of the banks took place, among other reasons, due to excessive 
credit granted shareholders and companies with links to the financial 
institutions. As a result, the GDP fell 5 percent and the situation lead to 
the overthrow of Jamil Mahuad in January 2000.

Salgado was named by the government of Lucio Gutierrez six weeks ago as AGD 
manager, an entity created in 1999. The process to liquidate the banks was 
apparently previously stalled by former AGD managers.

CHILE
Day of the Victims of Torture brings together key personalities

SANTIAGO , June 27, 2003 (alc). Key figures who saved dozens of Chileans 
persecuted by the dictatorship, who helped the exiled and who denounced the 
crimes committed by the Gen. Pinochet regime attended an event to celebrate 
International Solidarity Day with the Victims of Torture in Chile.

An international delegation, invited by the Ethical Commission Against 
Torture, participated in the celebration. The delegation included German 
Lutheran Bishop Helmut Frenz, Uruguayan singer Daniel Viglietti, former 
Norwegian Ambassador Frode Nilson, Francoise Visie of the Belgian 
organization Socialist Solidarity and Argentines Margarita Jarque (national 
legislator)  and Filix Crous (Attorney),

Frenz, now 70 years old and living in Argentine, formed part of a team of 
priests, monks and pastors who helped more than 1,000 people obtain asylum 
in different embassies after the September 11, 1973 coup, said Lucia 
Sepzlveda.

Together with Catholic Bishop Fernando Ariztia, Frenz organized the 
Pro-Peace Committee, which documented complaints lodged by the relatives of 
the victims. Frenz was detained three times and his parish searched.

In 1975, when Frenz was in Geneva, delivering denouncements to the United 
Nations, the government barred his return to Chile. In Germany he 
campaigned against the Dignidad colony for its links to National 
Intelligence (DINA).

Nilsen was the Norwegian Ambassador in Chile for eight years and sought to 
help persecuted people that no-one else wanted to shelter, including 
militants from the Revolutionary Leftist Movement (MIR) and others.

Francoise Visie, a Belgian social worker received exiles from Chile, 
Argentina, Uruguay, Rwanda, Somalia and the Congo. She recalled that some 
Chileans arrived with only the clothes on their back and photos of their 
families. Francoise found them a place to stay, mattresses, pots and pans, 
plates and took their children and registered them in school.

Singer writer Daniel Viglietti was imprisoned in his country, Uruguay, in 
1972. Released, thanks to international pressure, he sought exile in France 
and returned in 1984. He sang in countless acts of solidarity with Chile 
and many of his songs are remembered today.

Argentine legislator Margarita Jarque unmasked the Rev Cristian Von Wernich 
when he was hiding in the Chilean seaside town of El Quisco when he was 
sought by Argentine courts for his role in the disappearance, torture and 
persecution of thousands of Argentines and one Chilean in 1978.

Attorney Felix Crous participated in the courts that judged human rights 
violators during the military dictatorship in Argentina.

On June 20, when she received Bishop Frenz and the other desks, Isabel 
Allende, the daughter of the murdered president said I am very moved to be 
living 30 years after the coup, above all when I am with all of you. As 
she spoke, there was a strong earth tremor. Those present interpreted it as 
greetings from Salvador Allende.

During part of the event on June 25 at the La Republica University, Frenz 
said It is not possible to close history. History is like a river that no 
dam can contain. We Germans learned that erasing and turning the page does 
not work. The victims, the survivors, the relatives must be at the center 
of the debate in order to obtain justice at any level. We are opposed to 
any attempt at a final point law.

------------------------
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