wfn.org | ALC Noticias October 2 2005 Puerto Rico Columbia Nicaragua

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

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

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CONTENT

COLOMBIA: Ecumenical Network presents book about truth, justice and reparation
PUERTO RICO: Death of Filiberto Ojeda was an act of war said Presbyterian
Church of Puerto Rico
MEXICO: Evangelical journalist says that cases of religious intolerance are
not addressed by the government
BRAZIL: Methodist Bishops speak out against the sale of fire arms
NICARAGUA: Nicaraguans are called to build a better future for the country
today

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COLOMBIA
Ecumenical Network presents book about truth, justice and reparation

Bogotá, Sept. 30 (ALC).In the midst of the conflict God continues to reveal
himself today and so we can affirm that evil does not have the last word,"
affirmed Biblical expert Alicia Winters, during the presentation of the
book "Un Grito de Dios: ¡Verdad, Justicia y Reparación", of the Ecumenical
Network of Colombia.

The scholar maintained that the work is an important beginning point that
encourages new ideas and new perspectives. Members of local Churches,
social organizations and human rights activist attended the act held
September 22.

Three representatives of communities that were the victims of violence in
Colombia carried a light symbolizing Truth, Justice and Reparation and
raised their voices to denounce 5,000 disappeared people, 22,000 crimes
against humanity and 5 million hectares of land taken by paramilitary groups.

The Rev. Milton Mejia, executive secretary of the Presbyterian Church of
Colombia and coordinator of the network said that the book is the
collective fruit of a team of theologians from different Churches that
attempt to offer a Biblical-theological reflection about the Justice and
Peace law. The aim is to apply this law in the process to demobilize
paramilitary groups that are currently operating.

Catholic theologian Fernando Torres said that today more than ever in
Colombia "we cannot carry out contextual theology if it does not begin with
the cry of the victims."

Claudia Giron of the National Movement of the Victims of State Crimes that
brings together more than 200 social organizations in the country said that
the moral force of the body resists giving into "in the face of the process
to legitimize paramilitary groups."

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PUERTO RICO
Death of Filiberto Ojeda was an act of war said Presbyterian Church of
Puerto Rico

Hormigueros, Sept. 30 (ALC). The Presbytery of Southwestern Puerto Rico,
Sinodo Boriken, sustained that the recent death of Puerto Rican Nationalist
Leader Filiberto Ojeda at the hands of the FBI "reminds us more than an act
of war than a civil action carried out by a legally constituted government."

Filiberto Ojeda  was killed by FBI gunmen and therefore this act was
committed behind the back of civil authorities, justice and security of the
Free Associated State, affirmed the body that is a member of the US
Presbyterian Church.

As believers in Jesus Christ as the Lord of life and the history of our
people, we are concerned, indignant and saddened by the uncertainly,
instability, confusion, uneasiness and lack of hope it has created in our
land, said a statement from the Presbytery.

The document was signed by the Rev. Manuel de J. Perez Rodriguez and the
Rev. Ruben Ortiz Rodriguez, moderator and permanent secretary respectively
of this organization.

Ojeda was shot by FBI agents September 23 in a rural neighborhood in the
community of Hormigueros, some 150 kilometers from San Juan. He was 72.

A resolution from the Presbytery southeast of Puerto Rico emitted last
Saturday said that after the confusing incident that put an end to Ojeda's
life, the media, medical personnel and lawyers were barred from access.

"Everything points to a clear violation of the human and civil rights of
the accused," affirmed the resolution.

The document invokes the Puerto Rican people to a serious reflection and
prayer and intercession about the case. "This Church body denounces and
protest that manner and way in which this operation was carried out by the
FBI" it said.

The presbytery from southeastern Puerto Rico brings together 29
congregations and a mission in an equal number of communities from Añasco,
Cabo Rojo, Guánica, Hormigueros, Lajas, Las Marías, Maricao, Mayagüez,
Ponce, Sabana Grande, San Germán and Yauco.

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MEXICO
Evangelical journalist says that cases of religious intolerance are not
addressed by the government

Mexico, Sept. 29 (ALC). Some acts of religious intolerance against
Evangelicals that take place in the country, are not dealt with by
government authorities, maintained Evangelical journalist Carlos Martinez.

In an article published in the daily La Jornada last Wednesday, Martinez
affirmed that authorities have limited themselves to launching moral
speeches "that leave everything to the conscience of aggressors," and he
directly accused the Minister of Human Development Rafael Rios Martinez.

He cited the case of 70 families of Huicholes Evangelical indigenous of the
Agua Fria community, north of Jalisco, who were forced to move to the
neighboring state of Nayarit due to harassment on the part of the Catholic
majority and the lack of understanding and apathy on the part of State and
federal authorities.

Those forced into exile claim that the situation is due to religious
differences that led to conflicts of another nature with the community,
such as land ownership. Those persecuting them claim that the dissident
minority refused to carry out community tasks, said Martinez, an active
leader from the Mexican Center for Studies in Protestantism.

"Coincidentally, several of these tasks and festivals are linked to
Catholic identity. These are practices that from a majority perspective
seem natural and unquestionable, but from another angle are considered
foreign to the new chosen identity and therefore they have the right to not
carry them out," he said.

What is true, said Martinez is that the "religiously incorrect" Huicholes
remain uprooted from their community of origin, while the officials delight
in using neologisms (.) to try and explain their passivity, which is
complicit with the aggressors."

The Evangelical journalist specified that the Human Rights Secretariat
denies the religious nature of the problem and sustains that it is a
conflict related to land ownership and community issues.

"The official forgets, to not say ignores, that in traditional societies
the difference between the religious and the secular is very tenuous and is
many cases does not exist," said the journalist after warning that
religious beliefs bring together other activities and imply political,
economic and cultural expressions.

"He criticized the invocations on the part of Rios Martinez who called the
Huicholes to "live in harmony and encourage tolerance" which he considered
components of a "good sermon" but do not resolve the obligation of
authorities to protect the rights of he victims.

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BRAZIL
Methodist Bishops speak out against the sale of fire arms

Sao Paulo, Sept. 29 (ALC). The Episcopal College of the Methodist Church of
Brazil spoke out in favor of banning the sale of fire arms and munitions in
the country, an issue that will be decided in a grassroots referendum on
October 23.

The bishops stated that the Methodist tradition instructs that all energy
should be channeled in favor of life, as taught by Jesus Christ.

The democratic participation of the people, who will determine at the polls
whether or not the sale of fire arms should be banned in Brazil, is a major
effort for the creation of a culture of peace dialogue and solidarity,
sustain the bishops.

The arms trade is inexorable proof that the increase of structural and
daily violence in the country is increasing, said the eight bishops who
make up the Methodist Bishops Council.

Citing data from the United Nations, the Brazilian bishops said that Brazil
has the highest number of murders with firearms in the world. "Despite the
fact that we represent 2.8% of the world's population, 8 percent of
homicides with firearms on the planet take place here. In Brazil, more
people die at the hand of firearms than in traffic accidents," they said.

The bishops invited the Methodist people to join a prayer movement in favor
of the grassroots referendum "so that, through the vote, each Methodist can
exercise their citizenship in accordance with the values of the Kingdom of
God."

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NICARAGUA
Nicaraguans are called to build a better future for the country today

By Trinidad Vásquez

Managua, Sept. 27 (ALC). Nicaragua needs something better and we are all
called to construct a better future, said diverse Evangelical organizations
in the country that called on the people, Christians, the government and
all State powers to join efforts to bring Nicaragua out of its current
state of prostration.

The Pastoral Letter "For a Better Homeland" read September 25 during a
World Bible Day celebration that brought together 20,000 Evangelicals in
the Plaza de la Fe made an urgent call to authorities that work to benefit
the nation to "do the duty for which they were elected."

The letter was signed by the National Council of Evangelical Pastors, the
Bible society, the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance and the Nicaraguan
Cultural Association.

"We are concerned about the deterioration in the quality of the life of our
people, the lack of employment, the lack of adequate medical attention in
hospitals, the hunger that thousands of Nicaraguans face," said the text
that also alludes to growing illiteracy, rising cost of services, frozen
salaries and the rising cost of the basic family food basket.

It specified that the situation is reaching a breaking point for the
people. "There are things that the people cannot withstand and it is
manifested in our churches on a daily basis," it said.

"The eyes of the world have observed the sad walk of our homeland, that
rather than the dream of a great homeland our universal poet Ruben Dario
referred to, we have a homeland where intrigue and violence are part of
daily life," it said.

The World Bible Day was celebrated in all the municipalities in the
country, commemorating the 436 years since the Bible was first translated
to Spanish. The religious celebration mobilized thousands of Evangelicals
in marches and days of prayer.

The most significant concentration took place in the Plaza de la Fe, where
the mayor of Managua, Dionisio Marenco, announced that the city would build
a monument to commemorate the World Bible Day and promised it would be
built during his mandate.

Pastor Omar Duarte lifted his prayers so that God would extend His hands
over authorities and citizens to allow them to overcome the political,
economic and moral crisis that county is currently confronting.

Pastor Cesar Augusto Marenco, who preached during the event, said that the
Bible must transform the lives of the believers, while the Pastor and
president of the Evangelical Alliance of Nicaragua Mauricio Fonseca said
that men have lost their fear of Jehovah and must seek a change in attitude.

Pastor Jose Luis Rodríguez, in the city of Jinotega, 160 kilometers north
of Managua, said that act was a demonstration of the unity and strength of
the people so that politicians take the Evangelical Church into account
when passing laws.
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