|
| |
|
Colombia crisis grows |
Warning of 'semi-dictatorship' as
violence grips Colombia
by Chris Herlinger, Ecumenical News International
[posted here 8-15-02]
MEDELLIN, Colombia - 13-August-2002 - Colombia appears on the verge of a
major escalation of its nearly 40-year-old civil war, with optimism
shrinking among human rights groups about reviving peace efforts - a
cause championed by Colombia's churches.
The country's new president, Alvaro Uribe, yesterday (August 12)
declared a national state of emergency after five days of violence that
left more than 100 dead following his inauguration last week. The state
of emergency allows President Uribe to curtail some basic civil
liberties.
Uribe's inauguration on August 7 was overshadowed by a mortar attack in
the capital, Bogota, that killed at least 19 people and damaged the
presidential palace.
Authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for
the surprise attack which stunned observers by its ferocity and because
it occurred amid tight security.
"What we saw yesterday [on August 7] was a clear confirmation that
the guerrillas are at war with the state," said Jorge Rojas, the
director of the Bogota-based Consultancy for Human Rights and the
Displaced.
"Today in Colombia, men on both sides have maps preparing for
war," Rojas told ENI in an interview in New York prior to his
return to Bogota.
Rojas and others in Colombian and US human rights and church groups are
concerned that Uribe, with increased US military aid at his disposal,
will now unleash the power of the state in ways that will result in more
civilian casualties and target members of civil society.
"Uribe feels there are ways to institutionalize the war,"
Rojas said.
He warned against emergency powers that could result in a kind of
"semi-dictatorship." Rojas' organization is a secular-based
group that works with US and Colombian church organizations.
His statements echoed concerns expressed recently by
Colombian and US observers with links to the churches.
They fear that Colombia is headed for a situation not unlike the early
1970s in Argentina and Chile or the 1980s in El Salvador, when members
of peace and human rights groups - many with church ties - were targeted
for killings by right-wing paramilitaries and armed groups linked to the
governments in power.
The New York Times reported on August 10 that the Bush
administration, through recent anti-terrorism legislation, is
authorizing $1.7 billion in direct military assistance to the Uribe
government to be used expressly for fighting the leftist guerrillas.
Uribe came to power on May 26 in a landslide victory under the slogan,
"Firm hand, kind heart" - buoyed by a war-weary population
frustrated by increasing violence and by the collapse of peace talks
between the FARC and the government of outgoing President Andres
Pastrana.
Human rights and church groups in the past have criticized the Colombian
government for ties with right-wing paramilitary groups.
Uribe, however, has promised that fighting right-wing paramilitaries
will also be a priority.
In the first major combat since he became president, government troops
reportedly killed dozens of right-wing paramilitaries in the central
province of Antioquia, where Uribe once served as governor.
Rojas told ENI he did not believe either the government or the
guerrillas could win militarily and that eventually there would be a
need to return to peace negotiations. He acknowledged, however, there
was little public sentiment now for peace talks.
It would be up to Colombia's Roman Catholic Church and smaller
Protestant churches to lay such a foundation for the future.
"As never before, the role of the church will be important in
orientating this policy," he said.
|
| |
|
Visit
our lively
new website! |
|
GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries,
confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
 |
Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
|
Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
|
Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
|
| |
|
If you like what
you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep Voices for Justice going ... and
growing!
Please consider making a special
contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve
this service.
Click here to send a
gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.
Or send your check, made
out to "Presbyterian Voices for Justice" and marked "web site," to
our PVJ Treasurer:
Darcy Hawk
4007 Gibsonia Road
Gibsonia, PA 15044-8312 |
| |
|
Some blogs worth visiting |
|
PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
| |
|
Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
| |
|
John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
| |
|
John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
| |
|
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
| |
|
