WHY WE DO IT
GUARJILA Companion Community
Project (CCP)
RIO ABAJO/LIMAY Hermanamiento
Project
IFCO/Pastors for Peace
GUATEMALA - New Mayas Society
HONDURAS - Honduras Solidarity
VENEZUELA - Venezuela Solidarity
& Hands Off Venezuela
COLOMBIA - Support for Peace
Communities
WHY WE DO IT
“In the decades of the 1970-90’s,
tens of thousands of U.S. citizens traveled to Central America.
For many it was their first time outside the borders of the U.S.
In a time marked by civil war and violence they went to see the
reality of poverty and experience the resilient hope of the Central
American people. What they saw and experienced left a permanent
mark. Their vantage point on the world was radically altered….”
Like Grains of Wheat:
A Spirituality of Solidarity
by Margaret
Swedish and Marie Dennis (Orbis, 2004)
In St. Louis, the women and men who formed the
Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America learned the meaning of solidarity
through their accompaniment of refugees and exiles, human rights
workers and legal advocates, and most importantly, the people we
met in Central and Latin America.
We welcomed speakers from various countries
who told their stories of struggle and oppression, we opened places
of sanctuary for those who fled death squads and massacres, we risked
arrest to draw attention to the injustices and we sent courageous
people to work with Witness for Peace and Peace Brigades International.
This led us to realize that ACCOMPANIMENT was
central to the work of IFCLA. It is a work of transformation in
which...
- We really look honestly at our planet, our
political structures, and our lives
- We recognize how unjust systems oppress our
world
- We realize that we need to share resources
more equitably
- We reverence all creation and seek creative
ways to protect it
- We risk letting what we have learned change
our lives
GUARJILA COMPANION COMMUNITY PROJECT
(CCP)
In January of 1988,
IFCLA made a covenant with the people of Guarjila, Chalatenango,
El Salvador who had just returned from the Mesa Grande refugee
camp in Honduras and who were courageously rebuilding their lives
in the midst of war. We began by raising awareness about their precarious
situation with our members of Congress and the people of the St.
Louis region. We sent people to visit and challenge the army’s
disregard of their status as a civilian community. We raised funds
for land titles, for cows, for a roof for the school, for a water
project, and for teacher salaries. Dr. Ann Manganaro, Sister of
Loretto, went to live in Guarjila and opened a clinic which served
the entire area. She trained health promoters, many of whom are
health professionals today. Sadly, Ann died of cancer in June, 1993.
After the Peace Accords were signed in 1992
and the combatants returned to live with their families, more people
from St. Louis were able to visit Guarjila. Two health promoters
and a German doctor who worked with Ann came to visit St. Louis
in the 90s.
In 1998, students from Ann’s high school
began to visit Guarjila. This annual visit has deepened the bonds
of friendship and expanded horizons for many young women. Each year
we learn first hand the challenges which the community faces. It
helps inform our work for justice in El Salvador.
In addition to visits, the CCP sells embroidery
and hand work from the women’s collective and raises funds
to supplement the stipends of the health workers at the clinic.
The Nerinx students hold an annual volleyball
tournament to raise funds for high school scholarships for young
women.
RIO ABAJO/LIMAY HERMANAMIENTO PROJECT
After Hurricane Mitch
in October, 1998, IFCLA responded to the need of a community which
was washed away by the hurricane. A delegation visited the
people of Rio Abajo and agreed to help them rebuild their community.
Delegations followed and today the community of Rio Abajo has housing,
water, electricity, a corn mill, buildings for sewing and for pottery,
and a community center.
In order for the project to proceed, Reyna Moreno
was hired to be the project coordinator. She received training for
community organizing and has led a campaign to get the road from
Esteli to Limay paved. She has expanded her work from Rio Abajo
to neighboring communities. After eight years, the IFCLA project
has decided to end the funding of her position. Efforts will be
made to continue a connection with the communities in the Limay
Valley through potters, student volunteers and the New Roots Farm
Collective.
IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
IFCLA has welcomed caravans of material aid which
pass through St. Louis on their way to various countries including
Cuba.In recent years, the Gateway Greens have hosted Pastors for Peace.
GUATEMALA
IFCLA is the fiscal sponsor for the New Mayas Society which supports the Centro de Formacion Nuevos Mayas (The School for New Mayas), established in Xix, a small town in the state of Quiche, in northern Guatemala. IFCLA supports the efforts of local parishes with sister relationships: St. Joan of Arc Catholic parish has a long-standing relationship with the diocese of Coban; St Francis Xavier (College Church) has a relationship with La Natividad parish. The Arco Iris Sanctuary welcomed several families and individuals from Guatemala as did the sanctuary at the ASC community in Ruma, IL.
The Association for Justice and Reconciliation, an organization of 22 communities of survivors of the massacres of the 1980s, has launched legal cases against former dictators and military officers who were involved in the campaigns against the indigenous peoples . Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org and www.amnestyusa.org ) is actively supporting these efforts. AI has documented the recent murders of women in Guatemala.
IFCLA participates in the speaking tours sponsored by NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala). www.nisgua.org
HONDURAS
After the coup d’etat in June, 2009, IFCLA joined the Honduras Solidarity Network and is active in the Congressional Working Group. Human Rights violations, land evictions, assassination of leaders and journalists need our continual attention.
hondurasresists.blogspot.com
There is a newsletter dedicated to Honduras on the website as well as frequent updates on the situation. www.ifcla.net/site2/?page_id=54
In the past, the main focus of IFCLA’s accompaniment in Honduras has been related to the case of Fr. James Guadalupe Carney who was assassinated in 1983. His brother-in-law continues to testify before human rights tribunals and promotes Jim’s book, To Be A Revolutionary.
VENEZUELA
Sources for information on current issues:
Venezuela
Solidarity
The basic purpose of the Venezuela Solidarity
Network is to increase communication among groups that oppose
US intervention in Venezuela, support the right of the Venezuela
people to self-determination, and support the Bolivarian revoluntion.
The Venezuela Solidarity Network also seeks to enlist additional
progressive groups into Venezuela solidarity work, and to facilitate
our ability to unite in joint actions.
Hands
Off Venezuela
We have tirelessly organised solidarity
activities with Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution through public
meetings, video screenings, raising the issue within the trade
union movement in different countries, organising speaking tours,
moving motions in Parliaments, and sending solidarity delegations
to Venezuela.
The basic principles of the Campaign are:
- solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution
- opposition to imperialist intervention
in Venezuela
- building direct links with the revolutionary
and trade union movement in Venezuela
COLOMBIA - Support for Peace Communities
IFCLA has begun to collaborate with the Colombia Solidarity Network in Kansas City. Local members have gone to Colombia with Christian Peacemaker Teams and Witness for Peace. There is special concern for indigenous communities and the Inter-Ecclesial Justice and Peace Commission.
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ACCOMPANIMENT is about more than material aid, it leads us to join the struggles of our companions in Central America: see Country Updates on the website.
EL SALVADOR
1. Millennium Challenge Corporation Longitudinal Highway across northern El Salvador. www.mcc.gov
2. Strip
Mining - Canadian companies (Pacific Rim and Goldcorp) are using US subsidiaries (a benefit of CAFTA) to sue El Salvador for opposing their gold mining projects.
Sources:
New
Strategies, New Challenges: The Struggle to Halt Mining Continues
Comunidades
dispuestas a expulsar empresas mineras
Conferencia
Episcopal en contra de minería metálica
www.oxfamamerica.org/es/noticias/salvador_mineria
3. Anti-terrorism laws and security concerns due to narco-organized crime
4. Environmental disasters from hurricanes, tropical storms and development projects.
NICARAGUA
1. Privatization of electricity and water.
One of the "hot issues" in all of
Latin America is the privatization of water and electricity. This
is becoming an insidious way of controlling the lives and livelihood
of rural and urban populations.
Water
Privatization in Latin America By Carmelo Ruiz Marrero,
IRC Americashttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/2885
Other sources of articles on water privatization:
Center for Global Development
<www.cgdev.org> and
The Inter-American Dialogue <www.thedialogue.org>
Sourcewatch Privatization
"Privatization, dubbed piratization by critics, refers
to the sale of publicly owned assets to the private sector..."
3. A devastated environment and economy
Government announces plans preserve
forests and water sources
The Ortega administration is making an effort, through programs and more bio- friendly policies, to reverse the effects of contamination to the principal water sources in the country as well as the deforestation that has taken place in a number of departments. The administration is attempting to regulate water usage and will be working on reforms for agricultural land use among other projects.
An estimated 70,000 hectares of forest are lost every year in Nicaragua due to “indiscriminate logging” by timber companies along the Pacific Coast where close to 80% of Nicaragua’s population is found. The Sandinista government plans to introduce more bio- friendly logging regulations as well as provide material resources and funding for community-based reforestation projects around river basins and water sources in the Pacific coastal regions.
In addition to the water bill and reforestation projects, the government considers it an immediate priority to look for ways to prevent the contamination of the more than 21 river basins and important lakes that provide Nicaragua with fresh water. In Managua alone there are 11 large industrial companies that do not have adequate treatment systems for what they dump directly into Lake Managua. This, along with poor garbage management and contamination from underground seepages from gas stations are urgent problems for which the administration promises to look for viable solutions.
Ortega administration kicks-off
the "Zero Hunger" program
The Ortega administration is making an effort, through programs and more bio- friendly policies, to reverse the effects of contamination to the principal water sources in the country as well as the deforestation that has taken place in a number of departments. The administration is attempting to regulate water usage and will be working on reforms for agricultural land use among other projects.
An estimated 70,000 hectares of forest are lost every year in Nicaragua due to “indiscriminate logging” by timber companies along the Pacific Coast where close to 80% of Nicaragua’s population is found. The Sandinista government plans to introduce more bio- friendly logging regulations as well as provide material resources and funding for community-based reforestation projects around river basins and water sources in the Pacific coastal regions.
In addition to the water bill and reforestation projects, the government considers it an immediate priority to look for ways to prevent the contamination of the more than 21 river basins and important lakes that provide Nicaragua with fresh water. In Managua alone there are 11 large industrial companies that do not have adequate treatment systems for what they dump directly into Lake Managua. This, along with poor garbage management and contamination from underground seepages from gas stations are urgent problems for which the administration promises to look for viable solutions.
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