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The police would not let us proceed until we identified ourselves
and the fiscal soon appeared and confirmed this. José and
others argued with them for perhaps 20 minutes, but in the end
all of the foreigners were forced to show our passports or resident
permits.
Later that night, we departed with the group for Tarma, where
the Reverend George Humbert (College Avenue Presbyterian Church
pastor and Giddings-Lovejoy-JHAH moderator) and the Reverend Benjamín
Bravo (of the Evangelical Church of Peru) led a series of three
workshops ("The Earth is the Lord’s: Towards a Pastorate
of the Environment") for local Protestant leaders, organized
by the Peru Network.
Our visit to La Oroya was the catalyst for a series of events
that continues to unfold. The highly suspicious behavior of the
two local officials has been denounced by a broad-based group
of La Oroya’s civil society, and Radio La Oroya has broadcast
the demands of many groups and local officials for a public apology
to our group for the incident. The sub-prefecto issued a public
apology (the fiscal has refused to do so), one journalist stated
publicly that Doe Run had initiated the incident and has now been
threatened by a civil suit by Doe Run, Doe Run issued a denial
of all responsibility in the incident, Radio La Oroya has devoted
hours of broadcast coverage to local reactions, the mayor’s
office issued a communiqué demanding a public apology and
investigation into who initiated the incident, etc. On Friday,
José encouraged us to visit the Defensoría del Pueblo
(national ombudsman’s office) in Huancayo and to file a legal
complaint. We did so with the Defensoría del Pueblo, the
Ministry of the Interior, and will file one on Monday with the
U.S. embassy, all for the purpose of pushing the Peruvian government
to investigate fully the matter and to identify who initiated
it. As was said numerous times this week, the legal complaints
are being done not so much for the Giddings-Lovejoy team’s
rights, but to provide a basis of legal antecedent and responsibility
which will protect the people of La Oroya in the future.
Yesterday, our group returned to La Oroya (as planned) to present
the third and final "The Earth is the Lord’s" workshop.
Catholics and Protestants gathered in the Filomenas’ office
for the workshop (ecumenical Bible study is unprecedented in La
Oroya’s—and much of Peru’s— history) and afterwards,
the twenty persons in attendance walked together with the Giddings-Lovejoy
Network members about a mile to the Doe Run Refinery, singing
Peruvian Christian songs (accompanied by five musicians/students
from the San Pablo Andean Seminary in Huancayo who had attended
the workshop in that city and followed us to La Oroya). We stood
before the refinery as José Regalado and Esther Hinostroza
led us in prayer for the "children of lead" of La Oroya,
for La Oroya’s people, for the Doe Run Company officials,
for Doe Run (International) owner Ira Rennert, and for the members
of the Movement for the Defense of Health in La Oroya. We walked
back to the Filomena’s office, ate together, were interviewed
again on Radio La Oroya, said some emotional goodbyes, and our
group boarded transport for Lima. We arrived in Lima last night
around 8:00 p.m. a Dios gracias.
Each step of the way, the Peru Network has been careful to coordinate
its responses and actions with the local partners (Filomenas,
CONACAMI, and the Movement). All of us—Peruvian and North
American, Catholic and Protestant—felt a profound sense of
God’s hand in the entire matter from start to finish. We
constantly commented on how, when we had planned things to go
a certain way, God turned our plans on their heads and this resulted
in powerful gains for the Movement. So many of what the world
would call "coincidences" have happened in this journey
to La Oroya that no one could convince us that God wasn’t
the author of it all.
The Giddings-Lovejoy team responded admirably to the pressure
and uncertainty of the experience, and has experienced, "en
carne propria," as our Peruvian colleagues kept repeating)
just a bit of the fear and vulnerability that the people of La
Oroya live with each day. The experience has galvanized the Giddings-Lovejoy
team’s commitment to La Oroya and the Peru Network. The Movement
in La Oroya has been significantly strengthened (they are planning
a public march for next week, to be led by the mayor). All of
us know that this will result in an intensified campaign by Doe
Run against the Movement and the Network, but as Esther Hinostroza
said to me yesterday, "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.’" Esther’s courage gave me greater courage.
After a debriefing this afternoon, Carolyn Newcomb (St. Charles
Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri), Karen Wilson (College
Avenue Presbyterian Church in Alton, Illinois), and Lynn Connette
leave tonight for home. The Reverends George Humbert (College
Avenue Presbyterian Church) and Ellie Stock (Northminster Presbyterian
Church) stay on until next Sunday. I hope Presbyterian News Service
contacts our Giddings-Lovejoy friends and will share their story
with the church at large.
This week showed us all the divine inspiration of the Joining
Hands program. It is impossible to describe how much we all feel
that this program has come to Peru according to God’s timing.
JHAH was designed to create a place for personal and societal
transformation as North Americans accompanied a select group of
inspired, brave, and committed partners from oppressed communities
"overseas." During this week, the goals of JHAH have
been realized in a significant way for a large number of Peruvians
and North Americans. And, again, for me.
With you in Christ,
Hunter
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 263
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