04520
November 24, 2004

First U.S. accompaniers to Colombia are on the ground

By Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE – Two Presbyterians are now in Colombia, beginning the first phase of an accompanying effort to curb harassment, threats and intimidation against church workers there.

      Longtime Colombia activist John Ewers, 69,of Dayton, OH, and Kelly Wesselink, 23, of Tucson, AZ, a relative novice on Colombia’s troubles, arrived in Bogota yesterday and will remain with the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (PCC) until Dec. 22 – or longer if necessary.

      Six other Presbyterians completed accompaniment training two weeks ago in Washington, D.C., and will arrive in Colombia on a staggered schedule.

     The training was coordinated by the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, a pacifist organization that has supported accompaniment in several parts of the world, including Israel/Palestine.

     The theory behind accompaniment is simple:  The presence of internationals often reduces violence and harassment since abuses will be reported through the church’s worldwide networks and major human rights organizations.

     Accompaniment was the strategy churches used to protect Central Americans in the 1980s. Eyewitness accounts of the wars there helped change U.S. policy in the region.

      The General Assembly Council (GAC) approved accompaniment in Colombia in late September – nearly one year after the PCC began asking for help.

      “We’ve been waiting a long time for these people and we’re very happy that they’re here,” the Rev. Milton Mejia, the executive director of the PCC told the Presbyterian News Service yesterday.

      He said the accompaniers will be “silent partners,” working alongside the church as it ministers, especially in controversial work like assisting destitute families displaced by Colombia’s internal violence.

      More than three million Colombians have been forced off their land and are struggling to survive in shantytowns on the edges of the country’s already financially strapped cities, including Barranquilla, where the PCC is headquartered. These slums are often targeted for terror by Colombia’s illegal armed groups since its unemployed residents are viewed as easy recruits for gunmen by left-wing guerrillas and rightist paramilitaries.

      “The church here is expecting these people to continue the work started by Rick Ufford-Chase, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA),” said Mejia, citing Ufford-Chase’s October visit to Barranquilla and Bogota, where he met with government and military officials. “They’re going to continue to dialogue with the authorities … to explain what the Presbyterian Church in Colombia is doing, who Presbyterians are.

      “We want the authorities to know that the Presbyterian Church is not related to the armed groups.”

      Another goal of the program is to give U.S. citizens a firsthand look at the life of the Colombian church, so they may interpret the impact of U.S. policy there when they return to the United States.

      More than 75 percent of U.S. aid to Colombia is military aid. Church organizations are pushing Congress to send developmental assistance instead to quell poverty – which drives Colombia’s poor into coca production or inside its warring armed groups.

      Several members of the PCC have been threatened for the church’s assistance of displaced persons.

      A law student volunteer, Mauricio Avilez, is under investigation on charges reportedly leveled by a paid government informant. Avilez worked for a church human rights program and was jailed for 130 days while the government investigated his case.

      Avilez is free, but is reportedly in hiding to protect himself from the armed factions that have intimidated both Avilez and his family.

      Mejia has argued that the charges are contrived to scare the chuch into shutting down its human rights initiative. During the Avilez’ investigation, the PCC learned that its offices are apparently under video surveillance.

      None of this is news to Ewers, a retired production manager, who has been a Colombia activist since 1999. He said that he’s sat in delegations in Colombia looking for concrete ways to help, aside from lobbying the Congress. “But when this appeal for accompaniment came down, it took me two minutes to say yes. A bell went off. It was like, ‘Say, this is something I can help with.’

      “This is a clear way to help people do the things they need to do for human rights,” said Ewers.

      His colleagues in Miami Presbytery are already scheduling appointments with Ohio’s two senators, upon Ewers’ return.

      Formerly associated with Borderlinks – Ufford-Chase’s ministry on the U.S.-Mexican Border – Wesselink signed on at the urging of the moderator. She’s a full-time speaker for the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship – and she agreed that this firsthand experience will finely tune her lectures.

      “They’ve asked for our help,” she said, referring to Colombian Presbyterians. “What else can we do but say okay? Its simple, really. They asked. We said okay.”

      In the kidnapping capital of the hemisphere, both Ewers and Wesselink understand the risks of accompaniment. “I think my parents are nervous. My Mom is nervous, of course. But they’ve also both said that they’re proud of me and they’re very supportive of me,” Wesselink told the Presbyterian News Service.

      “That’s all I expect. Its comforting to know that they will be praying for me, thinking of me.”

      After Ewers and Wesselink leave, two delegations will arrive in Colombia to spend December and January with the church – one from Tres Rios Presbytery and the other from Miami Presbytery. Miami Presbytery has had a long-time partnership with Colombia’s Presbytery of the North Coast.

      The Worldwide Ministries Division is currently seeking a full-time accompanier to be placed in Colombia beginning in January.