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Partners from Colombia visit are churches and Annual Meeting

Two peace and justice Global Mission Partners from Colombia will participate in the 2024 spring Pacific Northwest Conference United Church of Christ Annual Meeting and Northern Lights Regions Disciples of Christ Regional Meeting in April.

Xiomara Cintron-Garcia, top. Pablo Moreno, bottom.

The UCC Annual Meeting will be held from Friday to Sunday, April 28 to 30, in Seattle and the Disciples of Christ Northern Lights Regional Assembly is Friday to Sunday, May 3 to 5, in Wenatchee.

Pablo Moreno and Xiomara Cintron-Garcia will visit in the Pacific Northwest representing Justapaz and CEDECOL, two peace, justice and human rights organizations in Colombia.

They will report on their efforts in Colombia to establish peace, justice and human rights and revitalize the Peace Accords process adopted by a vote in 2016, said Ed Evans of the joint Global Ministries Committee UCC PNW Conference and Disciples’ Northern Lights Region, which is coordinating their visit.

Implementating the Accords languished under former President Iván Duque. Since Gustavo Petro was elected in 2022, peace groups in Colombia have hope about revitalizing the Accords.

“The region and conference voted to establish partnerships with Justapaz and CEDECOL to accompany them on their journey as they serve as important voices of faith in Colombia’s peace movement,” said Ed.

Xiomara and her husband, Alex Maldonado, were appointed  in 2021 by the UCC/Disciples Global Ministries to serve as mission co-workers in Colombia. They live in Bogota.

Xiomara’s work with Justapaz is in the area of “Mujer y Paz” (Women and Peace) where she helps women from churches, communities and socio-ecclesial organizations develop peacemaking processes.

Along with the women, Mujer y Paz helps develop initiatives that guarantee their participation in different social and political scenarios in the framework of the UN 1325 Resolution, from a peace building perspective, Ed said.

She supports women’s political advocacy on rural territories with a gender perspective in the 2016 Peace Accord. She promotes and witnesses dialogues for reconciliation between women victims of the armed conflict. The area acts on making visible the participation and leadership of women in instances of peace building and human rights in the territories.

More about her work in Colombia is on YouTube: Alex and Xiomara in Colombia.

Pablo, a professor at the Universidad Bautista de Cali, Colombia for 30 years, has promoted peace since 2006 as a teacher of the Biblical School of Training for Peace.

In 2009, he was elected director of the Peace Commission of the Evangelical Council of Colombia, which includes 70 percent of Protestant churches and denominations in Colombia.

As director of the Commission, Pablo has promoted programs related to churches as sanctuaries of peace, a support network for women victims of the conflict, the School of Bible training for peace and a program of investigation and advocacy for the victims of the conflict in Colombia.

“During the 2016 peace negotiations with the government and the FARC, we helped the agreement to include recognition of church victims and allow for churches and the interreligious sector to participate in future conversations with other armed groups,” Pablo said.

“Today we join in the National Dialogue Table with the ELN,” he said. “We seek to support peace-building efforts with other social organizations whose goal is reconciliation in our country. So we are active in non-governmental tables and with the Catholic Church.”

The Global Ministries Committee invites churches of the conference and region to offer visits and tours.

Pablo and Xiomara will travel together or separately to maximize chances for regional churches to learn what is happening in Colombia, as well as to share what supports justice and peace in their areas.

Pablo and Xiomara will arrive in Seattle on April 22 and will be in the Western Washington area from Tuesday, April 22, Wednesday, April 23, and Thursday, April 24. They will be at the PNC-UCC Annual Meeting at Plymouth UCC Seattle April 26 to 28.

During that time, the committee seeks hosts, transportation and Spanish translators.

They will travel to Central/ Eastern Washington Monday, April 29, Tuesday, April 30, and Wednesday, May 1 before the Northern Lights Regional Assembly May 3 to 5 in Wenatchee.

Churches interested should invite them early with the Global Ministries Logistics Team coordinator Ruth Brandon at contact info below.

Ed said the partnership enables a presence in Colombian villages that gives people hope. He offered statistics and background from Amnesty International and the Latin American Working Group.

In 2006, U.S. assistance to Colombia was about $728 million, nearly 80 percent of which was military and police assistance. For many years, at least 25,000 people were forcibly “disappeared” in Colombia and more than 5.7 million people internally displaced.

In addition, more than 27,000 people were kidnapped, mainly by guerrillas who kidnapped 25,482. Paramilitary groups kidnapped 2,541. More than 11,700 were killed in 1,982 massacres largely perpetrated by paramilitary groups.

More than 256,000 people were newly displaced in 2012.More than 16,800 people were displaced in mass displacements in 2013. Of those, 73 percent were Afro-Colombian or indigenous.

That year, 359 people wounded or killed by landmines; 169 were registered as forcibly disappeared and of those, 10 were dead, 36 were alive and 123 remain missing; 26 union members and 78 human rights defenders were assassinated.

For information, contact Ruth at 425-220-2476 or email arembe@mac.com.

 

Pacific Northwest United Church of Christ Conference News © April 2024

 

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