Reuters story on the Guatemala election campaign

Bloodshed hits Guatemala election campaign
By Mica Rosenberg
August 9, 2007

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen have attacked candidates and an activist for Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu's political party three times in the last week in Guatemala's bloodiest election race since a civil war ended a decade ago.

The body of Carlos de Leon Bravo, a local candidate in the northwestern region of San Marcos, was found shot and stuffed in the trunk of his car on Sunday, wrapped in flags of Menchu's left-leaning Together for Guatemala party.

Bravo's death brings close to 40 the number of killings of candidates, activists and workers from different parties in the last year as drug traffickers and former paramilitaries muscle in on elections for president, Congress and municipalities.

Worst hit by the election bloodshed is front-runner Alvaro Colom's National Unity for Hope party, or UNE, which is struggling to rid its ranks of the influence of organized crime groups and drug gangs.

Armed men attacked the house of a congressional candidate from Menchu's party on Tuesday, seriously injuring her two teen-age girls. In another shooting on the same day, three armed men fired at a former guerrilla commander, now an activist for Menchu, injuring his bodyguard and his mechanic.

"This was an assassination attempt," said Cesar Montes, a leader of the leftist insurgency during the country's 1960-1996 civil war. Montes said he shot back at his assailants.

Central America's most populous nation, Guatemala is still suffering the after-effects of the conflict, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead or missing.

Guatemala, a U.S. trade ally under the CAFTA pact, is one of the most violent countries in the Americas. Almost 6,000 people were murdered last year mostly due to common crime and gang feuds.

Political scientist Francisco Garcia blamed the election violence on a combination of attacks on leftist politicians and activists by shadowy armed groups, reminiscent of the civil war, and attempts by organized crime and drug gangs to win influence in political parties.

"The violent paramilitary forces that fought during the war weren't disarmed ...
They were just recycled and put to use by organized criminals," said Garcia.

CRIMINALS AND POLITICIANS

Menchu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for defending Mayan victims of the war, is a presidential candidate who is trailing way behind in opinion polls in fourth place.

The UNE, which leads polls, has seen 18 of its candidates and party activists murdered in the campaign, including one congressman shot in front of party headquarters in April.

UNE leader Colom, 56, is a mild mannered center-left politician who is tipped to come first in the September 9 election although he will likely have to compete in run-off vote later in the year.

Some analysts say the UNE is targeted because it is most likely to win the election and has the largest party network.

But rival candidates say Colom, running for president for the third time, let criminals infiltrate the party as he struggled for funds in the last election campaign in 2003.

"Drug traffickers are embedded in the UNE," Menchu told Reuters. "They opened the doors to an ominous element."

One former UNE congressman was ejected from the party amid accusations he is a drug smuggler.

Colom says his party has been targeted because of his zero tolerance approach to organized crime gangs in the ranks.

"Guatemala is totally infiltrated by organized crime on all levels and fighting organized crime is dangerous. I am risking my life everyday," said Colom, who travels with a heavily armed bodyguards and chain smokes cigarettes to calm his nerves.

Sandra Duverge's reflection during worship Aug. 12

Mission Reflection
CHPC worship, Sunday, August 12
Sandra M. Duverge

I thought so much about going or not going on this mission trip. I had to come to Jane to ask for help in sorting through my thoughts. You see I grew up Catholic. I only went to church on special occasions. In my family that is what being Catholic meant.

I did not know about mission trips until I started coming to this church 7 years ago. I had many fears about situations on the trip that might give me away. For starters was I expected to know where all the books where in the bible? (I never even owned my own bible until I came to Louisville). Would I be asked to recite Psalms from memory? What if some one asked me what my favorite hymn was, and could I sing it? (You see, I have a creative mind).

Well, I put my application in with the thought that I could withdraw any time before the plane tickets were purchased. Going through the monthly orientation meetings was great. Every time we meet we learned something new about Guatemala. As time passed I wanted more and more to go.

I wanted to tell you how the planning for the mission trip went because some of the experiences I would have during this trip never occurred to me. Every time I would tell people I was going on a mission trip they would ask me what we were going to do there. I put together a little speech about going to make friendships and how we were not going to do heavy construction except for two days.

The moment I arrived in Guatemala I felt very comfortable. The scene at the airport was very familiar — all the people piled up in front of the exit door trying to see if their loved one was coming. The vendors come up to you to try and get you to buy their wares. I live it and love it every time I arrive in the Dominican Republic. There is something very welcoming about that organized chaos.

Of course I did as I always do in Dominican Republic I bought something. Yes, you are going to hear from the rest of the group that we went straight into the vans as soon as we came out of customs, but leave it to me to make a purchase in only a minute.

It was great to be riding in tall vans because it really gave us a great view. The ride through Guatemala City on the way to Rio Dulce was great — parts of the city looked so much like Dominican Republic. I was feeling very much at home, except for the weather, which was cool in July.

We had talked so much about how hot it would be that I began to worry, I did not have enough blouses with long sleeves. No problem, I would have to go shopping. How bad is that? At one of the pit stops I switched to the air conditioned van because some of the people there where getting motion sickness and needed to switch.

What a shock when I got out of the van in Rio Dulce. The humidity had gone from zero to eighty, but this was still nothing compared to what was expecting us in El Estor.

The next morning the drive was magnificent, the scenery was spectacular and best of all I knew most of the vegetation! As some of the others will tell you, I get a little carried away pointing out trees. I had never seen them in this form. This wonderful tropical vegetation covered the mountains whereever you looked. The Dominican Republic does not have as many mountains as Guatemala. As we got closer to El Estor things got a little flatter but not by much.

I was so happy to be there — it was like going to the Dominican Republic, except for the amazing humidity. If we told you a hundred times you could never imagine it. This is something that you have to feel to believe. The rest of the trip you can see in our pictures. It was amazing. Thank you for helping us get there.

The part that you cannot see in our pictures is our own personal experiences and learning. Remember I told you I never imagined some of the wonderful experiences I would have on this mission trip? Here is one of the simple lessons:

Some of you may not know me but those of you who do, know that I am not shy and I am extremely social. It had never dawned on me that some people may want to be alone at times. Thanks to one of our wonderful guides, David Wiseman, those people were able to be rescued from people like me.

The one that I am most thankful for is, being able to see Jane travel with us and be able to be kind and caring every day. She taught me what loving everyone means. This experience has really touched me and I think of her example often when I find myself in a difficult situation with a people in my life.

The other experience that will last me for ever is the stronger friendship that I built with Ada. At night when we were in our room we would tell each other stories and make each other laugh till our stomachs hurt. We where good friends before, but being together in this trip has made me closer to her. The bonding that went on in this 8-day trip probably could not occur in eight months.

I have so much I could tell you but there are other people that want to talk. Thank you for making it possible for me to have such an unforgettable experience.

David Wiseman's report on PRESGOV - August 2007

August 12, 2007

Dear Colleagues in Ministry and Friends of PRESGOV,

As the summer draws to a close and many of us return from vacations to resume fall schedules, it seems like a fitting time to send out an up-date to PCUSA supporters of the ministry of PRESGOV. As most of you know, my colleague Marcia Towers has completed her responsibilities with this ministry, having devoted 3 years of faithful service and extraordinary commitment to facilitating mission delegations to Guatemala. Though she will be continuing her responsibilities with the Young Adult Volunteer program, gracias a Dios, I will miss her non-anxious presence in the office, her clarity of thought and purpose regarding mission delegations, her ever-patient Spanish coaching and the many ways she has modeled mission service at its best. For those of you who have benefited from her gracious work, I urge you to send your expressions of gratitude to her via email at marciajt@yahoo.com.

With Marcia no longer working with PRESGOV and with Victor Batz leaving the program this past January, PRESGOV has moved from 3 coordinators to one. The Administrative Committee of PRESGOV is hoping to hire a Guatemalan coordinator at some time in the future. Until such a person is hired and trained, however, I anticipate that there will be limitations as to the services we will be able to provide.

Additionally, looking ahead to the new year, I will be completing my first three years of mission service in 2008 and will begin my time of interpretation in the states the first of May. That will mean I myself will not be coordinating PRESGOV groups or traveling with them in the late spring and throughout the summer.

Because I have a strong investment in the ministry of PRESGOV, I want to do all I can to anticipate and facilitate mission trips in the coming year. I will continue to urge the Administrative Committee of PRESGOV to do its best to guarantee the high quality of service that you deserve and have come to expect, all of which requires capable and dedicated staff. Though I hope it will not be necessary, it is my personal opinion that PRESGOV will need to cut back on the number of mission delegations that we host in 2008 and it will be difficult to confirm trips next summer until new staff is fully on board.

Despite the transitions within PRESGOV, I have been pleased with the myriad mission experiences that have deepened the connections between the IENPG and PCUSA. I ask for your prayerful support during this forthcoming time. If you have questions, concerns or suggestions, do not hesitate to be in touch with me. More importantly, since the Administrative Committee of PRESGOV is entrusted with this ministry’s future, I would suggest that you contact committee members. René Morales serves as the Moderator. You can attach a letter (preferably written in Spanish) to my email address and I will be glad to forward that to them. PCUSA staff Stan De Voogd, Area Coordinator for Mexico and Central America (sdevoogd@ctr.pcusa.org), and Tracey King, Regional Liaison (traceysking@gmail.com) each play a significant role in this on-going conversation.

It goes without saying that the ministry of PRESGOV and the partnerships that you all have fostered over the years are an inspiring witness to Jesus Christ in Guatemala. I hope that together, along with our Guatemalan brothers and sisters, we can discern creative and faithful ways to meet the unique challenges of these times and listen for what God’s still small voice is calling us to do at this holy juncture.

Gratefully and faithfully yours,
J. David Wiseman, PRESGOV Coordinator
PCUSA Mission Co-WorkerGuatemala

BBC story on the breakup of an illegal adoption ring

Forty-six children in Guatemala, believed to have been taken from their parents for illegal adoption abroad have been rescued, officials say. The children's ages range from three years old to just a few days.
They were found at a house in Antigua, close to the capital, after neighbours reported seeing foreigners collecting children there every day. Police are investigating whether the children were stolen, or their parents were coerced into giving them up.
Last year, couples in the US adopted more than 4,000 infants from Guatemala, second only to China.

Stricter regulations

The Guatemalan attorney general's office said that few of the children had the necessary paperwork to be in the custody of anyone other than their parents, and the house did not have permission to operate as an adoption centre. The 46 children have remained at the house, being looked after by police, while the case is being investigated.
Latin America correspondent Daniel Schweimler says adopting from Guatemala can take half the time and cost considerably less than it does elsewhere.
Earlier this year, the Guatemalan Congress ratified The Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoptions which sets out a series of measures guaranteeing greater transparency in the process of adoption
However, the U.S. state department is advising against the practice because of reports that many Guatemalan mothers face pressure to sell their children into adoption.
Last week, the U.S. embassy in Guatemala tightened up the visa regulations for couples trying to adopt there.
Rumors

Guatemala-based journalist Martin Asturias told the BBC that adoption had become big business in the country. Prices range from around $25,000 (£12,500) up to about $60,000 (£30,000) depending on how complicated the process was and how specific the adoptive parents were in their demands, he said.
The business of adoption has also had a wider effect, Mr Asturias said. "Guatemala has fallen into what I would say is a 'social psychosis'. Rumors can spread, especially in small Mayan villages or towns, that children are being stolen to be sold as adopted children."
The anxiety and anger caused by such rumors have in the past led to people believed to be involved in the adoption business being lynched or stoned, said Mr Asturias.

Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart

The mission delegation from Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church, Louisville, Kentucky was at the end of their Guatemala journey. It had been a week outside their comfort zone but inside the embrace of the indigenous Kek’chi people.

Something holy happened in the steamy little fishing village of El Estor, situated on the blue waters of Lago Izabal. But at this moment the gathered gringos, 8 youth and 11 adults (plus their PRESGOV hosts), had gathered for their final reflection time on the rooftop patio of El Carmen Hotel in the cobblestone, Guatemalan gem of a town called Antigua.

Sitting in a circle in the shadows of two majestic volcanoes, the group was trying to bring to speech what their week had meant to them. They spoke of many things and thought of others:

• the hospitality of the Kek’chi women who had boiled to perfection chicken-caldo- with-vegetables over the open fire; the fresh, steamed tilapia, just caught from the lake, stuffed with tomatoes;
  the blisters, like badges of courage, on the hands of suburban teenagers, part and parcel of two full days of hauling sand and mixing concrete in stifling heat so that dirt-poor families could have the dignity of a decent floor;
  
• the tri-lingual banter of Presbyterian pastors, elders and deacons during a leadership training event, encountering The Word amidst foreign words with accents not one’s own;
  
• the simply drawn pictures of a typical day in the life of a Kek’chi woman, sketched by Presbyterian mujeres, sleeping babies strapped to their backs or nursing at their breasts;
  
• shy youth and bold ones too talking across the great cultural divide about their hopes and dreams, wondering about their future, pondering where God is in all this;
  
• the boat ride through Bocaron Canyon where Mayan warriors once paddled their hand-hewn barcos, the distant cry of the owl echoing off craggy rock formations that looked like the profile of Tecún Umán himself, Guatemala’s national hero;
  
• lively worship set to the rhythm of clapping hands and the mellow marimba, Guatemala’s national instrument;
  
• God’s spectacular surprise: los colores of a rainbow on their first day of travel, foreshadowing the promise of God’s unmistakable presence at the host church, Iglesia Arco de Noe (Noah’s Ark Church).

Then one of the women from Crescent Hill spoke, as if weaving all these myriad thoughts and feelings together into a vibrant tapestry so typical to the Guatemalans: “Throughout this week, I have never felt so much like a Christian.”

There was silence.

It was like this journey inward into some deep and sacred space and this journey outward into genuine friendship, partnership and solidarity with Kek’chi brothers and sisters revealed what Jesus’ disciples have always looked and longed for.

Mission service does not get much better than this.

J. David Wiseman, PC(USA) Mission Co-Worker
PRESGOV Coordinator, Guatemala

Reflections on the trip by Ellen Dozier

In my 10 years plus of living and working in Guatemala, I have on ocasión had the opportunity to travel with a delegation from the U.S.A. visiting in Guatemala. I have always enjoyed these trips; it is a time to be with people from the U.S.A. who are interested in Guatemala and to share some of my experiences with them; it is time to eat in restaurants and sleep in hotel beds (when I travel with the Guatemalan women we eat in “comedors” (tortillas, beans and eggs for a dollar) and often sleep on church floors); and it is time to travel in a vehicle that stops for bathroom breaks!

So when I was offered the opportunity to travel with the group from Crescent Hills Presbyterian Church in Louisville, I immediately said, “YES.” The time with this group of 19 folks met all my expectations and more. There were hotel beds, restaurants, bathrooms, but far more important was the time to be with new found friends and fellow pilgrims “on the way,” trying to live in God’s Kingdom.

I especially enjoyed watching the group prepare and carry out the workshops – for elders and deacons, for youth, and for the women. Since my work in Guatemala is with women, I was able to share from my experience some of the realities of what it means to be a woman in Guatemala. For example, most of the women at the workshop had never had an opportunity to attend school, were unaccustomed to thinking abstractly, and lived in their small world of home, church, and market. The Crescent Hills group rapidly adopted my suggestions, such as drawing a picture of the Scripture passage to help the elders and deacons visualize the words they were reading.

After this experience I have a new understanding of how delegations can support and be a part of on going ministry in places they visit. Delegations can encourage, bring needed resources, and work alongside those of us – mission co-workers, long and short term volunteers, Young Adult Volunteers – who are already doing ministry in these places.

And all this is very Biblical! After all we read in the Old Testament that Moses’ father-in-law told him he could not take care of all the problems of the Israelites out there in the desert, he needed to appoint others to help him. And Jesus was not a “loner,” men and women traveled with him, learning from him, and participating in ministry with Jesus. And one of the most prominent images in the New Testament is of the Church called to be the body of Christ - feet, hands, mouth, arms – all are necessary and have a part in ministry.

My hope and prayer is that more delegations will work closely with those of us “on the field,” whether in Central America, Africa, Asia or any other part of God’s great world, that together we can be signs of God’s Kingdom in this world.

Ellen Dozier

Presbyterian News Service story on David Wiseman

Taking life on

PC(USA) missionary gave up comfortable pulpit for mission service

by Jerry L. Van Marter

ANTIGUA, Guatemala — The Rev. David Wiseman was all set. His 26-year pastorate at Cary (NC) Presbyterian Church had been a success by all measures. The church was vital, growing, mission-minded. Just staying put until retirement was a live option.

“But I remember what a seminary professor told me once,” Wiseman said in a recent interview here while accompanying a mission delegation from Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville. “He said, ‘Why take life easy when you can take it on?’”

So in May 2004, Wiseman resigned his pastorate “without having anything else to go to,” a move his friends and colleagues “called, at best, a risk,” he said. “I figured I’d take nine months to sort everything out and then see where God led.”

Wiseman filled the time well — a spirituality retreat at Gethsemane monastery in Kentucky, a course in conflict resolution, interim pastor training … and six weeks in Antigua — the former Spanish colonial capitol of Guatemala — learning Spanish.

It was during that time that Wiseman began to seriously think about mission service. Upon his return to the U.S. in late-2004, Wiseman checked out the PC(USA)’s opportunity list for mission positions in Latin America. There was one opening — in Guatemala.

By March of 2005, Wiseman had been selected as the new coordinator of PRESGOV, the agency of the Iglesia Evangelico Nacional Presbiteriana en Guatemala (IENPG) that helps organize and support PC(USA) study and work group trips to Guatemala.

After orientation and six more months of Spanish language study (back in Antigua), Wiseman and his wife, Jeannene, settled in Xela (pronounced Shay-lah), which also goes by the name Quetzaltenango. From there, he travels regularly to the capital, Guatemala City, in order to meet visiting PC(USA) groups and escort them from one end of the country to the other.

“PRESGOV serves as a bridge between the PC(USA) and the IENPG to broaden and deepen relationships between U.S. and Guatemalan Presbyterians,” he said. “The IENPG is clear that PRESGOV’s purpose is to strengthen the IENPG by trying to find ways to move U.S. Presbyterians from friendship to partnership to solidarity over the long term.”

This year alone, Wiseman has worked with 35 delegations from presbyteries and congregations throughout the PC(USA).

For instance, the Crescent Hill group — 19 people from ages 14 to 61 — traveled more than eight hours from Guatemala City to the eastern town of El Estor, where six congregations of indigenous Kek’chi Presbyterians minister in a remote corner of Guatemala that is largely neglected by the government.

Over the course of five days, they conducted a one-day “Bible school” for more than 100 children; led leadership training for pastors, elders, deacons, women and young people; and helped hand-pour cement slabs in three formerly dirt-floored houses in the community.

“I am energized when groups like this one come,” Wiseman said. “Most of them have not been to Guatemala before and it’s like a kid’s first visit to Disneyland — everything is fresh and new despite being way out of their comfort zone.”

Jeannene Wiseman, also a minister and an introvert, was initially uncertain about having to deal with a different group of strangers every few days, David Wiseman said. But while he has embraced the PRESGOV work, Jeannene “has carved out a wonderful ministry working with indigenous Guatemalan women and providing support to the four Young Adult Volunteers who also serve the PC(USA) in the country.

“We could have stayed in Cary,” Wiseman said. “But the challenge here is exhilarating. Jeannene and I (they met in seminary) made a pact while we were in graduate school in Edinburgh, Scotland, that one day we’d do something international,” Wiseman said.

“It just took us a little longer than we figured.”
Information about and letters from PC(USA) missionaries around the world can be found at www.pcusa.org/missionconnections.