Guatemala Presbyterians Urge Probe of Attacks on Members

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Guatemala says it has become the target of a systematic campaign of intimidation and violence waged by paramilitary groups and “conservative religious fanatics.”

According to ALC, an ecumenical news agency based in Lima, Peru, the church has asked government and judicial authorities in Guatemala to investigate a series of attacks directed at denomination leaders and members. It is also seeking the support and protection of church bodies outside Guatemala.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), currently meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., was expected to vote this week on a resolution condemning the violence. The group has sent several members from the United States to Guatemala to accompany threatened church leaders on their travels.

The request by the Guatemalan Presbyterians was issued in the wake of a series of incidents in May and June, including death threats received in late June by Maria Francisca Ventura, widow of Presbyterian leader Manuel Saquic. Saquic was killed last year in what authorities suspect was the work of a death squad. He was a prominent defender of human rights, especially of Guatemala’s indigenous people in the area around the mountainous Chimaltenango region.

Ventura received the death threat June 23, a day after the denomination held a worship service marking the first anniversary of her husband’s death.

The Rev. Herb Valentine, a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who attended the memorial service, said that until the Guatemalan government cracks down on the paramilitary groups and death squads, the cycle of violence that has plagued Guatemala will not be broken.

“I am angered by the persecution and threats suffered by our brothers and sisters of the Presbyterian Church who seek simply to live their faith,” he said.

In addition to the death threat against Ventura, the Rev. Samuel Merida Ajanel, moderator of the church, was kidnapped in May and held captive for five days before being released. He was threatened with death if he did not quit his church positions. Dissident members of the denomination who do not approve of the church’s advocacy of human rights for the poor are suspected of the kidnapping.

In early June, according to the church, Presbyterian social workers Catalina Morales and the Rev. Manuel Paz Perez were threatened and beaten. And a Dutch missionary, Guillermo van Der Vegte, who works with Presbyterian youths, has been attacked by armed groups on several occasions over the past two months, ALC said.

The Guatemalan denomination appealed to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to condemn the violence and to urge the U.S. government to exert pressure on Guatemala to stop it.

“This kidnapping [of Merida] has brought another round of harassment in Guatemala and the church has asked us to support them,” said Julia Ann Moffett of the church’s Worldwide Ministries Division, who acts as a liaison with Guatemala.