 |
Southeast Region
|
Witness for Peace SE History
25 Years, April 1982 to 2007
by Gail Phares
In April 1982, ten people met at the Catholic Center in Raleigh to found the Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America –CITCA. The founders included: Sr Evelyn Mattern, NCCC, and Rev. Bill Jeffries, Ann Welch, AFSC, Dr. Allen Nealy, Southeastern Baptist Seminary, Rev. Joe Mann, Wesley Foundation, Joe Moran, Church World Service and Gail Phares. We would help to organize 28 CITCA chapters all over North and South Carolina. About the same time Gail Phares helped found a national organization, Witness for Peace. Since 2011, we began operating under a single organizational name, Witness for Peace Southeast.
A year later, 30 people from 10 different faith traditions visited Nicaragua to assess the impact of US funding of the covert war against Nicaragua. The group included: Dr. John McCloud, Synod of NC, Fr. Henry Atkins, Episcopal Diocese, Kathryn Gramley, Moravian Church, Dr. Gil Joseph, UNC CH, Dr.Jeff Boyer, ASU, Dr. Jim Hunt, Shaw Univ. and Unitarian Universalist, Sr Evelyn Mattern, Peggy Olney and Mary Hayes Holmes among others.
During this trip in April 1983, we visited small communities on the Nicaraguan Honduran border, which had been recently attacked by the contras – former National Guard troops of the dictator Anastasia Somoza, trained and equipped by the U.S. government that were carrying out a terrorist war against the Nicaraguan people. One of the villages we visited was under attack when we arrived. We could see the contra command center up in the Honduran hills. “They have stopped attacking because they can see you,” we were told.
After this t rip we would return home to organize what we called Action for Peace in July 1983 – 150 people from 37 states traveled to Jalapa, Nicaragua to witness first hand the suffering and pain caused by the US funded contras. Out of this trip would come Witness for Peace that was founded in October 1983. Witness for Peace became the longest non-violent presence in an active war zone that anyone knows in history.
Hundreds of people would visit Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Cuba, Mexico and Colombia over the next 24 years. We would return home profoundly moved by what we had seen and heard and work with our churches, speak to the media and to our members of Congress. Eventually, we would stop funding for the contra war, encourage the US government to stop funding the wars in Guatemala and El Salvador and support the peace process. Over the years, we have worked for a just trade policy with Mexico. Currently we are working to stop US funding for the war in Colombia and to support the people in Latin America who struggle to create more just societies.
People who traveled to Latin America with Witness for Peace would return home to initiate other programs in solidarity with the poor: the Jubilee House Community from Statesville have started a Center for Development based in Ciudad Sandino on the edge of Managua. Dr. John Paar founded Project Health for Leon. Lonna and Richard Harkrader started the dynamic program Durham/San Ramon Sister Communities. Rev. Allen Proctor, Presbyterian Campus Minister at NC State has brought hundreds of students to Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Dr. Jeff Boyer at Appalachian State has brought Episcopalians and ASU students to Honduras to work in sustainable development. Linda Mashburn has worked to strengthen Sister Parishes across the US to name just a few.
Latin Americans have had a transforming impact on our lives and our experiences transform both people and policy.
Whether your involvement began with CITCA or Witness for Peace, rest assured that your energies and support remain essential and welcome.