Newsletters

Date: September 18th 2008

DAS Seeks to Question Facilitators of "Conflict Resolution and Construction of Peace" Workshop


The Network of Latin American OIKOSNET Centers and the Center of Academic Regional Formation and Labor invited young people from across Latin America to participate in a private workshop entitled "Conflict Resolution and the Construction of Peace" which is taking place between the 12 and 20 of September in Santa Veronica, near Barranquilla, Colombia.

This workshop offers a space for the formation of Latin American youth with the desire to contribute in a profound way to the construction of a peace with justice and dignity, attending to the structural and cultural causes in conflict in the local and national sphere. This space will support the formation of an integrated Latin America that allows input from young people and the initiatives that these organizations develop in social, political, and educational processes of Latin American countries.

On September 15, 2008, a young woman, who identified herself as "Carmenza Gonzalez" called the office of the Presbytery of the North Coast seeking to learn the location of this workshop and its membership. The static from walkie-talkies could be heard in the background. This along with the fact that this workshop had not been publicized raised attention.

That same day a young man who claimed to be from the Universidad Autonoma called asking about workshops that the Presbytery offered but could not/ did not specify which workshop was of interest to him. He hung up without leaving his name.

A man from DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad – Administrative Department of Security which according to the DAS website, www.das.gov.co, is responsible for obtaining and processing information from the national and international sphere as related to national security), called a little while later seeking to learn the location of two leaders from other Latin American countries, both facilitators of this event. Many believe that the intent of these phone calls is to produce fear and to demonstrate that the Presbytery is still being watched.

Members of the Presbytery of the North Coast informed the two participants/facilitators of the calls and the possibility that someone from DAS may arrive to ask them questions. Incredulous, the two facilitators shook their heads in disbelief. "How can this happen in a democratic country? In a dictatorship this happens but not in a democracy."