CPTnet
August 8, 2003
CHICAGO/TORONTO: Nonviolence practicioner held hostage in Colombia to speak
at Peacemaker Congress

Civil Rights veteran Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr., knows peacemaking is
front-lines work with high risks. In 2002, leftist guerrillas took him and
his Colombian co-workers hostage. The guerillas released LaFayette, but
held his two friends for a year. Then, in May 2003, those friends were
killed by the guerrillas during a botched rescue attempt by the Colombian
government's military.

Lafayette will kick off Peacemaker Congress VII - "Uniting the Races for
Homeland Security and World Peace," September 25-28 at John Knox
Presbyterian church in Youngstown, OH. He will speak on "Organizing
Nonviolent Struggles in an Era of Neocolonialism and Terrorism." A
contemporary and co-worker of Martin Luther King, Lafayette is best known
for his life-long commitment to nonviolence activism, training and
education. He is currently Director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace
Studies at the University of Rhode Island.

For more than three years, Lafayette developed nonviolence training programs
in the civil war-torn state of Antioquia in Colombia, where he worked with
the local governor, Guillermo Gaviria. In April 2002, Gaviria and Lafayette
co-led a five-day, thousand-strong, 120-mile nonviolent march from Medellin
to Caicedo - a mountain town of 7,000 that had declared itself a neutral
peace community but which continued to suffer from armed group incursions.
The FARC--the largest of Colombia's guerrilla groups--said the march would
not be allowed to enter Caicedo. When Gaviria, Lafayette, a priest and a
ministerial advisor went to negotiate in good faith, the guerillas took them
hostage. A year after they released LaFayette and the priest, the FARC
guerillas shot Gaviria and the advisor when they heard Colombian military
helicopters sent to rescue the officials overhead.

In interviews after the killing, Lafayette reflected, "Sometimes it takes
more courage to be nonviolent. [Gaviria] knew that there was a risk in
organizing the march, but the greater risk was not ending the violence." As
active peacemakers, LaFayette said, "we can't simply be concerned about
what would happen to us if we went to Colombia. We have to be concerned
about what would happen to the Colombian people if we didn't go."

Register today for Peacemaker Congress VII. Contact
guest.675367@MennoLink.org or visit
http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/cpt_congress.php for more information and a
registration form.

Cosponsored by: Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church Peace Committee (Goessel,
KS); Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren (IN); Bethany Theological
Seminary (Richmond, IN); Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies
(Fresno, CA); Church of God Peace Fellowship (Anderson, IN); Coalition for
Peace with Justice (Chapel Hill, NC); Conrad Grebel College Peace Studies
(Waterloo, ON); Dallas Peace Center (TX); Eastern Mennonite University
Conflict Transformation Program (VA); Jubilee Partners (Comer, GA); MCC
Canada; Mennonite Church Canada Witness; On Earth Peace Assembly (New
Windsor, MD); Presbyterian Peacemaking Program (Lexington KY); Rochester
Area Mennonite Fellowship (NY); Southside Fellowship (Elkhart, IN); Virlina
District, Church of the Brethren (VA)