In years past, we received visits from Alice Winters, a PCUSA mission co-worker who once taught at the theological seminary in Baranquilla, and whom our church supported financially. Some of the pastors who have been threatened may well have been people she worked with.

A coalition of churches and peacemaking organizations in Colombia has responded to the threats in a pastoral letter which states, in part: “We believe these threats to be religious persecution as they are clearly threatening the development and free practice of our pastoral and humanitarian work with those who suffer the consequences of the armed conflict, and our participation in peacemaking for Colombia as the Gospel requires of us.”

The letter calls for “sister churches…to continue praying for us, and to increase their accompaniment and support to continue the work of building a lasting peace for Colombia, grounded in the message of the Gospel. “The PCUSA’s Presbyterian Peace Fellowship has an online petition you can sign, denouncing the death threats and expressing support for those who continue to place themselves at risk, for the sake of human rights.