September 16, 2004

SAN SALVADOR - At the end of a six-day visit to El Salvador, the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Mark S. Hanson committed himself to transmitting the concern of Central American Lutherans about the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and to continue to struggle for peace and a more just world.

Hanson, who is also president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the United States (ELCA) visited El Salvador from September 11-16, invited by the Central American Communion of Lutheran Churches (CILCA).

In a press conference just prior to his return to the United States, Hanson said Thursday that during his visit to Lutheran communities and their work places, he has found people who live in situations of dramatic poverty.

Based on a profound faith commitment, Central American Lutheran Churches understand that their ministry consists in accompanying the suffering population, caring for creation and defending peoples human rights (health, education, housing, employment), he said.

He said that in talks with civil society sectors he could perceive frustration because the Peace Agreements have not been fully implemented and they have not brought peace with justice. For us peace is not just the end of the armed conflict, but involves ensuring access to all basic rights, he said.

He added that Churches expressed their gratitude for the accompaniment of the Lutheran World Federation, with 63 million believers worldwide, and their satisfaction because the LWF is intensely debating the impact of economic globalization, in particular among the most vulnerable.

The Churches, he said, expressed their concern about the impact that the Free Trade Agreements with the United States could have on peoples lives in Central America. They were particularly concerned about the lack of public participation in the discussion of these deals, the impoverishment of the most vulnerable sectors (rural zones, indigenous people, women etc) and the lack of control to exploit natural resources and the subsequent deterioration of the environment.

I am committed to taking this message and these concerns back to the LWF and particularly to my Church in the United States, he said. The ELCA is the fifth largest denomination in the United States, with 5 million faithful.

He noted that on the third anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks he perceived, once again, the cruel and continuous violence affecting our world. We are witnesses to how violence generates more violence in Iraq. This visit has helped me see how violence is also expressed in unjust structures and in situations of exclusion and marginalization, said Hanson.

As I return to my country, I have a renewed committed to act in favor of peace, investing my best efforts to construct a more just world without exclusion, said the LWF president.

As a religious leader profoundly committed to non violence I recently participated in meetings with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to debate about peace in Iraq and with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, to seek a peaceful means to solve the crisis in the Middle East.

He criticized the decision to begin a war against Iraq, adding that peace in that country will only be achieved if the sovereignty of the Iraqi people is respected and not as a result of a US imposition.

ALC News Service