October 8, 2004
By Manuel Quintero

QUITO, Ecuador - The death of Pastor Humberto Ramos, killed in a car accident, has caused great consternation. Ramos was president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia (IELB) and a member of the board of the Latin American council of Churches.

The accident took place around 8:00 pm on October 7 when he was returning to La Paz from Vilacaya in the department of Potosi. Pastor Juan Cevallos and Ramon Conde and Verena Welz, a German volunteer working with the IELB also died in the accident.

"I will always remember him for his simplicity that allowed him to be surprised by daily life," said Pastor Israel Batista, CLAI secretary general.

It is difficult to understand an act of this nature, why a servant of God who meant so much for his people and his Church, for CLAI and the ecumenical movement would die this way. "Why Lord?, is the question that comes to my lips in my weakness," wrote Pastor Batista in a letter to the directors and member Churches of the Council.

On one occasion, referring to the Aymara culture, Ramos wrote that solidarity is inherent to the spirit of the Aymaras. "When each person is capable of caring and trusting others, this reciprocity makes the community a single body," he wrote.

This spirit of solidarity presided the life of Pastor Ramos and was manifested in many ways, in particular in service to indigenous communities in the highlands, his struggle for the people and the management of natural resources, which lead him to make opportune and prophetic declarations.

The funeral for Rev. Ramos will be held Friday in the Lutheran Church in El Alto and will be attended by leaders from other Churches, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Baptist, in testimony of his renowned ecumenical work.

ALC News Service