April 21, 2005

QUITO, Ecuador – In the face of recent events in Ecuador, that led to the overthrow of President Lucio Gutierrez and his substitution by Vice President Alfredo Palacio, the Women's Network of member Churches of the Latin American Council of Churches in Ecuador called for unity.

"It is time to unite, more than ever it is time to allow ourselves to be illuminated by the liberating word of the Gospel," said the call.

It is "time to talk, to reflect, to contribute with ideas and actions to construct a better Ecuador," stated the organization that groups together women's organizations from CLAI member Churches in the country.

The document recalls that the CLAI-Ecuador Women's Network is a "space of dialogue, encounter and Biblical reflection among people from diverse faith confessions who feel challenged by the Gospel and the struggle in favor of justice."

It added that it joined the popular resistance that was organized in particular in Quito to demand and energetically and bravely reject the way that Ecuador has been submitted to misery and impoverishment and to condemn the "repressive and anti-popular policies" of the governments.

God gives us the hope of a new world where everyone has a dignified space as human beings. We dream of a new country, free, sovereign and democratic, that struggles and defends its rights "on our knees before God but also on our feet together with a people that suffers injustice, oppression," added the declaration.

It affirms that it cannot silence the participation of the Evangelical indigenous movement in favour of the interests of corrupt governments such as the Gutierrez government, but we believe in the dignity that in other occasions that indigenous movement has demonstrated and we hope that its leaders recall their glorious indigenous heroes.

Latin American and Caribbean Communication Agency (ALC)