A new president and recent action by the 226th General Assembly give more than 70 online participants a vision of Guatemala’s future
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
Partners representing New Castle Presbytery, CEDEPCA and the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development hike in Guatemala. (Contributed photo)
LOUISVILLE — At least six dozen people gathered Wednesday evening to take a virtual journey to Guatemala. They learned more about the progress, slow as it’s often been, being made by Guatemala’s new president, Bernardo Arévalo, and about an important action taken by the 226th General Assembly (2024).
Esvin Sirin, logistics and group facilitator for CEDEPCA, Presbyterian World Mission’s partner in Central America’s largest country, said that while change in Guatemala can take time, “it’s been a process with a lot of passivity. It’s been nine months now since the administration took office, and it’s been a very slow process.”
“We wonder, how will this government be?” Sirin said. “The flame of hope we felt [upon Arévalo’s election last year] is going out little by little. We don’t want to lose hope completely, but we wonder when there will be concrete changes,” especially in grocery prices, which are sharply up.
Bernardo Arévalo is Guatemala’s president. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
“I’d say that the work continues to be very difficult,” Sirin said. “But we need to keep working and hope that at some point there can truly be a new spring in the country.”
Doug Michael, co-chair of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s Guatemala Partnership Committee, talked about the presbytery’s overture, On Support of the People of Guatemala, which had concurrence from four other presbyteries with Guatemala partnerships — Albany, Baltimore, New Castle, and the Inland Northwest. Commissioners to the 226th General Assembly passed the overture as part of the consent agenda.
People from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina have been journeying to Guatemala for 30 years, listening and sharing hopes and dreams and working on nutrition, microloans, training programs for women and domestic violence prevention. “We enjoy breaking bread and being together,” Michael said.
The most recent trip was in October, the partnership’s first trip in several years. The eight-member delegation arrived just as peaceful protests had erupted following Arévalo’s election. The visitors had to stay in Guatemala City for the entire time. “We learned how quickly difficult lives can become truly precarious,” Michael said.
On the last day, the visitors gathered for a Zoom call with their partners across Guatemala. “We listened as partners described life in their communities during the crisis. The stories were wrenching,” Michael said. “We asked, ‘What can we do?’ The partners suggested we bring their needs to the attention of the larger church. This prompted us to draft the overture.”
“The people of Guatemala yearn to be heard,” Michael said. “It was a humbling and touching moment.”
The overture encourages Presbyterians to pray and work for peace, become more aware of the history and present reality of life in Guatemala, work through partnerships and advocate with legislators to support peace and justice in the nation. It directs PC(USA) media outlets to inform churches and individuals of what’s going on in Guatemala and includes direction for the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), the Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations as well.
Carrie Saathoff, co-chair of New Castle Presbytery’s Guatemala Partnership and the board president of CEDEPCA USA, joined with Michael in presenting the overture to the Assembly’s International Engagement Committee, which passed it unanimously with two minor amendments.
A pair of PC(USA) mission co-workers — the Rev. Tracey King-Ortega, World Mission’s area co-coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Rev. Betsey Moe, who’s assigned to CEDEPCA — then led a discussion on what’s next.
The Rev. Betsey Moe
“When we pray and work for peace, I’d love for all of us to imagine wholeness for all of God’s children,” Moe said, noting how “it’s really easy to get overwhelmed by the darkness,” even when taking action. She shared a quote from the activist and author Valarie Kaur in her “Prayer for America”: “What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?”
“This is the possibility: God is working in the darkness, and we are part of the new Creation God is always working on,” Moe said. “God is here, and God is at work.”
Nations in Central America, especially Nicaragua and El Salvador, are facing rising authoritarianism, King-Ortega said. “Given tight government controls, limitations on participation and the downright fear of speaking out, it’s hard to hang onto hope,” she said. “In Guatemala, there is an administration seeking to strengthen democracy.” The new president “has not been able to accomplish everything on his agenda. Nevertheless, it is a huge win for democracy he is in power and moving forward. These difficult days could be a womb,” she said, and the recent General Assembly action “is our attempt to be doulas to make the path to democracy a bit more viable.”
The Rev. Tracey King-Ortega
“What is decided at General Assembly doesn’t just magically happen,” King-Ortega said. “It requires insistence and persistence.” Toward that end, participants are establishing a team “to guide and encourage what the resolution calls for, and this webinar is part of that,” she said. “In order to achieve impact, we need a team committed to make things happen.”
Webinar attendees also heard from Dr. Ana Silvia Monzón, a sociologist and author who said the new government in Guatemala “is facing situations that make it hard for them to do their job.”
“Every day there’s a new situation that limits government action,” Monzón said. “A majority of people face grave difficulties. We need for the eyes of the world not to turn away from us.”
Moe closed the hour-long session with prayer, thanking God for the Holy Spirit “that has opened our ears and our hearts. Thank you for tying us together as people of God who want the best for your people, who desire shalom and wholeness. Give us your perspective of hope — even in the darkness, even with a young administration, because you can still work through that.”
“Guide us in our next steps,” Moe prayed, “as people working together for the whole people of God. Amen.”
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