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| Ricardo Esquivia |
UCC Press Release
HARTFORD (03/05/2007) -- Ricardo Esquivia, an outspoken advocate for creating a culture of peace, will participate in the United Church of Christ's all-day "Synod in the City" in Hartford, Connecticut, on June 23.
As part of the UCC's 50th anniversary General Synod, June 22-26, "Synod in the City" will include dozens of performers, speakers, theologians, musicians, and multimedia events at venues throughout downtown Hartford. The day-long celebration will culminate with the UCC's churchwide birthday party at the Hartford Civic Center.
Esquivia, a Colombian Mennonite of African descent, is a leading advocate for peace in Colombia. As the founder of Justapaz, the just peace center sponsored by the Mennonite Church of Colombia, and Sembrandopaz (Sowing Peace), Esquivia has started more than 150 ecumenical associations of churches in local villages, towns and cities to work together to bring peace and development to the people of Colombia.
"I consider him the Ghandi of Latin America," says the Rev. Davida Foy Crabtree, Conference Minister of the UCC?s Connecticut Conference. "He was a judge, and he gave up his law career to devote himself to building a culture of peace."
Esquivia delivered a powerful keynote address to the Connecticut Conference's 2000 Annual Meeting. The Connecticut and Central Atlantic Conferences have an ecumenical partnership with Justapaz and the Mennonite Churches in Colombia.
"We want people to be able to see the tree in the seed," says Esquivia, who has taken part in national and regional dialogues and peace initiatives in the South American country. More than 200,000 people have been killed in Colombia since 1985, and more than two million have been uprooted in one of the Western Hemisphere's worst humanitarian crises.
Though Esquivia has faced death threats from paramilitary forces, he said he wants his people to be able to taste the fruit that will come from the tree of peace.
