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| Ricardo Esquivia |
by Rev. Barbara Gerlach
HARTFORD (06/05/2007) -- Ricardo Esquivia, a visionary Mennonite peace leader described by some as the “Gandhi of Colombia,” will speak as part of “Synod in the City” on Saturday, June 23. Ricardo has dedicated his life to building peace in Colombia, a country with the worst human rights record and longest-running civil war in our hemisphere, a war which has left over 3 million people displaced – second only to Sudan.
The son of an Afro-Colombian father and an indigenous mother, Ricardo was raised on the Caribbean coast. When his father developed leprosy and was institutionalized, Ricardo lived on the streets until the Mennonite Church took him in and educated him in their school. The Mennonite Church became Ricardo’s extended family and nurtured his commitment to peace, justice, and non-violence.
From that small school, he went on to study law and then returned to the Caribbean coast to organize poor farmers in Montes de Maria. Accused of being an ideologue for the guerrillas for his community organizing, Ricardo, his wife and four children fled, first to Cartagena and then to Bogota. There, he founded Justapaz, the Christian Center for Peace, Justice and Non-Violent Action. He served as its Executive Director for 13 years, developing work with displaced communities and projects for sustainable economic development and peace education. His work with conscientious objectors brought him into conflict with the Colombian military and forced him to flee into exile in the United States.
In a country where Protestants are a small minority, Ricardo helped establish the Commission for Restoration, Life, and Peace of the Colombian Council of Evangelical Churches (CEDECOL), which he still serves as National Coordinator. In this capacity, he has facilitated the development of five regional commissions of pastors and lay leaders to help Protestant churches provide emergency assistance to the displaced, develop small-scale economic projects, and work with local leaders to build a grassroots movement for peace. He also has participated in national and regional dialogues with legal and illegal armed groups in Colombia.
In 2004, he moved back to the Caribbean Coast, forming a small, non-profit, faith-based organization, Sembrandopaz (SowingPeace). As a founding member with three Catholic Bishops of the Foundation of Development and Peace of Montes de Maria, Ricardo works regionally and ecumenically to increase civil society participation in a “laboratory of peace” funded through the European Union. Working with CEDECOL, he has helped create a network of Associations for a Dignified Life in Solidarity (RED ASVIDAS) to develop incomegenerating projects, reweave the social fabric, and create an infrastructure for peace. There are now about 130 local, municipal, and regional church-based associations of ASVIDAS on the Caribbean coast, which include 5,000 people, 230 congregations, and 29 denominations.
The CT Conference has been involved in a Mission Partnership with Ricardo and his work with Justapaz and Sembrandopaz for the last decade. And Global Ministries just commissioned Michael Joseph as a “critical presence” missionary to work with Colombian Protestant churches through CEDECOL. Paz!
Rev. Barbara Gerlach is Minister at First Congregational UCC, in Washington, DC and Colombia Liaison for Justice and Witness Ministries.
