Ecumenical partners in Guatemala ask that we pray for a Lutheran pastor, Jose Pilar Alvarez Cabrera, who was arrested, apparently by plainclothes police officers in a rural part of Guatemala earlier this week. Pilar Alvarez has been involved in efforts to protect water rights of some indigenous communities in the Zacapa area of Guatemala and has apparently run afoul of cattle ranchers in the area who also covet the water. (Zacapa is in eastern Guatemala - in between Guatemala City and Rio Dulce - near where the summer 2007 mission trip group visited Mayan ruins.) Pilar Alvarez has received death threats as a result of his work. Suffering from diabetes, he is now under house arrest. Advocates for him say this is part of the effort to criminalize advocacy on behalf of marginalized people in Guatemala and no doubt reminds folks of the civil war. Please pray for Pilar Alvarez, for his family, and for interests and authorities in Guatemala, that they might find a way to resolve conflicts through peaceful, legal means. For more information on the water rights conflict, see:
-- Perry
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