New update

I just talked with Karla Koll who is in Guatemala City, has been there for several days teaching classes at Cedepca. This is what Karla says,

"There are no riots in Guatemala, violence is not widespread. Cedepca is not telling groups not to come to Guatemala.

Our group needs to know that there is an increased number of places in the country affected by violence, violence is targeted; the chance of being in a trouble spot is not great.

When there are problems in the capital, traffic is a mess and so the group needs to be flexible (meaning we may have to wait to get where we want to go). The area of the capital where we will be staying has not experienced problems. We should avoid travel in the capital at peak travel hours."

"Obviously this is an unsettling situation for those we will visit but this is the reality in which they live and we need to walk along side them."

I have also talked with morning with K.T. Ockels who is one of the people in PC(USA) responsible for security. She checks everyday all the possible trouble spots in the world and at this time can find no new news about problems in Guatemala. She always continues to check during the day and will alert me if she finds anything. I also receive bulletins from the U.S. Embassy in my email and have not received any new bulletin since that issued I think on March 22. I will also check the online site of "Prensa Libre" (the newspaper).

I hope this information helps all of us to be clothed with the peace of Christ.

-- Ellen