CRLN's History
Highlights from 18 Years of CRLN Solidarity with Latin America
2007: CRLN report on Afro-Colombian delegation is presented at a congressional hearing, documenting the deteriorating human rights, environmental, and economic situations for Afro-Colombians.
2006: CRLN and the Chicago Presbytery inaugurate a Covenant Partnership to create 10 Presbyterian "Congregations in Solidarity with Latin America" with a delegation of 11 Presbyterians to Colombia for the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia.
2005: The World Council of Churches (WCC) gives CRLN its "Blessed are the Peacemakers Award" for "inspiring, courageous and faithful efforts to build a just and peaceful world" as part of the WCC 2001-2010 Decade to Overcome Violence. CRLN was nominated for this award by Rev. David Anderson, Executive Director of the Illinois Conference of Churches.
2004: After educating CRLN constituents and members of U.S. Congress about the adverse impact of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on labor rights, the environment, & family farmers, CRLN secures two, face-to-face meetings with undecided U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel seeking his commitment to oppose CAFTA and support a Fair Trade Benchmarks Bill.
2003: As a result of several visits by key Afro-Colombian leaders to Chicago organized by CRLN, 8 African-American leaders from Chicago join the historic 25-member Witness for Peace July delegation to Afro-Colombian communities under siege in Colombia.
2002: CRLN organizes a 40-member delegation from Illinois for the National Colombia Mobilization in Washington DC that fans out to meet with key policy staffers of all 20 U.S. Representatives and both Senators from Illinois to urge an end to U.S. military aid and poisonous chemical fumigation in Colombia.
2001: After a powerful 7.6RS earthquake in El Salvador displaces 20% of the population, CRLN raised over $21,000 in emergency and reconstruction aid, channeled to 4 highly-effective grassroots organizations working on the ground.
2000: Illinois Conference of Churches (ICC) director, Rev. David Anderson, and four ICC board members are among the 16-member delegation to Cuba organized by CRLN with ICC to examine the impact of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, and then report back to U.S. policymakers.
1999: Nine Democrats and six Republicans from Illinois vote with a first-ever House majority to defund the U.S. Army School of the Americas after years of calls, letters, and visits by CRLN members to their U.S. Representatives.
1998: The Presbytery of Chicago of the Presbyterian Church/USA establishes an official partnership with the Presbytery of Havana as a result of a 20-person delegation visit to Cuba organized jointly by CRLN and the Presbytery of Chicago.
1997: U.S. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois introduces first-ever Senate legislation to close the U.S. Army's notorious School of the Americas after talking with 11 denominational leaders in a meeting organized by CRLN.
1996: CRLN organizes over 200 signers to place a full-page ad in the Christian Science Monitor calling for declassification of all U.S. documents on human rights abuses in Guatemala since 1954, including the torture of Ursuline Sister Dianna Ortiz, three months after a 12-member CRLN delegation met in Washington with President Clinton's Intelligence Oversight Board investigating CIA misdeeds in Guatemala.
1995: A CRLN luncheon head table letter to GAP regarding sweatshop abuses in El Salvador resulted in a Chicago meeting between 11 CRLN leaders and high level GAP executives, who two days later went on to sign an accord accepting independent monitoring in El Salvador.
1994: CRLN organizes 35 accredited election observers, one of which is now the foreign policy aide to a member of Congress from Illinois, to join in the 500-member U.S. Citizen Election Observer Mission for comprehensive elections in El Salvador mandated by the UN mediated peace accords.
1993: After meeting with CRLN luncheon speaker Nicaraguan Baptist pastor Gustavo Parajón, the Chicago Tribune published an editorial calling for the release of $50 million of withheld development aid to Nicaragua; the editorial was then circulated to all members of Congress by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois.
1992: After listening to CRLN luncheon speaker Rev. Charles Bierne, a Jesuit priest who had replaced Rev. Ignacio Martín Baró, one of the six Jesuit priests slain in El Salvador, U.S. Senator Alan Dixon of Illinois commits for the first time to oppose all further military aid to El Salvador.
1991: Through CRLN organizing efforts, CRLN luncheon speaker Bishop Rodolfo Quezada, Guatemala's early peace mediator, meets with Cardinal Bernardin resulting in the first U.S. Catholic Bishops delegation to Guatemala in support of the peace process.
1990: Chicago Lutheran Bishop Sherman Hicks leads CRLN's first delegation to Washington DC with 26 clergy and lay leaders seeking an end to U.S. military aid for El Salvador and a negotiated peace to the war.
1989: Only days after the murder of six Jesuit priests by the military in El Salvador, CRLN holds its first luncheon with Salvadoran Lutheran Bishop Medardo Gomez, U.S. Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, and 300 religious leaders calling for an end to U.S. military aid to El Salvador and a negotiated peace to the war.
