In a unanimous 42-0 vote on Tuesday, the International Engagement Committee of the General Assembly (GA) recommended approval of overture INT-01, which directs the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with guidance from the Office of Public Witness, to urge the U.S. to continue engaging Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo in anti-corruption efforts.
If approved by the GA next week in Salt Lake City, Utah, the overture, which also calls on all Presbyterians to pray and work for peace in the region, will reaffirm the PC(USA)’s commitment to working for peace in Guatemala and provide resources for Presbyterians to learn more about the crisis there and engage with their U.S. lawmakers.
Overture advocates Carrie Saathoff, co-chair of the Guatemala Partnership of New Castle Presbytery, and Doug Michael, co-chair of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina Guatemala Partnership Leadership Team, shared details about the crisis in Guatemala with the committee. After years of corruption, Saathoff said, “the Arévalo presidency is completely different and has brought a lot of hope.”
Presbyterians have had a presence in Guatemala for over 100 years, according to rationale written in support of the overture, which came from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina.
During the discussion about broadening the scope of the overture by replacing specific references to President Joe Biden and President Arévalo to include future presidents, Tracey King-Ortega, PC(USA) regional liaison for Central America, said, “The overture has been written for a very specific moment in history.”
Sue Rheem, PC(USA) representative to the United Nations, added that previous presidencies have not upheld anti-corruption efforts. “This current [Guatemalan] administration needs to be named and supported,” she said.
The committee moved to change the reference to President Biden to the broader and more future-looking term, “U.S.,” and keep the reference to President Arévalo. Only one other amendment was made to change “brothers and sisters” to the more inclusive term “siblings,” though King-Ortega said “brothers and sisters” will be used when translating into Spanish.
In support of the overture, Paige Simrad, a young adult advisory delegate from Michigan’s Presbytery of Mackinac, shared how important it is for the PC(USA) to “do the work to make more people aware of the situation [in Guatemala].”
