COLOMBIA: Incident In Bogota

Driven out of Colombia's backlands during the past two years by civil warfare and persecution, Protestant missionaries have tried to start work anew in the big cities. But in Bogota last week an incident occurred which suggested that freedom of worship, guaranteed by the constitution of 1936, is still hazardous.

Having built a temporary new chapel on the Plazuela San Martin, the Rev. Gerald Riddell, Baptist missionary from Caddo, Texas, invited the public to attend holiday dedication services. The first night, a crowd massed before the chapel and threw stones through the windows. Missionary Riddell telephoned both the police and the U.S. embassy for help. Through police response was sluggish, the embassy's was not. Ambassador Capus M. Waynick, a Presbyterian from North Carolina, dashed right over in person, stalked past the mob, told Riddell to go on with his service, and stayed himself till the last Amen.

A second, better-organized attack followed the next afternoon. Tipped off, Waynick asked and got promises of strong police protection. A police detail appeared briefly, then left when all appeared quiet. Thereupon Father Florencio Alvarez, a local priest, led his most ardent parishioners down the steep cobblestone street from a hilltop slum behind the chapel. The marchers carried banners proclaiming "Colombia is Catholic" and "We Will Not Be Robbed of Our Religion." Some of them also heaved stones. Halting directly before the church door, Father Alvarez thanked his followers for their "protestation of faith" and denounced "Protestant millionaires from the U.S. who try to sow disunity and uproot the true faith planted by our forefathers." Then he asked the crowd, about 300 strong, to leave peacefully with him.

At week's end the chapel was boarded up for repairs. For the U.S., Ambassador Waynick lodged a strong protest with the Colombian government.