Presbyterian Church of Colombia stated clerk is watching his step

by Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service

PCUSA mission co-worker Alice Winters adds more information and suggests possible action to support Mejía

LOUISVILLE -- April 4, 2003 -- A man accused of threatening a Presbyterian minister and his family in Colombia has escaped from jail, according to the Presbyterian Church of Colombia.

Nicolas Alfonso Pezzano Bornacelly, a Colombian paramilitary leader, was arrested in Barranquilla, in northern Colombia, in November, 2002, and was awaiting trial for making phone calls threatening the life of the Rev. Milton Mejia, stated clerk of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia.

According to the church, police tracked the calls to Mejia directly to Bornacelly.

"The caller wanted me to collaborate (with his group) ... but it was not clear how," said Mejia during an April 4 telephone interview with the Presbyterian News Service. "Sometimes it looked like they wanted money, sometimes like they wanted me to stop doing what I was doing -- the church''s work with displaced people and other human rights work."

The caller threatened both Mejia and his wife, as well as their two sons, aged nine and five.

Mejia said he decided not to make the threats public at the time so that police could quietly search for the suspect.

Mejia's lawyer recently learned that Bornacelly is no longer in custody. Government authorities said he escaped.

"This is a very dangerous situation," said the Rev. Pablo J. Noguera of Bogata, who is currently on a speaking tour in U.S. churches at the invitation of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. "Now we don't know what they can do against Milton ... . We have to really be concerned. We have to be alert about security for our brother, Milton."

The moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia sent letters to partner churches on April 4, including the Presbyterian Church (USA). In the letter, the Rev. Diego Higuita asked the international community to be aware that the church may need help protecting Mejia and his family should "an emergency situation" arise. "For this reason, we ask for your prayers," he wrote, adding that the church is taking safety measures.

On another other occasion, the PC(USA) helped finance the relocation of another Colombian pastor who was threatened.

Higuita wrote that the Bornacelly case is an example of how "these threatening situations are handled by legal authorities. The individual is incarcerated, and later, to our dismay, is liberated without notice. The act is totally unpunished and the victims remain unprotected."

Noguera said that pastors are frequently threatened in Colombia. "The first thing the pastor worries about is the safety of his family," he said.

Mejia said he continues to work and family members are careful not to walk alone, but "to always be together."

"This man was caught red-handed. He should have been watched under some kind of high-alert. But he escaped," said Mejia.