Dear Friends,

Greetings of love and peace. In late August, ninety representatives of 21 Cooperation Circles from eleven countries gathered in Iguaçu Falls, Brazil for the Third URI Latin America regional assembly. The four-day assembly focused on healing, networking and building capacity for effective action to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.

We were hosted by visionary power company, Itaipu, at its Biological Refuge in the figurative shadow of the world’s largest hydroelectric plant and near a spectacular torrent of Iguaçu Falls known to the local Guarani Indigenous people as Ytu Saingo, but christened the Devil’s Throat by Spanish conquistadors, who massacred countless Guarani by eviscerating them and casting them into the roiling waters of these spectacular, deadly falls.

A highlight of the assembly was a ceremony of healing standing above the falls, looking out toward Ytu Saingo. At the end of the assembly, over forty Indigenous leaders met for two additional days to explore the continued development of a global Indigenous initiative within URI. Read more about these six remarkable days and how they helped shape a dynamic future for URI in Latin America, established an Indigenous Council with a global vision and laid the foundation for a vital partnership with Itaipu.

Faithfully,

Charles

Read Charles’ whole reflection