Live Aid, Latin-style

Several Latin pop stars participated in two giant charity concerts in aid of the fight against child poverty in Latin America last month. The free concerts were held simultaneously in Buenos Aires and Mexico City on 17 May. The Christian singer Juan-Luis Guerra performed alongside other stars such as Shakira and Ricky Martin. Proceeds from the concerts will go to the charity Latin America in Solidarity Action (ALAS). ALAS was launched in 2006 to tackle the poverty that affects some 32 million Latin American children and kills an estimated 350 thousand children in the region each year.

FARC leader surrenders and calls on other rebels to give themselves up

A leading commander of the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels in Colombia has surrendered, and is now urging others to do the same. FARC has been fighting to overthrow Colombia’s Government for more than 40 years.

Nelly Avila Moreno, known as 'Karina', handed herself in to soldiers on Sunday 18 May. She has been accused of a series of murders and abductions in the north-western Antioquia region of Colombia. She is said to have surrendered due to a combination of factors including the growing military pressure on FARC and the weakening of rebel troops. Several key leaders have been killed in recent months.

The Colombian army called a press conference in Medellín, where Karina gave a statement to her comrades and told them to 'change this life that you are leading in the guerrilla group and re-enter society with the government's reinsertion plan'. Gen. Mario Montoya, Commander of the army, called her surrender a 'confounding strike to the FARC structure'.

Please pray for the church in Colombia and for the role its members play as peace-makers in the ongoing conflict.

Help offered. We have a praise report from Jenny Brown in Cusco, Peru, who recently asked for prayer as she looked for volunteers to help at a community project in the mountains. She says: 'I had a meeting with a language school/volunteer organisation I really hoped we could work with. They train single mums to teach Spanish while providing care for the children when necessary. The guy in charge said he could practically guarantee us volunteers from now until November!

'I never imagined getting this sort of long-term arrangement but he is really keen on our project and would put us top of the list for his volunteers, after the childcare for the teachers. So that is a very fast answer to prayer.'

Parades in Bolivia

Testing times. Louis and Maribel Woodley ask us to continue to pray regarding the current political situation in Bolivia. An unofficial referendum for autonomy in Santa Cruz took place without any major problems, and President Evo Morales has now announced a vote of confidence to reconfirm the elections of three years ago. Anyone who gets a lower percentage of the vote than they did three years ago will be replaced, and if the President himself receives fewer votes than he did last time, a general election will be called. 'President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened to intervene if the vote does not ratify the current president,' Louis and Maribel inform us. 'One can only guess what he means by "intervene". Please pray.'

Cuba Para Cristo ask for prayer for a church in Guantánamo. The pastor of the church is the only Christian minister allowed into the town, which is located adjacent to the US military base. Late last month, a lorry carrying many members of the church overturned in a ravine. Many of the passengers were young people. One girl died and all the other passengers were badly injured, including the driver. A doctor in the church had brain surgery because of her wounds, and is in intensive care.

Please pray for the church at this troubled time; for the full recovery of all the injured church members, and for God to comfort the family of the girl who died.

It's happy hour! The work of the West Zone Baptist church in Barrio Castillo in Tucumán, Argentina, is going well – especially the 'happy hour' club the church runs for local children. Strider Rachael Sandall is part of the team running the club, and over 60 children now attend. Praise God for the provision of the local community centre, a weekly donation of bread from a local bakery for the children on Saturdays, and for those who come regularly. Rachael asks for prayer for her team-mates who are teaching the children about the nature of God; for an abundance of love, patience and joy. Pray for the children, who have many emotional, physical, economic and spiritual needs, as they learn more about God, and for continued provision for this small yet very significant work.

Students at Shalom

Monday club. Every Monday, some of the students from the Shalom centre for young people with disabilities in Arequipa, Peru, participate in the Outreach Café run by the International school. Paul Turner asks for prayer, particularly for ideas for activities that would increase the interaction and understanding between the Shalom students and those at the International School.

www.latinlink.org 87 London Street, Reading RG1 4QA. tel. 0118 957 7100 | fax. 0118 957 7115 email. info@latinlink.org To make a gift to Latin Link: www.latinlink.org/giving