Great News!

We began itinerating July 5, 2022, and on July 25, 2023, we got permission to purchase our return flight tickets, we are awaiting FINAL CLEARANCE to return to Argentina! 

As we prepare to return to Argentina for another term of missionary service, our mission remains focused on serving not only the local nationals but also extending our support to all Latin American Sunday school teachers, church planters, missionaries, university students, pastors, and others as we engage with through our training sessions, conferences, webinars, campaigns, Spanish podcast, and various initiatives. We are reaching the lost by training the found.  

Occasionally, we are asked about the necessity of sending missionaries to Latin America and how best to pray for them and the people living in that region. To provide a deeper understanding of the challenges present there, here are some pertinent facts:

• According to Amnesty International (AI), Latin America is the most violent continent in the world. It turned out to be the continent with the highest murder rate. When dividing the figures into regions, Central America turned out to be the most violent, with 25.9; South America, with 24.2; and the Caribbean, with 15.1, making them the subregions with the highest homicide rates on the planet. (The U.N. says the Americas are the only region where the homicide rate has grown since 1990).

• Last year, Turks and Caicos Islands recorded the highest murder rate in Latin America and the Caribbean (77.6 cases per-100,000 inhabitants), followed by Jamaica (52.9), Saint Lucia (42.3), and Venezuela (40.4).

• Mexico experienced the deadliest year in its history for the press, with at least 13 journalists killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In 2022, only Ukraine surpassed that figure (15), while Haiti ranked next on the list of the most dangerous countries to practice journalism (7).

• Last year surpassed the figure of 100,000 officially confirmed missing persons in Mexico; as of 13 March 2023, the total number was more than 112,000.

• Authorities in El Salvador have detained more than 65,000 people since a state of emergency was declared in the country in March 2022. With more than 2% of its population in prison, it had the highest incarceration rate in the world.

• According to UNICEF, an unprecedented 32,488 children and adolescents crossed the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on foot between January and October.

• 7.17 million Venezuelans have left their country, the majority since 2015. Of these, more than 6 million live in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• In December of last year, the Nicaraguan authorities canceled the legal status of at least 3,144 organizations and closed at least 12 universities. In February 2023, the government forcibly exiled more than 222 people and stripped more than 300 of their nationality; These included prominent figures in the fields of human rights advocacy, literature, and journalism.

• By the end of 2019, nearly 800,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras fled gang violence. The Maras are criminal organizations composed of young people, with high levels of local, national, and even international organizations. They have set up an economic system of extortion against families living in their territories. They often operate with death threats, extortion, recruitment, threats of sexual abuse, attempted murder, abduction, and kidnapping. (UNHCR).

• In Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 201 million people were living in poverty (32.1% of the population) in 2022. This figure represents a 25-year setback: 15 million more people have been living in poverty since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and 12 million more people are in extreme poverty than in 2019. Poverty reached 39.2% of the population and affected more than 18.6 million Argentines in 2023.

As we embark on this journey, we sincerely appreciate your prayers and support. Together, we hope to positively impact the lives of the people in Argentina and other countries and spread the message of hope and love. Let us be encouraged by this promise: “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Romans 5:20

We go, you send…so all can hear.

To make a financial donation click here: http://s1.ag.org/contrerassupport

To download a print copy of our 3rd Qtr News click here: https://tinyurl.com/Contreras3rdQtr