This issue of the SAIIC Newsletter covers a broad range of topics surrounding the main theme of evangelical proselytizing (conversion) in South and Central America, along with the effects on Indian communities.
Christian missionaries have been attempting to convert Indians in different regions to their religion. One of the biggest proselytizing organizations involved is the Summer Institute of Linguistics, often referred to in this issue as the SIL.
Most of this text is a statement from the Summer Institute of Linguistics that was then presented by the Union of Indian Nations to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland.
Floriberto Diaz Gomez of the Assembly of Mixe Authorities in Mexico describes the work of the SIL in his community. He explains that the initial work of the SIL was linguistic. However, as time went on, Diaz Gomez points out that the work of the SIL…