NOTE: This is an update to an action alert we posted in October 2012.
Please remember in your prayers our friend Kimberly Rivera, conscientious objector and war resister. Following her Canadian Deportation Order, Kimberly fled from Canada on September 20, 2012 and surrendered promptly to U.S. immigration authorities at the border in New York State where she was arrested the same day.
Now, after 5 months in detention at Fort Carson Colorado, Kim has posted the following news on her facebook page about an hour ago tonight:
“Well my friends my date in Court is finally pronounced for the 29th of April.”
You can send Kim notes of encouragement and support at:
Mrs. Kimberly Rivera
c/o All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
730 North Tejon Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80903 USA
FROM OUR PREVIOUS ACTION ALERT: Kimberly Rivera, a conscientious objector and Iraq War resister, is currently on base at Fort Carson, Colorado, awaiting information on her case and further orders from her commanding officers. Pax Christi USA has received a request to inform our members how we can support Kim over the next weeks and months.
Last month, Kim complied with the Canadian government’s deportation order and spent time in the Lewis County Jail in Lowville, N.Y. She was arrested after voluntarily crossing into the U.S. and detained at Ft. Drum, N.Y. She had been in Canada since 2007 with her family.
“Kim Rivera’s refusal to participate in an illegal war and her courageous decision to come to Canada was not only an act of peace, it was her duty,” Ken Marciniec, a spokesman for the War Resisters Support Campaign (WRSP), said in a statement. “On the same day that Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney was promoting the International Day of Peace in Montreal, a conscientious objector was being transferred to a U.S. jail for speaking out against the Iraq War while in Canada because our government deserted international law.”
Click on the links below to read more about Kim’s case:
Thanks for resisting war. You are on the side of Jesus Christ!
What a shme that our government arrests people who are following their conciences to resist what is perceived as illegal action of the dame government. Why does thhe government waste it time on good people?
Kimberly, you stand with all who believe that everyone has a right to live free from violence in all its forms. Pax Christi Toronto stands with you.
Rosemary, Larry, Martha, Steve, Susan, Tina, Barry, Mary Lou, Maryanne, Roberto, Bob, Jean, Jim, Jane, Tom
Kimberly, your family stand with all who believe in a world where people can live in peace, without fear of violence in all its forms.
Pax Christi Toronto stands with you.
Rosemary, Larry, Martha, Steve, Susan, Tina, Barry, Mary Lou, Maryanne, Roberto, Bob, Jean, Jim, Jane, Tom
I understand where she is coming from. Not wanting to be a part of a war in Iraq.
But she should have thought of that before she even signed the contract. This isn’t Vietnam. No one was forcing her to join the Army. She wanted in voluntarily.
But she has to realize that she will face the consequences when she deserted her unit. She should have waited until her contracted expired and then given a honorable discharged/
See http://resisters.ca/ to understand what it means to be a conscientious objector to unjust war.