Pair of Congregations Helps Chileans Move From Prisons to Cambridge

Two local churches are involved in programs to settle political refugees from Chile in Cambridge.

A month ago the University Lutheran Church welcomed a 22-year-old student who had spent the three last years in prison. Nine days ago the Old Cambridge Baptist Church voted to sponsor a refugee family, Constance F. Parvey, pastor of the Lutheran Church, said yesterday.

Sergio Reyes Soto was a university student when he was imprisoned, but was not a member of the Communist or Socialist parties, Parvey said.

Reyes would not discuss his situation except to say that it is "not a very safe thing to me to talk by telephone about my situation." He added that even in Cambridge he must "take care" and referred to the assassination of Orlando Letelier, former foreign minister in the Allende government.

Letelier was killed last week when a bomb exploded in his car in Washington, D.C. He was in exile and the Chilean government had recently revoked his citizenship.

Parvey said that Soto is studying English as a second language at several schools, including the Harvard Extension School. He has worked in a factory and the church has arranged for loans. But Soto hopes to find a job to take advantage of his training as an accountant, Parvey said.

The Chilean refugee programs are struggling by comparison with programs for refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Parvey said. Those programs benefited from massive government involvement and publicity while the Chilean programs are "just being done from the heart" by a few Jewish and Christian congregations.

The government of Chile will release most political prisoners if they have an emigration visa and a sponsor in another country, Moises Mendes, a lay pastor in the Old Cambridge Baptist Church, said yesterday.

Parvey said that about 400 Chileans have emigrated to the United States, but Mendes estimated that the State Department has granted emigration visas to another 400 prisoners who are unable to leave prison for lack of a sponsor.

But, Parvey said, the State Department has said that the refugees must be sponsored by a church, presumably because churches are more experienced and have more organized services for placement.