June 16, 2002

LIMA, Peru (AP) - A helicopter flew 11 American missionaries to a military base Sunday after they were stranded by anti-government protests in a city in Peru's Andes Mountains, authorities said.

The members of the Cash Point Baptist Church in Ardmore, Tenn. had been trapped in the airport at Arequipa, Peru's second largest city, over the weekend after demonstrators opposing the sale of two state electricity companies rioted, blocked roads and hurled rocks on the runway, forcing the cancellation of flights.

Eight other missionaries had earlier caught a flight to Lima.

The government declared a state of emergency Sunday in the department of Arequipa, meaning the region will be under military rule for 30 days. Rioting over the weekend left 96 people injured, but the Americans were reported safe. The airport remains closed.

Pastor Kevin Shearer, his wife, three daughters and church members had flown to Lima on June 7, and went to Arequipa, about 465 miles to the southeast, to offer Bible study classes to locals.

They were scheduled to fly home on Saturday, but on Friday the protests against the sale of the regional electricity companies erupted. A general strike has also paralyzed Arequipa.

"Mr. Shearer and the other missionaries were flown to La Joya by helicopter," said Vanessa Obando, an official at Arequipa's airport. "From there they will go to Lima when it is possible."

The La Joya base is about 30 miles outside Arequipa.

The eight church members who made it to Lima planned to stay in the country until all of them could be reunited, church member Deda McCown told The Associated Press.

"One of the girls in the group just called and told us they were safe," McCown said. They were among some 30 Americans moved from the airport, "which had become unstable," said McCown of Toney, Ala.

"Our prayers are that they'll get out of there soon," McCown said.

Clayton Allen of Lincoln County, Tenn., one of the missionaries, had managed to call his county executive Sunday morning, who then contacted the office of Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

"They called the State Department immediately, and before we knew it they had a plan ready to extricate those people," Lincoln County Executive Jerry Mansfield told WTVF-TV in Tennessee Sunday.

Cash Point, with about 170 active members from Tennessee and Alabama, held a prayer meeting Sunday night at the church.

The church has had missions to the central American nation of Belize and Romania, McCown said. This summer, the church chose Peru, mainly because Shearer spent 12 years there as a missionary before becoming pastor at Cash Point last year.

Protesters argue the sale of the electricity companies will lead to layoffs and higher utility bills. It is part of the Peruvian government's plans to sell off many of its state companies.

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