June 17, 2002

LIMA, Peru (AP) - Peru's military has taken control of the country's second largest city, where violent protests forced the evacuation of a group of American missionaries stranded at an airport.

A military helicopter plucked 11 Baptist missionaries from an airport in the Andean city of Arequipa on Sunday and carried them to a nearby air force base. The missionaries, from Cash Point Baptist Church in Ardmore, Tenn., were stranded over the weekend after residents staged massive riots over the sale of two state electricity companies.

The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in the region surrounding Arequipa, a poor city of 1 million people about 465 miles southeast of Lima.

Residents fear the sale of the electric companies will lead to layoffs and higher utility bills. The sale is part of the Peruvian government's plan to privatize many state-run companies.

"The government is determined to protect democracy and will firmly and energetically defend the rule of law," President Alejandro Toledo said in a nationally televised address late Sunday.

Demonstrators blocked roads throughout Arequipa and caused chaos of the airport, where they uprooted landing-strip lights and hurled rocks on the runway, forcing the cancellation of flights. The rioting injured 96 people, but the Americans, who were among 120 stranded travelers, were reported safe.

Pastor Kevin Shearer, his wife, three daughters and church members had arrived in Peru on June 7. They were to fly home Saturday, but were stuck in Arequipa after protests erupted Friday.

Eight other church members caught an earlier flight from Arequipa to Lima, where they were waiting to be reunited with the rest of their group, church member Deda McCown, of Toney, Ala., told The Associated Press.

An Arequipa airport officials said the group flown out Sunday was taken to La Joya air base, about 30 miles away, and would be taken to Lima soon.

One of the missionaries, Clayton Allen of Lincoln County, Tenn., called his county executive from Peru on Sunday morning, who then contacted 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 on Sunday.

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

McCown said previous church missions have gone to Belize and Romania. This summer it chose Peru, mainly because Shearer spent 12 years there as a missionary before becoming Cash Point's pastor last year.

In his address, Peru's president said rioting in Arequipa caused $100 million in damage. The state of emergency places the region under military rule for 30 days. During that time, public rallies and large meetings will be outlawed and some constitutional rights suspended.

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