The Evangelical Methodist Church of Uruguay has chosen native son Oscar Bolioli, a National Council of Churches official in New York, as its president

Christian Century, August 14, 2002

* The Evangelical Methodist Church of Uruguay has chosen native son Oscar Bolioli, a National Council of Churches official in New York, as its president. Now the agency's associate general secretary for international relations, the minister will gradually assume his new duties in coming months in order to complete some NCC projects in Central America and Asia.

Bolioli first held the post, comparable to a bishop in other churches, from 1974 to 1979 during the reign of a military government. He was credited with leading the Evangelical Methodists, one of the oldest Protestant movements in Latin America, in forthright advocacy for political prisoners and human rights. The Uruguayan church body helped Methodist churches in neighboring Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. Bolioli served 18 years as director of the Latin America and Caribbean department for the NCC and Church World Service before becoming an associate general secretary.