Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Russell Martin Stendal was abducted by the Farc five times – and now is helping them negotiate an end to their country’s 51-year civil war As an American citizen traveling through remote corners of Colombia at the height of the nation’s civil war Russell Martin Stendal offered an enticing prospect for left-wing rebels who often kidnapped foreigners for ransom So tempting, in fact, that Stendal was abducted five times by different units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia “I would be moving through the countryside and they would see this gringo and –pah Stendal was held for five months with his hands tied to a tree with nylon Eventually his captor – an indigenous rebel commander – recognized him as the son of a man whose lifelong work had focussed on helping indigenous groups in the country That was enough for the guerrillas to release him – but not to prevent them from seizing him again Given the number of times he was kidnapped, it might be natural for Stendal to nurse bitter and resentfulness toward the Farc. he claims to be helping the Marxist guerrillas negotiate an end to the country’s 51-year civil war in peace talks being held in Havana Aboard his 50-foot sailboat moored at the Marina Hemingway on the outskirts of the Cuban capital Stendal says his involvement has nothing to do with Stockholm syndrome but rather his belief that he can “disarm hearts” Stendal has not played a direct part in the peace talks describing his role as that of a “spiritual guide” to the rebel group That a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist revolutionary army would receive spiritual counsel of a Christian missionary from the United States might seem incongruous but despite Farc’s doctrinaire public face many of its members are in fact Catholic or evangelical Christians “I don’t know anything about negotiations and I am not a conflict resolution expert,” says Stendal sitting below deck on the Viajero del Alba “I offered to be a friend and to be a spiritual light for them.” The polished wood table is strewn with bibles in English and Spanish as well as several books on Christian thought authored by Stendal known as Russ to friends in English and Martin in Spanish Martin Stendal poses on a boat at the Marina Hemingway, in Havana, Cuba in 21 December 2015. Photograph: Eliana Aponte/The GuardianBorn in Minnesota Stendal still keeps a small cabin in the state – but he considers his real home to be Colombia where he arrived at the age of eight when his father set out to do missionary work among the country’s indigenous groups Stendal followed his father’s footsteps into evangelism but focused his work on combatants in the country’s conflict Stendal does not subscribe to any particular religious sect. He founded a church called Colombia for Christ and is closely linked to a group called The Voice of the Martyrs a non-profit interdenominational organization that helps “persecuted Christians” throughout the world But his experiences in Colombia transcends the spiritual plane Discussing the current negotiations between Farc and the government he reveals sharp political insight about Colombia “We can’t win the battle against political and economic corruption without fighting a religious war as well,” he says Colombian government negotiators say they doubt Stendal is playing any role in the talks but sources within the Farc confirmed that he wields significant influence over senior rebel leaders Last week, government and rebel negotiators jointly requested a UN mission to verify the guerrillas’ disarmament and to monitor a bilateral ceasefire once a final peace agreement is signed The two sides have reached agreement on four of six main negotiation points since talks started in Havana in November 2012 Just two months after the peace talks had formally started Stendal was invited by his former kidnappers to Havana “They asked for my forgiveness and asked me to accompany them,” he says Wanting to avoid any misunderstanding about his role speaking to a high-level Colombian general and political officers at the US embassy in Bogotá “They gave me the green light to give the Farc ideas for peace,” he says US officials acknowledged Stendal as a “player” in the peace process and added that the US “talks to all players” Stendal’s presence on the side-lines of negotiations has not been without controversy: last February he was arrested in Bogotá and charged with rebellion Local headlines at the time read “The gringo missionary who helped the Farc” and “American guerrilla of the Farc captured” He was released a day later – something virtually unheard of in a justice system where even the falsely accused spend months or years behind bars before their cases are dropped Farc pressure may have been behind the quick release. On his arrest, the rebels issued a statement calling it a “judicial false positive” and adding that prosecutors had “confused evangelisation with rebellion” “I have a lot of friends and my friends have enemies so I won some enemies as well,” says Stendal The charges against him have not been entirely dropped and the case was bumped up to a superior court in December But Stendal denies being a rebel sympathizer saying that in his missionary work he has dealt with guerrillas paramilitaries and government troops alike handing out bibles and solar powered shortwave radios to all sides I meet with generals and I met with paramilitaries,” Stendal says In between talking to guerrillas on his sailboat Stendal gives evangelising conferences in the US Europe and Africa and runs several powerful radio stations that transmit via short wave into the deepest corners of the jungles and mountains of Colombia he spends much of his time on his boat in Havana hosting guerrillas and army generals participating in the talks he shows pictures of senior guerrilla leaders aboard the boat which Stendal sometimes takes out for a spin with them “Not too far because of security restrictions,” he notes All the factions in Colombia’s conflict have been accused of terrible crimes against humanity: massacres many Colombians have questioned whether Farc fighters should be allowed back into society But Stendal is convinced that the guerrillas are ready to change “I try to encourage them to do the right thing to remove the thorns and to heal the wounds of the heart,” says Stendal He argues that the transformation can already be seen in some rebel leaders “I have seen a change in the looks in their eyes,” he says IRIS login | Reed College home Jack graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland before attending Reed His college days ended in the winter of ’41 when he was called for military duty Naval Academy’s reserve midshipman training at Annapolis and after receiving further training in sonar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution he reported to the Pacific Fleet for anti-marine duty Except for a time as an instructor at the Navy’s sound school in San Diego he served in the South Pacific until the end of World War II was born while they were stationed in San Diego and later with the Oregon Department of Revenue the campaign treasurer for Governor Tom McCall and Secretary of State Clay Myers Jack also served on and chaired the Oregon Fair Commission As Marxist rebels in Colombia demobilize and begin reintegrating into society a global evangelical organization is highlighting the work of one American missionary who dedicated his life to ministry among the guerrillas First Step Forum founder Johan Candelin applauded Russell Martin Stendal’s “extraordinary peace work for 32 years” among the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), World Watch Monitor reported Candelin presented the American missionary with the Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award on Jan “God’s hand has been on Russ Stendal’s work in a unique way,” Candelin said The Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award, presented by First Step Forum and the World Evangelical Alliance, is named after a Christian, Pakistani politician who spoke out against his country’s blasphemy laws and victims like Asia Bibi. The Pakistani Taliban assassinated Batti in 2011 The award came on the heels of a peace deal between the Colombian government and the leftist rebels after more than 50 years of war In October 2016, Colombian voters narrowly rejected the first peace deal, forcing President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC to sign “a new final accord” in November Stendal provided spiritual guidance during the negotiations “I don’t know anything about negotiations, and I am not a conflict resolution expert,” Stendal told The Guardian “I offered to be a friend and to be a spiritual light for them.” Originally from Minnesota, Stendal moved to Colombia as the child of missionaries to the Kogi Indians. He became a jungle pilot and continued ministry in Colombia. In 1983, FARC abducted him—his first of five stints in captivity. He wrote a book during his captivity, published as Rescue the Captors After his release, Stendal founded Colombia for Christ, believing if FARC fighters embraced Christianity, their hearts would change and the violence would end, World Watch Monitor reported “[Stendal] is an apostle of peace whose words generate a favorable environment to advance the search for peace who encourages us on our journey for the search for a political solution for the Colombian conflict,” FARC Commander Ivan Marquez told World Watch Monitor in 2015 Marquez also said three of the guerrillas’ peace negotiators were Christians Stendal estimated at least 10 percent of FARC rebels had accepted Christ While the peace deal should help end Colombia’s conflict, the country continues to struggle with violence associated with organized crime, a problem that earned it the 50th spot on this year’s World Watch List said she’s met Christians who have had to live in hiding and move continually because they angered a band of criminals is that they’ve had to live behind closed doors and closed curtains,” Wright said Christians become targets by promoting peace or standing up for innocents Often criminals target pastors because they want to exploit church influence If you enjoyed this article and would like to support WORLD's brand of Biblically sound journalism, click here Julia is a correspondent for WORLD Digital She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and worked in communications in the Washington @SteakandaBible An actual newsletter worth subscribing to instead of just a collection of links Please wait while we load the latest comments.. Please register, subscribe, or log in to comment on this article Russell Stendal(Photo courtesy of VOM Canada) Colombia (MNN) — Last week’s arrest of Russell Stendal highlighted some of the danger that exists in Colombia for Christian pastors Friday, Colombian missionary Stendal underwent trial on charges that he had participated in rebellious activity with FARC guerrilla rebels (read that story here) Christian Broadcasting Network says the judge ruled Stendal says he’s known Stendal for over 12 years Stendal’s heart has been to share the Gospel with the violent FARC group Lane describes him as being devoted to bringing Colombians to Christ Sources of the Associated Press say Stendal moved to Colombia with his family as a small child Greg Musselman of Voice of the Martyrs told MNN last week that Stendal has been air-dropping Christian literature and small radios into dangerous parts of Colombia for a long time Musselman says he’s also been kidnapped five times Pray that Stendal and his family would remain faithful Ask God to make Himself known in Colombia and to bring an end to the violence Gloria a Dios por haber sido absuelto de un delito no cometido. Yo le hable al Presidente Santos de la labor de este extraordinario misionero y le invite a que nos reuniesemos con el con el expresidente Uribe para tratar el correcto asunto de la paz. las minorias somos puestas a un lado y nunca se dio el resultado positivo. Se sigue buscando la paz por donde nunca se encontrara. Glory to God for having been acquitted of a crime not committed . I will talk to President Santos of the work of this extraordinary missionary and will invite us to join him with former President Uribe to address the issue of peace correct we are minorities set aside and never the positive result was . It continues to seek peace where you never find . We praise and thank the Lord that our brother Russell has been released Continue to embolden and strengthen this brother and all who work sharing the Gospel of Christ in Colombia God is preparing his army all over the World He attends to the prayers of His children (1 Peter 1:3) He showed Himself strong again on the behalf of those whose heart is right with Him We are with you and your dear family in prayer Ex-Microsoft vendors find Bellevue a good fit for media efforts Monday (May 5) for more than 3,200 seats on city councils The prosecutor reported that Chase Jones was traveling at 112 mph when he crashed into the victims Bob Ferguson says federal funds are needed to address $34 million in damage caused by the storm Mercer Stendal will debottleneck specific areas in the fiber and bleaching line to increase pulp output Capacity expansion project to be completed in 2022 subsidiary of Canada's Mercer Internationa is accelerating the implementation of the Stendal740 capacity expansion project at its pulp mill in Arneburg the project aims to increase annual production capacity of northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp at the mill from currently 675,000 t to 740,000 t The expansion project has been in implementation phase since the beginning of 2020 Several sub-projects will be prepared in the coming months and integrated at the time of scheduled annual maintenance and repair downtime at the site The last major measures are expected to be completed during the annual maintenance shutdown in 2022 EUWID Pulp and Paper keeps busy professionals up-to-date on the latest news from international pulp and paper markets Test EUWID Pulp and Paper free of charge and without any obligation by clicking here Service Customer Service+49 7224 9397-701servicenoSpam@GO-AWAYeuwid.de Editorial Team+49 7224 9397-0papernoSpam@GO-AWAYeuwid.com Get the latest news about developments and trends in the industry sent to you once a week free of charge by newsletter Sign up for our newsletter We use cookies and external services on our website others enhance your user experience or help us improve this website You can change your privacy settings any time by clicking privacy policy Necessary cookies are required for the correct functioning of the website Content from video platforms and map services is blocked by default. If access to these services is accepted, separate consent is no longer required when using them. You can find more information on the individual external services in our privacy policy.  My NewsSign Out Sign InCreate your free profileSections news Alerts directed “A Needed Response” and addressed it to “the Steubenville rapists … or any rapists out there,” in order to show the world how real men treat women "It is horrifying to me that some people can say that people deserve rape when they are passed out," said Stendal to the NY Daily News Samantha Stendal is a sophomore at the University of Oregon.Samantha StendalIn Stendal’s 26-second-long video a woman (Kelsey Jones) pretends to be passed out and a man (Justin Gotchall) gets her some water and places a pillow under her head and on the side I was reading about the Steubenville rape case I grew very frustrated with the media," Stendal told NBC News on Tuesday "That's when I came up with the idea for this video." "After we saw the media coverage of the Steubenville rape cases "I think this video is powerful in its simplicity," Desertra87 posted as a comment on YouTube the video had more than 4,000 comments and more than a million views Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a raucous house party in the small Ohio town The story had already made headlines because of the issues surrounding the case such as social media harassment and teenage partying gone wild But media coverage following the convictions generated even more controversy and angered many when some reporters seemed to focus on the loss of the two football players’ bright future -- and not on the victim’s trauma "What really upsets me is what the news is going to, what the Internet is going to … which is asking what the victim could have done differently," Stendal told KVAL 13 News in Eugene, Ore. "I'm upset that in our culture that is one of the first questions asked." Stendal, a sophomore, added, "The message I hope that people can get from this video is that we need to treat one another with respect. No matter what gender, we should be listening to each other and making sure there is consent." Stendal, now on her spring break, is applying for video internships. .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Kristi Turnquist | The Oregonian/OregonLivesamantha-stendal.jpg University of Oregon student Samantha Stendal at the 73rd annual Peabody Awards ceremony in New York City on Monday As the Peabody Awards website explains, the video "grew out of two University of Oregon students' outrage upon watching news coverage of the Steubenville rape sentencing that bemoaned the perpetrators' loss of their promising athletic careers while ignoring the 16-year-old girl they had drugged and assaulted Samantha Stendal and Aaron Blanton conceived staged and shot a 26-second video that emphatically rejects the idea that rape is ever excusable it's an ingenious public-service message targeting college age viewers Stendal and Blanton shared their video on Upworthy's Facebook page tripled and continued to grow as more and more people shared it and debated its take on masculinity and morality undeniable statement about rape culture and sharing it with the world via social media A Needed Response receives a Peabody Award." The video shows a young woman passed out on a couch "Guess what I'm gonna do to her." We then see the young man putting a pillow under the woman's head The message of the video could hardly be more timely considering the rape allegations against three U of O basketball players which have prompted protests calling for more transparency from university officials about their handling of the allegations The alleged incident took place on March 8, and U of O representatives say the university learned about the allegations on March 9 The Lane County district attorney declined to prosecute the U of O basketball players alleged to be involved in the incident The U of O administration has been criticized by many in the community for not doing more in the wake of the alleged incident University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson has said that the U of O response to what he called "profoundly disturbing" allegations was a responsible one but cited that many details of the case could not be shared as a matter of law The university has dismissed the three players alleged to be involved in the incident from the U of O team The players have not made a public statement since the allegations came to public attention with the release of the police report on May 5 The Peabody Awards ceremony in New York was hosted by Ira Glass "This American Life." Other winners included "Breaking Bad," "House of Cards," "Orange is the New Black," and "Scandal." Blanton shared a photo of the "beautiful NYC day" as he prepared for the Peabody Awards: Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices A 19-year-old film student's 26-second video hits back with a simple It has racked up more than 1.4 million views on YouTube in just five days In the video — which Stendal intended for "the Steubenville rapists...or any rapists out there" — a young man stands in front of a woman who is lying down check who passed out on the couch," the young man says "Guess what I'm going to do to her." Then he gets a pillow Then he turns to the camera and says: "Real men treat women with respect." "which removes the charged language and the justifiable anger and introduces the kind of blissfully simple idea that high school and college students should be able to understand": Just treat other people with basic human decency "Over and out and there you have it: The most concise useful addition I've seen in awhile to this old From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Harold Maass, The Week USSocial Links NavigationHarold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008 Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.  Sometimes the best ideas stem from procrastination While studying for finals at the University of Oregon last week was following news coverage of the Steubenville in which two high school football players were convicted of assaulting a drunken 16-year-old girl Stendal grew frustrated at the talk about alcohol the suggestion that assault is a sad-but-inevitable byproduct of partying the regrets over promising lives cut short by unfortunate “mistakes.” “I was reading so much on the victim-blaming and ‘rape culture,’ ” Stendler “I needed to see something positive on the Internet So in between tests, she scribbled out a rough storyboard. The day after finals, she gathered some friends to shoot a 25-second video which she posted to YouTube a few days later under the title “A Needed Response.” standing in front of a couch on which a woman is apparently asleep He proceeds to put a pillow under her head Then he turns to the camera again and says Over and out and there you have it: The most concise useful addition I’ve seen in awhile to this old It’s unsurprising that the video quickly went viral — or that another long and vicious conversation has unspooled about sluts and feminists on the ever-fraught subject of sex and consent to get rid of this arms race of blame — this notion that in order to call someone’s behavior unacceptable you are somehow obligated to point out problematic behavior from the other side the rapist will mistake you for a T-Rex and carry on his way.” Also: “Don’t be attacked by guys with a promising future That is the absolute WORST decision you can make.”) But there’s something equally refreshing about the earnestness of Stendal’s video which removes the charged language and the justifiable anger and introduces the kind of blissfully simple idea that high school and college students should be able to understand If kids were truly trained to respect each other’s boundaries — to treat other people with basic human decency — maybe we wouldn’t be having these conversations quite so often pioneered a public service campaign called “Don’t Be That Guy”: a series of posters with such slogans as “Just because she isn’t saying no doesn’t mean she’s saying yes.” to make the definition of “consent” a mandatory part of sex education in public schools but also sad: that we should need some kind of government mandate to teach kids the difference between “yes” and the absence of “yes,” the difference between hurting someone and helping her A 25-second video takes care of things quite nicely Joanna Weiss can be reached at weiss@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @JoannaWeiss. Home Delivery Gift Subscriptions Log In Manage My Account Customer Service Delivery Issues Feedback News Tips Help & FAQs Staff List Advertise Newsletters View the ePaper Order Back Issues News in Education Search the Archives Privacy Policy Terms of Service Terms of Purchase Work at Boston Globe Media Internship Program Co-op Program Do Not Sell My Personal Information By 2012-05-24T13:32:00+01:00 'The business model of the Stendal site has proven itself to our customers' head of Alstom Transport Germany's Train Life Services Department 'I am sure that in the coming decades we will see this historic site flexible partner with advanced business ideas in this exciting market.' ALSTOM Transport has developed a hybrid shunting locomotive for industrial applications in Europe Built at the Stendal locomotive plant in Germany the prototype 203 701 conversion of a former DB diesel-hydraulic is expected to receive formal certification next February and begin field testing in April 2007 GERMAN Railway and Alstom signed an agreement on July 9 to set up a joint venture to run DB’s Stendal works This is one of eight maintenance workshops that DB wants to dispose of as part of a national scheme to reduce over-capacity caused by the lower maintenance requirement of .. UK: The Department for Transport has told the Transport Select Committee that service optimisation will be prioritised over infrastructure investment but equivocation over future projects is already pushing rail suppliers to embrace export opportunities instead Site powered by Webvision Cloud a former prison in the German city of Kassel recently gave a tour through the site of his latest high-end real estate project: a former prison in the northeastern German town of Stendal clutching his blueprints and kicking a bit of debris out of the way those two cells will be a bedroom," he said pointing at two eight-square-meter (90-square-foot) recesses "Those two will be made into a children's bedroom." Another turn we'll tear out the walls and put in a sliding door Richter-Mendau continued through the former penitentiary The tiled containment room for prisoners on suicide watch That will become a living room with space for a big couch "We'll put them in front of the new apartments reveals a view of nearby Stendal Cathedral I'd move in here right away," Richter-Mendau enthused Prospects are looking similarly good in many such former prisons investors are converting disused jails into apartments About 79,000 people were serving sentences or detention 10 years ago but last year that number was barely 66,000 Many of Germany's federal states are taking advantage of this decline to consolidate their inmates into a few large prisons That means the end for small facilities such as this one in Stendal only around 50 criminals were serving sentences there Saxony-Anhalt has reduced its number of prisons by five Hesse by one and Lower Saxony by a total of 11 Most of the facilities being closed are located in rural areas Many were built during the time of the German Empire and are both listed for historical preservation and in a fairly dilapidated state which is where private investors such as Richter-Mendau come in The businessman and his wife bought the Stendal prison paying the state of Saxony-Anhalt €37,000 ($50,000) for this historical building of approximately 3,500 square meters The plan is to convert the cells into 28 apartments Richter-Mendau plans to invest over €2 million in the project the new owners of a former prison in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg Two local businessmen are converting this former jail in the town of Offenburg into a hotel "Rather than orienting ourselves toward the traditional hotel standard we want to preserve the prison structure," says architect Jürgen Grossmann The doors to the hotel's 50 rooms will be barely 1.7 meters (5 feet 7 inches) high forcing guests to adopt a humiliating posture when entering or leaving a room -- just as prisoners would have to do The two businessmen have invested €5 million into these two red sandstone cellblocks which were built starting in the mid-19th century and plan to open their doors to their first hotel guests in 2015 An old prison in the city of Kassel has already been used as a hotel -- last year a high-profile international art exhibition One of the building's new owners is the lawyer Christopher Posch Known for his role on a German TV program called "Ich kämpfe für Ihr Recht" ("I fight for your rights") Posch came here often when the building was still a prison "First we had to label emergency exit routes," says the 37-year-old attorney that wasn't necessary when this was a prison." Posch and his business partner changed almost nothing in the building's approximately 90 cells a sink and a toilet in the middle of the room and some cells got a new coat of paint from artists who stayed here during Documenta Posch counted nearly 10,000 overnight stays called "Elwe" -- the local dialect word for 11 the former prison's street number -- has become a desirable event location as well and has hosted a tattoo show and a basketball tournament a Hindu festival in which participants shower each other with colorful powder But not all attempts to repurpose former prisons have been as successful A student union in Frankfurt am Main wanted to turn a former deportation center in nearby Offenbach into a student dorm but pulled out of the project when costs rose to €1.3 million the mayor wanted to move the city's music school into a former prison building But the city council was unwilling to approve the €260,000 necessary to purchase the building and the nearly €1 million necessary to renovate it These high renovation costs mean that small cities in particular are often forced to rely on private investors and the interests of city governments and investors don't always align a city in Saxony-Anhalt that is both the birthplace and place of death of Martin Luther The city government envisions converting its former women's prison and is currently in talks with various parties interested in repurposing the prison -- among them