The community spirit in Cinquera springs largely from the people like Don Pablo who meet together regularly as a Christian base community. Many such groups sprang up in the 1970s, small Bible study circles that took the words of Jesus and translated them into action in their villages. Christian base communities are the fruit of the liberation theology movement begun by Gustavo Gutierrez. Community members learned that God was on their side, that it wasn’t Communist to help the poor, rather it was Christian. Don Pablo was a young peasant with little formal education when he met a priest who proclaimed to him this gospel of liberation. Father Rutilio Grande introduced Don Pablo, and others like him, to the biblical message of God’s special love for the last and least. He encouraged them to make that love real in projects that would help the community live a better life, and now Grande’s vision has become reality in Cinquera.
The church at Cinquera. The bell tower was the only structure left standing by the end of the war. The new church was built adjoining it and the tower was left standing, as a reminder of the war years.
