Father Roy Bourgeois to speak at Clark April 11

Father Roy Bourgeois, humanitarian and founder of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), will speak at Clark University beginning at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in the Grace Conference Room of the Higgins University Center, 950 Main St.

The U.S. Army School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a military base in Fort Benning, Georgia, that trains Latin American soldiers. Since its opening in 1946 in Panama (in 1984 relocated to Georgia under terms of the Panama Canal Treaty), the school’s graduates have been connected to some of the worst human rights atrocities cited in Latin America.

The SOA made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the facility has ever taken place. New research confirms that the school continues to support known human rights abusers.

So far Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay have stopped sending troops to the school. The Watch (the movement against the School, which was founded by Father Roy) has grown from 10 to 22,000 people attending the annual weekend long rally, trainings, and vigil in Georgia. In November, 14 Clark students traveled to Georgia to participate in the Watch.

In 1980 Fr. Roy became involved in issues surrounding US policy in El Salvador after four US churchwomen - two of them his friends - were raped and killed by Salvadoran soldiers. Fr. Roy—A Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient-- became an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. Since then, he has spent over four years in federal prisons for nonviolent protests against the training of Latin American soldiers at Ft. Benning.

According to Robert Richter, producer and director of "Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins," Father Roy Bourgeois reveals how the "undaunted determination of a single person can help enlighten and inspire thousands against a system that has specialized in preserving secrecy, proffering denials and wrongfully claiming innocence."

In 2006, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill that would have cut funding for the SOA/WHINSEC. While the amendment failed by a 15 vote margin, the close vote indicated the power of grassroots lobbying to influence key leaders in one of the most conservative Congresses in recent memory.
Thirty-four Representatives who opposed the amendment lost their seats in the 2006 mid-term elections, heightening the prospect of closing the school with a vote in the 110th Congress. The bill, which will have a new number assigned in late March, is expected to be re-introduced this spring.

This event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Peaceworks with support from the University’s Difficult Dialogues and Peace Studies programs. For more information, contact 508-793-7471.