[GVCP] Roy Bourgeois, human rights activist, speaking May 6, 7 PM

Dear GVCP Member: Fr. Roy Bourgeois is a recipient of GVCP¹s Genesee Valley Peacemaker Award. I hope you can attend this important presentation. Also, Evan Dawson will be talking to Roy Bourgeois on the Connections show, Wednesday, May 6th, 1:00 PM, WXXI-1370 AM. You can be part of the program with questions or comments by calling 1-844-295-TALK (8255). Check WXXI website about ways to connect with the program using e-mail, twitter, etc. Arnie Matlin for Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace ROCLA ROCHESTER COMMITTEE ON LATIN AMERICA Presents Human Rights Activist Roy Bourgeois What: ³Peace, Justice, Equality and Conscience in Latin America,² a presentation by human rights activist Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of the Americas Watch. When: Wednesday, May 6, 2015, 7:00 PM Where: Downtown United Presbyterian Church 121 North Fitzhugh Street, Rochester (The church is handicapped accessible and looped for the hearing impaired.) For information: Grania Marcus, grania_marcus@yahoo.com, (917) 579-0199 Roy Bourgeois served as a Catholic priest in Bolivia until he was expelled for standing with the poor in their struggle for human rights. In 1980, Fr. Roy became involved in issues surrounding U.S. policy in El Salvador after four U.S. churchwomen–two of them friends of his–were raped and killed by Salvadoran soldiers. Roy became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America. In 1990, he founded School of the Americas (SOA) Watch to shut down the school where the military perpetrators of repression and torture in Latin America were trained to conduct low-intensity warfare campaigns against democratic movements in the 1980s. He has since cumulatively spent more than 4 years in Federal prison for his nonviolent protests against the SOA. He produced a documentary about the SOA, called ³School of Assassins,² which was nominated for an Academy Award. Roy Bourgeois and the SOA were nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2010. Recently, Roy and an SOA Watch delegation of 20 traveled to El Salvador where they met with the El Salvador President Ceren, human rights leaders, and others who inspired them to keep working to close the SOA/WHINSEC. They also met with 5 of the 17 women who have been sentenced to 30-year prison terms for having miscarriages in El Salvador. He has been working hard since his return from El Salvador to ensure that “Las 17” are not forgotten. On Friday, April 24, Roy and others launched a sit-in at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington, D.C, to bring attention to this grave injustice and free these women. They were arrested and jailed overnight. From: info@rocla.us ROCLA c/o Metro Justice 803 West Ave. Suite 370 Rochester, NY 14611