4/4/2003

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

STRUGGLE FOR PEACE, JUSTICE IN LATIN AMERICA AND IRAQ TO BE TOPIC OF REV. ROY BOURGEOIS' VISIT TO SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY

           SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of the Americas Watch, a watchdog group opposing U.S. government actions related to Latin America, will lecture on "The Struggle for Peace and Justice from Latin America to Iraq" when he visits Slippery Rock University April 9 as part of his western Pennsylvania lecture tour.

          The free address, open to the public, will be presented at 12:30 p.m. in Room 205 of the University Union. The visit is sponsored by the SRU history department.

          Rev. Bourgeois, a Vietnam veteran, is an ordained Maryknoll priest who has worked among the poor in Bolivia.  After being expelled from Bolivia, he realized the United States government was funding special colleges like the School of the Americas which he believes allow Third World leaders to terrorize their poor into silent submission to poverty and to violate their human rights.

          To counter the schools, Father Bourgeois formed the School of the Americas Watch, which aims to educate Americans about the school, and others like it, and to lobby Congress to close them. The School for the Americas was closed in 2001. Subsequently, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, located at Ft. Benning, Ga., was created to serve as the U.S. Army’s principal Spanish-language training facility for Latin American military personnel.

          As part of his western Pennsylvania tour, Rev. Bourgeois will also lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, Mercyhurst College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg and others.

          Those with questions should call 724-738-2411.

Pn, PgN, WPN, PR