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Fall
Event, 2001
Commemoration and Award Ceremony
Featured
Speaker and Honoree:
U.S. Representative James P. McGovern
"El
Salvador to September 11th: A Personal Journey"
Introduction
by Douglas Marcouiller, SJ
With Original and Traditional Songs by Dean Stevens
 By
Joan H. Liem. On December 2, 2001, the Ignacio Martín Baró Fund
held its annual commemorative event marking, this year, the 12th anniversary
of the assassinations of Nacho, his five Jesuit brothers, their housekeeper
and her daughter, in San Salvador. This year's honoree and featured
speaker was U.S. Representative James P. McGovern who, as an aide to
Senator Joseph Moakley, was instrumental in organizing the congressional
commission led by the senator to look into the assassinations.
McGovern noted in a speech that he gave in 1999 that "the Jesuits ...taught
me that a life committed to social justice, to protecting human rights,
to seeking the truth is a life filled with meaning and purpose." We
honored him for making these commitments his life's work.
 Congressman
McGovern spoke of the work of the commission, of the trial that resulted,
and of his continuing frustration that the intellectual authors of the
murders, though named by the commission, remain untouched to this day.
He spoke of his efforts in Congress to cut aid to the Salvadoran military
regime and contribute to bringing about a negotiated peace, and about
the lessons that U.S. policy makers might draw from El Salvador. He
characterized U.S. involvement there as a history of lost opportunities
to settle the war through diplomacy, noting that had the U.S. used its
influence to negotiate a settlement, much loss of life might have been
prevented.
McGovern
described as arrogant the United States's policy that "rationalized,
explained away, and even condoned a level of violence against the Salvadoran
people that would have been intolerable if perpetrated against our own
citizens." He spoke of the lessons that might be applied from U.S. involvement
in El Salvador to our post-September 11th incursion into Afghanistan
and elsewhere. He also asserted his commitment to fight in Congress
to insure that the U.S. government provides economic development and
humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan and does not walk away
from that commitment as it did in El Salvador and earlier in Afghanistan.
Drawing on the words of a mentor, Senator George McGovern, he expressed
his desire to insure that U.S. policy situate the U.S. as "a witness
to the world for what is just and noble in human affairs."
The
commemorative event was also an opportunity for the Fund to inform its
supporters about four of the mental health and human rights projects
it has been supporting. Posters described the work being done by the
Children's Rehabilitation Center,
in the Philippines, with children displaced by war and poverty; by the
Association of Maya Ixil Women -
New Dawn, in Guatemala, which supports the psychosocial and community
development work of Mayan women survivors of war; and by Solidarite
des Femmes de Fizi pour le Bien-Etre Familial, in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, which helps women and children coping with the
violence of tribal and regional conflict. Laura Wald also gave a slide
presentation on the work of Indradevi,
a Cambodian project addressing the health and mental health needs of
the urban poor in Phnom Penh. She had visited the project while spending
the past year in Vietnam.
The
program began and concluded with the music of local artist, Dean Stevens,
who was recognized by the Fund for his generous and talented support
of this event over the past four years. We would also like to thank
those who attended the evening and helped once again to make this program
a special reminder of the mission of the Fund and the broad support
we have for pursuing it. (To contact Dean Stevens by e-mail, click
here.)
Fall
Event, 1999
Commemorative
Event Honors Father Roy Bourgeois, of School of the Americas Watch
 By
Ann Murphy -- Each year the Fund honors a person whose work carries
on the spirit of Ignacio Martín-Baró. Our most recent Commemorative
Event was of particular importance, since it marked the tenth anniversary
of Ignacio’s assassination in El Salvador. We were therefore especially
pleased to be able to honor Father Roy Bourgeois, who has fought for
years to shut down the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas, which has
trained nearly 60,000 Latin American officers, including members of
the infamous Atlacatl Battalion, the very group which murdered Ignacio
Martín-Baró.
Born in Louisiana in 1938, Father Roy served as a Naval officer in Vietnam,
where he was wounded during an air raid and awarded the Purple Heart.
In 1968 he entered
the Maryknoll Missionary Order. After being ordained, he worked among
the poor of Bolivia.
In
1983, dressed in military uniform, Father Roy entered Fort Benning,
Georgia, in his first protest of the School of the Americas. In 1990
he founded School of the Americas Watch, which documents the abuses
of the SOA. But he is perhaps best known for organizing ever larger
annual demonstrations at the School, drawing international attention
to the demand that it be shut down. Since 1990, he has been sentenced
to three prison terms in connection with these protests.  Undaunted,
he returned to the School shortly after our event, to continue his vigil
with more than 10,000 supporters.
The
Fund’s Commemorative Event was held at Boston College, on October 17,
1999. In addition to Father Roy’s inspiring talk, those who attended
saw a film remembering Ignacio Martín-Baró, compiled by MBF Committeee
members Ben Achtenberg and Laura Wald, and heard music provided by Dean
Stevens.
Protest at the School
of the Americas
The first demonstration, in 1990, drew only a handful of people.
In 1999, School of the Americas
Watch estimated the total at 12,000 and reported that about
4,400 risked arrest by actually going onto the military base.
Sixty-five demonstrators who "crossed the line" onto the base
were arrested. In a letter to the Martín-Baró Fund, SOA Watch
founder, Father Roy Bourgeois wrote: "This
was a wonderful celebration of hope and solidarity. Ignacio was
with us in a special way. We move ahead in the struggle and you
give us hope."
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English
to Spanish translations
courtesy
of Melisa Flores
©
2007, Ignacio Martín-Baró Fund for Mental Health & Human Rights
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