Midcoast Peace and Justice

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Thursday, September 15 7 p.m. at Universalist Church, 345 Broadway Street, Rockland

Looking to Latin America to Save Ourselves

Lisa Sullivan is the Latin America Coordinator for School of the Americas Watch. She has lived in Latin America for 34 years where she worked for many years as a community organizer with Maryknoll Lay Missioners, raising her 3 children in the barrios of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Together with SOAW founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Lisa has visited 18 Latin American countries over the past ve years, meeting with leaders – including eight presidents – to discuss the School of the Americas. These visits, along with pressure from partners in Latin America, led Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica to announce they will no longer send troops for training to the SOA/WHINSEC. She and Fr. Roy were recently the only two North Americans invited to accompany President Mel Zelaya back to Honduras.

Ken Jones is a professor of teacher education at the University of Southern Maine. In recent years, he has been an active participant with School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) delegations to El Salvador and Honduras. In October, he will be part of a SOAW delegation to Haiti.He has also traveled to Venezuela, Cuba, and India.

While our attention has been focused on the Middle East and North Africa, our neighbors in Latin America have been forging a new political and cultural landscape based on values they call “dignity and sovereignty.” Ten countries south of the Rio Grande have elected progressive presidents over the past ten years, launching creative initiatives that have slashed poverty rates, dramatically raised educational levels and galvanized citizen participation.

The response of the U.S. government? A dramatic increase in militarization and a reduction in civilian diplomacy. Grassroots groups from around the Americas have stepped into this void, creating spaces for interchange, dialogue, and joint initiatives. At the forefront of these eorts is the School of the Americas Watch movement.