Fr. Roy Bourgeois - SOA Watch Founder, interviewed by Tom Fox
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Born in Lutcher, La., Fr. Roy served as a naval officer for two years before entering the seminary of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1972, Roy went on to work with the poor of Bolivia for five years before being arrested and forced to leave the country, then under the repressive rule of dictator and SOA grad Gen. Hugo Banzer. 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 U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. Since then, he has spent more than four years in U.S. federal prisons for nonviolent protests against the training of Latin American soldiers at Ft. Benning, Ga. In 1990, Roy founded School of the Americas Watch. | |||||
Episode 1: A Journey to Recapture Hope (15 min.) Fr. Roy tells Tom Fox how a young man from a small town in Louisiana, a Vietnam veteran, became an activist fighting violence and brutality in Latin America. | |||||
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Episode 2: Why protest at the School of the Americas? (22 min.) "What we found here was a school financed by our tax money that was very connected to suffering and death in Latin America," Fr. Roy tells interviewer Tom Fox. More than 50,000 soldiers from 18 countries in Latin America came to SOA to learn commando operations, counterinsurgency and psychological warfare. "What we learned," Fr. Roy says, "is that the insurgents were the poor and the spiritual leaders, like Bishop Oscar Romero, the church women and the Jesuits. They were human rights advocates and labor leaders. ... We want this school shut down." | |||||
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What a wonderful and
What a wonderful and enlightening interview.. I recently viewed the excellent movie called ON THE LINE, about the SOA Watch. This interview filled in with lots more history and especially I loved learning about Fr. Roy's personal journey to the place where he is today..So inspiring... Thanks so much, Judy