Father Ray Bourgeios graced Olympia Washington with several appearances, including one at Traditions Fair Trade Café, during a visit on April 10th, 2008.

Father Bourgeois delivered a wonderful presentation. He spoke for over an hour about his work with the School of Americas Watch movement.

The School of Americas is located on Fort Benning, in Georgia. The School has been renamed and is now called WHINESEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation). The school's mission and objectives have not changed, however.

The school is actively involved in providing special training to the military forces of Latin American nations. Some of the military personnel that have studied at the School of Americas are known to have committed atrocities.

From the SOA Website: On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. A U.S. Congressional Task Force reported that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Please see www.soaw.org for more information.

The SOAW movement has grown from a tiny group of individuals into a national and international call to shut down the School of Americas.

photos on the flipside

It began when the priest and two friends gained entry to Fort Benning while dressed in Army officers' uniforms. They climbed a tree, bringing with them a loud public announcement system. They waited until lights out and then broadcasted a sermon from the late Archbishop Oscar Romero, who called on soldiers to lay down their arms and stop killing.

Father Bourgeois was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

SOAW has grown into a substantial movement. 5 Latin American countries have decided to stop sending soldiers to WHINESEC, and according to Fr. Bourgeois, Congress was only six votes shy of voting to shut down the school.

Over 20,000 people participated in SOAW's most recent annual convergence.

Here are some photos from the event: