[Peace] event for AWARE to consider for co-sponsorship

[Meridith Kruse]

Hi all,

I'll be in DC next weekend and therefore
unable to introduce this invitation at
the meeting on Sunday-

So, I'm posting it here and hoping you all
can raise the issue on the 19th - and then
I'll be back on the 26th to hear your final
decision.

Many of you may know Jessica since she's from
this community and wrote about her work in
Guatemala for the Octopus...

I would ask AWARE to donate $50 for this event,
this money would not go to the IDF, but directly to
Rights Action, the human rights organization Jessica
works for in Guatemala.

In the meantime, please email or call me with questions,

See you soon, Meridith

-----------------------------

Dear Friend,

The Illinois Disciples Foundation would like to invite AWARE to co-sponsor
the upcoming visit to our community by Guatemalan Human Rights Defender
Jesus Tecu Osorio entitled, “Building Alternatives in Guatemala”.  On Monday
February 17th Jesus will give his presentation with Jessica Pupovac from the
Guatemala office of Rights Action on Monday February 17th at the Illinois
Disciples Foundation from 7-9pm in Wisegarver Lounge.  Also, that morning
Jessica will be a guest on the Focus 580 radio program from 11-noon and that
afternoon Jesus will speak from 1:00-2:30pm in room D244 Parkland Community
College.

Jesus is a Maya-Achi man who lives with his wife and children in Rabinal,
Baja Verapaz.  He is a survivor of and eye-witness to the March 13, 1982
massacre of 177 women and children in the village of Rio Negro. This and
three other Rio Negro massacres were committed by the Guatemalan Army and
paramilitaries, all back by the United States, in part because Rio Negro
villagers opposed forced resettlement to make way for the Chixoy Dam
Hydro-Electric Project, funded by World Bank and Inter-American Development
Bank.  Jesus lost his parents and all but one sibling to the massacres.
Jesus has received several international human rights awards for his work.
Jesus was co-founder of ADIVIMA, a group at the forefront of exhuming mass
graves, building monuments to commemorate the lives of the victims of the
genocide.  Also, Jesus was a participant in the legal case of genocide, in
Guatemalan courts, against military generals of the early 1980’s.

Jessica Pupovac is a University of Illinois alum who came to Guatemala in
April of 2001 to work as a human rights monitor and accompanier with the
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (www.nisgua.org).  For
ten months she lived in Xaman, a indigenous Mayan community of returned
refugees that suffered a massacre in 1995 at the hands of the state.  While
there, she accompanied witnesses to trial and reported on community
conditions.  She recently began living and working in Guatemala City as
Outreach Coordinator for Rights Action, a Canadian NGO working to educate in
North America about global development and human rights issues and raises
funds for popular organizations, raises funds for community development,
human rights & emergency relief projects in Southern Mexico, Central America
& Peru. She has contributed articles and columns to The Octopus and the
Public I.

I hope your organization will be able to co-sponsor this event.   We welcome
donations from organizations to help support Jesus and ask that
co-sponsoring organizations allow us to use their names in publicity and
promote the event among their members and allies.  To be mentioned as a
co-sponsor please call the IDF at 352-8721 by January 27th.

This event will be free and open to the public, translation will be
provided, and childcare is available upon request.  Jesus will also have
copies (in both Spanish and English) of his recently published book “Memoria
de las Masacres de Rio Negro” available for purchase.

I hope to hear from you soon.

In peace and solidarity,

Meridith Kruse
Director, Illinois Disciples Foundation