NEWS RELEASE Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Date: Nov. 10, 1997

EMBASSY VIGIL FOR FATHER CARNEY

** BISHOP, PRIEST, RELATIVES, AND FRIENDS ENTER 13th DAY OF FAST

** EMBASSY VIGIL CONTINUES, AWAITING SERIOUS RESPONSE FROM CLINTON ADMINISTRATION

** TWO FASTERS RECEIVE MEDICAL EXAMINATION HERE

For more information, contact COFADEH (379800) or EPICA in Washington, DC, at: (202) 332-0292. Come to the entrance of the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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Today Mr. Matthew Eisen and Father Joseph Mulligan, S.J., went to the Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of the Victims of Torture and their Relatives (CPTRT) for a medical examination which Dr. Juan Almendares, Director of the Center, had offered them (see letter below).

Upon arriving at the Center, Eisen and Mulligan commented:

"We are very grateful to Dr. Almendares and his colleagues at this Center for their invitation to have our medical checkup here. The name of this Center makes us think.

"As for the PREVENTION of torture, we hope that our vigil in front of the U.S. embassy and our struggle to shed light on Father Carney's disappearance and that of others may contribute to the prevention of torture here in Honduras and in other countries, since the abolition of impunity can make a contribution to the prevention of torture and of forced disappearances.

"Thanks be to God, we are not here today to receive treatment and rehabilitation for victims of torture. Rather, we are receiving a checkup and treatment for any possible physical effect of our fast, now beginning its 13th day. However, we are fasting in solidarity with the victims of torture, especially victims of the torture techniques taught in the CIA and U.S. Army manuals declassified within the past year."

The doctor reported that Eisen and Mulligan are not suffering any ill effects of their fast, which will continue.

On Oct. 31 the group had received the following message of support from Dr. Juan Almendares:

"Our solidarity goes out to you in these difficult moments. We hope that truth and justice will be achieved. Our Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of the Victims of Torture and their Relatives (CPTRT) offers its medical services to our North American brothers and sisters who are in the Vigil.

"As Director of the Center, I have asked our brothers and sisters there to offer our services. I am very sorry that I am not presently in Honduras, but my spirit is with you and with all the men and women who struggle for the cause of the disappeared, the suffering of the indigenous, and the violence against the poor and the health workers.

"Father Guadalupe's struggle for truth, love and justice with the poor is the most beautiful message of inspiration for all who struggle in Honduras and elsewhere. The spirit of Father Guadalupe will mobilize the spiritual force of our peoples.

Fraternally,

Juan Almendares"

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Other important support statements have come from the Christian Base Communities of Nicaragua, the Jesuit community of the Central American University (UCA) in Managua, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations (COPIN) of Honduras, and the Oscar Romero Solidarity Committee of Torrejon de Ardoz (Spain).

The Council's message reads in part: "Welcome to our country, as Father Guadalupe was welcome here, to work with the poor and persecuted. We are in solidarity with your struggle; know that the spirit of Father Guadalupe is here and walks with us....

"Take this message to your land where great deeds were done, the land of Seattle, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and other ancestral heroes who offered their lives for the dignity and freedom of their peoples.

"The body and soul of Father Guadalupe, on whom these bestial killers laid their bloody hands on orders from the light- haired invaders, is spread throughout this land which demands justice, where those methods still have not been completely banished from the country, where at this very time there is an orchestrated hostility against our peoples...."

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EPICA

1470 Irving St., NW

Washington, DC 20010

Tel: 202/332-0292

Fax: 202/332-1184

Email: epica@igc.apc.org

Web: www.igc.apc.org/epica