NEWS RELEASE Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Nov. 13, 1997

EMBASSY VIGIL FOR FATHER CARNEY

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CLARIFICATION-UPDATE ON VISIT TO U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATION AT PALMEROLA: VIGILERS WERE *NOT* ALLOWED ONTO BASE YESTERDAY, BUT PLANTED CROSSES AT ENTRANCE

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE FROM RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM, NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE

BISHOP, PRIEST, RELATIVES, FRIENDS ENTER 16th DAY OF FAST

For more information, contact EPICA in Washington, DC, at: (202) 332-0292 or COFADEH in Tegucigalpa--country code 504, then 379800.

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Yesterday four U.S. citizens tried to enter the U.S. military installation at Palmerola, Honduras, to present a letter addressed to Secretary of Defense William Cohen and a set of demands concerning what they consider the "insultingly inadequate and unhelpful" declassification of U.S. government documents concerning Father James (Guadalupe) Carney and other disappeared persons in Honduras. Father Carney "disappeared" in Honduras in 1983.

Samples of the heavily excised pages were included with the letter and demands and are readily available from EPICA or COFADEH.

The vigilers--Brother Camillus Dufresne, F.S.C., Mr. Matthew Eisen, Jesuit Father Joseph E. Mulligan, and Sister Rita Owczarek, MM--waited for two hours at the base entrance after requesting a meeting with the U.S. base commander. Finally a U.S. soldier at the entrance informed them that Honduran officials had decided not to permit them to enter the base that afternoon but that they could apply for a pass in the future.

The group, including some members of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH), then planted five wooden crosses in the ground at the entrance of the base. A priestly stole was placed on the arms of one cross and a bible at the foot of the cross; that cross represented Father Carney, while the other four crosses represented the four other disappeared persons mentioned in the Honduran government's official request to the U.S. government for documents.

The group's banner, saying "Father Carney, Present! Where are his remains?" was unfurled, and a poster with an enlarged page of one of the Department of Defense documents was displayed. This page is entirely blacked-out, except for the name of the subject, the late Honduran General Gustavo Alvarez M., widely considered responsible for the reign of terror of the early 1980s. Other Defense documents released in March of this year were similarly expurgated.

The vigil moved to the U.S. military installation in order to focus the campaign on the U.S. military, which bears a significant share of the responsibility for disappearances and other violations of human rights in Honduras. The U.S. government financed an enormous build-up of the Honduran military in the 1980s and trained and accompanied the Honduran troops. Last year the Pentagon admitted that torture methods were included in the U.S. Army's training manuals, as they were also in the CIA manuals.

Several Honduran military officers, including Gen. Alvarez, who were allegedly involved in the killing of Father Carney, had graduated from the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, now located at Ft. Benning, Ga.

The vigilers demanded that the Department of Defense take the Honduran government's request, and President Clinton's order for the declassification of documents, seriously and that it do everything possible to clarify the disappearance of Father Carney and others.

Today, Nov. 13, Eisen and Mulligan returned to the base to present the letter dated Nov. 12 to the U.S. commanding officer, to be forwarded to Secretary of Defense William Cohen. However, the U.S. soldiers at the entrance said they are not allowed to accept any letter or parcel which is not previously authorized. The letter will be sent directly to Mr. Cohen.

(Communications yesterday were complicated by the fact that the news report, which had been prepared necessarily before the event, had to be revised and then had to move from the base at Palmerola, to nearby Comayagua, to Tegucigalpa, then to EPICA in Washington, D.C., and then to you!)

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SOLIDARITY MESSAGE FROM NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM

"Message of Support for the Struggle to Clarify the Disappearance of Father James Carney (Honduras, 1983):

"Few things are as painful as not knowing the whereabouts of a loved one. And this is even more true when his or her disappearance is the result of the action of security forces, since this gives rise to deep fears regarding the suffering, humiliation, torments and tortures to which the person may have been subjected.

"Our countries are among those which for many years have suffered the corruption and criminal activity of their state security forces, often supported and advised by the police and intelligence agencies of another country.

"Tens of thousands of Central American citizens died as a result of that reality. Tens of thousands of persons are still among the disappeared. The struggle to find their whereabouts is based on the need to end the Calvary and suffering and to know the whole truth as a way to moral renewal.

"One of the victims in Honduras was Father James Carney, who disappeared after being captured by the Honduran Army. For 14 years his relatives and fellow religious have kept alive the hope of finding him, though dead, to give him proper burial. This is a struggle which thousands of people in different countries are carrying forward; it is a struggle which we should all support in order to know the truth, attain justice, and contribute to conciliation and reconciliation in our countries.

"I affirm my solidarity, support and encouragement to those struggling to find Father Carney. Those responsible for his disappearance and possible assassination should be brought to court and punished for the crime against humanity which they committed.

"To the relatives and friends of Father Carney keeping the vigil at the U.S. Embassy in Honduras, I extend my most sincere support and encouragement.

Rigoberta Menchu Tum

Premio Nobel de la Paz

Embajadora de Buena Voluntad

de la UNESCO

Mexico, 07 noviembre 1997."

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The vigilers express their deepest gratitude to Rigoberta Menchu Tum for this statement of support, which moves them profoundly and strengthens them to continue their fast and struggle.

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They are also very grateful to CRISPAZ (Christians for Peace) in El Salvador for a message of support; and they announce with gratitude that a Jesuit working in Honduras has entered the fast, joining the ranks of a religious sister in Detroit, another religious sister in Managua, a priest in Michigan, and two professors of religion in Ohio and Texas, in addition to the original five who started their fast on Oct. 29 (Sister Jean Brenner, John Patrick Carney, Matthew Eisen, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and Father Joseph Mulligan, S.J.).

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Today Brother Camillus Dufresne, F.S.C., and Sister Rita Owczarek, MM, returned to Managua after working hard in the vigil, visits, and media interviews here.

Sister Jean Brenner (cousin of Father Carney), who had to return to Managua on Nov. 3, came back to Honduras today to continue her work in the vigil. Welcome back, Jean!

On Monday, Nov. 17, there will be a large number of Hondurans joining in the vigil in front of the embassy.

Thanks to all of you for your solidarity.

END

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