Dispatches from Colombia: Stories from the Christian Peacemaker Teams about Communities in Resistance in Colombia, and United States' Foreign Policy and Militarization

Wednesday, October 6th, 7:00 PM Downtown Presbyterian Church 121 N. Fitzhugh Street, Rochester <!--break--> In the western hemisphere: Colombia is the largest recipient of US military aid; is carrying on the most prolonged war; is given the most training from the US Army “School of the Americas”; is the source of most of the crack cocaine found on US streets; is on the US State Department’s Watch List for travelers. Come and hear Eloy Garcia and Christopher Knestrick, two members of the Christian Peacemaker-Colombia Team, who recognize that immigration, the global economic/environmental crisis, war, and militarization are interconnected themes that affect us all. They are working to bring about change in US foreign policy regarding Colombia. Co-sponsored by the Rochester Committee on Latin America; Public Policy Committee of the Episcopal Diocese; Sisters of Mercy, New York, Pennsylvania, Pacific West Community; Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship; Honduras Task Force, First Unitarian Church of Rochester; Peace Action and Education. Eloy García is a Chicano activist Attorney, US Army Veteran, Catholic Lay missionary, and SOA 86 prisoner of Conscience from New Mexico. Christopher Knestrick has lived in Barrancabermeja, Colombia for the past two years. Before that, after graduating from Mercyhurst College he lived and worked in the Cleveland Catholic Worker House and with Witness against Torture and The School of Americas Watch. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an international organization that places teams at the invitation of local peacemaking communities that are confronting situations of lethal conflict. These teams seek to follow God's Spirit as it works through local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression. DPC is wheelchair-accessible and looped for those with hearing loss. The meeting is open to the public.

<p>Wednesday, October 6th, 7:00 PM<br /> Downtown Presbyterian Church<br /> 121 N. Fitzhugh Street, Rochester</p> <!--break--><p> In the western hemisphere:</p> <p>Colombia is the largest recipient of US military aid;</p> <p>is carrying on the most prolonged war;</p> <p>is given the most training from the US Army “School of the Americas”;</p> <p>is the source of most of the crack cocaine found on US streets;</p> <p>is on the US State Department’s Watch List for travelers.</p> <p>Come and hear Eloy Garcia and Christopher Knestrick, two members of the Christian Peacemaker-Colombia Team, who recognize that immigration, the global economic/environmental crisis, war, and militarization are interconnected themes that affect us all. They are working to bring about change in US foreign policy regarding Colombia.</p> <p>Co-sponsored by the Rochester Committee on Latin America; Public Policy Committee of the Episcopal Diocese; Sisters of Mercy, New York,<br /> Pennsylvania, Pacific West Community; Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship;<br /> Honduras Task Force, First Unitarian Church of Rochester; Peace Action and Education. Eloy García is a Chicano activist Attorney, US Army Veteran, Catholic Lay missionary, and SOA 86 prisoner of Conscience from New Mexico. </p> <p>Christopher Knestrick has lived in Barrancabermeja, Colombia for the past<br /> two years. Before that, after graduating from Mercyhurst College he lived<br /> and worked in the Cleveland Catholic Worker House and with Witness against Torture and The School of Americas Watch.</p> <p>Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an international organization that places teams at the invitation of local peacemaking communities that are confronting situations of lethal conflict. These teams seek to follow God's Spirit as it works through local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression.</p> <p>DPC is wheelchair-accessible and looped for those with hearing loss. The meeting is open to the public.</p>