MEDIA ADVISORY - April 17, 2007

Contact: Lisa Fuller: [email protected], 617-576-1709(office)

CarlosMauricio to Speak in Boston This Week on Torture, Human Rights Violations & the ILEA

WHO: Carlos Mauricio, a former professor inEl Salvador,was abducted and tortured by Salvadoran death squads 22 years ago. Mauriciorecently returned from the first human rights delegation to visit theInternational Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in El Salvador.

WHEN:
Wednesday, April 18

5 pm at MIT: Building #4, Room 4-270 (2nd Floor)

Thursday, April 19
7 pm at Boston
College: Higgins Building, Rm 310

WHAT: A torture survivor from El Salvador,Carlos Mauricio now spends most of his time traveling around the United Statesspeaking about his experience and current issues of torture and human rights. Thisweek, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) willhost Carlos Mauricio here in Boston.

Mauricio recently returnedfrom the first human rights delegation to visit the new International LawEnforcement Academy (ILEA) in ElSalvador. Since the U.S.-sponsored policeacademy opened in June of 2006, there have been an alarming number of humanrights violations linked to the government and police in El Salvador.

Controversyhas surrounded the U.S.-backed institution since its inception, and Salvadoransocial movements have pointed to its approval as a set-back to the 1992 PeaceAccords.

For two weeks in June 1983,Mauricio suffered what he called torture by the book at El SalvadorsNational Police Headquarters. When a Red Cross search party arrived, they werereportedly told he was not there. In 1999, Mauricio and two other torturevictims brought a successful civil suit against two U.S.-trained Salvadorangenerals now living in the U.S.

* * * Interviews Available * * *

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