To mark the 21st anniversary of the murder of six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military in 1989, physician and human rights activist Dr. Charlie Clements will speak at the University of San Francisco about his experience in El Salvador.
Clements will present Jesuits: The Conscience of El Salvador Remembered in McLaren Complex 250 from 5-6:30 p.m. Nov. 16.
Clements, the executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of Witness to War, lived in El Salvador and provided health care to poor Salvadorans in the 1980s where he witnessed the impact of El Salvador’s civil war. The Jesuits’ murders were among countless killings of political opponents that took place in El Salvador during the 1980s and early '90s. Most of those killed by the Salvadoran government’s armed forces and paramilitary death squads were civilians. The assassination of the Jesuits, leaders of the University of Central America in El Salvador, was a result of their unwavering defense of the poor and oppressed and resulted in international condemnation for the Salvadoran government, which ultimately led to the end of the country’s 12-year civil war.
“Charlie Clements will talk about the role of Jesuits as a voice of conscience for social justice and human rights in El Salvador during the 1980s,” said Julio Moreno, associate professor of history and co-director of the Center for Latino Studies in the Americas, which is sponsoring the event along with the President’s Office, the Lane Center, University Ministry, Latin American Studies Department, the School of Education, the Politics Department, and the Pan American Society. “He will also talk about how the Jesuits continue to serve and influence Salvadoran society today.”
