 
University Students to Reenact Jesuits' Brutal Murders |
It was 10 years ago this month that six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her 15-year-old daughter were murdered by military troops of the El Salvadoran government. That day will be relived on the midtown campus of Saint Louis University at 12:15 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 16, the 10th anniversary of the massacre.
Saint Louis University students will vividly recreate the massacre to honor the martyrs who were considered a threat because of their call to end the long-standing Salvadoran civil war and their courageous support of the Church's "preferential option for the poor." Students dressed as El Salvadoran troops will storm the University's quad near Grand Boulevard and West Pine Mall and apprehend students and faculty portraying the martyrs and simulate their brutal executions.
In addition to honoring the memory of the martyrs of the University of Central America, the reenactment also will serve to highlight the role of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., in training the El Salvadoran troops who committed the murders.
Graduates of the controversial school have been linked to numerous atrocities since its founding in 1946. The facility continues to train military personnel from several Central and South American countries despite increasing public outcry to close the school.
The reenactment is part of three weeks of events devoted to the lives of the martyrs and the growing effort to close the School of the Americas. Following the reenactment, University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., will deliver remarks stressing the need to close the School of the Americas.
More than 100 students, faculty and alumni also will participate in a national "teach-in" and protest near Fort Benning involving all 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the country. Saint Louis University will have one of the largest representations present.
"We are working to educate our fellow citizens about the School of the Americas," said John Slosar, Ph.D., professor of social services and an organizer of the reenactment. "We are confident that once Americans know what the school is and what its graduates have done and are still doing, they will join with us in calling for the immediate closing of the school."
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