Films on US. Interventions in Panama and Nicaragua
LACE – Los Angeles, CA
4/11/10

The U.S. is historically responsible for the current economic and political situation in Central America, where countries like Nicaragua struggle to overcome the effects of past dictatorships, civil wars and natural disasters. KPFK radio host Blase Bonpane is an activist and author who has advocated on behalf of Central and Latin American nations against human rights abuses and U.S. intervention, and has played a historic role in creating dialogue between regional Christianity and Marxism. He also founded the Los Angeles-based non-profit organization Office of the Americas, which works for the cause of American nuclear disarmament, amnesty for illegal immigrants, open borders and better relations with the nation of Cuba.

The likes of Noam Chomsky and the late Howard Zinn have extolled his efforts in bettering the lives of Central and Latin Americans as well as educating Americans about their government’s pivotal role in dismantling the livelihood and self-determination of foreign nations. At the University of California, Irvine, where I go to school, a man named Caesar D. Sereseres is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the School of Social Science. Sereseres worked in the U.S. State Department during the Reagan era and was a consultant for the RAND Corporation. In the 1980s, he helped devise a counterinsurgency program in Guatemala which was responsible for major human rights abuses that led to the indiscriminate murder of innocent women and children. This is a well-documented fact, but many students are unaware or negligent of Sereseres’ history and the extent to which public institutions like the University of California harbor and celebrate the goal of U.S. imperialism.

Blase Bonpane will be giving a presentation on the historical and current situation in Central America in conjunction with screenings of three documentary films: Panama Deception: Exposing the Cover Up!, Cover Up: Behind the Iran Contra Affair and Destination Nicaragua.

Sunday, April 11, 2010, 1:00 p.m.

Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
6522 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028

***
http://www.welcometolace.org/

Blase Bonpane