In fact, upon his return to the United States, the Maryknoll priest became an even louder critic of our foreign policy in Latin America.

But for years his concerns fell on deaf ears. The threat of communism overshadowed concerns about the poor. "We could not get beyond that," says the soft-spoken priest.

But the end of the Cold War changed the conversation. "The bogeyman was gone," he explains. Suddenly Americans were willing to listen to his tales of tragedy.

And they're still listening, as evidenced by his talk Thursday night in Walnut Creek, where more than 125 people gathered to hear this crusader talk about America's foreign policy.

Both young and old spent an evening eagerly listening to updates about the controversial School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga. They couldn't get enough information about Plan Colombia, America's $1.3 billion program to eradicate cocaine from the country.

The evening was a welcome shattering of the stereotype that Americans care only about ourselves.

Much of the conversation was critical of America's role in Latin America. But don't think this was just a bunch of anti-government extremists gathering around simply to complain.

The audience at Grace Presbyterian Church was as mainstream as it could get. Veterans, homemakers, grandmothers and high school students were told how to make their voices heard in protestation. Phone calls. Letter writing. Telling a friend. Contacting representatives. The evening could have been billed as an empowering primer in democracy.

Indeed, the opportunity to act on their beliefs is a key reason Father Roy's message resonates with people. His influential quest to shut down the controversial School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga. depends on such grass-roots efforts.

When a 1990 fact-finding report revealed this school is the training grounds for soldiers who've committed some of the cruelest war tactics known to humanity, the situation could've easily become just another depressing report.

But Father Roy wasn't willing to let it go. Armed with information and outrage about the atrocious tactics taught at this taxpayer-funded school, Father Roy rented a tiny apartment across from the school's entrance. The School of the Americas Watch was formed.

"I was so angry at what my country was doing, but I couldn't let the anger dominate," explains Father Roy. Instead, he followed in the steps of other nonviolent leaders.

There were hunger strikes on the steps of the nation's capital. Protests onto the school grounds. Vigils and memorials.

But it wasn't until the military started putting the protesters into jail that the movement to close the military school really grew for mainstream America.

It was bad enough the U.S. military was training foreign soldiers in executions, torture and coercion. The fact that religious people and passive citizens were being locked up for exercising their civil rights to oppose such action was too much.

"Every time they send us to prison it re-energizes the movement," says Father Roy. In the past decade, 50 protesters have collectively served 30 years in federal prison for their civil disobedience.

An annual protest -- in memory of those who were killed at the hands of graduates of School of the Americas -- has grown from 10 to 10,000 people in a decade.

Currently, Colombia has the most soldiers enrolled at the school, which frightens Father Roy, especially because of his recent fact-finding trip there.

He sees and fears a foreign policy that simply repeats history.

Just as America has rewarded destructive dictatorships in Bolivia and Guatemala and El Salvador, Father Roy fears Plan Colombia has the same potential to destroy the most vulnerable citizens in its country. It's why he's determined to spread the word about this effort.

"We must ask, have we learned anything from the past?"

Copyright 2001 ContraCostaTimes

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