La Voz de los de Abajo invites you to attend an event on March 6th, 7pm - 10pm at Decima Musa Restaurant, 1901 South Loomis, in Pilsen, Chicago with the long time social justice activist Father Ismael "Melo" Moreno from Honduras.

Padre Melo will discuss the struggle against the coup and against its continuation under the administration of Pepe Lobo; the current human rights situation and the resistance movement's perspective on the way forward.

See attachments for more details. Padre Melo's biography is below.

Father Melo will also be participating with other speakers in the DePaul SOA-Watch event on Friday, March 5th at 6pm in Room 154 of the Schmidt Academic Center.
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Biography:

Father Melo (Ismael Moreno Coto) is the Director of E.R.I.C. (Equipo de Reflexion, Investigacion y Comunicacion - Team for Reflection, Investigation and Communication) and of Radio Progreso. ( www.eric-sj.org ; www.radioprogresohn.org)

He was born in El Progreso, Yoro , Honduras on January 1, 1958. He joined the Company of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1978 and was ordained in El Progreso in January of 1989. Since then he has held different posts in Central America including in the Parish of Tocoa in Honduras , and Ixcan in Guatemala . He was the Director of the Office of Apostolic Planning and Secretary of the Provincial Apostolic Council in El Salvador . Since August 27, 2001 he has held the post of Director of E.R.I.C) and since 2006 the position of director of Radio Progreso in the city of El Progreso , Honduras .

In 2008 he participated in the hunger strike protest initiated by four government prosecutors in protest against corruption in Hondura . The protest strike lasted 38 days during which time the hunger strikers occupied a part of the public area of the Congressional building in Tegucigalpa . Father Melo became an advisor to The Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ Spanish acronym) which was organized out of the protest.

Radio Progreso has been in existence for 50 years, and is a part of the Catholic Network of Radio Stations; it is also well known for its independent journalism. Radio Progresso and ERIC also have print publications, "A Mecate Corto" and the magazine, "Envio-Honduras”.

Padre Mel is an outspoken critic of the coup d’etat of June 28, 2009 and the subsequent installation of the government of Porfirio Lobo. Since the coup, Radio Progreso has been threatened and was raided by military troops on more than one occasion. Padre Melo and other staff have been personally threatened. For example, on 23 September, a correspondent and three other staff of Radio Progreso, based in the north-west of Honduras , received a threatening text message on their mobile phones. It read: “The sons of gorilete [Micheletti] in Progreso offer half a million Lempiras (equivalent to US$26,500) for the head of Padre Melo”.

Father Melo’s tour in March will include presentations in Washington D.C., Boston, Milwaukee and Chicago.