Sr. Diana Ortiz at Drake; St. Catherine's!

Speaking Truth to Power: Confronting the Role of the
U.S. in Supporting Acts of Torture Around the Globe - Sr. Dianna Ortiz, OSU
Saturday, May 6, 2006
10am- 12 noon
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center
Drake Newman Community
1150 28th St.
Des Moines, Iowa
515-271-4747
After making her final vows as an Ursuline nun, Sister Dianna Ortiz became a missionary in Guatemala in 1987 and dedicated herself to teaching the Mayan children of San Miguel Acatan. This simple decision would place Dianna in the heart of unforeseen and incredible danger and alter the course of her life.
In Guatemala, while working with people who had been victimized by one of the most oppressive regimes of Latin America, she received warning to stop her work and to leave the country. She did not heed the warning. As a result, on November 2, 1989, she was abducted and forced to endure unspeakable horrors of torture. While under torture Sr. Dianna made a promise to those whose screams of pain she heard: "If I survive, I will never forget you. I will tell the world what I have seen and heard."
Despite grave personal suffering, Sr. Dianna did not succumb to her daily nightmares and flashbacks. Neither did she forsake the vow she had made in solidarity with the thousands of innocent Mayans and other Guatemalans who had suffered torture and murder. She has confronted her ordeal by speaking out against torture and seeking the truth about the extent of torture and murder, its perpetrators and the role of governments, both of Guatemala and the United States, by filing lawsuits, giving interviews, and testifying at length before investigators of multiple United States government agencies. In 2002, her courage and determination resulted in the publication of her memoir, _The Blindfold's Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth_. This enormously difficult task required reliving her nightmares to detail the shattering effects of torture on her life, and the lives of other victims, her long slow journey towards healing, and her efforts to bring her perpetrators to justice, while the governments of Guatemala and the United States sought to protect them.