SOA Watch Staff

Fr. Roy Bourgeois - SOA Watch Founder
Born in Lutcher, Louisiana, Fr. Roy served as a Naval Officer for two years before entering the seminary of the Maryknoll Missionary Order. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1972, Roy went on to work with the poor of Bolivia for five years before being arrested and forced to leave the country, then under the repressive rule of dictator and SOA grad General Hugo Banzer.

In 1980 Fr. Roy became involved in issues surrounding US policy in El Salvador after four US churchwomen--two of them friends of his--were raped and killed by Salvadoran soldiers. Roy became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America. Since then, he has spent over four years in US federal prisons for nonviolent protests against the training of Latin American soldiers at Ft. Benning, Georgia. In 1990, Roy founded School of the Americas Watch. Read Fr. Roy's full bio here.

Pam Bowman - Legislative and Research Coordinator
Pam, 29, has organized the SOA Watch legislative and research campaigns for the past 5 years. Her work includes developing the program work and strategy for votes on SOA/ WHINSEC amendments and legislation in Congress, as well as building relationships with allies in congressional districts across the country.

Pam joined the SOA Watch staff after her time as a Legislative Assistant on Capitol Hill working on foreign policy, defense and human rights issues. She is actively involved in a number of public policy campaigns and organizations in DC and Northern Virginia.

As Legislative and Research Coordinator, Pam coordinates the SOA Watch program work for campaigns related to legislative, political or research work, including working with Members of Congress and their staff, votes in Congress, and organizing grassroots campaigns and legislative trainings. Pam also coordinates research projects on foreign policy with Latin America, militarization, and SOA/ WHINSEC graduates and their crimes.

Eric LeCompte - SOA Watch Organizer
Eric, 33, grew up in a working class Catholic family on the Southside of Chicago and is a product of Catholic education. He's coordinated a Catholic Worker House in Rochester, New York that provided meals for a 150 people a day, provided shelter for men and provided an AIDS hospice.

He's lived in Colombia researching human rights issues and witnessed firsthand abuses committed by graduates of the US Army School of the Americas. He has worked for several human rights organizations, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi USA and The GI Rights Hotline.

Eric organizes SOA Watch programs and travels the country speaking, facilitating trainings and organizing workshops. He is an accomplished lecturer and retreat leader and has built a campaign coalition with over 400 religious, labor and political organizations. He is the former Chair of Pax Christi USA and in 2008 was named a Pax Christi Ambassador of Peace. Eric has been awarded the Caritas award by St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict and is the first lay person to be honored with the annual Felician Sister Catholic Peace Maker Award.

Hendrik Voss - Networking Coordinator
Hendrik and his partner, Gail Taylor, spent seven months living in Guatemala and working with Puente de Paz, a mental health and human rights group that works with survivors of political and domestic violence. Puente de Paz works to empower women in indigenous communities as they reweave the social fabric torn apart during Guatemala's 36-year internal armed conflict.

The two then moved to Hendrik's native Germany, where they lived for seven months and were involved in the Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants, a network of individuals, groups and organizations of refugees, migrants and Germans based on anti-imperialism and antiracism.

Lisa Sullivan - Latin America Coordinator
Lisa Sullivan has lived for in Latin America since 1977. She worked for 21 years as a Maryknoll lay missioner in Venezuela and Bolivia, raising her three children in the barrios of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. She is the founder of the grassroots leadership group, Centro de Formación Rutilio Grande.

Lisa is currently the coordinador for Partnership America Latina (PAL). This initiative of SOAW seeks to connect North and South partners in the movement to close the School of the Americas and promote peace in the Americas. Lisa has helped to organize numerous SOAW delegations to meet with leaders in Latin America, leading to announcements of withdrawal from SOA of five countries.

Michael Baney - Development and Operations Coordinator
Michael joined the SOAW staff in August 2008. Born and raised in New Jersey, Michael holds a degree in political science from American University’s School of Public Affairs. Before joining SOA Watch, Michael worked as a research assistant with the Peru Documentation Project and as an intern with the Colombia Documentation Project at the National Security Archive. He also lived for a year in Lima, Peru, where he interned with the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH). At APRODEH he worked on projects related to the extradition and trial of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for charges of murder and crimes against humanity.

Pablo Ruiz Espinoza - Latin America Communications Coordinator
Pablo is a Chilean human rights activist and journalist who lives in Santiago, Chile. During the 1990´s he worked in Chile with the Committee Against Impunity, seeking to bring to trial military who had committed human rights abuses during the dictatorship of General Pinochet. In 1999 he joined the Kamarikun Human Rights Committee and in 2002 became a member of the Human Rights Education Team of the Chilean branch of Amnesty International.

Pablo´s focus on the SOA began in 2000 when he spearheaded efforts of Kamarikun to seek the withdrawal of Chile from the SOA. He organized the visit of the SOAW delegation to Chile in 2006 and 2008, and joined several SOAW delegations to Colombia, Panamá and Ecuador. Currently, Pablo works as the Communications Coordinator for SOAW´s Partnership America Latina.