The Rothko Chapel
Oscar Romero Award Recipients

1986: Leonidas Eduardo Proano Villalba, Ecuador                                Retired Bishop of Riobamba, Ecuador                                                                   President of the Department of Indian Ministries                                                               (d. 1988)                                            

Bishop Proano, “Bishop of the Indians” as he was called, confronted many obstacles and conflicts in defense of the Indians, both in the struggle for land reform and in his effort to improve the inter-ethnic relationship marked by discrimination and economic exploitation.

“What I have been able to speak, what I have been able to write about, what I have been able to live, I have learned from the people. I have been taught by the Indians, who understand with admirable depth, and at the same time simplicity, the liberating message of the gospel.” (Leonidas Proano, May, 1985)

1988: Paulo Evaristo Cardinal Arns, Brazil                                           Archbishop of Sao Paulo 

Cardinal Arns, archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, an internationally known human rights advocate, was chosen for his long and indefatigable efforts on behalf of the poor and for his remarkable courage in confronting the terrorism of the military regime that held power from 1964 to 1985. One of his most extraordinary accomplishments was the surreptitious collecting from military archives of detailed documentation concerning secret detentions, torture, and execution of thousands of the “disappeared.” The documents were published in a book called Brazil: Nunca Mais (Brazil: Never Again) and is available in English under the title: Torture in Brazil (Vintage Press).

1990: Bishop Medardo E. Gomez Soto, El Salvador                                    The Resurrection Lutheran Church of the Salvadoran Synod                                       Maria Julia Hernandez, El Salvador                                                            Director of Tutela Legal                                                                                                  (d. 2007)

Bishop Gomez of the Resurrection Lutheran Church of the Salvadorian Synod, was honored for his courageous support of peace and human rights in El Salvador. As violence escalated in El Salvador, the Lutheran Church expanded its work with the poor and the displaced. Bishop Gomez, church leaders, and members suffered harassment, threats, capture, and torture for their stand in support of peace and reconciliation, and their commitment to the most vulnerable people.

Maria Julia Hernandez, Director of Tutela Legal, is recognized for her great courage under changing but always dangerous conditions in reporting human rights abuses by both the government and rebel forces. Tutela Legal, the Catholic Archbishopric’s human rights and legal aid office in El Salvador. It documented human rights violations and provided legal aid to victims of such violations.

1991: Monsenor Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, Guatemala                        Bishop of Zacapa and Pastor of Esquipulas                                                          President, National Reconciliation Commission of Guatemala

Monsenor Quezada was the moving force that initiated and maintained dialogue between  the different parties and organizations. During a series of meetings held in Norway, Spain, Canada, Peru, and Mexico, he, as the principle mediator between the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, obtained from both parties a commitment to find a peaceful settlement to the political, social, and economic problems of the country.

1993: Oslobodjenje (Liberation), Bosnia 

Oslobodjenje, a daily newspaper run by a multi-ethnic, multi-religious team of journalists in Sarajevo, was established during World War II as the voice of liberation. Their unity of purpose and their commitment to democracy expressed the fundamental hope of the people in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Warring Serbs systematically tried to destroy this symbol of multi-ethnic cooperation, yet the Sarajevo daily continued to be printed and distributed under bombing, sniper fire, and critical survival conditions. Oslobodjenje continued to be the voice of truth and freedom.

1997: Salima Ghezali, Algeria                                                                         Editor of La Nation                                                                                       Abdennour Ali Yehya, Algeria                                                                       Human rights advocate

In 1994, Salima Ghezali became Algeria’s only woman newspaper editor when she took over La Nation, a French language weekly with a circulation of 60,000. Under her leadership, La Nation refused to handle “security-oriented” news, which had to be submitted to the authorities for censorship. Mrs. Ghezali openly favored the Contrat National (the Rome or St. Egidio platform) which called for a negotiated solution to Algeria’s conflict. For that support, La Nation was suspended four times and seized three times between 1995 and 1996. Mrs. Ghezali was continuously under threat of kidnapping, torture, and death.

Abdennour Ali Yehya, an attorney and former government minister, distinguished himself under various regimes by his persistent denouncement of human rights violations and by his tenacity to uphold legal safeguards for the victims. He was one of the first to report the existence of concentration camps and to denounce arbitrary arrests, mass deportation, torture and violence in Algeria. He was arrested, detained, and deported for his struggle for freedom and the defense of his fellow citizens. Mr. Yehya was the key negotiator in drafting and signing the Contrat National (the Rome or St. Egidio platform) which established a fundamental basis for a political, peaceful, and just solution to the Algerian crisis.

2003: Ishai Menuchin, Israel                                                                            Major in the Israeli Defense Forces Reserves                                                           Founder of Yesh Gvul, the soldiers’ movement for selective refusal                           Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, Hebrew University

After three years of compulsory military service and an additional eighteen months as a career officer, Ishai Menuchin still performs the annual service as an officer in infantry units. He became politically active during the war on Lebanon by joining “Peace Now” and subsequently helped found Yesh Gvul as a leading activist and spokesman for the movement.

Yesh Gvul (there is a limit) means that “there’s a limit to what we are willing to do, whether as citizens or as soldiers.” It is an Israeli peace group that has shouldered the task of supporting soldiers who refuse assignments of a repressive or aggressive nature. “… We can show our fellow citizens that occupation of the territories is not just a political or strategic matter. It is also a moral matter. We can show them alternatives – they can say no to occupation.”

2005: Torture Abolition and Survivors’ Support Coalition, International (TASSC), Sr. Dianna Ortiz                                                                            Executive Director

Torture Abolition and Survivors’ Support Coalition, International, established in 1998, is a coalition of survivors, currently representing more than 60 countries and ethnic groups. This organization calls for abolition of torture and mistreatment and hopes to achieve it through education, advocacy, and legislation. It also fosters the creation of international communities to aid in healing survivors of torture and their families.

Sr. Dianna Ortiz, an Ursuline nun, survived imprisonment and torture in Guatemala while serving as a missionary teacher of Mayan children.

(c) 2004 Rothko Chapel. All Rights Reserved.