American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project

a project of U.S. citizens living overseas supporting U.S. military personnel stationed overseas



PRESS BRIEFING

With HELGA AGUAYO, Wife of Army Specialist AGUSTÍN AGUAYO, and Supporters

Agustín Aguayo is a Conscientious Objector and War Resister who went AWOL

on September 2, 2006, when his unit deployed for a second time from Germany to Iraq.

On September 26, Aguayo turned himself in to Fort Irwin Army Base near Barstow, CA.

Today he will be brought by military escort to Germany or to Kuwait to face prosecution by the Army.



WHEN: at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 30, 2006



WHERE: Offices of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC),

MALDEF Blg., Exec. Board Room, 1st Floor, 634 S. Spring Street (betw. 6th & 7th) Los Angeles.

For directions go to: http:// tinyurl.com/q7wug



Helga Aguayo, wife of Agustín Aguayo. She recently returned with the couple’s twin eleven-year-old daughters to their home in Palmdale, California, after spending more than three years on the Army base in Schweinfurt, Germany.



Fernando Suarez del Solar, father of Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar, a U.S. soldier (a Mexican citizen without U.S. citizenship) who died in Iraq on March 27, 2003. From the time of his son’s death, Fernando has dedicated his life to opposing the war on Iraq, which he deems illegal, and the practices of U.S. military recruiters. He has twice traveled to Iraq to bring medications and the message of peace to victims of the occupation.



Elsa Rassbach, a U.S. citizen and filmmaker living in Berlin and a founding member of American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project, whose members have provided support to the Aguayos for their lawsuit against the Army and public education about their case. She is active in the German peace movement and in Democrats Abroad, and worked with the GI rights movement in Germany during the Vietnam War.



With Statements by Representatives of Some of the Following Endorsing Organizations:

American Friends Service Committee, Center on Conscience & War (CCW),

The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO), Military Counseling Network (Germany), Code Pink, Connection, e.V. (Germany), Courage to Resist, Global Exchange, Guerrero Azteca Project,

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Gold Star Families for Peace,

Military Families Speak Out (MFSO – Orange County);

Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC – AVA in Munich, Germany), Not In Our Name (Bay Area Chapter).



For information on AVA, see http://www.avaworld.org.





CONTACTS: Elsa Rassbach - AVA Military Project; Elsa_Rassbach@compuserve.com;

Cell Phone: 1-646-400-9206.

Fernando Suarez del Solar - Guerrero Azteca Peace Project (also speaks Spanish); fernando@guerreroazteca.org; Phone: 1-760-233-0630; Fax: 1-760-737-2334; Cell Phone: 1-858-774-0172.

Peter Goldberger, Aguayo attorney; Phone: 1-610-649-8200; Cell Phone 1-610 2829.

J.E. McNeil & Bill Galvin, Center on Conscience & War; Phone: 202-483-2220.







Fernando Suarez del Solar, Founder & Director

Guerrero Azteca Peace Project

(760)233-0630 Direct telephone

(760)746-4568 Main telephone

(760)737-2334 Fax

PO Box 300221,Escondido,CA 92030-0221

fernando@guerreroazteca.org

www.guerreroazteca.org



POR UNA GENERACION LLENA DE PAZ Y AMOR

FOR A GENERATION FILLED WITH PEACE AND LOVE