BOLIVAR WINNER URGES CONSCIOUSNESS

Attorney Blames Lack Of Trust For Many Problems

An attorney, recognized Friday by Fort Benning's Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation for her efforts in human rights, urged a
cadre of military officers from the Caribbean and Latin and South America
to support a grassroot efforts to hold themselves accountable for their
actions.

"We need to create a consciousness of human rights in our citizens," said
Aura Celeste Fernandez Rodriguez, this year's recipient of the institute's
Simon Bolivar Award for Democracy and Human Rights.

Fernandez, an attorney from the the Dominican Republic who was nominated
for the award by the U.S. ambassador to that country, has campaigned
against torture, police and political corruption and child abuse, and has
worked to reform the Dominican Republic's judicial system and penal code.

Delivering the keynote address Thursday morning at the institute's 2nd
annual Hemispheric Conference, Fernandez painted an ominous portrait of the
region, warning that newly emerging democracies there face mounting
pressures from ingrained poverty, persistent corruption and increasingly
powerful drug cartels.

Noting that the region's citizens "live in insufficient democracies" that
- -- until the 1980s -- were subjected to "periods of military
dictatorships," Fernandez said the new blooms of democracy there "cannot be
guaranteed as irreversible processes."

Furthermore, she said, advances in information technology are sometimes
used to distort and defraud election results. Corruption, driven most
recently by the rise of cocaine and heroin cartels operating in the region,
is creating "a lack of trust" in lawmakers and increasingly undermining the
confidence of the electorate.

"Our peoples believe less and less in leaders of their political parties...
choosing the least of poor choices," she said.

Fernandez said 75 percent of the Dominican Republic's citizens live in
"extreme poverty" while the remaining minority live in "irritating
opulence," supported by "a culture of corruption" among police who utilize
torture and fear to maintain the status quo.

Addressing an audience largely comprised of military officers from the
region, Fernandez urged their support for a "citizens network" that seeks
accountability from military and government officials.

"We must look at the social process in a self-criticizing way," she said.
"We are far away from creating a consciousness of human rights in our
citizens. We still have a long road ahead of us."

U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Moultrie, a member of the institute's Board of
Visitors, presented Fernandez with the award during a ceremony Friday
morning. The award was established after the U.S. Army School of the
Americas closed and the U.S. Defense Department-run institute opened in its
place in 2001. Peruvian Ombudsman Dr. Jorge Santistevan de Noriega was the
award's first recipient.