HistoryLUC's video: Ignacio Ellacur a at Loyola: Tape 4

In 1986, Loyola awarded Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J. with an honorary doctorate of laws. While in Chicago for the ceremony, he gave a series of press conferences on the current political state of El Salvador under President Duarte, that country’s first civilian president after a decade of military rule. These tapes document Ellacuría’s few days at Loyola, from the moment he arrived to the final conferral of an honorary degree. In this intimate press conference, Ellacuría is asked about the Contadora peace plan, a plan instigated by the foreign ministers of Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela in 1983. The Contadora Group hoped to reduce tensions in Central America which were rooted in the U.S.-led war to undermine the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua and, in turn, the Sandinista government’s support for neighboring leftist movements. Ellacuría is pessimistic about Contadora. He states clearly that without the Reagan Administration’s commitment to peace, violence will continue. For more information, check out "The Ellacuría Tapes: A Martyr at Loyola" exhibit at http://www.lib.luc.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/ellacuria-tapes