Dana Brown, coordinator of the Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations, will give her account of the U.S. involvement with detention camps in Guantanamo Bay today in Scripps Hall.

Brown will give an eyewitness account, accompanied by photographs and a video, from her trip to the camp in December 2005 to Guantanamo Bay. She and 25 Catholic workers from across the United States marched a 60-mile trek from Santiago de Cuba to the jail facilities to protest torture and mistreatment of prisoners, according to the movement’s Web site, www.witnesstorture.org.

“It’s incredibly important. It’s the perfect time in history for us to discuss this,” Brown said.

The United Nations has urged the United States to close the Guantanamo prison, according to a May 26 Houston Chronicle editorial. Prisoners at the camp are held “indefinitely” and are subject to interrogation practices widely considered to be torture, according to the editorial.

It is critical for Americans to be informed and aware of government actions in situations like Guantanamo, Brown said, adding that Guantanamo Bay is “a huge blemish on our country.”

“I want to plant that seed with people,” she said. “We’re responsible for what our country does.”

The Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations is a volunteer network based out of Cornell University that works to promote awareness about Latin American countries and improve diplomatic relations, according to its Web site, www.rso.cornell.edu/cuslar/index.php.

Amanda Harris and her husband, Amado Lascar, both professors in the department of modern languages, asked Brown, an Athens native, to present at OU.

“She’s always been an activist involved with social movements,” Harris said. “We were glad to give her support and asked her speak.”

Brown can set an example for young people who believe they cannot influence change, Harris said.

“She can show them there are things people can actually do. She can speak to that nihilism that affects young people today,” Harris said.