A Drake University professor wanted so desperately to tell ISU students and faculty members about death, violence and terrorism related to Sept. 11 that he volunteered to ride his bike from Des Moines.

“This stuff needs to be said,” said Fernando Arribas-Garcia, a Venezuela native teaching modern languages and literature at Drake University. “Lives were disrupted and destroyed. The world is not the same and the true terrorists are still living.”

Arribas-Garcia’s description had nothing to do with Sept. 11, 2001, however.

“The terrorists I speak of are not al-Qaeda, not Muslim and the place was not New York,” he said. Arribas-Garcia spoke about Sept. 11, 1973, when the U.S. government, led by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, tried to overthrow the democratically elected government in Santiago, Chile.

“Thousands of people were illegally arrested and, 30 years later, the body count is in the thousands and still rising,” Arribas-Garcia said. He also said Chileans are still finding hidden grave sites where the bodies were buried.

“I came to the United States as a professor to say these things,” Arribas-Garcia said. “Countries around the world are suffering.”

He said the U.S. government is involved in ugly situations around the world.

“It is not my duty to change the U.S. government, but maybe I can help,” he said. “Billions of people are affected, there are many of these situations in Latin America.”

Arribas-Garcia also spoke of a near-coup in Venezuela two weeks ago that was sponsored by the United States.

He said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez runs the “most progressive government the country has had in nearly 60 years. He stood for social justice and true democracy.”

U.S. leaders seem to have trouble accepting the independence of South American countries, he said.

“American government recoils at the idea that its officials should be fully accountable,” Arribas-Garcia said. “Why do they need special protection? Are they afraid of justice?

“Perhaps the United States government is guilty of some crimes it accuses others of.”

Arribas-Garcia’s presentation was the first teach-in at Iowa State, said Gary Tartakov, professor of art and design.

Tartakov defined a teach-in as a presentation of a controversial or crucial topic that has active participation with the audience and leads to action. “It may not be immediate action, but maybe over time there will be civil discourse on campus,” he said.

Tartakov said this event was volunteer only: Arribas-Garcia was not paid for his presentation and no one paid for admission.

“We need to be able to talk about reality without institutional constraints.”