For over 60 years, the SOA has trained more than 60,000 Latin American military officers, soldiers and policemen. The SOA is responsible for many human rights violations, including several genocides and military-led overthrows of democratically elected governments.

According to the independent human rights organization, School of the Americas Watch, the military graduates of this institute are responsible for thousands of deaths. This includes the infamous massacre of nearly 1000 peasant farmers, clergy and community members in El Mazote, El Salvador, on Dec. 11, 1981. Then in 1988, nine Colombian SOA graduates were implicated for a massacre in the village of Segovia. On that day 43 Colombian villagers, children and peasant farmers were killed by hand-grenades and rifle fire from three truckloads of paramilitary death squads aided and abetted by the Colombian military.

As the Colombia Action Network states, “Colombia sends more soldiers to the SOA than any other country in Latin America. Colombia also has the highest number of human rights abuses. The Pentagon directs the Colombian military and their training at SOA, and gives the nod to their death squads. Colombia’s former top general, Mario Montoya trained and instructed others at the SOA. Montoya, along with two other Colombian generals and 24 military officers were forced to resign in 2008 due to the ‘false positives’ scandal – they ‘hired’ unemployed men in the cities, shot them dead in rural areas and then dressed them in FARC uniforms to claim success against the revolutionaries. We say, ‘Close the SOA!’”

The SOA protest brought participants from all over America, including people from Alaska, Minnesota and many other states. Amongst them were students, clergy, veterans, farm-workers, steel workers and other types of workers. One student participant from the University of Florida, the president of UF Amnesty International, Emily Flynn, said that she had driven all the way to Georgia because, “I was really upset that my tax dollars are funding dictatorships in Latin America and a lot of people don’t know that this is happening. I just found out two years ago, and I wish we had more mainstream [media] attention.”

The week of action ended on Sunday, Nov. 22 with a river of thousands of people marching to the gates of this deadly training school. The protesters carried crosses with names of those murdered by graduates of this institute. Some of the crosses commemorated Maria Isabel Salinas, a victim from Argentina, the beloved Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Romero as well the four U.S. churchwomen killed in El Salvador in 1980. The victims’ ages range from a baby girl of three to a 63-year-old man.

Four veteran human rights defenders, Nancy Gwin of Syracuse, New York, Ken Hayes of Austin, Texas, Father Louis Vitale of Oakland, California, and Michael Walli of Washington, D.C. crossed into Fort Benning to engage in civil disobedience.

#FtBenningGA #FortBenningGA #AntiwarMovement #Americas #SchoolOfTheAmericas

Fort Benning, GA – 15,000 people from across the U.S. and Latin America protested this weekend at Fort Benning, Georgia to say, “Shut down the School of Assassins.” The School of the Americas (SOA) trains military officers to run death squads in Latin America. In Colombia, these U.S.-trained military leaders conduct the dirty war against union workers. They shoot farmers and those trying to build a better life for themselves and their children.

Sarah Buchner from University of North Carolina-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society said, “I traveled to Colombia this summer to see for myself what those trained in Georgia at the SOA do. It was terrible. We heard story after story of the horrible disappearances and executions done by graduates of the School of Americas. These people are murderers. We must shut down the School of Americas!”

#FtBenningGA #FortBenningGA #AntiwarMovement #SchoolOfTheAmericas

The U.S. government funds and runs the School of the Americas. Protesters called on the government to shut it down. At this year's protest, about 3400 people put their bodies on the line by illegally entering the military base. Some were arrested and others were just taken off the base. Thousands who chose not to risk arrest cheered from outside Fort Benning's gates.

The action was a powerful and emotional process lasting hours, as waves of protesters crossed onto the base. The names of Latin Americans who were murdered by soldiers trained at the S.O.A. were sung out in a sorrowful but powerful voice. Thousands of demonstrators carried crosses bearing the names of murdered Latin Americans. With each name sung out, the people responded with a cry of “¡presente!” meaning that those who lost their lives would not be forgotten.

A Growing Movement

The yearly anti-S.O.A. protests have grown dramatically, and the spirit of the protest has been shifting too. Linda Jones, from the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, said, “This is my second year at the S.O.A. protest, but there was even a difference between last year and this year. And I think a big part of it is due to the new anti-globalization movement, after this year's protests in Seattle, D.C., Prague, and at the [Republican and Democrat] conventions. People understand that in gathering to shut down the S.O.A. they're also protesting the I.M.F., World Bank, everything, to create a strong movement against U.S. foreign policy in general. People are coming up with new, creative ideas to strengthen the movement.”

On the first day of the protest, about 200 demonstrators had a giant-puppet show, playing the roles of the S.O.A. and Latin American dictators, as well as the Latin American people and revolutionaries fighting back. The second day, the 200 puppeteers charged into the military base, engaging in a high-risk protest that inspired many rally participants.

School of the Americas Exists to Protect The Rich

Many of the puppeteers' signs read, “Resist S.O.A.: Uproot the Global System it Protects.” These signs describe the role that the S.O.A. plays in training the Latin American military forces which uphold capitalist domination, and repress anyone who organizes for change. U.S. corporations have long seen Latin America as their backyard.

The School of the Americas is known for its instruction in how to commit torture, execution and blackmail. These tactics have been used against thousands of Latin American citizens, activists, and revolutionaries fighting for a better society.

The S.O.A. and Colombia

The School of the Americas role in repression of the people is clearly seen in Colombia, the focus of this year's S.O.A. protest. Colombia has 10,000 S.O.A. graduates, the most of any country. It also has the worst human rights record in the hemisphere.

Clinton recently sent $1.3 billion to the Colombian military, which is using the money and high-tech equipment in their civil war against the liberation movements led by the F.A.R.C. (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the E.L.N. (National Liberation Army).

Anh Pham of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee said, “The focus on Colombia this year was really important. It was a powerful protest when I came in 1998, and with the focus on Colombia this year I felt like I had to come back and protest to stop more murderers from being trained and sent back to Colombia.”

Colombia Action Network Meets, Strengthens Network

After the first day's protest, 75 people attended a meeting of the Colombia Action Network (C.A.N.), which organizes against military aid to Colombia. Colombia Action Network committees from New York, Chicago and Minneapolis reported on their organizing, while groups from Charleston, SC, Duluth, MN, and many other cities participated. The meeting created a structure to work together after the S.O.A. protest.

The Colombia Action Network will hold a day of actions and a founding conference in the spring of 2001.

This coming year, the movement against U.S. intervention in Colombia will continue to grow along with the movement to shut down the School of Assassins.

#FortBenningGA #News #Colombia #Americas #SchoolOfTheAmericas #SOA