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.

The following flier will be distributed at the School of Americas Protest in Columbus Georgia on Nov. 21.

With anger and passion, protests hit the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. For days, thousands of demonstrators put a people's agenda in the face of Democratic Party politicians.

Milwaukee, WI - 50 people turned out for an Iraq Moratorium and anti-School of the Americans march here on the evening of Nov. 21. The event, which coincided with the massive protest at the SOA at Fort Benning, Georgia, was organized by the Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Peace Action.

Columbus, GA - Over 20,000 people from across the country flooded Fort Benning on the Nov. 22-23 weekend, calling for the School of the Americas (SOA), a U.S. military training institute that trains Latin American soldiers in ‘counter-insurgency’ techniques, to be shut down. During the vigil to honor the memory of the thousands of men, women and children that have been tortured, kidnapped and murdered by SOA graduates, six people, in an act of civil disobedience, crossed onto the military base and were arrested. They face up to six months in federal prison for taking action to close down the SOA – the ‘School of Assassins.’

Join the Colombia Action Network at the School of the Americas Demonstration! Ft. Benning, GA, November 21-23, 2008

Help us shut down the School of the Americas (SOA) this November! The SOA is a U.S. tax payer funded combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Frequently called the “School of Assassins,” its graduates have left a trail of terror and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned. Over its 61 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare, and interrogation tactics. SOA graduates have consistently used their skills to wage war against social movements and progressive communities in their own countries. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. SOA training manuals made public in 1996 revealed that torture, extortion, and kidnapping are part of the curriculum. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and displaced by those trained at the SOA.

Columbus, GA - 25,000 protesters arrived at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to participate in the 2007 SOA Watch vigil to close the School of the Americas, Nov. 16 -18. The SOA, which trains military personal from Latin America in subjects like counter-insurgency recently changed names. It is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but name changes can not take away the bloody history of this tool of U.S. imperialism and oppression. SOA graduates have been implicated in killings, torture and massacres.

Columbus, GA - Nearly 22,000 activists from around the country, gathered Nov. 17 through 20 to protest the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia. The School of the America’s special U.S. military program has trained military personnel to use methods of torture and killing throughout Latin America for over 59 years. SOA Watch, an organization dedicated to shutting down this program of terrorism, hosted the demonstration.

Chicago, IL – The weekend before Thanksgiving, November 21 and 22, people from around the country will gather in Fort Benning, Georgia, to demand that the School of the Americas be closed. Student activists from Chicago area campuses have joined the mobilization.

Columbus, GA - Ten thousand people descended on Fort Benning, Georgia, Nov. 18-19 to shut down the School of the Americas (S.O.A.). Also known as the School of Assassins, the S.O.A. has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency so they can repress the people in their homelands.