Columbus Georgia
November 22-23, 2003
Walt Zuliani
Two bus loads of protestors traveled over 2,000 miles from the Twin Cities and joined 10,000 others from around the country and around the world in Fort Benning Georgia on November 22nd and 23rd to call for the closing of the School of the Americas (SOA), recently renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC). It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured or killed by graduates of the school.
WHISC/SOA trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics at the rural Georgia base. Graduates of WHISC/SOA are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. Among the WHISC/SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are the notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia. Other SOA graduates have participated in human rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Assistant Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and author of School of Assassins: Guns, Greed and Globalization, joined the Minnesota protestors. Nelson-Pallmeyer spoke to those gathered at the gates of Ft. Benning for the annual protest sponsored by SOA Watch.
According to Professor Nelson-Pallmeyer “The School of the Americas and its graduates have been associated with every major human rights atrocity in our hemisphere in the past 40 years. It is ironic that our country's leaders are using fear of terrorism to justify a militarized foreign policy throughout the world that often involves U.S. sponsored terror and that concerns about terror do not extend to the SOA which is known throughout Latin America as a school of assassins, dictators and coups. Amnesty International USA recently called for three key actions by the U.S. government that are consistent with the SOA Watch movement to close the SOA/WHISC: an immediate cessation of all clases at the SOA/WHISC; formation of an independent Truth Commission to investigate the role of the school and its graduates since the SOA opened in 1946; and, holding U.S. officials morally and legally accountable for atrocities carried out by graduates of the SOA”.
Authorities from the Columbus Georgia police department barricaded the road leading to the Fort Benning gate and searched all protestors with hand held metal detectors. One person was arrested for refusing to be searched.
On Saturday, speeches and music were interrupted by military music blaring from speakers positioned just inside the gates, and for the first time in the fourteen year history of the annual protest, gas masks were attached to the hips of police officials assigned to the event. Despite these extreme precautions, the event was peaceful.
The two day vigil was organized by the independent organization SOA Watch. SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work.
According to an SOA Watch press release, “44 people got arrested during the vigil and nonviolent direct action to close the SOA for the charge of trespassing on federal property. 3 people have asked that no one post bond for them and are still being held in Muscogee County jail. Everyone else has been bailed out. Most were required to post $1,000 bond before being released after being arraigned”.
The event in Georgia concluded a week of protest that began with 100,000 gathered in London to protest Bush’s visit and thousands meeting in Miami to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Police in Miami used tear gas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades on peaceful protestors that included union members and elderly people.
SOA Watch organizers coordinated with organizers in Miami and England and the three mobilizations released a joint statement of solidarity. "Our struggles are interconnected," said Fr. Roy Bourgeouis, founder of SOA Watch. "From the SOA, to FTAA, to the invasion of Iraq, our government's foreign policy is serving the interests of a few, and making us a lot of enemies."
The two buses traveling to Fort Benning from Minnesota were organized by Minnesota Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 and the Community of Saint Martin, an ecumenical Christian group established in 1984.