Archive
[Note: Local and National articles are mixed here, and only
ordered chronologically.]
Dear SOA Watch West group,
Here are two articles on the current trial of two Salvadoran military
commanders for the slaying of 4 church women in El Salvador in 1980. The
second article (Reuters) mentions the SOA connection toward the end.
–Judy
- Subject: Eleven SOA Protesters Arrested at Ft. Benning
Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 17:52:29 EDT
Two accounts are given here:
(1) May 25 newspaper account from Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
(2) May 24 Press Release from SOA Watch
The accounts differ in the number of people mentioned: 11 in the first
account, 13 in the second. -
-------------------------- First Account ----------------
PROTESTERS AT SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS DETAINED IN NATIONAL DAY OF RESISTANCE May 24, 2000
Ft. Benning, GA -- Nine college students, one joined by her mother and
grandmother, were detained at Ft. Benning this morning, Wednesday, May 24, as
they demonstrated their ongoing commitment to close the School of the
Americas (SOA). They were acting in response to the last Thursday's vote in
the House of Representatives, which affects cosmetic changes to the School,
including a name change to Defense Institute for Hemispheric Security
Cooperation.
In front of SOA headquarters, those assembled rolled out a banner which read,
"The Road To Shame," and listed atrocities committed by SOA graduates. To
one side protesters, dressed in black shrouds and white masks, held a banner
that read "New Name -- Same Shame: Wrong Way." On the other side protesters
held a banner reading "For the People, Not The Military: This Way." Others
sowed seeds and read a statement in English and Spanish.
In recent House debate, Congressman John Baldacci (D-ME) stated the SOA "is
both a waste of taxpayer money and an affront to our common principles of
freedom, democracy and respect for human rights... H.R. 4205, the Defense
Authorization Bill purports to close the SOA. It does not. Instead, it
simply makes a few cosmetic changes... gives it a fancy new name and then
turns a blind eye to the repeated human rights violations committed by SOA
graduates." Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) stated "... history will not go
away by hanging a sign with a new name over the same entry gate to the School
of the Americas."
SOA graduates continue to be implicated in Human Rights abuses. Colombian
Graduates Major David Hernandez Rojas and Captain Diego Fino Rodriguez were
cited by a US State Department's Human Rights Report for the murder of a
peace commissioner/former Vice Minister for Youth and two others on March 14,
1999. A February 23, 2000 Human Rights Watch Report on Colombia cites seven
SOA-trained Colombian military for recent human rights atrocities and for
support of paramilitary forces. Both reports establish collaboration between
the military and the paramilitary death squads of Colombia.
Martha Baldoni of Toledo, OH, who was detained, stated: "Each day this
institution remains open, under whatever name, we run the great risk of
sponsoring more human rights violations in Latin America. We are here to
call attention to the egregious track record of the SOA and to offer an
alternative vision of US foreign policy. A policy based on mutual cooperation
rather than military means. We are not fooled. The SOA has a new name, but
the same shame. We will be at Ft. Benning by the thousands in November, and
we will be in the halls of the new Congress in January to demand this school
be closed."
Participants:
· Jackie Downing, 20, Topsfield/Newbury, MA
· Kathleen Berrigan, 18, Baltimore, MD
· Laurel Paget-Seekins, 20, Philo, CA
· Brandon Stroman, 21, Gloucestor, MA
· Katharine Cristiani, 21, St. Louis, MO
· Oren Kasdi, 29, Kent, OH and Israel originally
· Riva Pearson, 20, Woodstock, NY
· Sarah Saunders, 19, Lake Orion, MI
· Sarah Bania-Dobyns, 21, Denver, CO
· Rebecca Johnson, 20, Cincinnati, OH
· Emilia Baldoni, 20, Toledo, OH
· Kathleen Baldoni, 44, Toledo, OH
· Martha Baldoni, 70, Toledo, OH
---------------------- Second Account ----------------------
Eleven SOA Protesters Arrested
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
May 25, 2000
By S. Thorne Harper
Nine Ohio college students and two others were taken into custody Wednesday
at Fort Benning while protesting last week's vote in the Congress to keep the
U.S. Army School of the Americas open.
Though protests by School of the Americas Watch have become more frequent in
recent months, Wednesday's demonstration marked the first action following an
alliance by the human rights group with anti-poverty protesters.
Some of those arrested were among thousands that protested in Washington,
D.C., last month to raise environmental and social concerns during a meeting
of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, said SOA Watch
spokeswoman Ann Tiffany.
The 11 protesters could be seen dashing toward the entrance of the school
about 10:30 a.m. Standing in front of the entrance, they read statements
through a bullhorn and unfurled signs, one reading "New Name, Same Shame.
Wrong Way." Minutes later, a U.S. Department of Defense police officer
arrived and ordered military police to the scene. The protesters were
handcuffed and placed in military police cars.
Fort Benning spokeswoman Monica Manganaro said the 11 were cited for
disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing. They remained
in military custody late Wednesday afternoon but were expected to be released
later in the evening, Manganaro said.
SOA Watch said nine of those taken into custody were students at Oberlin
College in Ohio. The other two were the mother and grandmother of one of the
students, SOA Watch said.
Prosecution of the charges will be left up to the Muscogee County District
Attorney's Office, Manganaro said. The U.S. Army, meanwhile, has barred them
from the post for "at least a year," she said.
SOA Watch, which wants the school closed because some of its graduates have
been implicated in state-sanctioned atrocities in Latin America, organized
the demonstration to protest last week's rejection of a congressional plan
that would have closed the school for at least 10 months pending an
investigation of human rights violations. Instead, the U.S. House of
Representatives voted to establish a board of academics and members of
Congress to monitor the school and rename it the Defense Institute for
Hemispheric Security Cooperation.
Calling those changes "cosmetic," Tiffany said Wednesday's action served to
broaden the group's philosophy, linking human rights to economic conditions.
"We are making connections between economic situations that lead to poverty
and policies that lead to repressive governments and militaries," Tiffany
said. "Repressive economies need repressive militaries."
U.S. Army Col. Glenn Weidner, commandant of the School of the Americas,
dismissed the group's new approach as "theatrics to evoke images of a
cracking down on free speech."
"It's the same old thing," Weidner said. "It's their bread and butter. It
kind of reveals who's behind this. It's a revolutionary, third-world agenda
of promoting anti-capitalism and anti-military doctrine.
"It is a product of ignorance and -- to some degree -- malice," Weidner said.
"They could have come inside and traded ideas, but they chose to demonize.
... We are not teaching criminal conduct. We are teaching principles of the
U.S. Army."
[www.l-e-o.com/news/0525protestc.htm
A stink by any other name....
By Dusty Nix, Associate Editor
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
05/06/2000
The Columbus paper has done a respectable job of putting out the story of the
SOA. Here's the latest story of how the Congress (Senate first - hey, the
issue has gone high profile) may proceed.
D'Aubuisson sister, a Romero supporter, tells of divergent paths
By Mike Lanchin
Catholic News Service
March 7, 2000
"The National Catholic Reporter issue of 03/17/00 ran this story. I now see
that it was released on March 7. It is close to what I was imagining –
trying to publish an article contrasting the lives and works of Romero, the
victim, and D'Aubuisson, the murderer.
The
SOAW Web page lists D'Aubuisson as having attended a Communications
Officer Course in 1972 at the SOA (then in Panama). He is named as the
organizer of the death squads from 1978 to 1982 as stated in the UN Truth
Commission Report on El Salvador and as the source of the order to murder
Oscar Romero.
A
declassified cable,
sent from the US Embassy in San Salvador to the US State Dept.,
dated November 19, 1980 – the year of Romero's murder, and
obtained by The National Security Archive in Washington, DC in 1993,
states:
'Assassination
of Monsignor Romero. The source told Poloff that he
participated in a meeting during which the assassination of Archbishop Romero
was planned. He indicated that Major Roberto D'Aubuisson was in charge of
the meeting and that it took place shortly – a day or two – before Romero
was assassinated. According to the source, the participants drew lots for
the task of killing the Archbishop. The 'winner' was an ex-National
Guardsman who, said the source, now lives in Ciudad Delgado.'
Even
if this does not get wider press this week, I hope some creative minds
can see possibilities for this information being an important part of 'Close
the SOA - FAST.'
One
idea: have our DC Lobbyists take this to the Congresspersons they visit.
–Judy Liteky
Guilty on tresspass charges
Ledger-Enquirer Online
March 10, 2000
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
story on the SOA 9 found guilty on trespass
charges. Six activists who dug holes in the lawn of the SOA and buried a
child's coffin face multiple charges.
Nine Activists found
guilty
SOA Watch Press Release
Six more activists bury a child's coffin in
front of the School of the Americas buildings.
"The Ties That Bind:
Colombia & Military – Paramilitary Links"
Seven SOA Graduates Cited
–From the national www.soaw.org site
The
Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, issued February 23, 2000, presents
detailed and abundant evidence of continuing ties between the Colombian Army
and paramilitary groups.
Colonel Byron Disrael Lima Estrada:
Alleged Mastermind behind the Murder of
Bishop Juan José Gerardi of Guatemala
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book
Declassified Records from the U.S. Department of Defense
By Kate Doyle and Michael Evans
What is
the SOA and Ft. Benning, GA connection to the alleged mastermind of
the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi of Guatemala in April 1998?
- Subject: 3 arrested at SOA
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 16:55:35 EDT
For Immediate Release –
To commemorate the 2nd anniversary of Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi's
assassination by a soldier trained at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas
(SOA) in Ft. Benning GA. three activists from the St. Francis Catholic Worker
Community in Columbia, Missouri, re-created the bishops murder at the
entrance to the SOA training building.
One activist, dressed in clerical garb, lay as if dead near the entrance
to the SOA with simulated blood and head wounds from a nearby concrete block
while two others in black shrouds and white death masks attempted to read
from the dead bishops "Nunca Mas" report. This report cited the U.S. trained
and supported Guatemalan military as being responsible for 93% of the more
than 200,000 civilians killed during the war. While attempting to continue
their protest, Col. Weidner emerged from his office and repeatedly interupted
the activists.
Two days after he released the report, Bishop Gerardi's skull was
crushed by repeated blows with a crocrete block. Nearly two years later
authorities finally arrested a former D-2 military intelligence chief and his
son for the murder. The D-2 had been named in Bishop Gerardi's report as
responsible for the interrogation and torture of Guatemalan citizens.
The activists are Chrissy Kirchhoefer, 22; Maureen Doyle, 47; and Steve
Jacobs, 45. All have participated in previous SOA protests and live in a
faith-based community which feeds and shelters the homeless.
"The SOA commandant says that bringing Latino soldiers to train at Ft.
Benning helps foster democracy in Latin America, but in a real democracy the
military is supposed to protect citizens from tyranny instead of
administering it like they do in Latin America," said Steve Jacobs before
they were arrested.
"It is said that truth is the first casualty in war. This was certainly
the case in Guatemala. We came to commemorate the assassination of Bishop
Gerardi and his persistant search for the Truth. We also join in solidarity
with the Latin American people and their pleas for the SOA to be shut down,"
said Chrissy Kirchhoefer before her arrest.
"I have travelled in Latin America many times and now join my voice with
that of those I met there who say, "Close the SOA!' ", said Maureen Doyle
before she was arrested.
The three activists were taken into custody by base security on Ft.
Benning. They were charged with disorderly conduct, trespass and damage to
government property because some of the simmulated blood (which is easily
removed with soap and water), dripped onto the concrete terrace at the
entrance to the SOA. They were given ban and bar letters and driven off the
base to a city park and released. Their names were given to the federal
prosecutor. Maureen Doyle and Steve Jacobs are risking 6 months in prison and
Chrissy Kirchhoefer was given a one year ban and bar letter.
Before they left Columbus, GA. to drive back to Missouri, they left a 12
foot wooden cross (discarded from an Easter service by a local church)
leaning against the Army's welcome sign at the south gate entrance. Nailed to
the center of it was a portrait of Bishop Gerardi and at the bottom of the
cross was fastened a letter to Col. Weidner, the SOA commandant. The letter
read as follows:
Dear Col. Weidner,
At yesterdays re-creation of Bishop Gerardi's murder, you mentioned
wanting to dialogue. We ask, "Where was the dialogue between Guatemalan
soldiers and Bishop Gerardi and the numerous missionaries and nuns they
brutalized and killed?
We were surprised to be charged with "damage to government property".
The only real damage we did was to the reputation of the SOA by telling the
truth about what hundreds of SOA graduates have done upon returning to their
countries.
Reasonable people would say, "If Saddam Hussein's army killed his
people, it would be wrong to train his soldiers". Well, reasonable people
will also be able to see that Latin American soldiers kill their own people
routinely. . . . so if it's wrong to train Iraqi soldiers, why isn't it wrong
to train Latino soldiers who have committed the same types of atrocities?
Don't you ever feel cynically manipulated by these Latino militaries,
who behave themselves while they train here in the U.S? We believe they are
taking advantage of your willingness to arm and to train them for free so
they can return to their countries and murder their governments political
opponents. The proof is documented in the papers and in documents like Bishop
Gerardi's "Nunca Mas" report. We hope that you will read it like we have in
the interest of a fair and open dialogue. Feel free to contact us at St.
Francis House Catholic Worker Community
913 Rangeline
Columbia, MO 65201
We were given a copy of the Nunca Mas report by Fr. Roy Bourgeois to
send to the Colonel so that he can study it. We felt we accomplished our goal
of keeping the pressure on the SOA and before the army, the public, the
politicians and before the courts. After all, as they say here in Missouri,
"You can't act like a skunk without someone getting wind of it!"
from Steve Jacobs
To return to
the Main Page, click on the SOAWW logo below:
SOA hears account of My Lai
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
By Tony Adams, Staff Writer
February 12, 2000
For Hugh Thomson and Larry Colburn, the vision of U.S. soldiers slaughtering
unarmed men, women and children in Vietnam has been etched in their minds for
more than three decades.
SOA To Spend Week Discussing Human Rights
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
From Staff Reports
February 8, 2000
Judy asks, "Has anyone ever heard of any of these speakers?"
Ten SOA Protesters Will Be Charged
By Eileen Zaffiro, Staff Writer
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
February 1, 2000
Federal Prosecutors have decided to pursue charges against 10 of the initial
group of 23 people accused of trespassing on Fort Benning.
Three Arrested in Killing of Bishop (article)
&
US Army School of the Americas Grad Arrested for Murder of Guatemalan Bishop (SOAW press release.)
Washington Post
January 22, 2000
Two articles regarding the 1998 murder of Roman
Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi.
Protesters Face Charges in SOA March
By Jennifer Lange, Staff Writer
December 19, 1999
Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer
[Judy Liteky writes]: Here's Sunday's newstory on events
of Thursday and Friday. Social Justice
and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience do not make for an easy walk.
SOA Foes Arrested In Protest
By S. Thorne Harper, Staff Writer
12/13/1999
Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer
Article features the arrest of Charles Liteky, of San Francisco,
along with Manuel Whitefield, of Columbus.
12,000 Call For Closing of SOA
By Patrick Marrin
December 3, 1999
Special to the National Catholic Reporter,
Columbus, Ga.
There are a lot of excellent photos, besides the one I posted above, by NCR Online.
Look to the right of their logo at the top of the page.
Special Report: School of the Americas
By Robin Trimarchi
November 18, 1999
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
A couple of interesting local side-articles linked.
Army Changing Mission of a
Training Academy
By Steven Lee Myers
November 18, 1999
"WASHINGTON, DC – The Army school that taught generations of Latin American
soldiers to fight leftist insurgencies during the Cold War ...."
Pariah or
Protector?
By Richard Whitt, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
November 14, 1999
Huge human rights protest expected at training school for Latin American troops.
(Look to right-hand sidebar for photo gallery and related stories.)
CNN
Spotlight: School of the Americas
SOA Watch Expects 10,000-plus
Protesters
by By Richard Hyatt, Staff Writer
November 7, 1999
A Ledger-Enquirer Online article on the upcoming (Nov. 19-21) actions at Ft. Benning
Three Articles
Ledger-Enquirer Online
by Roberto Fabricio
October, 1999
This
includes an account of a Senate vote from September of 1999.
Hallelujah Time for Human
Rights
by Mary McGrory
Washington Post
An article about the
July 30th House of Representatives vote to decrease SOA funding.
Pair Get Close To Foreign
Conflicts
by Celeste Ward, staff writer
Contra Costa Times
Friday, September 3, 1999
S.F. Girls Protest "School
of Assassins"
by Stephanie Salter
S.F. Examier
May 30,
1999
An article about St. Ignatius students who went to Washington, D.C.
O'Connell Report
by
William O'Connell
Washington D.C.
May 1-4, 1999
Account of Father
Ray Bourgeois' efforts to shut the School down.
Still more articles are
posted on the next page; just click on More Articles
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the Main Page, click on the SOAWW logo below: