Protest to Shut Down School of the Americas
Annual Demonstration Calls For the Close of U.S. Military School
Nov 11, 2008
Renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001, the School of the Americas (SOA) is an army centre that trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics.
The school's critics, who dismiss the institute's name change as an empty public relations manuever, prefer using the school's original name or "School of Assassins," a reference to the many SOA graduates who in recent decades have been charged with--or convicted of--murder, torture, or other forms of political repression. Oft-cited atrocities include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the massacre of 900 civilians in El Mozote, El Salvador.
Exposing Human Rights Abuse
The annual vigil coordinated by School of the Americas Watch is the focal point of the larger ongoing campaign to close the school. Since 1990, SOA Watch has spread the word to the public and Congress through various actions including vigils, fasts, demonstrations, nonviolent direction action, and awareness campaigns.
The grassroots movement against SOA/WHINSEC has made moderate gains over the years. Lobbying efforts pushed the Pentagon in 1996 to release the school's training manuals. The materials' publication confirmed suspicions that the institute advocated illegal practices like torture, extortion, and execution. Then, in 1999 an amendment written to to de-fund the school passed the House before it lost in a one-vote margin in a House-Senate conference committee.
The November Vigil
What began as a protest of a handful of protests in 1990 has grown into a yearly weekend event that draws thousands of activists from all over the Americas. According to the January 29, 2008 Democracy Now! story entitled "Eleven Jailed for Protesting at School of the Americas," about 25,000 people attended the proceedings in 2007.
Among the many events that lead up to the main vigil on Sunday are rallies, workshops, trainings, film screenings, dramatic performances, benefit concerts, and speeches. Notable speakers over the years have included presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Cynthia McKinney, actors Martin Sheen and Susan Sarandon, and Father Roy Borgeois, a Vietnam Veteran and co-founder of SOA Watch.
Nonviolent Resistance and the Presente Litany
One SOA Protest tradition that regularly draws media attention is the focus on civil resistance. Each year, a group of activists purposefully cross the line onto the military base, an action that can result in a prison sentence several months. A fact sheet on the website of the organization School of the Americas Northeast reports that since 1990, more than 200 people have served prison sentences for a collective total of over 100 years.
Another established ritual is the Presente Litany, a funeral procession to the gates of Fort Benning that can take several hours. Participants carry white crosses that bear the names of the Latin American victims believed to be murdered by SOA graduates. A long series of names are read through a microphone; after each name is recited, the people memorialize the victim by singing "Presente" (in Spanish, "He/she is here").
Over the course of the ceremony, processioners leave their crosses at the base's gates. By ceremony's end, the vast pile of crosses stands as a dramatic testament to the loss of innocent lives.
References
Gill, Lesley. The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004.
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