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SOA-PROTEST Nov-22-2005 (630 words) xxxn
Protesters urge closure of U.S. Army training school in Georgia
By Catholic News Service
COLUMBUS, Ga. (CNS) -- Holding crosses bearing the names of people killed in Latin America and carrying mock coffins draped in black cloth, thousands of demonstrators asked for the closing of the U.S. military facility at Fort Benning that trains Latin American soldiers.
The demonstrators gathered outside the gates of Fort Benning near Columbus for the 16th year in a row to protest against a facility that critics say has trained Latin American military personnel to violate human rights and torture suspected political dissidents and alleged subversives in their home countries.
Thirty-nine people were arrested after they breached the fence and entered the grounds of the Army base, which includes the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The institute is the successor to the School of the Americas, known as SOA.
Critics of the school have tied it to Latin American military personnel involved in murders and human rights violations. An institute spokesman told Catholic News Service Nov. 21 that the charge that the facility teaches torture methods is "a ludicrous accusation."
All those arrested were charged under federal or state laws.
A press release by SOA Watch, which organized the demonstration, said 19,000 people participated in the Nov. 19-20 protest and added that this was the largest crowd since protests started in 1990 with 12 people. Columbus police estimated the crowd at 15,000.
In opposing the use of torture as a U.S. policy, some demonstrators carried photos of U.S. personnel abusing prisoners and cited news stories saying that secret CIA detention facilities exist where torture is used against alleged terrorists.
A spokesman for the Western Hemisphere Institute said "absolutely not" when asked by CNS if the institute teaches torture methods.
"This is a ludicrous accusation. The institute is open to outside scrutiny at any time," said Lee Rials, institute public affairs officer.
Rials cited the board of visitors composed of 13 members from outside the institute to recommend and monitor policy. Among the members are Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wis., and Father Cletus Kiley, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Priestly Life and Ministry. Also on the board are members of Congress and people from the human rights, academic and business communities.
The board of visitors is a body of the Department of Defense, not part of the institute itself.
Rials said 480 demonstrators accepted an "open house" invitation to visit the institute and talk with institute officials Nov. 19.
The School of the Americas, originally called the Latin American Training Center, began instructing Latin American military personnel in 1946. It was named the School of the Americas in 1963 and moved to Fort Benning from the Panama Canal Zone in 1984 when the zone came under Panamanian rule. The school was closed in 2000 and the Western Hemisphere Institute opened in 2001.
SOA critics say many of its graduates have been engaged in torture and human rights abuses, especially during the civil wars in Central America and during the military governments in South America in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Background information on the Western Hemisphere Institute Web site says the goals of the institute "explicitly include strengthening democracy, instilling a respect for the rule of law and honoring human rights."
Of the 39 demonstrators arrested, 36 were charged under federal law with trespassing or with unlawful re-entry in the cases of those who had previously been convicted of trespassing on Fort Benning grounds. One person pleaded guilty and was given a six-month prison term. The rest were scheduled for a Jan. 30 trial.
The remaining three were charged under state law with failing to disperse. One pleaded guilty and was fined $200. No trial date has been set for the other two.
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Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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