Training ground for tyrants turned into a comfort zone
Louise Southerden, The Australian I am already nervous, having read a little of the history of Hotel Sol Melia Panama Canal, formerly known as the School of the Americas, the US-funded institution that trained some of Latin America's most infamous dictators. -
5/10/08
The Price of Dissent
Maria Browning, Nashville Scene A Nashville minister reflects on his time behind bars -
5/1/08
General Fortifies Venezuela Against the U.S.
Amar C. Bakshi, Washington Post After Chavez's failed coup in 1992, army superiors wanting to cleanse Baduel of left-leaning sympathies sent him to the School of the Americas in Georgia, USA. He knew the school’s reputation for supporting various unsavory organizations throughout Latin America this past century, but says he had “a wonderful time” at Fort Benning. It was not until the 2002 coup that he changed his mind fundamentally about the U.S. government. -
2/1/08
Nun, 94, did federal time back in 2001
Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger Enquirer On the day that 11 SOA Watch protesters were sentenced to prison for trespassing last November onto Fort Benning, 94-year-old Catholic nun Dorothy Hennessey, 88 who had once been sentenced to federal prison for the same offense, was being buried in her hometown of Dubuque, Iowa. -
1/29/08
Judge sentences Fort Benning protesters, up to 90 days
Associated Press Eleven protesters who trespassed onto Fort Benning property during a demonstration against a military school at the Army post face up to 90 days in jail. -
1/29/08
Local activist sentenced, fined for protest
Sarah Antonacci, State Journal Register Lopez Hughes faced up to six months in prison. Her case went before U.S District Judge G. Mallon Faircloth. -
1/29/08
Clergy behaving badly?
Chicago Tribune As a student at Chicago Theological Seminary, Le Anne Clausen believes jail time is worth a few credit hours. -
1/29/08
Our God does not bless war
R. W. Dellinger, The Tidings Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who's been trying to close down the School of the Americas for nearly two decades, addresses students at Sacred Heart High. -
1/25/08
The Cost of Fighting Torture
Peter Rothberg, The Nation On Monday, January 28th, Joanne Anderson, Ozone Bhaguan, Le Anne Clausen, Elizabeth Klancher, Art Landis, Ed Lewinson, Chris Lieberman, Diane Lopez Hughes, Tiel Rainelli, Gus Roddy and Stephen Schweitzer will face federal criminal trial for trespass - punishable up to six months in federal prison. -
1/23/08
A call to protest
Hilary Bentman, The Intelligencer ...the 74-year-old Perkasie grandfather says he was proud of what he was doing — drawing attention to a U.S. government-run military school in Georgia that he says trains people who commit heinous acts in other countries. -
1/15/08
US: SOA/WHINSEC Closure Demanded
Prensa Latina Hundreds of people demanded in Los Angeles the closing of the US Army School of Americas (SOA/WHINSEC), institution where several dictators of the hemisphere were formed, and criticized the war in Iraq. -
1/13/08
Casper Resident Faces Prison for Protest
Tom Morton, Star Tribune Casper resident Joan Anderson discusses her arrest in November and upcoming trial in federal court on Jan. 28 for trespassing on a military base. -
1/7/08
Thousands join SOA Watch protest
Chuck Williams, Columbus Ledger Enquirer Presidential hopefuls Kucinich and McKinney joined the demonstration -
11/19/07
Arias “Would Agree” to Send Police to Controversial School
Gillian Gillers, Tico Times President Oscar Arias told The Tico Times recently that he agrees with the idea of sending police officers to train at a U.S. military school that has come under fire in recent years for its ties to human rights violations. -
11/19/07
Military school protesters, fort supporters to rally this weekend
Greg Bluestein, Associated Press Thousands of protesters will gather in front of Fort Benning this weekend, just as they have for the last 18 years, to demand the closing of an Army school that trains Latin American military officers. -
11/15/07
Latin America’s Shock Resistance
Naomi Klein, Znet Meanwhile, the governments of Venezuela, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia have all announced that they will no longer send students to the School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation)–the infamous police and military training center in Fort Benning, Georgia, where so many of the continent’s notorious killers learned the latest in “counterterrorism” techniques... -
11/14/07
A Tortured Past
Kendall Wright, ASU Web Devil Former El Salvador professor delivers speech on his imprisonment, torture -
11/7/07
Colom wins Guatemalan presidency
Héctor Tobar, Los Angeles Times Rural voters help the former industrial engineer defeat the 'firm hand' of former Gen. Otto Perez Molina in a presidential runoff. -
11/5/07
Pastor Willing to Cross Line
Anne Ford, Chicago Tribune Rev. Don Coleman landed in jail after trespassing onto an Army base housing a controversial training facility. But his faith and church have sustained him, and he has inspired others to rally against the site. -
11/2/07
Two priests get prison for protest at Huachuca Stephanie Innes, Arizona Daily Star A federal judge in Tucson sentenced the priests — the Rev. Louis J. Vitale, 74, and the Rev. Steve Kelly, 58 — Wednesday after they pleaded no contest to the trespassing charges. -
10/18/07
Evo anuncia que dejará de enviar militares bolivianos a la ex Escuela de las Americas
ABI, Bolpress El presidente Evo Morales Ayma anunció este martes que el Gobierno boliviano paulatinamente dejará de enviar a militares bolivianos al Instituto de Defensa para la Cooperación de Seguridad Hemisférica, antes denominada Escuela de las Américas. -
10/12/07
Guatemala Election Marred by Violence
Willy E. Gutman, The Signal A graduate of the infamous U.S. Army School of the Americas and a former director of military intelligence, Molina, who was on the CIA's payroll, was implicated in the assassination of a judge in 1994 . -
10/4/07
Militares colombianos habrían entrenado en EEUU Toby Muse, The Associated Press Militares Colombianos implicados en cartel de drogas recibieron entrenamiento en la Escuela de las Americas en Fort Benning, Georgia -
8/18/07
U.S. Vote Could Close 'School of the Americas' Aaron Glantz, OneWorld US The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to take what advocates are calling a historic vote this week to close the largest U.S. military training ground for soldiers from Central and South America. -
6/21/07
WHINSEC Soldiers Graduate
Chauncy Glover, WTVM The 2007 class at WHINSEC, graduated another 45 soldiers from eight countries. -
6/1/07
Faith Calls Young Atlantan To Identify With Poor
Suzanne Haugh, The Georgia Bulletin In November 1989 Michael Vosburg-Casey was a student attending a Jesuit high school in California when news broke out about the killing in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter. -
5/31/07
Reflections on visiting inside WHINSEC Don Irish, Pulse of the Twin Cities We brought a different set of assumptions and values to WHINSEC. Each of us, and they, in our chosen roles, endeavor to be faithful and conscientious. Genuine peace-oriented persons don’t demonize opponents, hoping that the consequences of our and their respective endeavors will in time reveal the better avenues to peace and justice. -
5/9/07
Students Protest, Fast for Justice Joseph Boesen, The Marquette Tribune Protestors held up banners about their three-day fast opposing the former SOA to traffic passing by along Wisconsin Avenue Wednesday afternoon in front of the Federal Building, 310 W. Wisconsin Ave. -
4/26/07
Speaker Calls for End to US Training Camp Raviv Murciano, The Harvard Crimson In Emerson 210, Father Roy Bourgeois spoke yesterday of the need to close down a U.S. training facility in Latin America -
4/11/07
Accused Torture uspect arrested in Miami Beach
Alfonso Chardy, Miami Herald A former Peruvian military officer accused of leading a massacre has been arrested by immigration agents in South Florida. -
4/3/07
Accused Torture Suspect Arrested in Miami Beach
Alfonso Chardy, Miami Herald A former Peruvian military officer accused of leading a massacre has been arrested by immigration agents in South Florida. -
4/3/07
Colombia Army Chief Linked to Outlaw Militias
Paul Richter and Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times The allegations come as Congress reviews aid to the U.S. ally. The CIA says the intelligence hasn't been fully vetted. -
3/25/07
Activists ask Bono to help shoot down video game Khristopher Flack, The Boston Globe Dozens of organizations are asking Bono to stop production of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, a violent video game in which players become hired mercenaries who invade Venezuela, where a tyrant has tampered with the country's oil supply. -
3/21/07
Chico Grandmother Reports to Rio Cosumnes Prison
News Blaze A Chico grandmother will turn herself in here Wednesday at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Facility to spend 60 days behind bars for a simple trespassing charge for participating in a non-violent civil disobedience action at the School of the Americas -
3/21/07
Prior to Prison Term, QRC Advisor Speaks Out Against Military School Travis Kaya, The Student Life News Joshua Harris, a Claremont Graduate University student and graduate advisor for Pomona?s Queer Resource Center, began a two month prison term Wednesday, following months of court proceedings stemming from a November protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas. -
3/20/07
U.N.: Colombia's Army Killed Civilians Joshua Goodman, Associated Press The U.N. found that Colombia's army - the largest recipient of $700 million in annual anti-narcotics and counterinsurgency aid from the United States - had participated in killing civilians in 21 of Colombia's 32 states. -
3/16/07
Pueblos del continente luchan por el cierre de la Escuela de las Am?ricas Adital, Neike.com En conferencia de prensa, representantes de uno de los m?s grandes movimientos sociales en Estados Unidos (EEUU) indicaron que se busca unir los esfuerzos estadounidenses y latinoamericanos para que se clausure definitivamente un centro en el que se han formado asesinos y torturadores, en el marco de pol?ticas contrainsurgentes. -
3/15/07
Entrenamiento de militares por EE. UU. y la ILEA: dos caras de la misma moneda Nestor Martinez, Diario Co Latino - El Salvador El Reverendo Roy Bourgeois, vive frente a Fort Benning, all? los Estados Unidos instal? el Instituto de Cooperaci?n para la Seguridad Hemisf?rica, WHINSEC, por sus siglas en ingl?s, para sustituir la desaparecida Escuela de las Am?ricas, que ten?a la sede en Panam?, y que es conocida como ?escuela de asesinos?... -
3/14/07
Los pueblos del continente luchan por el cierre de la Escuela de las Am?ricas CERIGUA, Argenpress En conferencia de prensa, representantes de uno de los m?s grandes movimientos sociales en Estados Unidos (EEUU) indicaron que se busca unir los esfuerzos estadounidenses y latinoamericanos para que se clausure definitivamente un centro en el que se han formado asesinos y torturadores, en el marco de pol?ticas contrainsurgentes.
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3/14/07
Impulsan campa?a para cierre de Escuela de las Am?ricas AFP, Guatemala Sullivan, junto con el salvadore?o Carlos Mauricio y el sacerdote cat?lico estadounidense Roy Bourgeois, explic? que antes de arribar a Guatemala, donde se reunieron con el ministro de la Defensa, Rolando Avila, visitaron Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay Argentina, Ecuador y Per?. -
3/14/07
Lanzan campa?a continental para obligar a EEUU a cerrar la nefasta Escuela Las Am?rica Agencia AFP, Guatemala La organizaci?n SOA Watch impulsa una campa?a en Latinoam?rica para buscar apoyo tendiente a lograr el cierre de la militar Escuela de las Am?ricas en Estados Unidos, considerada un centro para capacitar a militares responsables de violaciones de derechos humanos en la regi?n. -
3/13/07
Rufina Amaya, 64, Dies; Salvador Survivor Douglas Martin, The New York Times Rufina Amaya, who in 1981 saw Salvadoran troops slaughter her family and many others in her village, then, as the only witness, dedicated her life to telling about it, died Tuesday in San Miguel, El Salvador. She was 64. -
3/9/07
Bush's Brush with Latin America's Drug Lords Frank Smyth, The Nation George W. Bush has embarked on the longest trip of his presidency to Latin America this week, a junket to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico that purports to advance social justice. His journey comes at a time when oil-rich Venezuela, under the radical populist President Hugo Ch?vez, has eclipsed the United States in bankrolling health and education programs to help the poor in Venezuela and other nations in the region. -
3/9/07
Scandal colors Bush visit to U.S. ally Colombia Patrick Markey, Reuters A scandal tying allies of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to paramilitary gangs has U.S. Democrats questioning aid and trade deals days before President George W. Bush meets with his closest Latin American ally.
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3/5/07
Colombia Announces Probe Into Massacre Toby Muse, Associated Press Authorities are looking into whether the soldiers -- among them 11 officers and noncommissioned officers -- were involved in killing eight civilians, including three children, in a banana-growing region of northwestern Colombia near the Panamanian border. -
3/1/07
School of Americas Closure Bill Gains Momentum Jonathan Springston, APN Atlanta From February 18 to February 20, 2007, hundreds of SOAW activists from around the country gathered to conduct strategy meetings, hold a rally, and visit the Offices of Members of US Congress. -
2/26/07
Bishop defends controversial post Samara Kalk Derby, The Capital Times Diocese of Madison Bishop Robert Morlino's position as chairman of the Board of Visitors of the former School of the Americas is nothing more than a way for the controversial organization to help legitimize itself, say local critics of the military school. -
2/23/07
An Iraq Interrogator's Nightmare Eric Fair, The Washington Post I am desperate to get on with my life and erase my memories of my experiences in Iraq. But those memories and experiences do not belong to me. They belong to history. If we're doomed to repeat the history we forget, what will be the consequences of the history we never knew? -
2/9/07
Grandmothers for Peace Sentenced to Federal Prison
Bill Quigly Cathy Webster, a grandmother living in Chico California, organized "A Thousand Grandmothers for Peace" to protest in November 2006 against the torture-training School of the Americas located at Ft. Benning Georgia. -
2/1/07
Activist Grandma gets 60 day Sentence Larry Mitchell, Oroville Mercury Register Cathy Webster, a peace activist from Chico, was sentenced Monday to 60 days in federal prison for trespassing on a military base during a protest against a school that trains Latin American soldiers. -
1/30/07
School of Americas Protesters Sentenced Associated Press, The Washington Post Sixteen protesters were given prison terms Monday ranging from one to six months for trespassing during an annual demonstration against a military school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America -
1/30/07
Activist could turn 70 in jail Renee K, Gadoua, The Post Standard When Syracusan Julienne Oldfield trespassed at the Army base at Fort Benning, Ga., Nov. 19, she was following the example of Jesus Christ, she says. -
1/29/07
Organizaci?n Busca Cierre de la antigua ?Escuela de Asesinos? Jos? Somarriba Hern?ndez, La Prensa Miembros de la organizaci?n Observadores de la Escuela de las Am?ricas (SOA Watch, por sus siglas en ingl?s), est?n de visita en Panam? en espera de reunirse con el presidente de la Rep?blica, Mart?n Torrijos, organizaciones sociales y de derechos humanos para plantearles la necesidad de su intervenci?n y poder cerrarla. -
1/25/07
The End of the School of the Americas? Robin Lloyd, In These Times The protests began in 1990 with some 10 people, and grew to their largest in 2006. Now, with a Democratic Congress and a changing political climate in Latin America, they have an opportunity to close the School of the Americas for good. -
1/24/07
A conscientious choice: Grandmother?s arrest is about taking a stand for the poor, oppressed John Shaughnessy, The Criterion At 64, Fillenwarth thought the shirt was the right one to wear as she joined other women in the group called ?1,000 Grandmothers??one part of the 22,000 protesters who had come to Fort Benning, Ga., to demonstrate peacefully against a United States Army school that they believe trains soldiers from Latin America to torture and kill. -
1/22/07
Colombian Government Is Ensnared in a Paramilitary Scandal Simon Romero, New York Times The government of President ?lvaro Uribe, the largest recipient of American aid outside the Middle East, has found itself ensnared in a widening scandal as revelations surface of a secret alliance between some of the president?s most prominent political supporters and paramilitary death squads. -
1/20/07
Ex-Guatemalan Dictator to run for Congress Associated Press, Yahoo News Rios Montt ruled during what was considered the bloodiest period of Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war, in which 200,000, mostly Mayan Indians, were killed or disappeared. -
1/18/07
Voices Raised at the Seat of Justice Paul Duggan, Washington Post You might call Sheila Stumph a habitual offender. Her crime: civil disobedience. -
1/18/07
Patricia Isasa: Cr?nica de un Secuestro de la Represi?n Roger Lindo, El Diario/La Prensa Al momento de su secuestro, Patricia hab?a viajado a la provincia de Santa Fe como representante del gobierno estudiantil de su colegio. Antes de la represi?n, dice, la sociedad argentina gozaba de un grado muy elevado de democracia y estaba acostumbrada al debate abierto de los asuntos p?blicos. -
1/16/07
Smoke and Mirrors: SOA Graduate Speaks Out Willy E. Gutman, The Signal It took six months of secret negotiations to locate an alumnus of the U.S. Army School of the Americas willing to talk. It took nearly as long to finalize the rules of engagement. -
1/14/07
Anti-War Activists Rush to Hold Protests Jason Dearen, Associated Press Activists angered by President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq staged anti-war demonstrations in several major cities Thursday, protesting that the buildup will cause more bloodshed and give insurgents new American targets. -
1/12/07
Guantanamo stirs Protests Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times In Cuba, Europe and the U.S., activists decry detentions at the camp, where terror suspects first arrived 5 years ago. -
1/12/07
About 50 gather to protest Iraq war Brian Mc Dearmon, Ledger-Enquirer While President Bush greeted soldiers at Fort Benning and talked about his plan to send 21,500 more soldiers to Iraq, about 50 protesters gathered on Victory Drive, just north of the post's main entrance. -
1/12/07
Prison likely for SOA protester Patrick O'Neill, Independent Weekly Graymon Ward, 20, has already felt the heat from his decision to "cross the line" and get arrested with 15 others at last month's annual protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the U.S. Army School of the Americas, or SOA) at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. -
12/27/06
Webster terminates WHINSEC degree program after opposition by professors, nuns Breanna Herschelman, The Journal Webster has ended its agreement with the controversial training school for Latin American military officials, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, in order to "step over" a controversy brewing. -
12/18/06
Activist Retiree Faces Prison Sentence Cordell Eddings, Indystar Fillenwarth, 64, a mother of seven and grandmother of 17, faces up to six months in prison after trespassing onto Fort Benning in Georgia in November to protest the Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, as well as alleged human rights abuses. -
12/11/06
A Grandmother's Sacrament in Solidarity with the Poor Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter Fillenwarth, who entered Maryknoll as a postulate in 1960 and stayed for two years, said that during the years that she was consumed with the work of raising her children, she didn?t keep up with world affairs. That ended, however, when news reached her of the Dec. 2, 1980, murders in El Salvador of four churchwomen, three of them from Maryknoll. -
12/8/06
Kirkwood Mom Risks Jail to Protest Death of Honduran Man Tom Long, Suburban Journals Busch-Nema was arrested Nov. 17 at Fort Benning and has been charged with criminal trespassing. She will stand trial in a Georgia court in January. -
12/7/06
22,000 say: "Close the School of the Americas" WT Whitney, People's Weekly World This was the largest anti-SOA demonstration ever at Fort Benning. Simultaneous protests took place in other US cities, eight Latin American countries, Canada and Ireland. -
12/6/06
La Temible Historia de ?Pete el Negro? Jorge Escalante, La Nacion
El ex agente de la DINA y la CNI, en 1973 mat? por la espalda al ni?o Carlos Fari?a y quem? el cad?ver de la v?ctima m?s joven de la dictadura. En 1979 comand? la ?limpieza? de los cuerpos enterrados en cuesta Barriga para arrojarlos al mar. En 1981 mat? al mirista Lisandro Sandoval. Hoy trabaja junto al coronel (R) Cristi?n Labb?, actual alcalde de Providencia, comuna segura. -
11/26/06
Annual pilgrimage Sherry Grindeland, Seattle Times Sister Miriam Spencer, of Bellevue, returned this week from Georgia. It wasn't a pleasure trip. -
11/25/06
Dueling Protests: Two Clergymen Charged with Trespassing on Post Bill Hess, Sierra Vista Heral Review For the first time since annual protests against interrogation training on Fort Huachuca were held near the post?s Main Gate, two people were arrested Sunday afternoon in an attempt to deliver a letter to Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast. -
11/22/06
Nun's activism led her to federal prison Tad Vezner, Pioneer Press The woman who topped off her lifelong dedication to human rights with months of prison time after protesting at a controversial U.S. military school died Tuesday at Bethany Convent in St. Paul. She was 78. -
11/22/06
School's end not so sure Chuck Williams, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Georgia congressmen say institute not ready to fold; Massachusetts leader says school is 'bad rap' on military -
11/21/06
Minnesotans part of record SOA protest Mary Turck, Twin Cities Daily Planet Hundreds of Minnesotans traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia, this past weekend in the 17th annual protests against the School of the Americas (SOA). -
11/21/06
Piden Cierre de Escuela de las Am?ricas Agencia EFE, El Diario Miles de activistas se manifestaron ayer ante la sede de la antigua Escuela de las Am?ricas en Georgia para pedir el cierre del centro que entren? a ex dictadores latinoamericanos como Leopoldo Galtieri y Jos? Efra?n R?os. -
11/20/06
Here in protest: people of all types united for common cause Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer A group of protesters join hands in prayer at the foot of a locked gate preventing entrance to Fort Benning on Saturday morning. Protesters gathered at the main entrance to Fort Benning as part of the SOA Watch events this weekend calling for the closure for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, located at Fort Benning. -
11/19/06
Thousands gather to demand closing of Latin training school Elliott Minor, Associated Press Thousands of protesters paraded, chanted and raised white crosses Sunday outside Fort Benning, the home of the Army's Airborne, Ranger and Infantry training, as they continued a 17-year effort to close a military school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America. -
11/19/06
Contingent to protest at Fort Benning Joseph Gerth, Louisville Courier-Journal About 80 people from Louisville will join some 19,000 people from around the United States at Fort Benning, Ga., this weekend to protest against U.S. foreign policy and to call for closing the training facility once known as the School of the Americas. -
11/18/06
Army Training School Protest WSB-TV, Channel 2 Atlanta A record setting crowd of more than 20,000 people marched in front of Ft. Benning as a protest to the U.S. Army-run Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
11/18/06
Northwest Ohioans joining protest at U.S. Army facility Staff, Toledo Blade A group of about 30 people from northwest Ohio are joining an annual protest this weekend at Fort Benning, Ga., home of the U.S. Army?s School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation). -
11/18/06
CHILE: Cutting Classes at the School of the Americas Daniel Estrada, IPS News Chilean activists are going to scream blue murder to get socialist President Michelle Bachelet's administration to stop sending military personnel to the School of the Americas in the United States, notorious for teaching torture techniques, among other specialist courses. -
11/17/06
Protest expected to draw 20,000 Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Seven simultaneous protests to be held in Latin America -
11/17/06
Organizers hope for record attendance at annual protest against U.S. military Elliott Minor, Associated Press Excited by the political changes in Washington, organizers hope for a record 20,000 protesters at Fort Benning's heavily fortified main gate this weekend, continuing a 17-year effort to close a military school they blame for assassinations, torture and other human rights abuses in Latin America. -
11/16/06
Escuela de las Am?ricas: Un simple cambio de nombre Arnaldo Perez Guerra, La Insignia La Escuela de las Am?ricas fue fundada en 1946, en Panam?, bajo el nombre de Centro de Adiestramiento Latinoamericano del Ej?rcito de los Estados Unidos. En enero de 2001 fue rebautizada como Instituto de Cooperaci?n para la Seguridad Hemisf?rica. Sigue siendo una escuela de entrenamiento contrainsurgente para oficiales de Am?rica Latina. -
11/16/06
Argentine Torture Survivor Patricia Isasa Returns to Police Station Where She Was Imprisoned and Abused Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interviews Patricia Isasa Patricia Isasa was 16 years old in 1976 when she was kidnapped by Argentine police and soldiers. She was tortured and held prisoner without trial for two and a half years. Before she joins thousands heading to Fort Benning, Georgia to protest what used to be called the School of the Americas, Isasa joins us in our firehouse studio to tell her story and of her lifelong campaign to bring her torturers to justice. -
11/16/06
Dismay Grows Over US Torture School Patrick Mulvaney, The Nation As peace activists from throughout the United States converge at the gates of Fort Benning, SOA protesters will simultaneously take to the streets in Santiago, Bogot?, San Salvador and several other Latin American cities. -
11/15/06
Lea Wood believes in acting on her beliefs Mel Huff, Times Argus (Vermont) Lea Wood is leaving on a trip Thursday, but not to celebrate Thanksgiving. The writer, retired history and English teacher is traveling to Ft. Benning, Ga., to demonstrate at the gates of the School of the Americas in what organizers predict will be "the biggest demonstration at a U.S. military base since the Vietnam war." -
11/15/06
March keeps 'Dream' moving Tatiana Richards, Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama) Living the Dream, a coalition dedicated to promoting the nonviolent ideals of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., began a weeklong pilgrimage Sunday from Selma to Columbus, Ga., where they will participate in an annual protest against military training at Fort Benning. -
11/14/06
Activists urge Chile to end dependency on U.S. military aid Ashley Steinberg and Steve Anderson, Santiago Times A small group of Chilean activists met Monday night at a bar in Bellavista to review a film about the U.S. military?s ?School of the Americas? and to organize a protest of Chile?s continued dependency on U.S. military largess. -
11/14/06
Atmosphere to differ from 2005 event Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer The recent demolition of the Southgate Apartments will have a dramatic effect on this weekend's 17th annual SOA Watch protest at the Benning Road entrance to Fort Benning. -
11/14/06
Students protest work at ?assassins? school Jackie Manternach, Wartburg Trumpet (Iowa) About 30 Wartburg students plan to attend a demonstration in Fort Benning, Ga., Nov. 17-19 to call for the closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA). -
11/14/06
School of the Americas Vigil attendees denied MUSG funding Eric Lombardi, Marquette Tribune (Wisconsin) Students from SOA trip came to a concerned students forum because MUSG denied their request for funding. College of Arts & Sciences senior Pat Kennelly, a member of JUSTICE, spoke about the need to improve the appeals process. -
11/14/06
The protester-priest of Fort Benning Moni Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Rev. Roy Bourgeois is set to lead perhaps as many as 20,000 protesters next weekend outside Fort Benning. 'It's about transforming U.S. foreign policy,' he says. The target: the successor to a school that he says trained some of Latin America's worst human rights abusers. -
11/12/06
Protest targets The School of the Americas John Briggs, Burlington Free Press Veteran's Day shoppers on the Church Street Marketplace streamed by the 40-strong group of protesters with scarcely a glance Saturday, but the lack of interest was no surprise to Marmete Hayes, 82. Americans in general, she said, know little about the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, known prior to 2001 as The School of the Americas. -
11/12/06
Area nuns protest vs. U.S. military school Charita M. Goshay, Canton Repository (Ohio) Next week, Sister Susan Corrigan of Canton and 13 members of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary will travel to Fort Benning, Ga., to participate in protests to demand the closing of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
11/11/06
U.S. Seeks Better Ties by Aiding Militaries Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY Concern about leftist victories in Latin America has prompted President Bush to quietly grant a waiver that allows the United States to resume training militaries from 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries. -
11/10/06
EE.UU. Entrenar? Soldados Latinoamericanos Agencia EFE Estados Unidos volver? a entrenar a militares mexicanos, costarricenses, ecuatorianos, brasile?os, peruanos, bolivianos, paraguayos, uruguayos y de otros pa?ses de Latinoam?rica y el Caribe, ante su preocupaci?n por "las victorias izquierdistas" en la regi?n, asegura hoy USA Today. -
11/10/06
Torture Memories Shepherd Bliss, Atlantic Free Press Before you use the word ?torture? again to describe some pain, please study U.S. ?aggressive interrogation tactics? currently being used in Iraq and taught to the Latin American military at the School of the Americas. Better yet, speak to some of the Chilean and other victims of such torture. -
11/8/06
Torture Victim Speaks of Ordeal James Kindle, Arizona State University News El Salvadoran professor Carlos Mauricio speaks about his 1980s kidnapping and torture ordeal by members of his former government in the La Paz room of the Memorial Union. -
11/8/06
Claman por Derechos Humanos Salvadore?os Ruben Moreno, La Opinion La ola se asesinatos ocurridos durante los ?ltimos meses en El Salvador y atribuidos a los Escuadrones de la Muerte ha hecho poner en pie a activistas de ese pa?s que residen en Los ?ngeles para reclamar al gobierno del presidente El?as Antonio Saca el "alto a la militarizaci?n y al terrorismo de Estado". -
11/7/06
School's Merit Criticized Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Hosted by the CSU Student Political Awareness Association, the public information forum drew dozens of students, faculty members and others from the community, much like a similar event four years ago when Bourgeois and then institute commandant Col. Richard Downey engaged in similar dialogue. -
11/3/06
Escuela de las Am?ricas sigue generando pol?mica Elliott Minor, Associated Press El comandante de la antigua Escuela de las Am?ricas afirma que la instituci?n es un importante componente de la guerra contra las drogas y ayuda a promover la paz y la seguridad en el mundo. -
11/3/06
Both Sides Air Views on Fort Benning School Elliot Minor, Associated Press The school, originally known as the School of the Americas, has drawn protesters for the past 16 years. They blame some of its graduates for human rights abuses, including assassinations and torture, in Latin America. -
11/2/06
Detienen a Soldado Salvadore?o Implicado en Asesinato de Jesuitas Yurina Rico, La Opinion Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos, un ex militar salvadore?o que fue condenado por participar en la matanza de seis sacerdotes jesuitas, as? como de una cocinera y su hija durante la guerra civil de El Salvador, fue detenido por la Oficina de Control de Inmigraci?n y Aduanas (ICE) de Estados Unidos en un motel cercano a la Universidad de California en Los ?ngeles (UCLA). -
10/27/06
Janitor's secret past: a death squad Hector Becerra, Los Angeles Times A former Salvadoran army officer -- and SOA graduate -- convicted of killing priests is arrested in L.A. as a human rights violator. -
10/26/06
Ex-Soldado Salvadore?o Implicado en Asesinato de Jesuitas Enfrenta Deportacion Peter Prengaman, Associated Press Un ex soldado del ej?rcito salvadore?o que fue hallado culpable de haber participado en la matanza de seis sacerdotes jesuitas en 1989, as? como de otras dos mujeres durante la guerra civil en ese pa?s centroamericano, fue arrestado en Estados Unidos y enfrenta la deportaci?n, informaron el mi?rcoles las autoridades. -
10/26/06
Ex-Salvadoran Soldier Convicted in Priest Massacre Found in U.S. The Associated Press A former army officer from El Salvador who was convicted of taking part in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests and two other people during that country's civil war was arrested in the United States and faces deportation, authorities said Wednesday. -
10/25/06
Uruguay Extradita a Militares Implicados en Caso Autom?viles Orletti Prensa Latina La justicia uruguaya inform? hoy la decisi?n de dar curso a un pedido de extradici?n hecho por las autoridades de Argentina sobre dos militares requeridos en el ?mbito de la denominada causa Automotores Orletti. -
10/19/06
Time Is of the Essence in Extradition of War Criminal ?ngel P?ez, Inter Press Service News Agency In a historic ruling, Peru's Supreme Court authorised on Sept. 23 the extradition request for Hurtado, who years ago confessed to being responsible for the Aug. 14, 1985 massacre of 74 children, women and old men in the Andean highlands village of Accomarca, in the southeastern region of Ayacucho. -
10/17/06
Peacemaker of the Year Award goes to former Devils Lake woman Staff, Devils Lake Journal A Devils Lake woman has been named the 2006 recipient of the North Dakota Prairie Peacemaker Award. Gail Jerome Phares will receive the award this weekend during the 23rd annual Peace Conference to be held at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake. -
10/13/06
Allowing torture? Are you kidding? Ed Kinane - Tri-State Media The U.S. Army used torture in Vietnam. Those techniques were then taught at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, long before Bush became commander-in-chief. The difference now is that Bush actually demands a license to continue torture. -
10/12/06
Civil disobedience protester leaves Duluth federal prison Business North.com A Wisconsin man arrested for trespassing at a military training camp in Fort Benning, Georgia has been released after spending six months in federal prison. Mike Simonson reports from Superior. [KUWS, Wisc. Public Radio] -
10/8/06
Fear for Lost 'Dirty War' Witness Daniel Schweimler, BBC News Tens of thousands of people marched through the centre of the Argentine capital calling for more be done to find a missing "Dirty War" witness. -
9/28/06
CHILE: Disturbing Exhibit Combines Technology, Human Rights, Art Daniel Estrada, IPS "What we have here is a sad script that applies equally to (the Nazi concentration camp) Auschwitz, the U.S. School of the Americas, Operation Condor and, most likely, the interrogation techniques used today at places like the Guant?namo naval base or (the Iraqi prison) Abu Ghraib (both run by Washington), whose torture methods were exposed by the charges of prisoner-of-war abuse in 2004" -
9/28/06
With protests abound, what is the 'School of the Americas'? Jonathan Foskett, The Heights A few weeks from now, the annual demonstration against the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" (WHINSEC) will take place outside its gates in Fort Benning, Ga. -
9/28/06
Democracy?s Disappeared: Argentina Searches for Dirty War Witness Marie Trigona, ZNet Police are currently searching for a missing 77-year-old witness whose gripping testimony of torture helped convict a former police officer in the first ?dirty war? trial since an amnesty law was overturned. -
9/26/06
La Tortura como Inhumanidad La Hora La expansi?n de poder y dominio que mantienen los Estados Unidos en varias bases militares del mundo, una de ellas en Ecuador, es algo ofensivo para un pa?s que quiere la paz y tranquilidad, libre de represiones. -
9/25/06
Canadian Mining Project in Ecuador Tainted by Human Rights Abuses Cyril Mychalejko, UpsideDownWorld According to human rights organizations and lawyers representing many residents of the region, the company's activities in the area are anything but socially responsible and even amount to complicity in human rights abuses with the Ecuadorian government. -
9/25/06
Brutal El Salvador Priest Killing Mystifies Police Reuters The Rev. Ricardo Romero's body was found next to his car 42 miles west of the capital of San Salvador, with his skull crushed. Police said initial investigations ruled out robbery or kidnapping as a motive. -
9/25/06
The Torture Debate: Are We Really So Fearful? Op-Ed by Ariel Dorfman, The Washington Post Can't the United States see that when we allow someone to be tortured by our agents, it is not only the victim and the perpetrator who are corrupted, not only the "intelligence" that is contaminated, but also everyone who looked away and said they did not know, everyone who consented tacitly to that outrage so they could sleep a little safer at night, all the citizens who did not march in the streets by the millions to demand the resignation of whoever suggested, even whispered, that torture is inevitable in our day and age, that we must embrace its darkness? -
9/24/06
Filiberto Ojeda R?os, el mundo y la independencia de Puerto Rico Jos? El?as Torres, Claridad ?No debemos olvidar que la creatividad de esos enfermos fue estimulada por la CIA, que era la que entrenaba a los torturadores de naciones como Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, y de todas aquellas en las cuales despuntaron embriones revolucionarios que pretend?an poner fin a semejante estado de atropellos y criminalidad. ?Qui?n no conoce el rol de un Dan Mitrione, agente al servicio de la CIA y maestro en las t?cnicas de tortura que diseminaba en sus cursos de represi?n e intimidaci?n a los pueblos? No olvidemos la famosa Escuela de las Am?ricas, como f?brica de torturadores para Am?rica Latina. -
9/22/06
'School of Assassins' One Step Away From Closure? Willy E. Gutman, The Signal The School of the Americas, aka Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, must be shut down for good. A long overdue and rigorously detailed post-mortem of this infamous "school of assassins" must follow. -
9/22/06
War is Big Business Op-Ed by Richard Ross, Kodiak Daily Mirror The ?School of the Americas? was a U.S. military training school. It trained some of the very worst dictators and human rights violators in Latin America and the developing world. Graduates are being unmasked today in South and Central America for their crimes against humanity. -
9/22/06
Protesters put themselves at risk Sandy Cullen, Wisconsin State Journal At age 79, Fred Brancel crawled under the sharp barbs of a wire fence at a controversial Army training camp and was arrested. Months later - just five days short of completing a three-month prison sentence - the former missionary awoke to find a razor blade stuck in his neck after offending a fellow inmate. -
9/21/06
Students Protest for Human Rights Emily Uline-Olmstead, OWU Online On November 17, 2006, over 30 Ohio Wesleyan students?students of my generation?will travel to Columbus, Georgia to participate in a peaceful protest at the gates of the controversial US Army School of Americas (SOA), now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
9/20/06
What is the U.S. Military Doing in Paraguay? Benjamin Dangl, The Peoples Voice The U.S. military is conducting secretive operations in Paraguay and reportedly building a new base there. Human rights groups and military analysts in the region believe trouble is brewing. However, the U.S. embassy in Paraguay denies the base exists and describes the military activity as routine. -
9/14/06
?Nunca antes? Tortura y amnesia en EEUU Naomi Klein, Sin Permiso Era ciertamente descarado. A una hora y media de donde Bush estaba, funcion? la tristemente c?lebre Escuela de las Am?ricas, conducida por el ej?rcito estadounidense desde 1946 hasta 1984; una siniestra instituci?n educativa que, si hubiese debido tener un lema, ese habr?a sido ?nosotros torturamos?. -
9/12/06
Una Historia Escrita con Sangre LND, La Nacion-Chile Sacerdote norteamericano denuncia que el organismo donde se formaron los torturadores latinoamericanos ?supuestamente disuelto el a?o 2000 por el Congreso norteamericano? sigue cumpliendo la misma funci?n con otro nombre. Este a?o ya han pasado 170 soldados chilenos por sus aulas. -
9/3/06
Fiscal Solicita Procesar a Nueve Uniformados por Violaciones de Derechos Humanos Virginia Scardamaglia, Pagina 12 Por primera vez ser?an juzgados en Uruguay represores de la dictadura involucrados en asesinatos y desapariciones, si prospera el pedido de una fiscal presentado ayer. Los acusados tienen cuentas pendientes con la Justicia argentina que prefieren evitar. Elogios para el principio del fin de la impunidad en el pa?s vecino. -
8/31/06
Todos los Caminos Conducen a Georgia Alvaro Ramis, Cronica Digital Chile a?n sigue entrenando militares en Fort Bening, Georgia. Por este motivo, el padre Roy Bourgeois y una delegaci?n del movimiento School of Americas Watch ha comenzado una visita a Chile para impulsar una agenda que permita que el Gobierno ponga t?rmino al env?o de oficiales a la nueva ?Escuela de las Am?ricas?. -
8/31/06
Los Militares Chilenos Siguen Aprendiendo a Matar y Torturar en la Escuela de las Am?ricas Ernesto Carmona, ARGENPRESS 122 militares chilenos cursan ?estudios? este a?o en la Escuela de las Am?ricas (School of the Americas, SOA), el establecimiento de EEUU que, desde su fundaci?n en Panam?, en 1946, ense?? a matar y a torturar a unos 64.000 uniformados de 18 pa?ses latinoamericanos. -
8/30/06
Uruguay instructs Interpol to arrest former military officers La Nacion Uruguay?s Justice Department has instructed INTERPOL to arrest three former Uruguayan military officers after receiving a request for their extradition from Argentina for their alleged involvement in the clandestine ?Automotores Orletti? detention center, which operated in Buenos Aires during the '70's when both countries were under military rule. -
8/29/06
Uruguay Ordena a Interpol la Captura de Tres Militares La Nacion.cl La delegaci?n uruguaya de Interpol inici? la b?squeda de los militares Maurente, quien en 1976 oper? en la Escuela de las Americas como "Military Intelligence 0-11" y actu? en el Servicio de Inteligencia de Defensa, y Soca, quien trabaj? en la Compa??a de Contrainformaciones. -
8/29/06
Cercando a la Escuela de Asesinos Alvaro Ramis, La Nacion El padre Bourgeois ha afirmado con mucha claridad que EEUU mantiene abierta la escuela porque necesita a los soldados latinoamericanos para proteger sus intereses, en nombre de la defensa de la democracia. -
8/29/06
Peruvian SOA Graduate Sentenced to 6 Years Associated Press Peru's jailed ex-intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos has been sentenced to six years in prison for using government money to fund former President
Alberto Fujimori's 2000 re-election campaign.
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8/27/06
Prison won?t stop Appleton man's protest Ed Lowe, Post-Crescent Schwaller, 82, of Appleton, said Friday he plans to join dem-onstrators seeking the closure of the U.S. Army-run training center formerly known as the School of the Americas, for a ninth time at the annual protest running Nov. 17 to 19. -
8/26/06
U.S. Refutes in its Actions the Ideals it Professes Tom Ehrich, Religion News Service In the ensuing 12-year civil war, U.S. military advisers, assassins trained at the Pentagon's infamous School of the Americas, and massive U.S. financing enabled El Salvador's right-wing government to use anti-communism as a cover for killing more than 70,000 citizens.
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8/26/06
Pacifistas piden suspender entrenamiento militar en EE.UU. Ecuador, La Hora El Soaw pide a los gobiernos no enviar m?s militares a la ex Escuela, ahora denominada Instituto de Cooperaci?n para la Seguridad Hemisf?rica (Whinsec, en ingl?s), en el marco de una campa?a global para exigir su cierre. -
8/24/06
Latinoamericanos a?n entrenan en pol?mica ex Escuela de Am?ricas Roc?o Otoya, El Diario Militares latinoamericanos a?n entrenan en la ex Escuela de Las Am?ricas, considerada responsable de fomentar los cr?menes de lesa humanidad durante las dictaduras regionales, afirm? hoy un organismo civil de EE.UU. que plantea su cierre. -
8/23/06
Rechazan entrenamiento de peruanos en EEUU CNR - Lima, Peru La organizaci?n pacifista Observatorio de la Escuela de las Am?ricas (SOAW, por sus siglas en ingl?s) espera reunirse en los pr?ximos d?as con el ministro de Defensa, Allan Wagner, a fin de convencerlo de que desautorice el env?o de 66 militares peruanos a entrenarse en la Escuela de las Am?ricas con sede en el fuerte Benning de Georgia (Estados Unidos). -
8/21/06
Critican posici?n de la Iglesia por DDHH CNR - Lima, Peru "Ante tanta masacre y en un contexto de muertes y desaparecidos, el silencio de la prensa y de la iglesia es un pecado. Eso ocurr?a no solo en Per? sino tambi?n en Bolivia y Argentina. Por eso es importante la justicia y no la impunidad" -
8/21/06
Argentina?s Dictatorship: 30 Years Fighting for Justice Marie Trigona, Znet Commentary A federal court in Argentina sentenced former police chief Julio Simon to 25 years in jail for the forced disappearances and torture of dissidents during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. This is the first sentence against a former government agent for human rights violations since 2005 when the supreme court struck down amnesty laws protecting former officers who served during the era of military dictatorship. -
8/11/06
Peace Group Under FBI Surveillance Linda Cooper and James Hodge, National Catholic Reporter School of the Americas Watch, a faith-based peace organization that seeks to close a U.S. military school that has advocated the use of torture and assassination, finds itself under surveillance by the FBI?s counterterrorism unit. -
8/11/06
Who Killed Victor Jara? SOA Graduate Exposed in Chile Joao da Silva, CommonDreams Among the thousands of political dissidents detained and executed in Chile during the days following the Military coup of 1973 which overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende (also known as the Unidad Popular), Victor Jara?s brutal death is probably one of the most emblematic. -
8/8/06
Awareness Boosted During Prison Stay Jen McCoy, Portage Daily Register Three months in prison and five days in segregated confinement increased Fred Brancel's awareness of self, society and friendship. -
7/31/06
How Much Longer? Eduardo Galeano, Zmag The tortures of Abu Ghraib, which triggered a certain universal sickness, are nothing new to us in Latin America. Our militaries learned their interrogation techniques from the School of the Americas, which may no longer exist in name but lives on in effect. -
7/29/06
Vigil to Raise Awareness of Treatment at Federal Facility Bryon Okada, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Kathleen Rumpf of Syracuse, N.Y., is a woman of many causes. Never married, and with no children, Rumpf devotes her time to those causes. -
7/26/06
U.S. to Build Military Base in Honduras Cyril Mychalejko, Upsidedown World The Associated Press (AP) has reported that the U.S. plans to help Honduras build a military base in the northeast part of the country near the Nicaraguan border to help combat drug trafficking.
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7/19/06
International Campaign Launched Against U.S. "Torture School" Gustavo Capdevila, IPS News Peace activists from the non-governmental School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) will tour Chile, Peru and Ecuador in August to persuade the governments of those countries not to send any more military personnel to the training centre in the U.S. state of Georgia. -
7/18/06
Beheading, Hooding, and Waterboarding: CIA Torture in Vietnam, Latin America, and Iraq Nick Gier , New West Unfiltered By becoming like our enemies, we either alienate the people we want to liberate or drive them right into our enemy's hands. Rarely ever do evil means justify a good end, especially when the goal is a society of free persons whose value and dignity must always be preserved. -
7/15/06
Why Are the Feds Worried About Peaceful Americans While True Threats are on the Rise? Op-Ed by Randy Serraglio, Tucson Weekly In these days of nuclear threats, violent religious whackos and looming global upheavals, it would be nice to know that our federal government is spending billions of dollars rooting out the truly dangerous individuals in our midst and consigning them to the dustbins of imprisonment. -
7/13/06
SOA Watch Gloria Williams, Zmag Protesting the facility that trains soldiers from Latin America has become an annual pilgrimage for many since Father Roy Bourgeois moved into a tiny apartment outside the main gate and founded SOA Watch in 1990. Each year the number of people who come to the November vigil grows larger, a trend that apparently disturbs the Federal Bureau of Investigation. -
7/7/06
U.S. Congress Continues Funding Intervention in Latin America through the SOA and the ILEA-South Christine Raine, ZNet Ironically, a few days later the U.S. Congress voted to continue supporting military intervention in Latin America by rejecting an amendment put forth by Rep. McGovern which would have excluded funding for the infamous School of the Americas (SOA) as part of the annual Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. -
6/19/06
Brazilian far-right accused of deleting torture dossiers Tom Phillips, The Guardian Brazilian human rights activists are crying foul after hackers invaded a website and deleted a list of military officers accused of torture and executions during the 1964 dictatorship. -
6/19/06
Local Activist Draws National Recognition For Peace and Justice Work Amy Jocius, Memphis Daily News The pair was part of a number of peace demonstrations against organizations such as the School of the Americas in Columbus, Ga., at which the U.S. Army trains Latin-American military personnel who have been accused of participating in death squads and committing human rights violations. -
6/16/06
Trading Fear for Hope: SOA Watch in Latin America Wes Enzinna, Left Turn This March, almost thirty years later, Roy returned to Bolivia. During the long interim between his exile and return, Bourgeois founded and led to notoriety School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch), spearheading the movement to shut down the school that Manuel Noriega, the infamous Panamanian populist and drug lord, accurately described as a ?training ground for death squads and repressive right-wing militaries? throughout Latin America. -
6/15/06
Targeting a "School for Strongmen" Jean Friedman-Rudovsky (La Paz), Time Magazine.com A U.S.-run training ground for Latin American military men is trying to withstand a growing protest movement -
6/13/06
Herger defends military school Larry Mitchell, Chico Enterprise Record While he has concerns about the training center formerly known as the School of the Americas, Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico, said he believes it still deserves support. -
6/13/06
Nonviolence group protests Karen McDonald, Peoria Journal Star (Illinois) Advocates speak out against sentencing, other issues -
6/13/06
McGovern Ft. Benning amendment fails Richard Nangle, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts) Latin America is walking away from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation over concerns about human rights abuses, and U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, wants America to follow suit. -
6/10/06
Negroponte Gave Wrong Information At SJA Graduation Taylor Reed, Caledonian-Record (Vermont) "We deplore the presence of a known terror boss in our community and we find it completely unacceptable that he be put on a pedestal in front of our youth," states a June 2 "action alert" from activist Palmer Legare in the name of the Vermont School of the Americas Watch. -
6/10/06
Should the School of the Americas be Shut Down? Joshua Holland, AlterNet And while people like Wesley Clark vigorously defend the program as the best way to share America's martial "values," studies have shown SOA/WHINSEC graduates to be more prone to human rights violations than their fellows that didn't train in the program. -
6/7/06
Mexicans should try alternatives David Rossie, Press & Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) Work hard and with a little bit of luck you may get to attend the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, where you'll learn a lot of new ways to help your countrymen and women to see the light. They've changed the name of the school to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but don't worry, the drill's the same. -
5/31/06
Guatemalan war criminal dies a free man Bill Weinberg, World War 4 Report When Slobodan Milosevic died, he was in a prison cell at The Hague facing war crimes charges, and it made world headlines. The May 27 passing of Guatemala's equally genocidal dictator of the late '70s and early '80s, Romeo Lucas Garcia, a graduate of the SOA, was largely confined to the obituary pages and wire copy, and he died a free man, passing his final years in luxurious Venezuelan exile. -
5/30/06
Piden cierre de ?Escuela de torturadores? Pablo Long, Noticias Aliadas (Perú) Ya no m?s soldados argentinos, bolivianos, uruguayos, ni venezolanos ser?n entrenados en nefasto centro de instrucci?n estadunidense. -
5/25/06
The UN is right about torture Editorial, El Diario / La Prensa Our country?s relationship with torture, unfortunately, is not new. The sadly celebrated School of the Americas, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC) for decades had U.S. military personnel teach generations of Latin American colleagues the repugnant art of torture in the name of the fight against communism. -
5/22/06
How widely is the net cast? Mary Sanchez, Knight Ridder Newspapers The records of the surveillance were released through Freedom of Information requests filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has requested records of 150 groups and individuals in 20 states. -
5/18/06
The infamous School of the Americas seems to be on its way out William Steif, Guest Editorial, Virgin Islands Daily News After 16 years of effort, it looks like Father Roy Bourgeois is making some real progress in getting rid of the School of the Americas. -
5/17/06
Hooking fish and catching smiles Ed Culhane, Appleton Post-Crescent This was the 28th year for this event, but for the first time the founder and organizer was absent. Del Schwaller, 80, a retired teacher and member of TU, is in prison, serving a six-month sentence for trespassing at the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation during a peaceful protest. -
5/14/06
Counterterrorism Targets-- Are You One? Roberto Lovato, New America Media I open the PDF file and shudder. The digital copy of a recently declassified internal memo from the FBI?s Counterterrorism files has the name of someone I know. It says that Roy Bourgeois ?was the founder and leader of this protest since its inception in 1988.? -
5/12/06
Playing through the pain Joe Piasecki, Pasadena Weekly (California) Pasadena?s Hector Aristiz?bal survived torture to bring the plight of a nation center-stage -
5/6/06
FBI Puts SOA Watch under ?Counterterrorism? Surveillances Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive The FBI has been keeping tabs on SOA Watch, the human rights group that monitors the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. -
5/4/06
Locating Argentine Memories Joseph Huff-Hannon, In These Times "Disappeared" but not forgotten in Argentina -
5/3/06
CGC makes annual trek to D.C. to lobby Kevin Himeda, The Spectator (Seattle University) In response to increasing momentum for House Bill 1217 passing through the House of Representatives, members of the Coalition for Global Concern traveled to Washington D.C. to join lobbying groups pushing to suspend the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. -
5/3/06
True mission of SOA questioned Michael Feickema, The Collegian (South Dakota State University) On March 28, a representative of WHINSEC, formerly known as the School of the Americas or the SOA, a U.S. army school for training Latin American military officers near Fort Benning, Georgia, gave a lecture on "WHINSEC and Latin American Relations" at SDSU. He was greeted by members of the Brookings area chapter of Pax Christi, the official peace group of the Catholic Church, holding crosses with the names of a few of the tens of thousands of victims of some of the graduates of the School of the Americas. -
5/2/06
Of Juarez and the "Dirty War" in Mexico Rafael Nuñez, Newspaper Tree (El Paso, Texas) ?In my family we were 13 siblings. Leticia was the second-born. I was the third. She was 26 years old when they took her. She worked at the RCA maquiladora plant in Ju?rez.... -
5/1/06
Nonviolent rebellion against a storm of lies John LaForge (Op-Ed), Pulse of the Twin Cities The prospect of six months in federal prison camp for protesting torture seems a lot like accounts of being drafted or volunteering for the military. One hopes for light duty, but the authorities decide where, how and for how long you stay. -
4/28/06
Human rights group plan to protest School of the Americas The Hill (Washington, DC) The Pentagon, already beleaguered by vocal new criticisms of its Iraq war management, will soon face a grassroots lobbying onslaught by human-rights groups protesting the School of the Americas (SOA), a military facility that trains Latin American fighters in potentially abusive techniques. -
4/23/06
Torture victim decries counterterrorism group David Lipscomb, Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) An El Salvadoran torture survivor is using his experience to try to bring justice to those who have suffered plights similar to his. -
4/23/06
Author tells horrific story through eyes of an Iowan Book review by Tom Carney, Des Moines Register It's not easy to read "Through a Glass Darkly." It tells the awful story of innocent people who were not allowed to be neutral in a brutal civil war that pitted succeeding Guatemalan governments, backed by the U.S., against a ragtag insurgency representing Mayan peasants and various other factions. -
4/23/06
Torture should never be U.S. policy Op-Ed by Fr. Louis Vitale, San Francisco Chronicle For the second time in the past four years, I find myself in a federal prison as a result of my protest against these inhumane policies. My country's involvement in torture was at the heart of my decision to leave my post as pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church in San Francisco's Tenderloin district in order to speak out against these crimes. -
4/21/06
Challenging the SOA: Willits woman joins Catholic priests campaign against torture Kate Black, Special to the Willits News Recent media exposure about the involvement and role of the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay has set the human rights and leadership credibility of the United States at an all-time low. In light of the current debate on the issue of torture, and inspired by a talk a few months ago by the Rev. Fr. Roy Bourgeois at Willits United Methodist Church, in November 2005 I traveled to Ft. Benning near Columbus, Georgia, to find out more. -
4/20/06
U.S. arming of Iraqi police skates close to legal line Cam Simpson and Liz Sly, Chicago Tribune Leahy crafted the restrictions after disclosures in the 1990s of abuses by U.S.-supported forces in Latin America. The disclosures included the public release of training manuals that advocated abusive techniques and were employed to train Latin American officials in their home countries and at the former U.S. Army School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Ga. -
4/15/06
Local Women to Do Prison Time for Protest Judith Scherr, Berkeley Daily Planet The gathering at St. Joseph the Worker Church Tuesday morning was a send-off of sorts for Sarah Harper and Cheryl Sommers. The two women had called friends and the media to the church where they intended to speak out in public for the last time before they went to jail for three months. -
4/14/06
Sneakerless sister serves time Lola Alapo, Knoxville News Sentinel Roman Catholic nun, 69, heads to prison for arrest at Fort Benning protest -
4/12/06
Duluth man goes to federal prison over U.S. torture Danielle Kaeding, KUWS, Business North (Minnesota) A man hailing from Duluth will serve a six month prison sentence starting Tuesday for protesting the use of torture by the U.S. military. -
4/11/06
Defensores derechos humanos empiezan a cumplir penas de c?rcel EFE, Terra Actualidad (Spain) Veintinueve activistas de derechos humanos de EEUU, uno de ellos de 81 a?os, empezaron hoy a cumplir penas de entre uno y seis meses de c?rcel por irrumpir en una base militar exigiendo el cierre de la ex Escuela de las Am?ricas. -
4/11/06
Oak Ridge nun reports to federal prison Erica Estep, WATE 6 (Knoxville, Tennessee) Supporters turned out to offer their blessings Tuesday to a 69-year-old nun who is headed to federal prison. -
4/11/06
SOA Protesters Report to Prison Richard Burkard, WTVM 9 (Columbus, Georgia) Nearly 30 people who marched outside Fort Benning last November are reporting to prison. -
4/11/06
SOA Enrollment Drops UpsideDownWorld The Defense Ministers of Argentina and Uruguay declared March 28 that they would no longer send armed forces personnel to the US-based "School of the Americas." -
4/11/06
Woolever headed to federal prison News 10 Now Staff (Syracuse, New York) A Syracuse man is headed to federal prison this week, but he's not too upset about it. Frank Woolever will leave Tuesday for a federal prison in Pennsylvania. -
4/10/06
Argentina and Uruguay shun US military academy Duncan Campbell, The Guardian Two Latin American countries are to stop sending troops for training to a controversial military academy in the US. -
4/6/06
Torture's Roots Run to Washington Erik Cooke, CommonDreams As troubling as these accounts of U.S. government sanctioned brutality are, they are not surprising to the people of Latin America. Since 1946, the United States has put its official seal of approval on torture by Latin American militaries at the Army?s School of the Americas (SOA). -
4/5/06
Two Books Explore the Modern History of Torture Henry Norr, Berkeley Daily Planet CIA operatives translated these scientific insights into a set of procedures elaborated in a 1963 CIA manual, which in turn served as the basis for textbooks used later in CIA and U.S. military programs ? including the infamous School of the Americas ? where friendly locals from around the world were taught the techniques of counterinsurgency. -
3/31/06
?No Más! No More! Patrick Mulvaney, The Nation In the past week, the defense ministers of both Uruguay and Argentina have declared that their governments plan to cut ties with the US Army's School of the Americas. -
3/31/06
Ex-priest headed to prison for protest John Chadwick, North Jersey Herald News & Record But the Hasbrouck Heights resident will put his quiet life on hold when he begins serving a 90-day federal prison sentence next month for a crime that he describes as an act of patriotism. -
3/31/06
?Pedimos el cierre de la Escuela de las Am?ricas" Entrevista con Roy Bourgeois por Werner Pertot, Página 12 (Argentina) Es uno de los fundadores de la organizaci?n de derechos humanos estadounidense (SOAW) que recorre el mundo pidiendo la desactivaci?n de ?esa escuela de asesinos y torturadores? donde fueron entrenados los represores. -
3/31/06
Olga Talamante: Surviving torture Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange On March 27, 1976, sixteen months after being arrested, tortured and imprisoned in an Argentina jail, Olga Talamante was released. Today, she is concerned that the public doesn't understand the horror. -
3/30/06
Activistas estadounidenses piden cierre de escuela militar (con audio) Agencia Púlsar (Argentina) Una delegaci?n de luchadores estadounidenses por los derechos humanos, encabezada por el sacerdote Roy Bourgeois, del Observatorio de la Escuela de las Am?ricas, lleg? a Argentina para difundir su pelea por el cierre de esa escuela militar. -
3/30/06
Uruguay no enviar? m?s militares a la terror?fica School of Americas Roger Rodriguez, La República (Uruguay) El gobierno uruguayo habr?a comunicado su decisi?n al Departamento de Estado norteamericano. Organizaciones norteamericanas pidieron a los gobiernos latinoamericanos no enviar m?s militares a la Escuela de las Am?ricas. -
3/30/06
Nilda Garr? se reuni? con el jefe de la Armada Abierta TV (Argentina) Al respecto, la ministra consideró que "la Escuela de las Américas ha hecho mucho mal y aún sigue intentando impulsar dentro de las Fuerzas Armadas las hipótesis de la lucha contra el narcotráfico, y lucha contra el terrorismo". -
3/27/06
Argentina tomo la misma medida que Uruguay Los Tiempos (Argentina) Para los desmemoriados hay que recordar que esta linda escuelita se encontr? al principio en Panam? donde entrenaron a los golpistas del cono sur; hoy se encuentra en Georgia. -
3/27/06
Desde EE.UU. piden celeridad en la causa por la represi?n El Litorial (Santa Fe, Argentina) Integrantes de un grupo pacifista norteamericano visitaron Santa Fe y solicitaron a la Justicia Federal que se acelere el juicio oral. Otra nota, firmada por congresistas estadounidenses, fue dirigida al embajador Lino Guti?rrez. -
3/27/06
Vermont peace activist to stay 3 months at FCI Robert Miller, News-Times (Connecticut) Peace activist Robin Lloyd has been sentenced to a three-month term at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury. -
3/26/06
Alleged Former Paramilitary Named Military Commander Sean Donohue, NarcoSphere A general and SOA graduate who is believed to have once been a member of a right-wing terrorist group now heads Colombia's armed forces. -
3/22/06
Nun from Oak Ridge going to federal prison Melisaa DiPane, WATE Channel 6 (Tennessee) "I knew when I did this in November, I was losing control of my life, my plans," Sister Mary Dennis says. -
3/22/06
Norteamericanos por desmilitarizaci?n y clausura de Escuela de las Am?ricas La Republica (Uruguay) Cuatro organizaciones en Estados Unidos, la SOA Watch, Noviolencia Internacional, Marin Interfaith Task Force de las Am?ricas, y Global Exchange promueven en Uruguay la desmilitarizaci?n en Am?rica Latina y propician el cierre definitivo de la "terror?fica" Escuela de las Am?ricas. -
3/21/06
Activistas exigen desde Bolivia cierre de Escuela de las Am?ricas HoyBolivia Un grupo de activistas de derechos humanos se encuentra en Bolivia para promover el cierre del Instituto de Cooperaci?n para la Seguridad Hemisf?rica, que depende del Ej?rcito de los Estados Unidos, antes conocido como la Escuela de las Am?ricas. -
3/17/06
Latin America's Leftist Shift: Hopes and Challenges Benjamin Dangl, Toward Freedom Much of this nightmare was funded by the US government and some of the architects of the repression were trained by US teachers in such places as the School of the Americas in Georgia. -
3/16/06
40 years searching for peace in the Valley Tony Nauroth, Express-Times (New Jersey) The Lehigh Pocono Committee of Concern marks a milestone. Over the decades, the issues may have changed, but the group's mission hasn't. -
3/13/06
Chico church member prepares for prison term Larry Mitchell, Chico Enterprise-Record Parker made the call and learned she'd need to report to a minimum-security prison in the Bay Area on April 11. She'll serve 57 days for trespassing during a demonstration last fall at the School of the Americas in Georgia, a controversial training site for Latin American military personnel.
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3/11/06
'I hope my witness helps ...' Yonat Shimron, Raleigh News & Observer North Carolina peace activist Gail Phares wants to inspire others as she prepares for prison -
3/10/06
Radical to some is religious calling to others Tom Shea, Springfield Republican (Massachusetts) It was before Mass, two friends talking. Judy Ruland said something about free trade not being fair trade. Her friend said: "I never knew you were such a radical." -
3/2/06
Student sentenced to time in prison for protest Lauren Berta, The Depaulia (DePaul University) ?I have no regrets for doing it,? DePaul junior Buddy Bell says of the protest he attended which led to his arrest, a sentence of 3 months in federal prison, and a $500 fine. -
2/26/06
From retirement, woman emerges as tireless activist Nathaniel Hoffman, Contra Costa Times (California) In the decade since she retired and lost her husband to cancer, Gwen Watson has had more and more opportunities for, as she puts it, "speaking truth to power." -
2/26/06
Padre Roy Bourgeois busca apoyo a Ch?vez en Washington, DC Maibort Petit, Analitica.com (Venezuela) El padre Roy Bourgeois, uno de los fundadores de la asociaci?n SOA Watch, esta invitando a una conferencia en Washington, DC, para expresar la solidaridad al pueblo de Venezuela. -
2/24/06
Army chief resigns amid abuse claims Dan Molinski, Associated Press Colombia's army chief was forced to quit after a magazine report alleged that soldiers had been abused. The new chief is an SOA graduate. -
2/22/06
The Devil Is in the Lack of Details: The Defense Department's Media Contracts Diane Farsetta, PR Watch Another contract -- again "missing firm data" -- was for "a senior analyst to analyze the perceptions, activities, and events surrounding the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and assist in developing public affairs plans for other Army personnel issues." The Army paid nearly $300,000 for this analyst, between 2004 and 2005. -
2/21/06
?Dirty War' Allegations Cast Shadow on Nationalist Candidate ?ngel P?ez, Inter Press Service News Agency After unexpectedly shooting to the top of the polls in Peru, anti-establishment presidential candidate Ollanta Humala has seen his popularity drop due to questions about his possible involvement in the "dirty war" against dissidents. -
2/20/06
Crossing Lines Margaret Downing, Houston Press A Houston teenager learns how convictions can lead to convictions -
2/16/06
Four activists sentenced for protests Staff, Inside Bay Area Four Bay Area activists have been sentenced to jail time for protesting at a U.S. Army facility in Georgia. -
2/14/06
Bush Budget Would Cut Military Aid to Bolivia by 96 Percent Joel Brinkley, New York Times Less than a month after an assertively anti-American president took office in Bolivia, the Bush administration is planning to cut military aid to the country by 96 percent. -
2/9/06
Protesters await word on prison Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News Two Colorado women are awaiting letters from the federal government, telling them where they must serve prison terms for trespassing at a Georgia U.S. Army base they believe is a school for torture. -
2/7/06
A peaceful transformation Ashley Thomas, Columbia Missourian Struggle for survival for Jamie Walters leads to fight for others -
2/6/06
Prisoner Gaunt to keep her job David Montgomery, Scarlet & Black (Grinnell College) College extends library assistant's leave of absence till August. -
2/5/06
Wood Dale man?s protest draws 3 months in prison Justin Kmitch, Daily Herald (Chicago) A 23-year-old Wood Dale man has been sentenced to three months in federal prison and fined $500 for his role in a November protest at a Columbus, Ga., military base. -
2/3/06
Speaking out for justice Jeff Kurowski, The Compass (Green Bay, Wisconsin) Two men from the Diocese of Green Bay were among 32 defendants who stood trial earlier this week for peacefully walking onto the Fort Benning military base located outside Columbus, Ga. -
2/3/06
Student to be jailed Marco Cerna, Georgetown Voice (Georgetown University) The Georgetown student arrested last semester during an anti-military protest has been sentenced to three months in federal prison. -
2/2/06
A harsh price Editorial, Raleigh News & Observer (NC) Those who engage in civil disobedience expect to suffer the consequences. For the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., actually going to jail was part of the protest, a symbol of oppression. Yet for Gail Phares of Raleigh, a former nun who has engaged in social activism all her life, a jail term seems a severe punishment for the protest in which she participated in November. -
2/2/06
Appleton activist headed to prison Ed Lowe, Appleton Post-Crescent (Wisconsin) An Appleton man will spend two months in prison for trespassing during a protest of a U.S. military training facility accused of covertly fueling violence against civilians throughout Latin America.
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2/1/06
Man jailed for trespassing during protest Kurt Bresswein, Express-Times (Easton, PA) A local political activist was sentenced Monday to three months in federal prison for trespassing last November at a Fort Benning, Ga., military base, according to a group opposed to U.S. military policy. -
2/1/06
Former nun will serve three months in prison Yonat Shimron, News & Observer (North Carolina) Gail Phares, a former nun and social activist from Raleigh, received a three-month prison term Tuesday for crossing into a closed military base in an act of civil disobedience. -
2/1/06
Burlington activist fined, given jail time for Fort Benning arrest Staff, Vermont Guardian A federal judge Tuesday sentenced Burlington resident Robin Lloyd, to three months in federal prison and a $500 fine after she was found guilty of trespassing onto Fort Benning military base in November. -
2/1/06
79-year-old protester gets 3-month sentence Staff, Captial Times (Wisconsin) Fred Brancel, 79, was sentenced Monday to three months in a federal penitentiary following his arrest Nov. 20 at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, according to the organization SOA Watch. -
2/1/06
Victims win torture case Teresa Borden, Atlanta Jounal Constitution Federal court in Atlanta validates Salvadorans' fight
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2/1/06
Denmark man to be imprisoned for protest Jean Peerenboom, Green Bay Press-Gazette Scott Dempsky of Denmark was sentenced Monday to three months in prison and a $500 fine for crossing the picket line during a School of Americas protest in Columbus, Ga., in November. He was charged with trespassing. -
2/1/06
U.S. government has criminalized dissent Joe DeRaymond, Special to the Morning Call (Pennsylvania) At Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., there still exists the School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), where Latin America militaries have been trained for decades. Torture has been taught at this school. Dictators such as Hugo Banzer of Bolivia and Manuel Noriega of Panama attended. The assassins of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador and Juan Gerardi of Guatemala attended. -
2/1/06
SOA protesters fined, imprisoned Pat Gillespie, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Despite defense pleas, 19-year-old student gets prison -
1/31/06
Man stands trial for trespassing on military base Staff, News 10 Now (Syracuse, NY) Frank Woolever could spend 6 months in federal prison for trespassing. It was part of an annual protest at Fort Benning in Georgia this past November. -
1/30/06
Bucking the system Allison Kennedy, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Jail term has not diminished protester's resolve -
1/28/06
Demonstrators against SOA feel called by faith Mary Knapke, Catholic Telegraph Heller has responded to that call by joining the movement that seeks the closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) at Fort Benning near Columbus, Ga. The WHINSEC is also commonly referred to by its predecessor?s name, the United States Army School of the Americas (SOA). -
1/27/06
U.S. Policy on Mercenaries in Iraq Reminiscent of '80s Conor Hanlon, The Hoya (Georgetown University) Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, or so the saying goes. Unfortunately it seems that even those who did learn from history are hell-bent on doing the same thing, most likely because they learned something different. -
1/20/06
Radical Alternatives Susana Adame, The Echo (Eastern Michigan University) Color-blind society isn't answer to MLK's 'Dream' -
1/20/06
A nun, 33 others face trial over protest at Army fort Associated Press A 69-year-old Roman Catholic nun from Tennessee and 33 other peace activists will be tried in federal court on charges of civil disobedience stemming from a protest at an Army base in Georgia. -
1/20/06
Prison for student protestor Marco Cerna, Georgetown Voice (Georgetown University) A Georgetown student faces up to six months in federal prison for trespassing on a military base during a November protest in Georgia. -
1/20/06
Nun faces federal trial, prison over protest Staff,Oak Ridger (Tennessee) Elizabeth Ann Lentsch, a Catholic nun known as Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch, 69, is among 34 human rights advocates facing federal trial and a possible six-month prison sentence for civil disobedience. -
1/19/06
Michelle Bachelet victor in Chilean election Brian McAfee, Media Monitors Bachelet's historic reality is directly tied to U.S. hegemonic impulses. On September 11 of 1973 in Chile, popularly elected president Salvador Allende was overthrown in a bloody coupe carried out by General Augusto Pinochet and his military, of which 10 of the 30 of the Chilean officers charged for crimes against humanity were graduates of the U.S. School of the Americas. -
1/17/06
John Lewis recalls a lifetime of fighting for civil rights Jean Hopfensperger, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) John Lewis says the need to fight for civil rights is as strong as ever but the methods and passions of the '60s have changed. -
1/16/06
Local activist prepares for Jan. 30 trial Asheville Global Report ?Prison for three or six months is not such a terrible ordeal to face if my action will publicize the fact that the US has been running the largest training school for terrorism in the world for the last 50+ years,? says Brevard resident Linda Mashburn, a nurse and human rights activist. -
1/16/06
200 Georgia Progressives Hold Historic Summit Matthew Cardinale, Atlanta Progressive News "When you come together here to connect our experiences, what we?ve learned, things happen," Reverend Roy Bourgeois, 67, founder of School of the Americas Watch, told Atlanta Progressive News. Bourgeois spoke in the morning plenary session Saturday. -
1/15/06
Please Remember Music Carole Ferrari, The Dominion (Canada) Song plays a central role at the School of the Americas Protest. Music has been a key part of the protest's success. -
1/10/06
$54.6M Award to Salvadoran Torture Victims Carl Jones, Daily Business Review A federal appeals court has reversed its own decision and affirmed a $54.6 million judgment awarded to three immigrants from El Salvador who claimed that members of that country's military kidnapped and tortured them. -
1/9/06
A Cross in the Road Joanne Cowan, Common Ground Magazine On November 20, 2005, my growing opposition to the Bush administration?s use of torture led me to the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia, home of the SOA, the Pentagon?s notorious School of the Americas (better known as the ?School of Assassins?). -
1/9/06
$54M torture verdict reinstated Alfonso Chardy, Miami Herald An appellate court has reinstated $54.6 million to three alleged victims of torture in El Salvador -- including SOA Watch activists Carlos Mauricio and Neris Gonzalez -- after initially revoking the award. -
1/7/06
The American empire and big business Deanna Spingola, Renew America Through decades of war, the United States trained Guatemalan troops at the infamous School of the Americas and backed military regimes that were systematically torturing and killing civilians under the guise of battling communism and maintaining a suitable atmosphere for international commerce. -
1/6/06
FILM: School of the Americas Protest Rebecca MacNeice, Truthout View an excellent short film of the Vigil shot by Rebecca MacNeice of Truthout. The film especially focuses on those "crossing the line." -
12/20/05
Des Moines Woman, 80, Protests for Peace Sarah Clark, Des Moines Register A little background: Rita Hohenshell of Des Moines was 70 years old when she decided it was time to try a new activity. She could have taken up cross-stitch or watercolors. But Hohenshell wanted to do something more meaningful, such as spend time in federal prison in the name of peace. Over the past decade, she has turned up anywhere there's a war protest. At 80, she's still going strong. -
12/20/05
'Never Before!' Our Amnesiac Torture Debate Naomi Klein, The Nation It was the "Mission Accomplished" of George W. Bush's second term, and an announcement of that magnitude called for a suitably dramatic location. But what was the right backdrop for the infamous "We do not torture" declaration? With characteristic audacity, the Bush team settled on downtown Panama City. -
12/9/05
Memory of women killed in El Salvador lives on Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter At the conclusion of a mock funeral procession at the Nov. 20 School of the Americas Watch demonstration, Maryknoll Sr. Kathleen Kelly leaned against a wooden police barricade to talk about the death, 25 years ago, of her friend Sr. Maura Clarke, a Maryknoll missionary who was among four U.S. churchwomen who were raped and murdered Dec. 2, 1980, in El Salvador. -
12/9/05
SOA rally expands in issues and numbers Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter Before heading out to the annual SOA Watch protest Nov. 20, a group of Loretto sisters squeezed together into Room 243 of the Motel 6 for a ?Prayer for Peace.? -
12/9/05
'Do as we say' Dennis Jett, Op-Ed, Miami Herald Nearly 20,000 people demonstrated last month at Fort Benning, Ga., against the School of the Americas, a Department of Defense institution that trains military personnel from Latin America. -
12/9/05
Bitter Memories of a 'Dirty War' Michael Fox, The Nation Nearly thirty years later, Patricia Isasa stares out at the hundreds of activists gathered on November 19 at the Civic Center Ballroom in Columbus, Georgia, recalling her experiences as a torture victim. -
12/9/05
Revisiting the Scene of the ?Crime?: Going Back to Fort Benning Alice Gerard, Buffalo Alt Press Earlier this month, I went to my fourth SOA Watch vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia. This time, unlike the past two years, I knew that I had no intentions of ?crossing the line? onto the grounds of Fort Benning. -
12/8/05
Facing prison, activist, 79, has no regrets Rob Zaleski, Captial Times (Madison, WI) OK, truth be known, being handcuffed and shackled for two hours and spending a night in the Muscogee County Jail in Columbus, Ga. - as he did on Nov. 20, after being arrested at the facility formerly known as the School of the Americas at Fort Benning - wasn't a whole lot of fun. -
12/7/05
Protesters fast and pray for Morlino Doug Erickson, Wisconsin State Journal Lifelong Catholic Barbara Parsons, who just returned from her third protest trip to the institute, said she was filled with deep sorrow and would be praying for Bishop Morlino to renounce the School of the Americas. -
12/5/05
GU joins other colleges in Georgia Brady Smith, Gonzaga Bulletin (Spokane, Washington) Gonzaga students joined a rally in Georgia to protest the SOA. -
12/2/05
Questioning the Official Story at Fort Benning Alice E. Gerard, AltPress Online Some of those death squad members had been trained in torture and assassination by the U.S. military, both in their own countries and at military installations in the United States. One of the most well-known military training facilities is the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. -
12/2/05
Taking on torture: Vermonter arrested while protesting U.S. military school Shay Totten, Vermont Guardian For years, Burlington filmmaker and activist Robin Lloyd has traveled throughout Latin America, observing firsthand the death and destruction left behind by U.S.-bred military policies promoting counterinsurgencies. -
12/2/05
Nun?s talk to put focus on Latin rights abuses Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star Ortiz is among the most vocal critics of a U.S. Army school in Georgia for its role in training Latin American soldiers later accused of human-rights abuses. She helped found the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, based in Washington. -
12/2/05
Vigil aimed at Morlino Pat Schneider, Capital Times (Madison, WI) Marian Fredal says she's not certain yet what will be the upshot of Bishop Robert Morlino's involvement with an infamous military training center in Georgia. But she was at the Madison Diocese's headquarters Thursday to voice her concerns and join a dozen of the faithful in what was to be a 25-hour vigil. -
12/2/05
Former De Pere man protests training facility Mike Hoeft, Green Bay Press Gazette Former De Pere resident Riley Merline said he's concerned a Georgia facility that trains Latin American soldiers and police could work against America's real allies. -
12/2/05
School of the Americas Defines U.S. Foreign Policy Steve Anderson, Rabble.ca Late in November, 19,000 citizens from across the Americas gathered at Fort Benning, Georgia, to pressure the U.S. government to shut down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Corporation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA). As has been the case in past years, participants both mourned those murdered by SOA graduates, and focussed on the positive alternatives to militarism and violence. -
11/30/05
Local man arrested at military site protest Aaron Nathans, Capital Times (Madison, WI) A Madison man was arrested during protests at the facility formerly known as the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga. -
11/29/05
Protestors fight federal "school" Richard Roth, The Independent (Hudson Valley, NY) It's not exactly the kind of place you'd choose to go on vacation, but several Hillsdale-area residents visited Fort Benning, a U.S. Army base at Columbus, Georgia last weekend; and one of them spent a night in jail. -
11/29/05
Nun protests combat-training center Rebekah Gordon interviews Sr. Pat Hoffman, Inside Bay Area Sister Pat Hoffman, 74, of the Order of the Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, participated in a mass demonstration and vigil on Nov. 20 outside the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Ga. Sister Hoffman recently spoke with staff writer Rebekah Gordon about her experiences there. -
11/28/05
Activists Protest History of Infamy at the School of the Americas Stuart Schussler, Upside Down World The 15,000 activists who congregated on November 18-20 at the School of the Americas (SOA) reminded the US president, and the rest of the world, of the U.S. government?s role in training and harboring terrorists throughout Latin America. -
11/27/05
Lewis students among Fort Benning demonstrators Kathrynne Skonicki, Catholic Explorer (Illinois) Michael Grzyb, a sophomore at Lewis University in Romeoville, was among the 19,000 demonstrators holding crosses bearing the names of people killed in Latin America and carrying mock coffins draped in black cloth to demand the closing of the U.S. military facility at Fort Benning, Ga., that trains Latin American soldiers?Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
11/27/05
A unique soul David Briggs, Cleveland Plain Dealer Death can't stop Sr. Dorothy Kazel's influence in El Salvador or in Cleveland, where she is regarded as a saint -
11/26/05
Shame on you if you don't know Oscar Romero's story Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star People memorize dialogues from ``Seinfeld,'' absorb every flutter in the life of heiress Paris Hilton, and spend hours devising fantasy league sports teams. But the name Oscar Romero doesn't ring a bell.
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11/25/05
Students return from protest Mark Boshnack, Oneonta Daily Star (New York) Members of a Hartwick College club recently returned from protests against a U.S. military school in Georgia. -
11/25/05
Tear down WHINSEC Joseph A. Blair, Letter to the Editor, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer On the subject of the SOA, a.k.a. WHINSEC, protest movement, some would say it's better to let a sleeping dog lie. I, on the other hand, have bitten my lips far too long and can no longer refrain from writing on this once, personally, all consuming subject. -
11/25/05
NU activists follow call to action to Georgia protest Corrie Driebusch, Daily Northwestern A woman gave empty-handed Weinberg freshman Mark Crain a white, handmade wooden cross to hold. That was when he finally felt he belonged. On Friday, he and 13 other Northwestern students left campus and drove 16 hours to Columbus, Ga. They left to join 20,000 protesting the School of the Americas, a military training camp based there. -
11/22/05
Protesters urge closure of U.S. Army training school in Georgia Catholic News Service 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. -
11/22/05
Thousands gather against military training facility Lai-Yan Tang, The Heights (Boston College) For whatever reason they came, more than 60 members of the Boston College community joined 19,000 people this weekend in Ft. Benning, Ga., to demand the closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas, a U.S. military school that trains Latin Americans in combat techniques. -
11/22/05
Protesting military facility leads to Boulderite's arrest Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News A Boulder woman was among 36 people arrested Sunday in a protest against the School of Americas, a training facility for Latin American soldiers at Fort Benning in Georgia. -
11/22/05
Former alderman arrested at protest Ed Lowe, Appleton Post-Crescent (Wisconsin) An Appleton man was returning home Monday after spending Sunday night behind bars as one of about 40 people arrested for trespassing during a protest at a U.S.-run military school. -
11/22/05
Students, activists protest in Georgia Arpita Ghosh, The Phoenix (Loyola University, Chicago) Vigilant protestors, including 65 Loyola students and faculty members, processed outside the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, still referred to as the School of the Americas, in Fort Benning, Ga., the school that trained the Salvadorians who killed the Jesuits. -
11/22/05
Protester arrested at Fort Benning Shane Epping, Missourian Jamie Walters, 41, of Columbia, was arrested Sunday in Columbus, Ga., after he crossed a 10-foot barbed-wire fence surrounding Fort Benning to protest the U.S. Army?s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. -
11/22/05
41 arrested protesting Army school in Georgia Associated Press, USA Today Zawada was among at least 41 protesters arrested during an annual protest calling for the closing of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Corporation, formerly known as the Army's School of the Americas, organizers said Sunday. -
11/21/05
Cleveland woman held in Georgia protest, vigil Michael O'Malley, Cleveland Plain Dealer A Cleveland woman was arrested Sunday during a national protest against a military training school at Fort Benning, Ga., when she and 40 other protesters crawled under fences and onto the Army base. -
11/21/05
Students advocate human rights Chuck Williams and Angelique Soenarie, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer The students from St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco traveled a long way to protest Sunday. The group, which included six students and four adults, expressed concerns about human rights violations committed by graduates of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, based at Fort Benning. -
11/21/05
"We Ain't Going Away" Chuck Williams and Angelique Soenarie,Columbus Ledger-Enquirer There was no doubt Sunday they were still there. For the 16th consecutive year, the protesters demanded the closing of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. -
11/21/05
Katrina victims reunited at protest Lai-Yan Tang, The Heights (Boston College) This was Vanessa Alfano's fourth trip to Ft. Benning, Ga. but this time, she didn't go with her usual crowd - she came with Boston College. Alfano, WCAS '06, attended the last three protests with the Loyola University of New Orleans. A Hurricane Katrina evacuee studying at BC, Alfano jumped at the opportunity to maintain something similar about her college experience - her annual trip to the School of the Americas (SOA)/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation (WHINSEC) protest and the Ignatian Family Teach-In. -
11/21/05
Three Iowa protesters arrested at Georgia Army base Des Moines Register Three Iowans were arrested Sunday at Fort Benning, Ga., during a protest demanding closure of the controversial School of the Americas and a change in U.S. foreign policy. -
11/21/05
Rights groups accuse army of killing leader Associated Press, Daily Journal Human rights groups accused the army of killing a community leader at a remote town in northwest Colombia that has long tried to isolate itself from the country?s civil war by barring all armed groups from entering. The military said it was investigating the case, but that preliminary findings indicated the man died during a gunfight with leftist rebels. -
11/21/05
Concern about Iraq war and torture fuels record attendance Elliott Minor, Associated Press Citing growing concerns about the war in Iraq and reports of torture by U.S. soldiers, organizers predicted a record turnout of 19,000 - 2,000 more than last year. -
11/20/05
Torture survivor speaks out Amy Calder, Morning Sentinel (Maine) Carlos Mauricio recounted his experiences Saturday at a symposium on torture and human rights held at Colby College. About 100 international human rights leaders, students, scholars, doctors, and members of Amnesty International and the Mid-Maine Global Forum attended the symposium, sponsored by the Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights.
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11/20/05
Record number of protesters Harry Franklin, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 16,000 gather at post, maintain peaceful vigil -
11/20/05
Annual Protest Draws Ire of Those Supporting Troops Michelle O'Donnell, New York Times Even so, the estimated 15,000 protesters were eager to keep alive the annual demonstration, which began in 1990 when a Roman Catholic priest of the Maryknoll order, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, and a few of his friends staged a hunger strike outside the school to protest the murders in 1989 of six Jesuit priests and two workers in El Salvador, murders that involved 19 soldiers who had graduated from the academy. -
11/20/05
Four locals join protest of school accused of training assassins Suzan Clarke, Journal News (Rockland, NY) Four Rockland residents will join thousands of people expected at Fort Benning, Ga., today to rally for the closing of a U.S. Army school they allege has taught terror and helped destabilize democratically elected governments in Latin America. -
11/19/05
Valley residents leave to protest military training school The Monitor (McAllen, TX) Ten Rio Grande Valley residents set off en route to Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday to take part in a demonstration against the School of the Americas, a training program the U.S. military runs for Latin American soldiers. -
11/19/05
Students to risk arrest at protest Brandon Morley, Indiana Daily Students from the Collins Living-Learning Center and Global Village at Foster Quad are planning to drive to Ft. Benning, Ga., this weekend, risking the possibility of arrest to protest a military-run school located on the 289-square-mile Army base. -
11/18/05
Peace activists press Morlino Aaron Nathans, Capital Times (Madison, WI) Urge bishop to promote reform of infamous Ga. military center -
11/18/05
A torture survivor?s memories Francesca Camillo, San Antonio Current Maurico and his fellow torture survivors and community activists Francisco Flores and Orlando Pacheko plan to protest later this month at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the School of the Americas, which, in 2001 was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
11/17/05
Protesters take fight to Fort Benning, Ga. Nicole Lozare, Pensacola News Journal A group of peace advocates from Pensacola plans to undertake a 263-mile trek to Fort Benning, Ga., this weekend to protest the controversial School of the Americas. About a dozen members of Veterans for Peace and other local peace organizations will join thousands from around the world in their efforts Friday through Sunday to shut down the school housed at the Army installation near Columbus, Ga. -
11/17/05
Students, staff remember Jesuit martyrs Lai-Yan Tang, The Heights (Boston College) Songs, prayers, and reflections were offered in memory of 14 Jesuits, nuns, and others murdered in El Salvador -
11/17/05
Hartwick student group to join protest Justin Alston, Daily Online (New York) A Hartwick College club will join thousands of people protesting against the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., from Friday to Sunday. -
11/17/05
Protesters call again for closing of Latin military school Elliott Minor, Associated Press Carlos Mauricio, a torture survivor from El Salvador, will be among the thousands who gather at Fort Benning's main gate this weekend to call for the closing of a military school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America. -
11/17/05
Dissidents Rally Against SOA Gibran Maciel, Daily Nexus Online (UC Santa Barbara) Local reggae band Rebelution and about 100 students and converged on Storke Plaza yesterday to protest what they call the U.S.?s ?School of Assassins.? -
11/17/05
Soldier refuses military role, still seeks conscientious objector status Chuck Williams, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Army Spc. Katherine Jashinski, fighting back tears as she explained why she is a conscientious objector, set the tone for this week's SOA Watch protest just outside the gates of Fort Benning. -
11/17/05
Protesters call again for closing of Latin military school Elliott Minor, Associated Press Carlos Mauricio, a torture survivor from El Salvador, will be among the thousands who gather at Fort Benning's main gate this weekend to call for the closing of a military school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America. -
11/17/05
Protesters ready for annual gathering at Fort Benning main gate Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer SOA Watch organizers are confident this weekend's 16th annual protest at the gates of Fort Benning may well be the last...."We're close to shutting the school down," the movement's Outreach and Events coordinator Eric LeCompte said of the Fort Benning-based organization long known as the School of the Americas. -
11/16/05
SOA Protests to Focus on Torture Patrick Mulvaney, The Nation This coming weekend in Georgia, the annual protest against the School of the Americas--which has served as one of the clearest manifestations of US torture practices since Pentagon documents revealed the existence of courses advocating abusive tactics in 1996--is expected to draw a record number of demonstrators. -
11/15/05
Victim of torture cites army school Elizabeth Allen, San Antonio Express-News The Army School of the Americas may have changed its name and added human rights course work, but to Carlos Mauricio it's the same place he blames for the men who blindfolded him, hung him by his hands and beat him until his ribs cracked. -
11/14/05
Local Students To Fly Against U.S. Hand in Overseas Militaries Kaitlin Pike, Daily Nexus (UC Santa Barbara) In preparation for larger protests this weekend, several UCSB students will table and rally this week against the U.S. government-funded Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSE), formerly and more widely known as the School of the Americas (SOA). -
11/14/05
Activist's prison time doesn't deter his drive to close school Ken Thurman, Albany Times-Union (New York) Three years removed from a three-month federal prison term, Rich Ring is as committed to closing a controversial school as the day he "crossed the line." -
11/13/05
She hasn't retired from speaking her mind Mary Swift, King County Journal (Washington) When thousands of protesters gather at Fort Benning, Ga., next weekend to demand closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly, the School of the Americas), Sister Miriam Spencer will be among them. -
11/13/05
Panel Dissects the SOA and its Protests Jamie Hansen, Oberlin Review History Professor Greg Hammond traced the origins of the SOA to the early 19th century, when the United States first developed interest in Latin America. He explained that the SOA officially began in 1946 as a part of the United States government?s attempt to strengthen its solidarity with Latin America and unite the American continents....
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11/12/05
Bad education: U.S. training of Guatemalan military leaders is just one example Palmer Legare, Vermont Guardian In response to overwhelming evidence that the SOA has trained Latin American military personnel in civilian-targeted terrorism, representatives of the school have come up with numerous creative excuses and denials. The involvement of SOA graduates in the most brutal period of Guatemala?s counterinsurgency war demonstrated that there were more than a few "bad apples." -
11/11/05
No M?s, No More Mikey Carrington, Maroon News (Colgate University) For too long, however, the legacy of the SOA has been measured in brutal atrocities committed against innocent civilians. In countless acts of violence across several Latin American nations, SOA graduates have utilized their American-training to target political leaders, labor organizers and even members of the clergy. -
11/11/05
Survivor of dirty war recounts struggle for justice, promotes activism Canda Harbaugh, The Spectator A survivor of Argentina?s dirty war spoke about her struggle to bring justice to her torturers 25 years later, as well as drew parallels between the former Argentine government and the U.S. government. -
11/10/05
Madison bishop joins board of disputed military school Jen McCoy, Daily Cardinal Catholic clergy and local activists are questioning Madison Bishop Robert Morlino?s decision to accept a position on the advisory board at a controversial military school. -
11/10/05
Locals prepare for protest at Ga. military school Jean M. Schildz, St. Louis Review Three busloads of St. Louis-area participants will be among those taking part in the Nov. 18-20 demonstration at the Fort Benning, Ga., military school, which was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001. -
11/10/05
Maryknollers remember churchwomen slain in El Salvador Katherine Skonicki, Tidings Online Every year Maryknoll Sister Lelia "Lil" Mattingly pays special tribute to the four U.S. churchwomen slain Dec. 2, 1980, in El Salvador. Last year, before she was handcuffed and arrested at a protest at the former School of the Americas, Sister Lil planted a wooden cross in tribute to the four women on the grounds of the school in Fort Benning, Ga., that is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
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11/4/05
Cool hand Lil Ray O'Hanlon, Irish Echo A nun's step from cloister to jail cell -
11/2/05
Nun Jailed Over Protest Says She Has No Regrets Peter Smith, Louisville Courier-Journal Sister Lil Mattingly, a Louisville native and Roman Catholic nun, says she has no regrets about taking part in a protest at a military school last year, even though it landed her in federal prison for six months. -
10/31/05
WHINSEC still is a U.S. terrorist camp Elizabeth Nadeau, Minnesota Daily, Letter to the Editor Being a spin doctor for a well-funded government project is apparently an excuse for the smoke-and-mirrors defense of a military base that has both proven and alleged connections to violations of human rights, democracy and sovereignty that have occurred in the past century in the Western Hemisphere. -
10/28/05
Human rights activists keep their eye on U.S. Army base Kathrynne Skonicki, Catholic Explorer Maryknoll Sister Lelia Mattingly was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., just a month ago for her public protest against the former School of the Americas.... Yet, she is already gearing up for the next annual non-violent vigil Nov. 18-20 at the gates of the United States Army base. -
10/27/05
The American science of interrogation Rebecca Lemov, Los Angeles Times Op-Ed Debility, dependency and dread -- for decades, U.S. researchers and policymakers ramped up the techniques of "coercive" questioning. -
10/22/05
Bishop named to review board of Army school Joe Feuerherd, National Catholic Reporter Madison, Wis., Bishop Robert Morlino?s decision to join the advisory board of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is a ?scandal? and a ?betrayal to martyrs? such as Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, says a Maryknoll priest who is a leading critic of the military training facility based in Fort Benning, Ga. -
10/21/05
No place for a bishop Editorial, National Catholic Reporter Madison, Wis., Bishop Robert Morlino?s acceptance of the Pentagon?s invitation to join the advisory board of the infamous School of the Americas (SOA) successor military training facility is, at best, ill-considered. At worst, it provides an imprimatur to an institution many church leaders rightly condemn. -
10/21/05
Group informs of controversy with films, poems Jacqui L. Frye, The Parthenon (Marshall University) Images of the bones of men, women and children, interspersed with footage of the thousands of protesters who converge yearly at Fort Benning, Ga., played across the screen in the Smith Hall auditorium last night. -
10/21/05
The bishop's opportunity Editorial, Capital Times (Madison) In all of his dealings with the school, Morlino should recall the words of Sister Gwen Hennessey, a Franciscan nun from Dubuque, who was arrested at age 88 and jailed for six months in federal prison for trespassing on the school's grounds as part of a November 2000 protest calling for its closing. "If we don't say anything, if we don't speak, if we don't try to change any of this," Sister Gwen said, "then we are just complicit in the whole deal - the violation of human rights." -
10/14/05
Free Zone: Effective action Yumna Al-Ademi, Yemen Times In order to assess the injustices in our world today, it is essential to analyze the underlying systems involved and look at how these systems integrate with each other to strengthen the cause of injustice. I found out about such a system a few days ago when I attended a session about the School of the Americans (SOA), also known as the School of the Assassins. -
10/13/05
New transitional house will help women leaving prison to succeed Michele Linck, Sioux City Journal Hennessey is certain her own prison experience will help her... She and her sister Dorothy Hennessey, now 93, and also a Franciscan nun, were among 13 women arrested in 2000 during in a nonviolent protest at the U.S. Army Infantry Center in Fort Benning, Ga. -
10/13/05
Rights protester speaks on campus Joan Drammeh, West Georgian (State University of West Georgia) The Rev. Roy Bourgeois spoke against the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (S.O.A.) Monday night to a crowd of several hundred at the Z-6. As the founder of the School of Americas Watch, Bourgeois believes the school to be the muscle for U.S. policy in Latin America.
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10/12/05
Terror base on the homefront Editorial, Minnesota Daily The United States must shut down the old School of the Americas. -
10/12/05
Activist Criticizes Military Training School Jessica DiNapoli, Cornell Daily Sun Aaron Shuman ? activist, journalist, prisoner of conscience ? spoke on the boundaries between political activism and journalism, as well as how American policy regarding events in this hemisphere set precedents for global U.S. actions last night at Ithaca College. -
10/7/05
Venezuela Denounces Bush Family Ties with Terrorists Prensa Latina The Venezuelan vice president further recalled that Washington trained more than 35,000 soldiers of the continent in the School of the Americas, where they were taught torture practices, many of them applied in Venezuela some years ago. -
10/1/05
Killing of Puerto Rican Nationalist Adds 'State Terror' to Terrorism's Crimes Roberto Lovato, Pacific News Service According to Human Rights Watch and other rights groups, hundreds of others responsible for untold crimes against humanity -- most of them military and paramilitary leaders from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America -- are living comfortably on farms, beaches and rural hideouts as U.S. residents....Though they have killed enough people to fill several World Trade Centers, none of these men, many of whom were trained at the School of the Americas and other U.S. military installations...none has been designated a "terrorist" by this government. -
9/29/05
She wants it to stop Bella English, Boston Globe Spurred by her husband's death, Jennifer Harbury puts the US on trial for its role in torture abroad -
9/24/05
Prison guards protest poisoned profits; what about the inmates? Aaron Shuman, San Francisco Bay View It?s unclear how much the mostly African-American and Latino inmates working at FPI (also known as UNICOR) know of the controversy. ?This is a toxic sentence,? says Gopal Dayaneni of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. Former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Aaron Shuman reports. -
9/21/05
La bronca, con el gobierno de Bush, no con el "pueblo hermano" de EU: Hugo Ch?vez David Brooks, La Jornada (Mexico) Esta noche, en una iglesia de Manhattan, el gobernante venezolano encabez? un foro con el reverendo Jesse Jackson, el padre Roy Bourgeois y el diputado federal del Bronx Jos? Serrano, donde el tema fue Pobreza y justicia en nuestro mundo globalizado. -
9/18/05
Bourgeois receives peace award Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Priest's mind remained on his family in path of Hurricane Katrina -
9/8/05
Father loves soldier-son, but hates war Scott Herhold, San Jose Mercury News Deeply imbued with Jesuit thinking, the 56-year-old Lauro is a regular at peace vigils, a disciple of Gandhi. He takes kids to protest at the U.S. military's School of Americas in Georgia... -
9/4/05
Case mishandled Editorial, Lexington Herald-Leader Sevre-Duszynska, long an anti-war campaigner, was arrested during a November 2001 demonstration in Georgia against the former School of the Americas... -
9/1/05
Jennifer K. Harbury Knows American Torture Starts at the Top, and It Has for Decades Buzzflash Interview In her latest book, Truth, Torture and the American Way, Jennifer Harbury takes the reader on a journey as to how we arrived at Abu Ghraib. The book documents our path from Vietnam to Latin America to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo -- a chilling chronicle that gives the lie to the "few bad apples" assesment. -
8/30/05
Colombia?s Rural Counterinsurgency Propaganda Eric Fichtl, Colombia Journal Online The Colombian Army has become well-versed in the vocabulary of psychological operations, or psy-ops?partially as a result of the training it has received from the U.S. Special Forces detachments in Colombia and at the U.S. Army?s School of the Americas. -
8/28/05
Teacher fired after protest wins appeal Associated Press A teacher who was fired after spending three months in jail after taking part in a protest in Georgia against the School of the Americas wasn't insubordinate, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled.
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8/27/05
Paraguay in the cross hairs: Signs point to U.S. military base Benjamin Dangl, Vermont Guardian The U.S. military is conducting secretive operations in Paraguay and reportedly building a new base there. Human rights groups and military analysts in the region believe trouble is brewing. However, the U.S. embassy in Paraguay denies the base exists and describes the military activity as routine. -
8/19/05
What is the U.S. Military Doing in Paraguay? Ben Dangl, ZNet The U.S. military is conducting secretive operations in Paraguay and reportedly building a new base there. Human rights groups and military analysts in the region believe trouble is brewing. -
8/3/05
US Failed To Screen Foreign Trainees, GAO Says - Human rights concerns cited Boston Globe, Reuters The United States failed to screen security force trainees in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand for human rights violations before it sent those countries millions of dollars in aid, Congress' investigative arm says. -
7/31/05
CAFTA's Promise of Security Gives Central Americans the Chills Roberto Lovato, Pacific News Service Due to a long history of U.S.-led economic policies being linked with repressive security measures in Latin America, many Central Americans view the passage of a new free trade agreement with dread. Now young gang members, the writer says, are pegged as the new terrorists. -
7/29/05
Pols call to shut paramilitary school India Autry, Newsday A 12-year legislative campaign to end support for the U.S. Army School of the Americas has gained backing from New York-area members of Congress. -
7/21/05
No Moral Credibility On Venezuela Bessy Reyna, Hartford Courant Rice acts as if the nefarious School of the Americas had never existed. Now with a new name - the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - and located at Fort Benning, Ga., instead of in the jungles of Panama, it is the school where Latin American members of the military learned about torture and how to best repress political dissidents. -
7/15/05
?Mission Creep? in Latin America?U.S. Southern Command's New Security Strategy
Tom Barry U.S. security strategy in the Western Hemisphere has had, except in rare occasions, little or nothing to do with protecting national security and the U.S. homeland. Since the early 19th century, the pursuit of U.S. national security in Latin America and the Caribbean has largely been grounded in the pursuit of U.S. interests. -
7/1/05
Q&A: Colombia 'peace communities' say enough is enough Reuters AlertNet After four decades of conflict that has forced up to 3 million Colombians from their homes, some villagers have decided to take a stand and try to break the cycle of violence and displacement. So-called peace communities have sprung up across the country, declaring themselves neutral and banning arms from their borders. -
6/30/05
Old Wine in a New Glass Editorial, Periodico 26 (Cuba) But Latin America's experience with military and police schools began in l946 and couldn't be more disastrous. At that time of support for the National Security Doctrine of containing communism, the School of the Americas was created. It was a US Army institution to train Latin American military. -
6/19/05
In Colombia, Indigenous Peace Initiatives Under Attack Bill Weinberg, Pacific News Service The U.S. troops, largely advisors from Army Special Forces, are ostensibly barred from combat missions, but they intimately direct Colombian army operations. The parallels with Iraq are increasingly obvious for those who care to look. -
6/17/05
Institute grads warned of threats Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Commander avoids talk of prison, speaks to graduates on terrorism -
6/11/05
Three SOA protesters released from prison Dan Renick, Pekin Daily Times Three woman who were incarcerated for trespassing on federal grounds at Ft. Benning, Ga., as an act of civil disobedience were met by family and friends as they were released from Federal Correctional Institution-Pekin Friday morning. -
6/10/05
Victory in Court for Two SOA Watch Activists
The government dropped charges in federal court this morning against Judith Williams and Betsy Lamb for an action they took during SOA Watch?s February Lobby Day. -
5/20/05
Police in, population out after Colombian massacre Hugh Bronstein, Reuters AlertNet Except for the stubborn few who refuse to leave and the police recently assigned to protect them, this town is abandoned. The 100 families of the "peace community" of San Jose de Apartado, which eight years ago declared itself neutral in Colombia's guerrilla war, are down to about five. -
5/10/05
Protesters arrested on campus Kyle L. Robinson, The Maneater (Columbia, Missouri) On Monday morning, one Columbia resident had plans to change the lawn in front of Crowder Hall into a mock burial ground. But when former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Steve Jacobs touched his shovel to the ground, MU police immediately arrested him. -
5/3/05
The Reactionary Restriction of Justice in Colombia James J. Brittain, Colombia Journal Online In a reactionary manner, the army?s 17th Brigade responded to its humiliation not by entering the jungle to target the FARC-EP in a retaliatory campaign, but rather by attacking Colombia?s original peace community San Jos? de Apartad?. -
5/2/05
Military Triumph, Political Failure Daniel Garcia-Pena, El Espectador (Colombia) For many strategic reasons that they might have had for attacking Toribio within the ?logic? of the war, the FARC are committing the very same error that Uribe has committed: thinking that the logic of the conflict is military and not political. And what they may be winning on the field of battle, they are destroying on the field of legitimacy. -
4/30/05
Leftist Victories In Latin America Create New Opportunities for SOA Opponents Dan Bacher, ZNet The increasing number of leftist, populist led governments winning elections in Latin America means a new opportunity for Fr. Roy Bourgeois and other opponents of the School of the Americas (SOA) to close the institution down. -
4/29/05
Prisoner of Conscience Radeyah Hack, Stony Brook Statesman Curious students and staff members gathered in the Interfaith Room last Tuesday to listen to Shirley Way, a proud prisoner of conscience, tell her story. -
4/28/05
Pries determined to see U.S. Army school closed Kelly McBride, Stevens Point Journal After 15 years of fighting for the closure of the former U.S. Army School of the Americas, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois is as determined as ever his goal will be realized. -
4/28/05
U.S. Considers Toughening Stance Toward Venezuela Juan Forero, New York Times As President Hugo Ch?vez of Venezuela veers toward greater confrontation with Washington, the Bush administration is weighing a tougher approach, including funneling more money to foundations and business and political groups opposed to his leftist government, American officials say. -
4/26/05
Rice begins Latin America visit BBC News US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Brazil at the start of a five-day tour of Latin America aimed at reviving US relations in the region. -
4/26/05
Peru ex-spy chief to sue for $20m BBC News Former Peruvian spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, is seeking $20m (?10m) in damages for libel from Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon. -
4/26/05
Another Attack on Worker-Run Zanon Occupied Factory in Argentina Indymedia The workers of Zanon factory, in Argentina, and other social organizations mobilized in front of the central courthouse on April 21 to defend their factory against mounting attacks. At a moment when the courts and government must make a ?political and legal decision? concerning the ceramics factory that has been producing under worker control since 2001 ? legal attacks, death threats and physical attacks against the workers have increased. -
4/26/05
Uprising in Ecuador: Guti?rrez, Gone! All of them, Out! Indymedia Lucio Guti?rrez, who was elected President of Ecuador with the support of the social movements and the indigenous CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador) but subsequently turned his back on them, has been forced out by the Ecuadorian people after a week of massive protests. Guti?rrez abandoned campaign promises of broad social reform in order to kiss up to the IMF, back 'free trade' agreements with the US, allow increased US military presence, and generally sell out the Ecuadorian people to neoliberalism. -
4/22/05
Ex-Ecuador President Gets Asylum in Brazil Monte Hayes, Associated Press Brazil has granted asylum to former Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez, who was in the Brazilian Embassy on Thursday after being removed from office by Congress amid street protests calling for his ouster for abuse of power and misrule. -
4/21/05
Q&A: Ecuador upheaval BBC News Popular disillusionment with Ecuador's government has come to the fore after large street protests toppled President Lucio Gutierrez. What has happened? -
4/21/05
Old Lefties Don't Die Andrew Varnon, Valley Advocate (Massachusetts) If they're like 79-year-old Tom MacLean of Greenfield, they just go to prison for protesting the School of the Americas. -
4/21/05
Argentinian Jailed for Throwing Prisoners from Plane Giles Tremlett, Guardian (UK) An Argentinian former naval officer who threw prisoners, drugged and naked, to their death from planes was convicted of crimes against humanity and jailed for a total of 640 years by a Spanish court yesterday for his part in the "dirty war" against dissidents conducted by the Argentinian military regime in the 1970s. -
4/20/05
Ecuador Lawmakers Vote to Remove Gutierrez Monte Hayes, Associated Press Lawmakers in Ecuador voted Wednesday to remove embattled President Lucio Gutierrez from office after a week of escalating street protests demanding his ouster, and they swore in Vice President Alfredo Palacio to replace him. -
4/20/05
The Anti-Empire Report, No. 20 William Blum, ZNet The US has of course also arrested numerous American dissidents at anti-war, anti-globalization, anti-School of the Americas, and other demonstrations, many sentenced up to months in prison with concurrent physical and psychological abuse. -
4/20/05
A Letdown for Mi Madre H?ctor Tobar, Los Angeles Times Until Tuesday, my mother had some fleeting hope that the next pope would be Latin American, and thus a stealth radical like her. She wanted someone who would dress himself in church tradition, embrace its seemingly conservative and staid rituals and symbols and yet speak and act in the interests of the poor and hungry masses. -
4/20/05
Poverty in Latin America Faces Pope John Rice, Associated Press Pope Benedict XVI need not compete for the love many here feel for John Paul, but he might have to surpass his predecessor in coping with problems that are often unique to the church in Latin America. -
4/20/05
'Dirty war' officer found guilty BBC News An Argentine ex-naval officer has been convicted in Spain of crimes against humanity and given 640 years in prison. -
4/19/05
Toribio Attacked Hector Mondragon, ZNet An attempt to militarize the territory at the heart of Colombia?s popular movement is underway -
4/19/05
Ecuador President Dissolves Supreme Court Monte Hayes, Associated Press President Lucio Gutierrez declared a state of emergency in the capital city of this Andean Mountain country and dissolved a Supreme Court he and his allies had appointed last winter, saying the unpopular judges were the cause of three days of pot-banging street protests in Quito. -
4/16/05
Rights outcry over Chile deadline Michael Voss, BBC News Human rights lawyers in Chile are worried that a large number of investigations into murder and torture allegedly committed by former members of the armed forces may have to close. -
4/14/05
Negroponte Hearing Interrupted by Activists
Listen to this :30 clip of longtime SOA Watch activist Andrés Conteras interrupting the Negroponte hearings, saying "you have supported death squads" and imploring him to establish a "truth commission to show that the United States supports torture." -
4/14/05
Activist spawned from club creation Andy Laughlin, Sacramento State Hornet (California) Leisa Faulkner-Barnes picked up a flier 21⁄2 years ago about a new peace activists? group on campus. Since then she has traveled to foreign nations and has even spent several months in a federal prison as part of her personal mission to share her message with the rest of the world. -
4/13/05
Cables Show Central Negroponte Role in 80's Covert War Against Nicaragua Scott Shane, New York Times Hundreds of newly released cables that John D. Negroponte sent to Washington while serving as ambassador to Honduras in the 1980's show that he played a more central and assertive role than previously known in managing the United States' covert war against Nicaragua's leftist government, which he called "our special project." -
4/13/05
Legal Mexican Migrant Workers Protest Morgan Lee, Associated Press More than a dozen legal Mexican and Central American migrant workers recruited by U.S. companies filed a complaint Wednesday alleging they were abused and denied rights guaranteed by the North American Free Trade Agreement. -
4/13/05
San Jos? de Apartad?: Peace Massacred Javier Giraldo, SJ, ZNet After eight years of documenting atrocities committed against this heroic community and denouncing them to the authorities, I still had trouble understanding just what had happened. When I thought back over the more than 500 crimes we had denounced over the years, it seemed this was but one more case within a plan of persecution and extermination to which San Jos? has been subjected since the peace community was formed in 1996. -
4/12/05
Colombia Paramilitary Peace Process Sags Kim Housego, Associated Press Colombian lawmakers hid ? then headed for the exits ? to avoid voting on a contentious provision of a bill that would have helped shield paramilitary leaders from extradition on drug charges. The measure was ultimately rejected. -
4/12/05
Colombia fighters reject amnesty Jeremy McDermott, BBC News Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries say they'll withdraw from peace talks and return to war unless the government changes proposed amnesty legislation. -
4/11/05
Torture suspect is arrested in Chile Alfonso Chardy and Robert L. Steinback, Miami Herald A Miami-Dade resident was arrested in Chile on suspicion of participating in the torture of political prisoners under dictator Augusto Pinochet. -
4/9/05
Students should stand against School of Americas 'education' Joseph Walsh, Loyola University Maroon Today, a new pioneer graces this great nation, a pioneer who stands in solidarity with brothers and sisters in Central and South America as they try to throw off the yoke this country has placed on them. They are those men and women who, because of a commitment to peace and justice, cross the line at Ft. Benning, Ga. every year onto the campus of the former School of the Americas. -
4/8/05
US offers to ease Ecuador crisis BBC News The US has offered to mediate in Ecuador's growing political crisis as a deadlock continues over government efforts to overhaul the Supreme Court. -
4/8/05
Colombia 'will not try US troops' BBC News A group of US soldiers arrested for alleged cocaine smuggling cannot be allowed to stand trial in Colombia, Washington's envoy to Bogota has said. -
4/7/05
Brazil Arrests Suspect in Nun's Death Associated Press Police on Thursday arrested an associate of the rancher charged in the killing of an American nun who died defending poor settlers in the Amazon rain forest. -
4/7/05
Couple finds "son" in Sierra Leone Virginia De Leon, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Thousands of miles away from his homeland, the young man who survived the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone came to the Palouse and discovered his childhood. A story about former prisoner of conscience Rich Weckerle, his wife Dana and a new member of their family. -
4/5/05
DOD: U.S. 'hands tied' in South America Pamela Hess, Washington Times As the Bush administration tries to craft a new foreign policy toward what they call "an increasingly belligerent Venezuela," Pentagon and military officials say they cannot blunt that nation's regional influence unless a law meant to protect U.S. personnel from prosecution in the International Criminal Court is changed. -
4/4/05
Mary Swenson -- Presente! Star Tribune, (Minneapolis-St. Paul) Long-time SOA Watch activist Mary Swenson passed away on March 31 in Minneapolis. -
4/4/05
War Crimes Tribunal Asks Colombia for Info Associated Press The International Criminal Court has asked Colombia for information on alleged atrocities committed by armed groups to determine whether the tribunal should investigate further. -
3/31/05
Brazil Panel Finds Plot Behind Nun's Death Michael Astor, Associated Press Members of a Brazilian Senate commission said Wednesday they had found evidence of a broad conspiracy behind the killing of American nun Dorothy Stang. -
3/30/05
Venezuela: Supreme Court Opens Way To Jail Coup Leaders Stuart Munckton, Green Left Weekly On March 11 the constitutional chamber of Venezuela's Supreme Court annulled the infamous decision made by the court on August 14, 2002, that set free the four military officers who led the April 2002 coup against left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The new ruling opens the way for the four, no longer in the military, to be charged for their role in the coup by the country's attorney general. -
3/29/05
Nun suspect farmer held in Brazil BBC News A Brazilian farmer suspected of ordering the killing of US-born missionary Dorothy Stang has surrendered to police. -
3/28/05
The legacy of Archbishop Romero Joe Mozingo, Miami Herald Twenty-five years after the assassination of a Salvadoran prelate, his ideal of fighting repression and social injustice survives -
3/25/05
U.S. to Lift Ban on Military Aid to Guatemala Ginger Thompson, New York Times Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced Thursday that the United States would lift its ban on military aid to Guatemala, whose government has embarked on a major effort to change a military accused of kidnappings and massacres during more than 30 years of civil war. -
3/25/05
Oscar Romero, Presente! John Dear, CommonDreams.org Oscar Romero was killed -- by SOA graduates -- twenty-five years ago today, but he lives on in El Salvador, Latin America and even in the United States, wherever people give their lives in the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace. -
3/24/05
Fr. Roy: Leading figure in anti-torture movement visits Willits Camas Frank, The Willits News Does the United States support the training of torture and death squads in Third World countries? That was the subject of a talk given by the Rev. Fr. Roy Bourgeois in Willits in March. -
3/24/05
Salvadorans Commemorate Romero's Death Diego Mendez, Associated Press Activists from around the world gathered in this Central American country Thursday to remember Bishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a human rights proponent who was gunned down 25 years ago. -
3/24/05
Pinochet murder case blocked BBC News Augusto Pinochet cannot be prosecuted over the killing of his predecessor as Chile's army chief, the country's Supreme Court has ruled. -
3/24/05
Requiem for Romero Maurice Walsh, BBC News Twenty-five years ago today, Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot dead while saying Mass in a small chapel at a cancer hospice in San Salvador, El Salvador. -
3/24/05
U.S. Rewards Guatemala With Military Aid John J. Lumpkin, Associated Press U.S. Rewards Guatemala for Its Progress in Overhauling Military With $3.2 Million in Aid -
3/24/05
Guatemala murder jail terms cut BBC News Guatemala's appeals court has reduced by 10 years the sentences of two former army officers convicted for the 1998 murder of Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi. -
3/23/05
The Slight Imperfections of the Uribe Era Laura del Castillo Matamoros, Narco News The Colombian Government?s Concepts of ?Justice? and ?Peace? in Light of the Massacre at San Jos? de Apartad? -
3/23/05
Guatemalan Court Reduces Sentence in Killing of Catholic Bishop Catherine Elton, Voice of America News An appeals court has reduced the jail time for two military officers previously convicted of the high profile, 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi, who headed the Catholic Church's human rights office in Guatemala. -
3/23/05
Too Cruel for School Jeff Fleischer, Mother Jones The infamous School of the Americas is still in business, albeit with a new name. And you can still get thrown in jail for protesting there. -
3/23/05
Working for a better world Karen Rubin, San Gabriel Valley Tribune Former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Mike Wisniewski's abiding sympathy for the politically oppressed and the disenfranchised has led him on a journey with stops in a federal prison, several peace rallies and a Skid Row soup kitchen. -
3/22/05
School has new name, but old problems linger Douglas Turner, Buffalo News (New York) Their deadly alumni keep popping up all over Latin America. Last month, the Mexican government said graduates of an American military college are among heavily armed gangsters involved in hundreds of drug-related murders along our southern border. -
3/21/05
Jailed for Dissent "In These Times" Chris Gaunt, Progressive Librarian Former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Chris Gaunt addresses her prison sentence and the war in Iraq in this talk given last year. -
3/21/05
Local protest blasts Iraq war Cathy Kightlinger, Indianapolis Star More than 200 at Monument Circle demonstrate for peace 2 years after invasion, including former SOA Watch "prisoners of conscience" Charity Ryerson and Jeremy John. -
3/21/05
Not All Prisoners Can Go Home To Mansions William Collins, The Day (Connecticut) A former state Representative writes about former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Marie Salupo and some others who shared her prison home. -
3/20/05
Chronicle of a Crisis Foretold: El Salvador on the Brink of Economic Collapse? Alex Modotti, ZNet.org El Salvador ended 2004 with a series of grim economic records, including a significant rise in the cost of living that is straining the already tight pocketbooks of working and middle class Salvadorans. The statistics around inflation in the cost of basic food staples and transportation were so significant that they made headline news in January. However, for all but El Salvador?s wealthiest, these statistics only corroborate the economic squeeze they?ve already been struggling to live with for the past few years. -
3/19/05
Pinochet Held 125 Accounts in U.S. Banks, Report Says Eric Dash, New York Times A Senate committee report to be released today suggested that the ties between the former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and American financial institutions were deeper and more extensive than previously disclosed. -
3/16/05
Deligio: 'Human rights are not negotiable' Jason Carson Wilson, The Daily Times Sometimes, the best education is not found in the classroom. "My education continues and my graduation is put on hold," said Elizabeth Nadeau, a University of Minnesota anthropology major who said she would have graduated in May.
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3/16/05
OAS official links drugs, terrorism Mick Walsh, Ledger-Enquirer Liugi R. Einaudi, who presented the annual Simon Bolivar Democracy and Human Rights lecture Monday at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, suggested that the pipeline that carries illegal drugs from Latin America to the United States flows both ways and that the same conveyor may funnel terrorists as well. -
3/15/05
Catholic Nun Begins Sentence for School of Americas Protest Kathleen Murphy, Religion News Service Before going behind bars Tuesday (March 15), Sister Lelia "Lil" Mattingly said she expected jail would be cold and dreary compared to life in a convent. But the nun sentenced in connection with a protest in Georgia said her imprisonment follows Jesus' way, "to speak the truth to power and pay the consequences."
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3/15/05
Priest promises to continue to fight Army school Frank Hartzell, Ft. Bragg Advocate-News Father Roy Bourgeois told a Fort Bragg crowd on Friday night that going to prison for his beliefs was hard, but it was easy compared with explaining his prison sentence to his mother. -
3/10/05
Colombia: Massacre at Peace Community Virginia McGlone, World War 4 Report Peasant Pacifist Leader and Family Killed by Army at San Jose de Apartado -
3/9/05
Killing peace in Colombia Daniel Bland, Toronto Star Luis Eduardo Guerra, 35, his wife and son and five others were murdered by Colombian soldiers on Feb. 21. He had been bringing down some cocoa on horseback from his farm in the hills above San Jos? when they got him. -
3/7/05
Audio Link: Fr Roy Bourgeois and Leisa Faulkner Barnes Speak Recorded by Dan Roberts, www.outfarpress.com Click on the link to hear a talk given by SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois and former prisoner of conscience Leisa Faulkner Barnes in Mendocino County, California earlier this month. -
3/7/05
Tension Over Massacre Mounts Constanza Vieira, Inter Press Service News Agency The tension between the Colombian government and the small San Jos? de Apartad? Peace Community, in that country's northwestern banana-producing region, continues to mount. -
3/7/05
Speakers shed light on school for 'militiamen' Rebecca Adler, Sacramento State Hornet (CA) Democratic congressional candidate Julie Padilla joined the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of the Americas Watch, and Leisa Faulkner Barnes, a Sacramento State graduate student, in informing students about a school now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
3/7/05
Mexican authorities move to quell violence in border town Tracey Eaton and Alfredo Corchado, Dallas Morning News Hundreds of federal police agents fanned out across this violence-scarred border town Monday to try to bring some peace to the streets, but that did little to calm the nerves of frightened residents who have seen more than 20 drug-related murders this year alone. -
3/7/05
Colombia Killings Imperil U.S. Aid Associated Press, Washington Post A Colombian army unit blamed for the massacre of eight civilians denied responsibility for the killings Friday, even as the United States called for a swift investigation. The slayings have raised doubts about the military's commitment to human rights and jeopardized part of Washington's huge military aid package to this embattled nation. -
3/5/05
Ecuador: Oil exploitation and environment rape Carlos Herrera, AxisofLogic.com A Bolivarian activist writes of the ecological disaster caused in Ecuador by Texaco and of the battles that lie ahead as the oil transnationals close in once again on the indigenous peoples of Amazonia. -
3/5/05
US Bars Nicaragua Heroine as 'Terrorist' Duncan Campbell, The Guardian (London) Writers and Academics Voice Anger as State Department Refuses Visa to let Sandinista Revolutionary Take Up Post as Harvard Professor -
3/4/05
Colombia Massacre Raises Rights Issues Andrew Selsky, Associated Press, The Guardian (UK) A Colombian army unit blamed for a massacre denied killing the eight civilians, even as the United States called for a swift investigation Friday. The slayings raise doubts about the military's commitment to human rights and jeopardize part of Washington's huge military aid package to this embattled nation. -
3/4/05
UN calls for full probe of massacre in Colombia Associated Press A United Nations official has demanded a full investigation of the massacre of eight civilians amid accusations Colombian soldiers carried out the brutal killings, in which the victims were hacked to pieces with machetes. -
3/4/05
Firms Tap Latin Americans for Iraq Danna Hartman, A history of recent wars makes the region attractive to private companies recruiting for security forces. -
3/3/05
Negroponte's Sins...On Film David Corn, The Nation In mid-February, The New York Times ran a news story headlined "Intelligence Nominee Comes Under Renewed Scrutiny on Human Rights." That was, alas, not quite true. -
3/2/05
Struggling with Our Own Inhumanity: The price of torture Uwe Jacobs, San Francisco Chronicle Torture is currently enjoying its 15 minutes of fame, courtesy of the war on terrorism. But, as we are all unfortunately learning, torture American-style is refusing to make a graceful exit from the public stage. -
3/2/05
Activism leads 79-year-old Greenfield man to prison Rickie Davis, Greenfield Recorder Tom MacLean had been at Fort Benning twice before his most recent arrest. In 1944, he did basic training at the Georgia Army base. He returned 54 years later in 1998 and was arrested while protesting the Army's School of the Americas combat-training camp for Latin American soldiers. -
3/2/05
Colombia Denies Army Massacred Children Press Association News, The Scotsman (UK) Colombia?s defence minister has denied accusations that army troops massacred eight peasants, including four children, in a remote village in northwest Colombia a week ago, saying no soldiers were in the area at the time. -
3/2/05
Colombian army accused of murder after U.S. praise Jason Webb, Reuters A Catholic priest and a former mayor accused Colombian troops of killing eight villagers, including a six-year-old girl and two-year-old boy, for helping Marxist rebels, just as the United States said its key South American ally has improved its human rights record. -
3/1/05
Torture Ruling Against Generals Dropped Associated Press A federal appeals court reversed a $54.6 million verdict against two retired Salvadoran generals accused of torture during the civil war in their home country two decades ago. -
3/1/05
Left-wing Uruguay leader sworn in BBC News Uruguay has inaugurated its first left-wing president, Tabare Vazquez, in front of several of Latin America's most prominent leftist leaders. -
3/1/05
Haitian Police Open Fire on Nonviolent March for Democracy Bill Quigley, CommonDreams One year ago today, the elected government of Haiti, led by President Jean Betrand Aristide, was forced out of office and replaced by unlected people more satisfactory to business interests and the US, France and Canada. Bill Quigley, a lawyer with the SOA Watch Legal Collective, writes from Haiti. -
3/1/05
How Latin America Turned to the Left Rupert Cornwell, The Independent (UK) Uruguay Swears in its First Left-Wing President Today, Joined by the New Wave of Leaders in the Region - and Fidel Castro; the Event Symbolizes Waning US Influence -
3/1/05
Colombia: Remembering as Resistance Margaret Knapke, The Nonviolent Activist I enter the Popay?n office of the Association for the Families of the Detained and Disappeared, and my eyes move irresistibly to the single, brilliant magenta wall. Eighteen pairs of eyes look back, holding me fast. -
3/1/05
UN refugee agency deplores murder of displaced Colombian families UN News Centre The United Nations refugee agency today strongly condemned the brutal murders of eight people, including three children, in northwestern Colombia, the latest in a string of attacks against people who had been displaced by the decades-long conflict between left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and Government forces. -
3/1/05
Jolie Christine Rickman - ¡Presente! Aimee Rickman and Colleen Kattau Peace and social justice feminist musician, activist,and humanitarian watchdog Jolie Christine Rickman of Brooklyn, New York passed away January 19, 2005 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City, eleven months following her diagnosis of ovarian cancer. She was 34 years old. -
3/1/05
Brazil Environmentalist Shot in Rain Forest Rodrigo Gaier, Reuters A Brazilian environmentalist was killed in an Atlantic rain forest on Tuesday night, only 10 days after a U.S. nun and activist against illegal logging was murdered in the Amazon jungle. -
2/24/05
Ex-troops aiding drug traffickers Jerry Seper, The Washington Times Former Mexican soldiers, police and federal agents, originally trained as an elite force of anti-drug commandos, are working as mercenaries for Mexican narcotics traffickers, bringing a new wave of drug-related killings into the United States, authorities said. -
2/24/05
CGC members travel to D.C., challenge WHISC Megan Peter, The Spectator (Seattle University) The Coalition for Global Concern (CGC) is very active in the realm of social justice not only on campus but off campus as well. Most recently numerous members of the club have traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby a bill. -
2/24/05
Latin America Fails to Deliver on Basic Needs Juan Forero, New York Times Piped water, like the runoff from the glaciers above this city, runs tantalizingly close to Remedios Cuyu?a's home. But with no way to pay the $450 hookup fee charged by the French-run waterworks, she washes her clothes and bathes her three children in frigid well water beside a fetid creek. So in January, when legions of angry residents rose up against the company, she eagerly joined in. -
2/22/05
Mexican Assassins A Growing Threat Associated Press At least three drug-related slayings in North Texas are being blamed on a team of rogue Mexican commandos accused of orchestrating dozens of murders along the U.S.-Mexico border, raising fears that the drug war is moving north. -
2/22/05
Dallas men's deaths stir cartel inquiry Alfredo Corchado and Angela Kocherga, Dallas Morning News Authorities looking into whether killings are linked to rogue soldiers -
2/22/05
My View: Negroponte ignored human rights Max Paul Friedman, Tallahasee Democrat President Bush praised John Negroponte, his new nominee to the powerful post of director of national intelligence, for bringing a "unique set of skills" to the job. Since Negroponte's skills include evading congressional oversight and covering up human rights abuses, the Senate, in its confirmation hearings, may wish to inquire further about his record. -
2/21/05
Guatemalan bishop's murder case re-opened Catholic World News After more than two years since a conviction in the case was handed down, the highest court in Guatemala, the Constitutional Court, has ordered a court of appeals to settle outstanding issues related to a 2002 ruling on the murder of Auxiliary Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi of Guatemala City, which took place in April, 1998. -
2/21/05
U.S. officials say Zetas have killed in Texas Wire Services, El Universal Investigators say the feared band of ex-military elite forces are operating in Texas and other parts of the United States. -
2/20/05
Mexican Zetas extending violence into Dallas Alfredo Corchado, Dallas Morning News A team of rogue Mexican commandos blamed for dozens of killings along the U.S.-Mexico border has carried out at least three drug-related slayings in Dallas, a sign that the group is extending its deadly operations into U.S. cities, two American law enforcement officials say. -
2/20/05
About the Zetas Alfredo Corchado, Dallas Morning News The Zetas, a group of former elite Mexican army commandos, have worked for the notorious Gulf cartel since the late 1990s, providing firepower, security, coercion and the force needed for settling scores with rival drug-trafficking organizations, law enforcement officials say. -
2/19/05
More than an image problem Editorial, National Catholic Reporter During the familiar annual processing ritual for School of the Americas protesters this year, new information surfaced about a comprehensive plan devised by the U.S. Army to deflect criticism of the school, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. -
2/18/05
SOA protesters headed for prison Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter Sister, students among 14 charged with trespass at Army school -
2/18/05
PR campaign calls for monitoring news, priest's travels Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter Testimony introduced during the federal trespass trial of peace activist Aaron Shuman documents an intricate U.S. Army plan to fight off criticism of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and its predecessor, the School of the Americas. -
2/18/05
Negroponte Draws Criticism South of Border Lisa J. Adams, Associated Press Central American politicians and human rights activists issued stinging criticism Thursday of John Negroponte, nominated to become America's first intelligence director, citing the career diplomat's active backing for the Contra rebels and support for a government involved in human rights abuses. -
2/18/05
Brazil Orders Amazon Reserve After Killing Michael Astor, Associated Press Brazil's president ordered the creation of a huge Amazon environmental protection area in a lawless region coveted by soy farmers and ranchers less than a week after an American nun was gunned down trying to protect the jungle from deforestation. -
2/18/05
Negroponte's Dark Past David Corn, The Nation How many times can I write the same piece about John Negroponte? Like dirty money, tainted reputations can be laundered, as the Administration fervently hopes in the case of John Negroponte. -
2/17/05
Activists Hope Nun's Slaying in Amazon Is Catalyst for Change Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times As mourners laid her bullet-riddled body to rest Tuesday, environmentalists and colleagues of slain missionary Dorothy Stang seesawed between fragile optimism and angry skepticism over a question they had hoped never to consider. -
2/16/05
Drug fighters switch sides, aid traffickers Susana Hayward, Knight Ridder News Mexico's war on drug gangs pits the army and police against former elite anti-drug commandos who now work for drug bosses. -
2/15/05
Activist nun shot dead in Amazon rainforest Michael Astor, The Guardian Cabinet ministers and police officers arrived in the eastern Amazon region of Brazil yesterday to investigate the fatal shooting of a missionary nun compared to the 1988 murder of the rainforest activist Chico Mendes. -
2/14/05
Maryknoll sister going to jail Gary Stern, The Journal News Maryknoll Sister Lil Mattingly is as soft-spoken as you might expect a nun who works among the poor to be. But she also has fierce political convictions and will soon go to jail to demonstrate them. -
2/13/05
U.S. Nun Killed In Brazil Associated Press An American nun who spent decades fighting efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear large areas of the Amazon rainforest was shot to death Saturday in northern Brazil, authorities said. -
2/12/05
Zetas create obstacle for fighting drug war Susana Hayward, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram The men were members of the Zetas, former Mexican elite commandos -- trained to combat drug traffickers -- who have switched sides. As the government dispatches federal police and soldiers to cities along the U.S. border in an effort to staunch a war between rival drug gangs, it faces a major challenge with the Zetas. -
2/12/05
Roy Bourgeois's mission to close the SOA Chris White, National Catholic Reporter A review of James Hodge and Linda Cooper's new book, Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas -
2/11/05
Spring break trip to El Salvador suits teen Beth Douglass Silcox, Star correspondent Brebeuf student wants to build relationships in what could be start of annual service project. -
2/10/05
Protest leads to jail time for Arnold woman Jill L. Randall, Jefferson County Journal Meagan Doty, a 22-year-old Arnold woman, is facing a federal prison sentence after protesting against a government-run school that she says specializes in torture and human rights violations. -
2/9/05
New move over Pinochet immunity Clinton Porteous, BBC News A Chilean judge has requested former President General Augusto Pinochet be stripped of legal immunity to enable a new human rights abuse investigation. -
2/9/05
Peace activist approaches mission with optimism Patrick O'Neill, Chapel Hill News (NC) When Lois Ann Hobbs, 83, heard the Rev. Roy Bourgeois speak at UNC on Saturday, she was moved by the message of the former Latin American missionary who has built a movement to close the U.S. Army?s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formally known as the School of the Americas. -
2/9/05
We cannot condone torture Aaron Shuman, Editorial - Inside Bay Area The New Year's Eve release of a Department of Justice memo redefining "torture" is as close to an admission of guilt as we are likely to get from the government, as well as a dishonest attempt to dodge responsibility to its victims, and Alberto Gonzales' tap-dancing around the issue and confirmation as attorney general is further proof of that. -
2/9/05
Alumnus jailed for protest at Army base Andrea Ford, The Villanovan Trespassing on a U.S. Army base landed a University alumnus in federal prison last week. -
2/5/05
Punishing the Wrong People Patrick Mulvaney, The Nation A federal magistrate in Georgia sentenced eleven people to prison for up to six months last week for crossing the line onto a military base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience last fall....The sentences are not unlike those doled out to past SOA protesters, but they are, viewed from a broader perspective, strikingly harsh and excessive, especially in a year in which the use of torture has generated headlines. -
2/2/05
Combating Oppression Inside and Outside Betita Martinez, Z Magazine SOA Watch has long included a wide range of people in terms of age, gender, geography and to some degree sexual orientation, with much less variety in race, class, religion and physical ability (ableness). -
2/1/05
Local peace activist sentenced to 6 more months Matt Gryta, Buffalo News (NY) Alice Gerard, a longtime Buffalo peace activist, has been sentenced to another six months in federal prison for protests at the Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning, Ga., legal officials confirmed Monday. -
2/1/05
An Evaluation Darren Parker, Z Magazine In evaluating the weekend, here are some of the comments made by Darren Parker, who led the workshop with The Color of Fear.
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2/1/05
Ashfield activist gets 3 months Betsy Calvert,The Republican An Ashfield resident, J. Thomas MacLean, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ga., to three months in a federal prison medical facility.
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1/30/05
Two get 120-day sentences Jim Houston, Ledger Enquirer Two protesters who represented themselves and demanded trials on the federal trespass charges brought during the November School of Americas Watch demonstration were sentenced to 120-day prison terms Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth.
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1/27/05
Juveniles given chance for reprieve Jim Houston, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Boys get opportunity to do community service in Ohio to avoid convictions -
1/26/05
Activists sentenced for military school protest Associated Press A chaplain and a 79-year-old retiree were among five activists sentenced to three months of federal incarceration for trespassing during a protest at the former School of the Americas. -
1/25/05
Activists face trial today Jim Houston, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Fourteen face trespassing charges from protests -
1/24/05
Guns, God and Grain Ari Berman, The Daily Outrage Colin Powell and the US government hoped US aid and military assistance in the wake of the tsunami disaster would improve America's plummeting image in the Muslim world. -
1/20/05
Going to Jail to Make a Point Patrick O'Neill, The Independent (Durham, NC) Why's a nice guy like Dan Schwankl probably going to be spending three to six months this year locked away in federal prison? -
1/19/05
Facing Charges, Not Discomforts Mary Jordan, The Washington Post ANTIGUA, Guatemala -- Efrain Rios Montt, the former dictator who presided over one of the bloodiest eras in Guatemalan history, has been under house arrest in the capital since early last year. -
1/9/05
The 'Salvador Option' Michael Hirsh and John Barry, Newsweek The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq. What to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon's latest approach is being called "the Salvador option" -
1/8/05
A 'gentle prophet' who lived the Beatitudes ARTHUR JONES, National Catholic Reporter She was a gentle, smiling woman. Same pew every morning at Mass in St. Thomas More Pro-Cathedral in Tallahassee, Fla. Modest, and calming. -
1/7/05
Controversial Army School Deserves Second Look David Mann The Kentucky Standard Speaking with a Maryknoll Sister earlier this week I caught wind of an old debate
that was entirely new to me. -
1/7/05
Record Numbers Demand US Closure of "School of the Assassins" Stuart Neatby, The Dominion (Canada) For me, November 20th began with an early morning plenary at a business convention centre in Columbus, Georgia. By 9 AM, the ballroom of the Centre was filled with about a thousand people. -
1/4/05
Record Crowd Demands Closure of "School of Assassins" Stuart Neatby,The Dominion For me, November 20th began with an early morning plenary at a business convention centre in Columbus, Georgia. By 9 AM, the ballroom of the Centre was filled with about a thousand people. -
1/4/05
A message of peace and hope Jamie Manfuso, Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida) SOA Watchers Faith Fippinger and Eric LeCompte address hundreds as they usher in the new year with prayers for tsunami victims, world peace -
1/2/05
?No Mas! No More! We must stop the Dirty Wars! Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez, Z Magazine Chicana historian and activist Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez writes about her experience at the 2004 vigil and Direct Action to close the SOA/ WHINSEC. -
1/1/05
Remembering Randy Swift Press and Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) Longtime SOA Watch activist Randy Swift will be remembered for his deep committment to social justice and his sense of humor. -
12/26/04
SOA Watch gets award Angelique Soenarie, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Honored for annual protest -
12/15/04
The Miseducation of Latin America Aaron Mandel, American Prospect The School of the Americas has a new name, but its mission hasn't changed. An interview with author Lesley Gill. -
12/15/04
Our Man in San Salvador Nick Shou, Orange County Weekly Notorious general?s U.S. ties ran through an ex-Orange County cop -
12/15/04
Chilean Torture Victims Demand Compensation, Prosecution Kevin G. Hall, Knight-Ridder Many Chileans tortured during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet are rejecting a government offer of symbolic payments more than 30 years later, demanding substantial compensation instead and legal action against torturers. -
12/13/04
Victim of Latin American Torture Claims Abu Ghraib Abuse was Official US Policy Andrew McLeod, The Sunday Herald (Scotland) FOR many Latin American victims of torture, the infamous pictures of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison brought back not only chilling recollections of their own experiences, but also confirmed what they have long maintained: that their torturers were following interrogation guidelines set by the US Army School of the Americas (SOA). -
12/12/04
Fully Catholic, American Editorial, National Catholic Reporter Given the cultural tenor of church and society today, it is unlikely that the annual gatherings to protest the School of the Americas will receive much official recognition in either sphere. But this is a thoroughly Catholic and American activity, an action growing out of the best instincts of both communities. -
12/10/04
Sisters protest at fort year after year Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter Scores of middle-aged and elderly nuns travel to Fort Benning each fall to join the SOA Watch demonstration. Some have been imprisoned for civil disobedience. Many of these women religious joined the convent in the 1950s and early ?60s out of devotion to God. Some say they never imagined their early vocations to teaching or health care work would eventually transform into today?s protests against the U.S. government. -
12/10/04
General's SOA connection uncovered Linda Cooper and James Hodge, National Catholic Reporter Salvadoran implicated in 1989 massacre was graduate, documents show -
12/10/04
'Speak to the inhumanity of empire,' bishop says Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter It?s because of his sense of solidarity with the poor and other outcasts that Bishop Gabino Zavala said he came last month to be one of the speakers at the annual SOA Watch gathering that draws thousands of Catholics to a two-day protest outside Fort Benning?s gates in opposition to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a U.S. Army training school for Latin American soldiers. -
12/10/04
Tom MacLean: Fighting For Justice For 50 Years Clayton Salem, West County News (MA) The story of how Tom MacLean came to be incarcerated, and why he refused to post bail, is both long and short. It is the story of a boy from a small town in Kentucky, it is the story of a deliberate life change, and it is the story of outrage at the School of the Americas. -
12/9/04
Ethics and the Shadow of Torture David Anderson, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, PBS President Bush's nomination of his White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as attorney general will almost certainly -- at least briefly -- once again raise the shadow of torture and whether or not the United States not only practices it but also condones it at the highest level of the government. -
12/3/04
Latin American Christians for Peace Tom P. Driver On October 30 this year in Bogot?, Colombia, there took place a rally of more than 2000 persons from about twenty countries gathered under the banner of a new Continental Movement of Christians for Peace with Justice and Dignity. -
12/2/04
Protesting for peace Theresa Hogue, Corvallis Gazette-Times (Oregon Corvallis activist keeps annual vigil at School of the Americas -
11/29/04
Democracy's Real Enemy David Bastone, Sojourners We at Sojourners do not consider torture quaint, any more than we accept murder as a necessary response to terror. That is why we are actively involved in the campaign to close the School of the Americas. -
11/28/04
After prison term, peace activist still dedicated to cause Walt Wiley, Sacramento Bee A year ago, Leisa Barnes was headed for a 90-day sentence in the federal women's prison in Dublin.
Now the peace activist is just back from Georgia, where she was nearly arrested again. -
11/26/04
Hayward protesters take anti-war message to Georgia Michelle Myers, Alameda Times Star (California) Retired pastor, Democratic leader join 'amazing' demonstration at military school for Latin Americans -
11/25/04
Peace activist turns himself in Mark Stodghill, Duluth News Tribune (Minnesota) Michael Walli, a peace activist who was in prison for protesting at the former School of the Americas and wanted on a federal warrant for trespassing at the ELF transmitter site near Clam Lake, Wis., turned himself in to the U.S. Marshal's Office in Duluth on Wednesday. -
11/25/04
Seven days for consideration Jos? Steinsleger, La Jornada (Mexico) In this article, the Mexican newspaper La Jornada places the Vigil to Close the SOA/ WHINSEC in a broad context of anti-militarist actions that took place throughout the Americas the week of November 16, 2004. -
11/24/04
To the courtroom Melanie Bennett, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Judge Faircloth sets bonds; federal trials set for January -
11/23/04
At least 20 arrested at protest of U.S. school for Latin American soldiers Canadian Broadcasting Corporation At least 20 people were arrested Sunday while protesting a U.S.-run military school for Latin Americans, some of whose graduates they claim later committed civil rights abuses that included murder.
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11/23/04
Thousands Protest SOA Patrick Mulvaney, The Nation More than 16,000 people converged on Fort Benning this past weekend to protest the School of the Americas, a US-run training camp for Latin American soldiers. Officially renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001, the SOA was founded by the US Army in Panama in 1946 and moved to its current location at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia, in 1984. -
11/23/04
U.S. Congressman Marries Ex-Dictator's Daughter Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters A U.S congressman married the daughter of Guatemala's most notorious former dictator on Saturday in a controversial wedding that took place in a high-walled compound ringed with razor wire. -
11/23/04
Protest draws crowd at Fort Benning Mary MacDonald, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Four hours into one of the largest protests recorded at the gates of Fort Benning, the 82-year-old Roman Catholic nun took a break. Mary Courtman had traveled from Tacoma, Wash., to participate in the demonstration against the base's former School of the Americas. -
11/22/04
Thousands protest "wrongs of politics" Nicole Mullins, Indiana Tribune Star Sisters of Providence, St. Mary's students take stand against former School of the Americas. -
11/22/04
A2 protesters rally against School of the Americas Rachel Kruer, Michigan Daily Protesters congregated in front of the Ann Arbor Federal Building Saturday to show solidarity with protests nationwide calling for the closing of the School of the Americas. -
11/22/04
16,000 seek closing of military school Chicago Tribune News Services, Chicago Tribune At least 20 people were arrested Sunday while protesting a U.S.-run military school for Latin Americans, some of whose graduates they claim later committed civil rights abuses and murder. -
11/22/04
Chorus of dissent Richard Hyatt, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Fences can't restrain medley of voices, growing parameters of annual protest -
11/22/04
Cheers' star Wendt watches and learns Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Norrrrrm!
Despite having one of the most recognizable faces in television history, George Wendt was pretty much just another face in the crowd at Sunday's SOA Watch demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning.
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11/22/04
Drawing and crossing the line Chuck Williams and Ben Holden, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Consequences, conviction weighed in decisions to risk arrest or show restraint -
11/22/04
Peace protest meets soldier support Julie B. Hairston, Atlanta Journal-Constitution On one side of town, buses, vans, campers and cars streamed down Victory Drive to the entrance of Fort Benning bringing protesters for peace to their annual highly choreographed objection to paramilitary training of Central and South American officials at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation ? formerly known as the School of the Americas. -
11/21/04
America in action Richard Hyatt, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 10,000-plus gather outside Fort Benning.
For the 15th time, SOA Watch rallied Saturday on a city street outside of Fort Benning. Once more, they were protesting a school that in their view educates Latin American soldiers guilty of killing innocent priests, nuns and civilians. -
11/21/04
Sarandon shows up at protest Angelique Soenarie, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer This year Susan Sarandon did not show her support in a letter. Instead, she stood just a few feet from the Fort Benning Road gates Saturday to show her support in the SOA Watch protest. -
11/21/04
Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen Attend SOA Protests KFOR, Oklahoma City Susan Sarandon is there, so is Martin Sheen. But this isn't some Hollywood get together. The actors are among those gathering outside Fort Benning, Georgia, to protest a military school there.
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11/21/04
Additional fence and barbed wire fail to stop Latin school protest Elliott Minor, Associated Press At least 20 demonstrators were arrested Sunday, on charges ranging from trespassing to wearing a mask, as a record 16,000 people protested against a Fort Benning school for Latin soldiers. -
11/21/04
Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen attend SOA protests Associated Press Actress Susan Sarandon has written letters in support of a military school protest held every November at Fort Benning. This year, Sarandon stood just a few feet from the base's gate and joined the protesters, including the Catholic nun who inspired Sarandon's role in the movie "Dead Man Walking." -
11/21/04
Western Hemisphere Institute Draws Rally Ellen Miller, Cornell Daily Sun This weekend, activists from all over the world will descend upon Fort Benning, Ga., demanding that the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation close its doors permanently. Among the estimated ten to 15,000 participants will be members of Cornell's Committee on U.S./Latin American Relations. -
11/20/04
'It's about community' Chuck Williams, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Playful games offer a metaphor with deep meaning for participants -
11/20/04
UNC group protests military training school India Autry, The Daily Tar Heel A campus organization hopes for a surge of protest against a long-time, U.S.-run military training school linked to hundreds of thousands of Latin American deaths, group leaders said. -
11/20/04
Thousands of Protesters gather at Fort Benning Scott Hunter, WALB, Albany, GA Saturday, thousands of protesters made an annual pilgrimage to Fort Benning. For nearly a decade, they have gathered at the gates of military base to call for the closure of the School of Americas. -
11/20/04
Protesters Arrested at Sacramento's Federal Building KXTV, News10 California Eleven protesters were arrested at the federal building in downtown Sacramento on Friday during a demonstration against alleged U.S. efforts to train repressive police in Central America. -
11/20/04
Economic impact plus, minus Tony Adams, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Frugal protesters spend some money, but city foots a big security bill
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11/19/04
Puppetistas combine art, fervor Larry Gierer, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 'Democracy' expected to be largest of hand-crafted characters -
11/19/04
Sisters of Providence join thousands of protesters at school in Georgia Staff, Terre Haute Tribune Star Several Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, friends of the congregation and students from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College will be among thousands of nonviolent protesters participating in the annual vigil Saturday and Sunday to close the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga. -
11/19/04
Divided by more than fences Richard Hyatt, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Protesters, police disagree on merits of chain-link barrier on Fort Benning Road -
11/18/04
Tarps cover fencing, sign Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Tarp to keep arrests out of sights of media -
11/18/04
Rumsfeld Broaches Touchy Issue of Latin American Militaries Charles Aldinger, Reuters Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has urged Latin American states to do more to fight terrorism, on Wednesday raised the touchy issue of using the military to combat terrorism and organized crime. -
11/17/04
Keep a gas mask handy Tim Chitwood, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer If gas masks prevent nausea and shortness of breath, maybe police should save some for when Lee Greenwood sings "God Bless the USA" at the "God Bless Fort Benning" rally Saturday at the Civic Center. Hear that song for about the millionth time, and you get so choked up you can't breathe. -
11/17/04
On Anniversary of El Salvador Jesuits' Slaying, Momentum for Justice Mary Jo McConahay, Pacific News Service Today, despite the passage of time, calls for accountability for crimes committed in the Salvadoran conflict are re-emerging outside the country, including in the United States. -
11/16/04
City prepares for protesters Mick Walsh, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Security fence erected to contain massive crowd
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11/14/04
Down the road with his spirit Dan Carpenter, Indianapolis Star Generations of the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School family will remember where they were when they got word of the loss of SOA Watch activist Rev. J. Paul O'Brien. -
11/14/04
Martyrs for the Truth Contact Radio At the height of the Civil War in El Salvador in 1989, six Jesuit priests and two others were killed in cold blood by Salvadoran government troops. It's widely believed the Jesuits were killed because they had spoken out against the war and the oppression of the poor in the country. On this week's edition of CONTACT, three Jesuits who worked alongside the victims at the UCA mark the anniversary of the killings and talk about their legacy. Click here to listen. -
11/14/04
Court ban on police checks energizes SOA protesters, but not the new fences Elliott Minor, Associated Press Organizers of an annual protest expected to draw 10,000 demonstrators to Fort Benning next weekend are energized by a recent federal court ruling that bans police searches and metal-detector checks of the protesters. However, they're not too excited about the 8-foot-high chain-link fences recently erected near the fort's main gates. -
11/13/04
SOA Watch Billboards Nixed Belinda Acosta, Austin Chronicle When the School of the Americas Watch?Austin decided to spread its message, one of its first choices was outdoor billboard advertising, but when the group tried to buy billboard space, their message was considered "too political." -
11/12/04
Crossing the line Eloy Garcia, MLM, Maryknoll Magazine Lay missioner Eloy Garcia explains the injustice that put him behind bars for protesting while assassins go free -
11/12/04
Torture survivor speaks on rights violations, School of the Americas Monica Warren, Arizona Daily Wildcat A survivor of government-inflicted torture in El Salvador visited the UA yesterday to speak out against the use of violence against civilians by militaries around the world.
A survivor of government-inflicted torture in El Salvador visited the UA yesterday to speak out against the use of violence against civilians by militaries around the world. -
11/10/04
Military protesters to be fenced in Associated Press, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Protesters who gather each year to call for the closing of a military school at Fort Benning will be surrounded by temporary fences this year, local police decided. -
11/6/04
Roots of Abu Ghraib in CIA techniques James Hodge and Linda Cooper, National Catholic Reporter 50 years of refining, teaching torture found in interrogation manuals -
11/5/04
Honduran president sorry for 1980s death squads Reuters Honduran President Ricardo Maduro has broken a long official silence and apologized for the deaths and forced disappearance of hundreds of left-wing opponents at the hands of the U.S.-trained military during the 1980s. -
11/5/04
The Peace Warrior Don Terry, Chicago Tribune If jailbirds were listed in an avian guide, Kathy Kelly would rate a special entry for "Dove." -
11/1/04
Lessons in Cruelty Peter Kornbluh, Washington Post The National Security Archives' Peter Kornbluh reviews Lesley Gill's new book The School of the Americas in the Washington Post's Book World. -
10/31/04
Judicial review required Bruce Fein, Washington Times The city of Columbus, Ga., wildly inflated the post-September 11 terrorism threat to curtail peaceful protest in Bourgeois vs. Peters (Oct. 15, 2004). -
10/26/04
Colombian military kills militia leader Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer A former U.S.-trained Colombian army officer who later joined an outlawed paramilitary group was killed in a clash with army troops Tuesday, the army said. -
10/26/04
Death squad suspect deported from Miami to Honduras Ruth Morris, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Immigration authorities on Thursday deported a former Honduran intelligence chief and alleged death squad leader linked to the torture, kidnapping and murder of nearly 200 leftist activists. -
10/22/04
Students learn how to protest safely Noelle Landers, Collegiate Times (Virginia Tech) Amnesty International and SOA Watch held a workshop for students yesterday in order to teach safe protesting tactics. According to Amnesty, the patriot act has handicapped protest methods of the past. -
10/20/04
Activist argues for gentler foreign policy Meaghan Haugh, Penn State Collegian Former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Kathy Kelly discussed the need for the United States to change its military training tactics at Penn State this week. -
10/19/04
Court makes wise call in decision on liberty Editorial, The Republican (Massachusetts) This editorial applauds the wise and sound decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court, and hopes that it heralds a long-overdue turning point in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, debate. -
10/19/04
Judge's decision victory for liberty Editorial, Carlisle Sentinel (Pennsylvania) If the curtailing of liberties is done on such an unsubstantiated whim, the danger is that it will become easier and easier to shrink the choices and freedoms of all Americans - supposedly for their own good. -
10/18/04
Court rejects searches at SOA Watch Pat Gillespie, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Ruling will allow protesters to gather outside Fort Benning without passing metal detectors -
10/17/04
The Peace Warrior Don Terry, Chicago Tribune Kathy Kelly's anti-war crusade has taken her to hot spots around the world--from midwest missile silos to Baghdad bomb shelters. -
10/17/04
Court: Terror War Can't Curtail Liberties C.G. Wallace, Associated Press Fears of a terrorist attack are not sufficient reason for authorities to search people at the SOA/ WHINSEC protest, a federal appeals court has ruled, saying Sept. 11 "cannot be the day liberty perished." -
10/16/04
War, scandals fuel passions of protestors Elliott Minor, Mobile Register he war in Iraq and prisoner abuse scandals have intensified the concerns of protestors who gather outside a Georgia Army post each year seeking to close a school they blame for violence and human rights violations in Latin America. -
10/16/04
Colombian military tails union dissident Declan McVeigh, The Tribune (London) An SOA graduate now serving as a military attache at the Colombian Embassy in Britain recently tailed a trade unionist speaking in the UK. -
10/15/04
Charges Dropped for 227 Arrested During Protest Of Convention By Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times The Manhattan district attorney's office said yesterday that it would not prosecute cases against 227 protesters arrested during the SOA Watch - War Resisters League march at Ground Zero. -
10/7/04
U.S. Militarizing Latin America Jim Lobe, Common Dreams Less than 15 years after the end of the Cold War, the United States government is increasingly militarizing its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new report released here this week. -
10/6/04
Ex-inmate: Don't expect a spa Patricia Hurtado, Newsday Former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Clare Hanrahan weighs in on Alderson Federal Prison and Martha Stewart. -
10/4/04
Welcome back to a man of God who paid a high price Dwight Lewis, The Tennessean Nashville's Downtown Presbyterian Church should be overflowing this afternoon when a liturgy of celebration is held for Don Beisswenger and friends. -
10/4/04
Talk opens eyes about military school's training Rachel Alaimo-Monson, Daily Lobo (UNM) Judy Bierbaum, a two-time prisoner of conscience, and Felix Caballero, a former military police officer, addressed the SOA and social justice at the University of New Mexico this week. -
10/4/04
Jailed activists still fight for peace Courtney Greve, Daily Southtown (Chicago) Spending six months in federal prison didn't discourage a Catholic nun, Sr. Moira Kenny, and South Side native Mary Dean from their commitments to peaceful protest. -
9/30/04
Arrested Developments Isabel Macdonald, The Dominion (Canada) New York hosts Republicans... and the largest US demonstration in decades. -
9/30/04
Target: Dissent Anya Kamenetz, Village Voice When cops play peacekeeper, free speech too often becomes the enemy -
9/28/04
Work awaits nun after jail Karla Ward, Lexington Herald-Leader Owsley Church now her home base, Sister Marge Eilerman, a former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience, will protest again. -
9/19/04
Brebeuf mourns beloved official Andy Gammill, Indianapolis Star SOA Watch activist Father Paul O'Brien passed away in Indianapolis last weekend. -
9/14/04
Behind bars, nun embarks on spiritual journey Ron Harris, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cynthia Brinkman, 68, a nun with the Sisters of Notre Dame in St. Louis, is currently incarcerated for her act of nonviolent civil disobedience at Ft. Benning in November of 2003. -
9/11/04
School of the Americas Fred Morris, ZNet A minister tortured in Brazil in 1974 by security forces trained at the School of the Americas speaks out against torture and the "School of Assassins." -
9/11/04
Holding ourselves accountable Editorial, National Catholic Reporter National Catholic Reporter editorial on the trial of the architect of Romero's assassination -
9/10/04
Holding ourselves accountable Editorial, National Catholic Reporter National Catholic Reporter editorial on the trial of the architect of Romero's assassination -
9/10/04
Killings of labor leaders by army underscores human rights concerns Associated Press Three labor leaders killed in what an army commander claimed was a gunbattle were instead murdered by soldiers, Colombian prosecutors said in a case highlighting U.S. concerns over Colombia's human rights record. -
9/7/04
A Setback for the City of Tolerance Joyce Purnick, New York Times Since when does progressive, free-speech-loving New York City lock people up for days without letting them see a judge? Since when does New York City practice preventive detention? -
9/6/04
Release protesters, judge says Flynn McRoberts and Stevenson Swanson, Chicago Tribune Fine imposed on the New York City Police Department for non-compliance with ruling -
9/3/04
Anger over tactics Graham Rayman, Linday Faber, Dan Janison, Daryl Khan, Stephanie Saul, Karen Freifeld, Wil Cruz, Sean Gardiner and Marshand Boone, Newsday Protesters, lawyers decry methods used to round up demonstrators and hold them; mayor says it's not supposed to be 'Club Med' -
9/2/04
Democracy Now! Radio Program
DN!'s Amy Goodman interviews SOA Watch staffer Eric LeCompte the day after more than 1,000 demonstrators are arrested in New York City. -
9/1/04
How to Build a Movement That Can Really Win Jackie Downing, Threshold Magazine (student and youth published movement magazine of the Student Environmental Action Coalition) Just as racism divides our society, it divides our movements. The same canbe said for oppression based on differences like class, gender, sexuality, religion and ability. The point isn’t that we are bad people or bad activists for inheriting various unearned privileges from an oppressive system. Rather, the point is that if we want our movements to reflect the world we hope to create, we have to work to dismantle the systems that privilege some and oppress others, every time we encounter them. -
9/1/04
A31 Unscripted Rachel Neumann, AlterNet In their creativity, spontaneity, and the lack of clear structure and organization, the protests on Tuesday were a marked contrast from the scene within the Convention. -
8/31/04
The archbishop, the death squad and the 24-year wait for justice Andrew Buncombe, The Independent of London It was the crime that broke El Salvador's heart. A good man was murdered in broad daylight, yet no attempt was made to bring his assassin to justice. Until today. -
8/24/04
Memo to Martha: Prison is no picnic Tom Kertscher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Former SOA Watch Prisoner of Conscience Joyce Ellwanger tells of tedious days in Danbury Federal Prison. -
7/18/04
SextoSol Radio interviews SOA Watch
SOA Watch communications coordinator Christy Pardew discusses the SOA and current legislation to close it down with Pacifica's Sexto Sol Radio. Listen here. -
7/13/04
The Illinois Congressman and the Dictator's Daughter Stephen Kinzer A love story that raises memories of bloody repression in Central America has suddenly intruded into Illinois ... Representative Jerry Weller, a Republican from the small farm town of Morris, surprised friends and supporters this week by announcing that he was engaged to a member of the Guatemalan congress -
7/10/04
From Fort Benning, Georgia to Abu Ghraib Michael Nagler, Telepolis In Fort Benning the United States military trained some of the most notorious human rights abusers in the hemisphere. -
7/9/04
Negroponte, Honduras and Iraq Peter Watt, ZNet A brief look at Negroponte?s Central American period gives us a hint at what bodes for US-run Iraq. -
7/9/04
Activist glad to be home from prison Jeff Wright, The Register-Guard SOA Watch prisoner of conscience Peg Morton is interviewed after her release from FCI Dublin on July 2nd. -
7/7/04
War Drums: 'Let Freedom Reign!' Michael King, Austin Chronicle Should troops and dollars not suffice, perhaps Negroponte can adapt the battle-tested Honduran methods developed at Fort Bennings' School of the Americas.... -
7/1/04
Clock Ticking for School Foe Stephanie Spear, Influence Lobbyist wants to cut funds to U.S.-run Western Hemisphere Institute. -
6/23/04
Prisoner of Conscience Rhonda Bodfield Bloom , Arizona Daily Star Behind bars at a federal prison for an act of protest, a former pastor learned that rehabilitation is a joke. -
6/22/04
Faith, from within Kelly Benham, St. Petersburg Times While in prison, Faith Fippinger, the Sarasota woman who served as a human shield in Iraq, finds strength, solace and a new cause. -
6/19/04
America?s Amnesia Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive The editor of The Progressive interviews Fr. Roy Bourgeois, William Blum and torture survivors throughout Latin America in this critical and uncompromising analysis of US connections to torture. -
6/17/04
Still opposed to Army school Bart Jones, Newsday Citing rights abuses, Rev. Roy Bourgeois is now urging Latin American leaders to stop sending soldiers to Georgia center -
6/11/04
Feels Like the Third Time Stephen Kinzer, American Prospect Newly unearthed, once-classified documents remind us that Abu Ghraib is hardly the first time that torture became policy. -
6/11/04
Reagan's Bloody Legacy David Corn, TomPaine.com The Washington editor of The Nation examines Reagan's connections to El Mozote and other massacres throughout Latin America. -
6/9/04
'I Too was Tortured' Hector Mondragon, Sojourners Magazine A Colombian torture survivor and SOA Watch activist reacts to reports of torture. -
6/9/04
Symptoms of Empire USA Ted Schmidt, Catholic New Times Why would anybody be amazed at American torture when hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been totured, mutilated and murdered? -
6/2/04
An Exquisite Danger Duncan Campbell, The Guardian (UK) John Negroponte's record in Honduras does not inspire confidence about his appointment as US ambassador to Iraq. -
6/2/04
Prisoner Says She Has No Regrets Donna Hartman The Bradenton Herald interviews Faith Fippinger at Coleman Federal Correctional Institute. -
5/21/04
Human Rights in the US and Venezuela Charles Hardy VHeadline.com commentarist Charles Hardy writes: The State Department of the United States has just issued its report on Human Rights in Latin America. Maybe the day has come when the Latin American countries should issue a report on human rights within the United States. -
5/20/04
Change Agents Kathy Kelly Kathy Kelly writes from Pekin Federal Prison Camp about a visit to her there by FBI agents. -
5/19/04
Janeane Garofalo interviews Leslie Gill on the School for Torturers Majority Report Radio Listen to Jeanene and co-host Sam Seder interview American University professor Leslie Gill about the SOA, torture and her soon-to-be-published book, School of the Americas: Military Training, Political Violence and Impunity in the Americas -
5/19/04
Voices with Vision: SOA Watch on Torture
Pacifica Radio's Voices with Vision interviews SOA Watch communications coordinator Christy Pardew in a show dedicated to the victims of torture everywhere. Listen here. -
5/18/04
Edgewood grads enter 'a world of challenges' Samara Kalk Derby Rev. Roy Bourgeois received an honorary degree and gave a commencement speech at Edgewood College on May 16, 2004. -
5/17/04
Prisoner Abuse in Iraq -- Justice and Abuse Op-ed by Susan Waltz, Detroit Free Press This op-ed mentions the impact that SOA Watch has had on training of foreign military at the SOA and examines the role of private contractors. -
5/17/04
Los antecedentes de las torturas de EU Alberto Almendar?z Mexican paper Mural traces the history of torture and the US military all the way back to the internment of Native Americans. -
5/16/04
Freed From Jail, Protesters Return Allison Kennedy Joe Mulligan and Michael Walli vigiled at the gates of Ft. Benning on the day of their release from Harris County Jail. -
4/24/04
Grim future for global foreign policies Piyush Mathur The case of the SOA/WHISC has wide implications for a global future presumably to be dominated by the nation-states' militaristic solutions to terrorism. -
4/15/04
SOA Watch scores victory in Venezuela James Hodge and Linda Cooper, National Catholic Reporter President Ch?vez to withdraw officers from U.S. Army training school -
4/7/04
When peace sends chaplains to jail, there's something wrong Burt Constable, Chicago Daily Herald Hours after he retired from his job as senior chaplain for the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Dave Corcoran hopped into the family car with loved ones and set off for the warmer climes of Georgia. From there, the Des Plaines man will head to federal prison. Again. -
1/27/04
U.S.-trained ex-soldiers form core of ?Zetas? Angeles Negrete Lares, The Brownsville Herald The Gulf Cartel boasts a rare weapon in the high stakes war for drug-trafficking supremacy: U.S.- trained soldiers. The Zetas, hired assassins for the Gulf Cartel, feature 31 ex-soldiers once part of an elite division of the Mexican army ? the Special Air Mobile Force Group. At least one-third of this battalion?s deserters was trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., according to documents from the Mexican secretary of defense. -
10/22/03
Rebels with a cause
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter Article about William Slattery and Caitlin Harwood, two of the SOA 86 -
8/25/03
Old foe supports general for office
The Washington Times Article about Guatemalan Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, an SOA graduate and former dictator now running for president -
8/25/03
Sister Caryl Hartjes 'Takes Five'
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Interview with Sister Caryl Hartjes of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, one of the SOA 86 -
7/29/03
Gingrey appointed to board
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Article about U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, who was recently appointed to the WHINSEC Board of Visitors -
5/2/03
School of Assassins?
Hartford Advocate Article about Col. Richard D. Downie's appearance at the University of Connecticut at Storrs -
5/1/03
50 miles, then 90 days: Man will walk to prison
Poughkeepsie Journal Article about Marvin Warren, 21, one of the SOA 86 who plans to walk from Poughkeepsie to the federal prison at Otisville, Orange County -
4/5/03
SOA protester accepts plea bargain
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Article about Rebecca Townsend Johnson, 23, of Cincinnati, one of the SOA 86 -
3/26/03
20-year search for priest may be over
National Catholic Reporter Article about Fr. James Carney, who was killed in 1983 by Honduran graduates of the School of the Americas -
3/21/03
Supporters rally behind institute
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Article about the new Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation "booster club" -
3/11/03
Regis Professor Sentenced in Protest
Rocky Mountain News "I did this because it's a moral issue, to address the violence of U.S. foreign policy," Byron Plumley. -
2/12/03
Providence man sentenced in protest
The Providence Journal-Bulletin Article on Judd Schiffman an Katherine brown who were sentenced for tresspassing at Ft. Benning -
2/12/03
3 Sentenced for GA. Trespassing
Roanoke Times & World News Article on 3 teachers sentenced for civil disobediance to close the SOA -
2/11/03
Guilford students draw time in prison
The News and Observer "I am afraid of prison, but I don't want that to dictate my
actions. I think civil disobedience is one of the best ways we have of changing the system." -
2/11/03
No Crime, But Punishment
San Antonio Current " If my neighbors were to get a steady diet of truthful information about what our government is really doing in Mexico, in Central America and other places, then everyone would stand up and say 'Stop it!' -
2/6/03
Prisoner With a Cause
Albuquerque Journal Article about Judy Bierbaum, defendant sentenced to 6 months for her action to close the SOA -
2/5/03
Will it be prison for young woman of conviction?
Star Tribune "I heard the names of the dead called out. I couldn't stand the thought that my government is instrumental in causing this pain and fear." -
2/2/03
Base protesters sentenced; Tallahassee man gets jail
The Tallahassee Democrat "Protesters arrested after crossing onto Fort Benning during the November School of the Americas Watch demonstrations pleaded their cases this week before U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth." -
1/30/03
Judge sentences more Fort Benning protesters
The Associated Press State & Local Wire "The sentences, ranging from three months to six months, followed 12 similar prison terms handed down Monday by U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth. " -
1/29/03
27 in SOA Watch sentenced to prison
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "Some defendants thanked the judge for their prison sentence, because it helps publicize their cause." -
1/29/03
Two Indiana nuns sentenced for trespassing during protest
The Associated Press State & Local Wire "Sisters Adele Beacham and Rita Clare Gerardot were sentenced in federal court in Columbus, Ga., after pleading not guilty with stipulation to federal trespassing charges. " -
1/28/03
Attorneys say teacher's actions not immoral, harmful
The Associated Press State & Local Wire "Attorneys for a Fayette County teacher who was fired after she was jailed for trespassing during a protest in 2001 said her conduct was neither immoral nor harmful to students." -
1/24/03
Two Indiana nuns face trial next week over military protest
The Associated Press State & Local Wire "Two Roman Catholic nuns from Indiana say they are prepared to go to prison over their arrests during a protest at an Army base in Georgia." -
1/24/03
Priest speaks of peace, nonviolence
Statesman Journal "We were there for one reason: to shut down this school that causes so much suffering and death in Latin America," Fr. Roy Bourgeois -
1/22/03
Local protester on trial
Statesman Journal "While Father Roy Bourgeois spoke Tuesday in Salem, two human-rights advocates went before a federal judge in Columbus, Ga." -
1/22/03
Advocates pay price for peace
Houston Chronicle "They base their activism in part on religious convictions, and each retired from professional careers to work full-time for peace."
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1/21/03
A Sister of Conscience Confronts a Lack of Tolerance for Dissent
Seattle Post-Intelligencer "Opponents, including Sister Maureen and 86 others arrested in November, say the school has trained some of Latin America's most vicious and prolific human rights abusers in the ways of torture and oppression. Among its grads: Panama's Manuel Noriega, Chile's Augusto Pinochet and 40 other Central and South American dictators." -
1/15/03
A Real Patriot: Standing Up to the School of the Americas Fran Quigley, NUVO For someone just 20 years old and talking about the prospect of spending 18 months in federal prison, Charity Ryerson seems pretty matter-of-fact. She discusses her plans to have books shipped to her over the course of her sentence and the arrangements to take correspondence courses from prison. All things considered, she says, this is not a bad period in her life to be serving time. -
1/14/03
Activists facing trial in Army base protest
The Plain Dealer Marie Salupo and Caitlin Harwood are following their convictions - all the way to the threshold of a prison cell. -
1/13/03
Institute: U.S. not involved in Venezuelan crisis
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "As . . .Venezuela continued to struggle with a constitutional crisis . . . a Venezuelan military chief and the U.S. chief of armed forces in the region attended a graduation ceremony . . . at Fort Benning " -
12/23/02
Military school protesters say magistrate is biased
The Associated Press "Defendants . . .asked a federal magistrate to withdraw from hearing their cases Friday because of alleged prejudicial comments. " -
12/20/02
Solid reasons to protest at Fort Benning
Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) "Recently, 65 people from the tri-state area traveled to Columbus, Ga., to protest the School of the Americas at Fort Benning. Why did we do so? "
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12/20/02
Philip Berrigan: A Man of War and Peace
Newsday (New York, NY) "Phil Berrigan is gone, but there's reason to hope that his Spirit-led prophetic witness will continue to express itself in the willing young hearts and hands of a new generation of peacemakers." -
12/16/02
School of Americas garners more protests
The Marquette Tribune via U-Wire Article about Marquette students and faculty who traveled to Georgia for the November vigil -
12/12/02
Lexington teacher appeals her termination
The Associated Press "Lexington teacher, fired after she was sentenced to 90 days in a federal prison for trespassing on a military base during a political protest" -
12/11/02
Imprisoned teacher may not return to high school job
The Associated Press " A teacher imprisoned for trespassing during a protest at a military post will be released Friday, but she may not be able to return to her job at Henry Clay High School. " -
12/5/02
Activists work to show another side of Iraq issue
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE "While United Nations inspectors examine Iraq's weapons and missile programs, local peace activists are forging ahead with activities aimed at turning public opinion against war." -
12/4/02
America's double standard?
The Buffalo News "Our country is being presented as the good and out there is all the evil. That analysis, without any critique, is going to get us into a lot of trouble." -
12/1/02
Last of Protesters Released
The Associated Press news brief on release of protesters arrested during November vigil -
11/22/02
Man marches to different drummer
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "I'm prepared to go to prison . . . Someone has to stand up against our country's foreign policy." -
11/22/02
Louder than words
The Reporter (Fond du Lac, WI) "I felt something stirring up in me this time that was different, calling me to step further. I walked through the fence toward an officer with a bullhorn bellowing at me that advancing meant arrest," -
11/22/02
Religious superior supports nuns arrested at protest
The Associated Press "The head of a Roman Catholic religious order to which a nun arrested during a weekend protest at Fort Benning, Ga., belongs has issued a statement supporting her activities." -
11/21/02
Three Blacksburg Protestors Released from Georgia Jail
Roanoke Times & World News "Soldiers go off to war and they're willing to make these extraordinary sacrifices, to be away from their families," Patrick Lincoln, a 21-year-old senior majoring in Spanish, said Tuesday. "If we're working for social change . . . we should be willing to make the same type of sacrifices." -
11/20/02
Child goes with father to protest School of Americas
Iowa State Daily via U-WIRE "Ella Lubienski traveled with her father, Chris, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, to the protest. They were among about 10,000 protesters at the school..." -
11/20/02
School of the Terrorists
Capital Times (Madison, WI) article about Caryl Hartjes, one of those arrested at the November vigil -
11/19/02
School of Torture
University of Wisconsin- Madison student Jen McCoy writes about the SOA/ WHISC and her school's involvement in the November 2002 vigil. -
11/19/02
El Salvador: The Fight for Justice in 1989 Killings of Priests
Inter Press Service "The Human Rights Ombudsman's Office?in El Salvador asked Congress to repeal an amnesty law protecting?those who ordered the army killings of six Jesuit priests, their?housekeeper and her teenage daughter 13 years ago." -
11/18/02
At least 90 arrested in peaceful protest at US military base
Agence France Presse "'If we want lasting peace and security we need a foreign policy that reflects our values of justice, democracy and dignity,' said Roy Bourgeois, a Catholic priest who founded a group called the School of the Americas Watch, which holds the annual event. " -
11/18/02
Thousands Attend Annual Military School Protest
The Associated Press article and/or photo picked up by: The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Times, Newsday (New York, NY), Philadelphia Daily News, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.), The Record (Bergen County, NJ), The Lexington Herald Leader, The Augusta Chronicle, and more -
11/17/02
Activists Protest Army School in Georgia
Reuters "Carrying signs that said "Stop Training Terrorists" and "Protect Human Rights," activists of various ages and religious backgrounds took part in a peaceful demonstration calling for the closing of the facility formerly known as the School of the Americas." -
11/17/02
Talk of War Increasing Numbers for Columbus Protest
Savannah Morning News (Georgia) "An annual protest of a Fort Benning institute for military officers from Latin America could be the biggest yet because of opposition to a war with Iraq, according to police and protest leaders." -
11/2/02
SOA Watch leader, colonel to debate views
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "Less than two weeks before thousands of protesters converge on Columbus for the annual SOA Watch protest, Father Roy Bourgeois and Col. Richard Downie will debate their conflicting views Nov. 6 on a stage in the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts." -
10/30/02
Terrorist Training, American Style
CommonDreams.org "Insisting that global terrorism can only be stopped by 'destroying it where it grows,' George W. Bush has conveniently forgotten the US military's own terrorist training facility: the infamous Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC)." -
10/28/02
Three-Month Sentence: Friar reports to prison camp
Las Vegas Review-Journal "Vitale, an Air Force officer from 1954 to 1957, said he decided to participate in the Fort Benning protest because, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush urged Americans to fight terrorism wherever it exists in the world." -
10/17/02
Speaker condemns military institute
Daily Texan via U-WIRE "The WHISC, Bourgeois said, is responsible for training over 60,000 Latin American Soldiers who have utilized skills learned at the Fort Benning, Ga., institute to torture and kill hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans." -
10/16/02
American government hides a number of dirty secrets
USA Vanguard (Alabama) "A visit to the SOA official website told me immediately that these boys aren't exactly taking classes in English literature. They are trained in weapons usage, infiltration and 'peace keeping,' along with a myriad of other suspicious-sounding courses like 'psychological operations.'" -
10/15/02
School of the Americas revisited??
INFOPRESS, ALAI he United States is pushing for an international police school in Costa Rica to fight drug trafficking and terrorism. -
10/14/02
Time to topple the 'School of the Assassins'
Arizona Daily Wildcat via U-WIRE "If President Bush is serious about ridding the world of terrorism, he needs to look internally. But, as a spineless leader whose stature is dedicated to the perpetual support of American corporations, it is unlikely that the militant school will shut its doors under his administration." -
10/10/02
A Tale of Two Sisters
Pacific News Service "On Sept. 11, l990, Myrna Mack Chang, anthropologist and mother, was killed by 27 knife blows to her slight body as she left a research institute in downtown Guatemala City... Two of the three officers in the Mack docket -- Godoy Gaitan and Oliva Carrera -- graduated from the U.S. School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Ga." -
10/4/02
Generals Will Stand Trial for "Dirty War" Killings
The News Mexico "Acosta reportedly received training in the U.S.-based School of the Americas, where U.S. forces trained Latin American military personnel in counterinsurgency measures." -
10/3/02
Army Officers Charged with Killing 134 People During 1970s
Cox News Service "Yes, we think these two are responsible (for disappearances and deaths)," [Rosario Ibarra] said. "But they are not the only ones. There are many people higher up who gave orders." -
9/27/02
Awakened social conscience brings time in jail
The Times Union (Albany, NY) "I don't see this as a liberal issue by a long shot," Rich said. "If the average American on the street knew what this school was doing, it would be shut down in an instant. It's completely against American values." -
9/22/02
In Person; Prisoner of Conscience
The New York Times "So slowly I continued to hear the stories, and it opened my eyes to what was happening in the countries," [Tom Mahedy] said, "and what the U.S. role was as far as training the soldiers who were doing these things and funding them and giving them weapons." -
9/15/02
Activist Turns Himself in Thursday In Minneapolis; He Begins Serving a 6-Month Sentence
Roanoke Times & World News "The unusual saga of Niklan Jones-Lezama's protest against U.S. policy in Central America took another twist Thursday as he was escorted into federal custody in Minneapolis by former Green Party vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke." -
9/13/02
From Pulpit to Clink; Minister begins sentence for protesting at base
The Metro Pulse (Knoxville, TN) "About 50 supporters... gathered Tuesday morning at downtown's First Presbyterian Church to bid goodbye to Johnson.... A Latin American immigrant tearfully thanked Johnson and KACOCA members for their work to aid the citizens of his country. Afterwards, about 20 people drove with Johnson to the federal prison in Manchester, Ky." -
9/12/02
Teaching a Lesson On Crossing the Line
Newsday (NY) "[Tom Mahedy's] commitment is not based on rumor. The late Joe Moakley, congressman from Boston, found that generals directed the Jesuit killings and that nine of the 16 soldiers cited had been trained in Fort Benning, at the School of the Americas. Moakley's investigation confirmed the worst things that anybody ever claimed..." -
8/25/02
PC(USA) ministers going to prison Sept. 10
Prebyterian News Service "[Booker-Hirsch] said it?s ironic that his sentence will begin one day before the anniversary of the terror attacks of last Sept. 11, because he considers WHISC a school of terrorism in 'our own backyard.'" -
8/23/02
UC-Berkeley-area activist priest prepares for longest incarceration
Daily Californian via U-Wire "Bill O'Donnell is my hero. My chief regret about Bill going to prison is that I can't share the cell with him," wrote actor Martin Sheen in a letter of support for Saturday night's presentation. -
8/6/02
At 68 She Deepens Commitment; Woman Faces Prison for Civil Disobedience
The Richmond Times-Dispatch "My serving three months in federal penitentiary pales in contrast to those who spend their lives living in their own countries amongst atrocities that result from training at the School of the Americas." -
8/5/02
Breeding place for terrorists is nearby
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "I recently questioned why The Atlanta Journal-Constitution failed to report a lawsuit against two Salvadoran generals living in comfort in Miami who were accused of torturing their fellow countrymen... There is a definite local flavor here because both "gentlemen" had connections to the U.S. Army School of the Americas." -
8/2/02
El Salvador generals guilty of torture BBC Two former generals have been found guilty by a US court of ignoring acts of brutality and torture in El Salvador 20 years ago.
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7/23/02
Nuns who spent time in prison honored
The Associated Press "Dorothy and Gwen Hennessey, siblings and members of Dubuque's Sisters of St. Francis, will receive the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in October. The honor means the Roman Catholic nuns are the 33rd and 34th recipients of the award, joining the ranks of Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu." -
7/20/02
Cabot man heading to jail for protest role
The Associated Press "The School of the Americas is the police force for the World Trade Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement and other economic treaties that hold the poor down," Legare said. -
7/19/02
Former Teacher Fined for Georgia Protest
The Boston Globe "Ralph Madsen, a retired Newton schoolteacher who faced charges for protesting in front of a Georgia Army base last year, pleaded guilty in federal court last Friday to trespassing, and received six months of probation and a $500 fine." -
7/18/02
It's official: prison for pilgrimage
The Indianapolis Star "My experience pales in comparison with the violence perpetrated by the School of the Americas and perpetrated on others in our prisons." -
7/17/02
Woman locks herself to gate; Protester acted alone at Benning
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "Rebecca Johnson of Washington, D.C., arrived at Fort Benning at 10 a.m. and cut the chain that held the main gate open on Fort Benning Road. She posted a banner that read, 'Lock Up SOA/WHISC, Not Peacemakers' on the gate and locked her neck to the gate..." -
7/14/02
After a year in prison, activist ready to resume protests
The Associated Press "But even as he declared victory for completing the sentence, he also noted that the U.S. government continues to fund the school. Protesters say graduates of the school have been linked to murder, torture and other human rights abuses." -
7/14/02
Army School protesters sentenced
Chattanooga Times/Chattanooga Free Press "Sentencing of protesters against the former Army School of the Americas dragged into the night Friday as the defendants, convicted of illegally crossing onto Fort Benning in November, filled the courtroom with speeches and songs." -
7/14/02
2 New River Valley Activists Sentenced for GA Demonstration; Both Say They Will Appeal
Roanoke Times & World News "The activists had the support of 9th District Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who wrote to the court on Jones-Lezama's and Daniels' behalf. 'I asked for lenient treatment because I think the institute should be closed,' Boucher said Friday through a spokeswoman." -
7/14/02
Judge offers penalty options: Protesters may spend six months in Fort Benning school or prison
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "Blair testified Thursday during the trial of Peter A. Gelderloos of Harrisonburg, Va., that torture was taught at the School of the Americas when he was an instructor (1986-89), in direct violation of an executive order issued by President Jimmy Carter. Instructors taught interrogation techniques from an outlawed 'Project X' manual and from the "Project Phoenix" program used in South Vietnam, he said." -
7/12/02
Five Benning protesters argue cases; 31 await sentencing
The Associated Press "Chantilly J. Geigle, 19, of Salem, Ore., one of the defendants who appeared before the judge Thursday, said she has lobbied unsuccessfully to have the school closed.
'Sometimes we are called to stand up for our country and our family,' said Geigle. 'I'm going to do that until the SOA - now called WHISC - is closed.'" -
7/11/02
Trial Provides U.S. Chance to Say 'No' to Torture
Newsday (New York, NY) "The defendants are Gen. Jose Guillermo Garcia and Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova. The two sat at the top of the Salvadoran military structure during one of the bloodiest periods in the Salvadoran civil war, including 1980, when Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated and four American churchwomen were raped and murdered." -
7/10/02
SOA trial begins with pleas
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "As protester after protester condemned the record of alleged atrocities by graduates of the institute, they suggested the change was one of name only. It didn't deter them from continuing to protest last Nov. 18, and it won't stop them and others like them from coming back in the thousands until the school is closed, they told the judge." -
7/9/02
New River Valley residents face prison and fines; 2 activists in court for protest at Army base
THE ROANOKE TIMES "Critics say "the School of the Assassins," a play on the institute's former name, the School of the Americas, teaches torture and assassination. Some of its graduates are linked to murders and coups, including the recent, short-lived overthrow of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez." -
7/8/02
Man may pay price for life of activism
Asbury Park Press "It was while there that Mahedy attended a speech by members of the Mothers of the Disappeared, a group of El Salvadorian mothers whose children disappeared at the hands of death squads and the military. There, he heard about the School of the Americas..." -
7/6/02
Arrested Knoxville pastor says faith demanded his actions
Knoxville News-Sentinel "When people learn about the massive violence the graduates of U.S. Army School of the Americas have directed towards the people in Central and South America, and the terrorism and subversion they are still responsible for, many are either stunned into silence or inaction by the horrors of the violence," Johnson said. "Because of my faith and conscience, silence and inaction are unacceptable to me." -
6/29/02
Nun faces prison for School of Americas protest
NUVO (Indianapolis, IN) "The indignities I will have to experience in prison pale in comparison to what the victims of the graduates of that school had to endure." -
6/26/02
Nun follows her faith down road to prison
Indianapolis Star "While the Pentagon insists the Fort Benning operation seeks to tame dictatorships and teach democracy, opponents point to the hideous human rights record of U.S.-backed regimes in Central and South America and note that the region's most notorious political killers were alumni of the 'School for Assassins.'" -
6/26/02
U.S. Must Stop Funding School that Trains Terrorists
The Buffalo News Editorial - "The school that receives this funding to train terrorists is not in Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya, but in our own country at Fort Benning, Ga. I am referring to the School of the Americas." -
6/23/02
Institute's Board of Visitors a 'smokescreen'
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "Reich on a board charged with monitoring the human rights integrity of an institution as notorious as this one is like the fox guarding the henhouse. His appointment to this position exposes the rubber-stamp character and hypocritical function of such a board." -
6/9/02
Hypocrisy Mars the War on Terror
Rev. Charles Booker Hirsch Graduates from Ft. Benning partook in Latin America's most corrupt regimes, yet Congress still funds the school. -
6/9/02
U.S. Anti-Terrorism Tactic of Training Foreign Militaries Is Questioned
The Associated Press "The U.S. government's training of foreign military forces is helping people who may one day commit human rights abuses and oppose America... Throughout the 1990s, the Army's School of the Americas offered training and education to Latin American soldiers, some of whom went on to commit human rights violations, including the 1989 murder in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter." -
5/28/02
Institute Gets Board of Visitors
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "The new list excludes a controversial member of the Bush administration whose name appeared last month as a board member... Following Reich's being named to the board by Secretary of State Colin Powell, SOA Watch -- an opponent of SOA and the new institute -- began criticizing Reich on its Internet site, saying he represented the excesses associated with the former school." -
5/22/02
The Life and Crimes of General Montoya Uribe Sean Donohue, ZNet All of us knew we were taking certain risks when we flew by helicopter from Puerto Asis to La Hormiga with Gen. Mario Montoya Uribe ? the countryside in Putumayo is controlled by FARC guerillas who are rumored to have anti-aircraft weapons. But I?m not sure we realized how much of a risk Nancy Sánchez took by riding with our delegation of journalists and peace activists. -
5/22/02
2 PC(USA) Pastors Indicted
PCUSA NEWS "Two Presbyterian Church (USA) pastors are among 43 protesters indicted in federal court last month for trespassing on a military base in Georgia." -
5/20/02
Protesters Arrested After Refusal to Leave US Senator's Office
Colombus Dispatch Seated in a circle with their arms locked, singing "We shall not be moved,'' 10 people opposed to U.S. foreign policy in Colombia were arrested and removed from Sen. Mike DeWine's office in Huntington Plaza yesterday. -
5/1/02
The school of assassins that the US army has tried to hide Christine Toomey, The Sunday Times Magazine (U.K.) The Killing Fields: For decades, murderers, torturers and dictators came from many Latin American countries to a military academy in Georgia for 'professional training'. Now thousands have learnt the truth, and are joining the campaign to have it closed down. Christine Toomey investigates. This article was the 2002 winner of the Amnesty International Media Award. -
1/1/02
Students Risk Arrest in Protest
San Francisco Foghorn Online Article about University of San Francisco students at the 2001 vigil and direct action -
12/6/01
March On
Durham Independent Weekly Despite deterrents, a strong North Carolina contingent marches in the nation's largest anti-war gathering
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11/28/01
Part Of A Movement
Ithaca Times Locals join a protest against the former School of the Americas Three Ithaca residents were among 14 people arrested at last week's vigil to close the former School of the Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
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11/28/01
Six arrested at protest over Monsanto's role in spraying in Colombia
Associated Press Six protestors were arrested outside of Monsanto Co. headquarters Monday morning during a protest over the company's role in fumigating South American fields as part of the war on drugs. -
6/25/01
Nobody Doesn't Like Joe Mary McGrory, Washington Post The House of Representatives was bleak house last week, when the bad news about Joe Moakley broke. Dismay was universal. When you say his name, everyone knows what it means: heart, laughter, stories -- and clout that you might not suspect when you hear him sing, "If you're Irish, come into the parlor," or, "Southie is my home town." -
2/18/01
U.S. May Be Wading into a Poisonous Quagmire
Boulder Daily Camera It would make you happy — if it didn't make you sad — the news of the wonderful successes they are having in Colombia eliminating the coca crop. The happiness was the late January news that in Colombia over 65,000 acres of an estimated 300,000 acres dedicated to growing coca had been sprayed
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1/24/01
Fumigation Threatens Amazon, Warn Indigenous Leaders, Scientists
Inter Press Service - The spraying of chemical herbicides to destroy coca fields in southern Colombia could seriously threaten the rainforests and wildlife of the Amazon and the health of indigenous and small farming communities, warned scientists and indigenous leaders here. -
11/21/00
Hallelujah Time For Human Rights Mary McGrory, Washington Post Something wonderful happened on Capitol Hill a few minutes after midnight on July 30. The House of Representatives voted for the first time in favor of human rights and against the School of the Americas (SOA), unfondly known as the School of the Assassins. -
8/8/99
Padre Roy Bourgeois: En la lucha contra la Escuela de la Am?ricas Entrevista con P. Roy Bourgeois El Obrero Revolucionario entrevist? a Roy Bourgeois en julio en el penal federal Estill, Carolina del Sur, donde purgaba una condena de seis meses; acababa de salir del calabozo. -
5/30/99
Father Roy Bourgeois: Taking On the School of the Americas Interview with Father Roy Bourgeois The Revolutionary Worker interviewed Roy Bourgeois last July at the Federal Correctional Facility in Estill, South Carolina. At the time, he was serving a six-month jail term, and he had just gotten out of solitary confinement. -
5/30/99
Apologies Are U.S. Mary McGrory, Washington Post For the first time since anyone can remember, a U.S. president has done the right thing in Central America. -
3/14/99
Pentagon Slow to Cooperate With Information Requests Dana Priest, Washington Post While training funded under the International Military Education and Training program (IMET) has received considerable congressional scrutiny since the 1980s, when it was discovered that some of El Salvador's worst human rights violators had been trained at the Army's School of the Americas, the same oversight is not routinely applied to U.S. military training programs in foreign countries. -
12/31/98
Two Schools of Thought Mary McGrory, Washington Post The next day's action was in Lafayette Park and it couldn't have been more different. These people were not trying to open doors like the folks at the Hilton dinner, they were trying to shut a school, a hideous relic of the Cold War called the School of the Americas. -
4/30/98
An Academy of Human Rights Abuse Judy Mann, Washington Post It was, said the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, liturgy at its highest moment: 601 people in a solemn funeral procession accompanying eight coffins onto the forbidden grounds of Fort Benning, Ga. -
11/26/97
Textbook Repression: US Training Manuals Declassified Lisa Haugaard, Covert Action Quarterly Several recently declassified US military training manuals show how US agents taught repressive techniques and promoted the violation of human rights throughout Latin America and around the globe. The manuals provide the paper trail that proves how the US trained Latin American and other militaries to infiltrate and spy upon civilians and groups, including unions, political parties, and student and charitable organizations; to treat legal political opposition like armed insurgencies; and to circumvent laws on due process, arrest, and detention. -
9/1/97
A Worthy Cause Mary McGrory, Washington Post All Durbin wanted to do was to shut down the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, the infamous Cold War anachronism that supposedly trains Latin American officers in democracy. -
7/20/97
U.S. Shouldn't Be True to This School Colman McCarthy, Washington Post Earlier this year, Bischel was one of 13 demonstrators sentenced to federal prison. On Fort Benning property, they staged a reenactment of the 1989 murders of six Jesuit priests, a housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. -
10/8/96
Be All That You Can Be: Your Future as an Extortionist Steven Lee Myers, U.S. Army New York Times Through the 1980?s, the United States Army trained Latin American police and military officers in techniques that the Pentagon now acknowledges were ?clearly objectionable and possibly illegal?: torture, extortion, censorship, false arrest, execution and the ?neutralizing? of enemies. -
10/6/96
Manuals for Murderers Mary McGrory, Washington Post Father Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest doing time in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, is vindicated -- and angry. He is steaming in his cell because the Army has finally admitted something he knew all along -- namely, that the School of the Americas trained its students to torture, execute and "disappear" fellow citizens who disagreed with them. -
9/26/96
U.S. Instructed Latins on Executions, Torture Dana Priest, Washington Post
U.S. Army intelligence manuals used to train Latin American military officers at an Army school from 1982 to 1991 advocated executions, torture, blackmail and other forms of coercion against insurgents, Pentagon documents released yesterday show. -
9/21/96
U.S. Trainers Cited Possible Executions Associated Press, New York Times The School of the Americas, a United States military academy for Latin American officers, used training manuals that contained references to executing guerrillas and beatings as methods of obtaining information. -
9/21/96
A carefully crafted deception Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, Baltimore Sun A dangerous truth confronted John Dimitri Negroponte as he prepared to take over as U.S. ambassador to Honduras late in 1981. The military in Honduras -- the country from which the Reagan administration had decided to run the battle for democracy in Central America -- was kidnapping and murdering its own citizens.
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6/18/95
A survivor tells her story Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, Baltimore Sun Treatment for a leftist: Kicks, freezing water and electric shocks. In between, a visitor from the CIA. -
6/15/95
How a journalist was silenced Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, Baltimore Sun On the night of July 8, 1982, a dozen soldiers wearing black ski masks and carrying automatic rifles raided the home of Oscar Reyes, a journalist who wrote articles critical of the Honduran military. -
6/15/95
Torturers' confessions Ginger Thompson and Gary Cohn, Baltimore Sun Now in exile, these CIA-trained Hondurans describe their lives -- and the deaths of their victims -
6/13/95
