OVER 10,000 ACTIVISTS PROTEST US ARMY SCHOOL
More than 10,000 people gathered in Columbus, Georgia, over the weekend of Nov. 21 to protest the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, where Latin American military officers are trained at US taxpayer expense. [Eyewitness report 11/21/99] A
growing protest movement has been trying for years to shut down the school, arguing that its graduates have been involved in numerous human rights violations. An annual protest is held at Fort Benning in November to commemorate the Nov. 16, 1989, murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her 15-year-old daughter in El Salvador. Of the 26 soldiers identified by a United Nations truth commission as being involved in the Jesuit murders, 19 were SOA graduates. [Atlanta Constitution 11/14/99]

On Nov. 21, according to National Public Radio, some 5,200 people committed civil disobedience by walking a half-mile into Fort Benning property. NPR reported that military police were busing people off the base; a public affairs official for the base said those who crossed the line would be processed, and that those who had crossed previously and had been barred from crossing again would be charged with criminal trespass. [NPR 11/21/99]

According to an eyewitness report phoned in by an activist participating in the civil disobedience, those being bused off the base were not processed or ordered not to return, so many have gone back and entered the base again. Military police are said to be taking their time busing the protesters out. About 100 protesters took part in "high risk" actions that could lead to arrest and prosecution. [Eyewitness account 11/21/99] Last year, on Nov. 22, more than 2,300 protesters committed civil disobedience by entering the base [see Update #460].

The army insists it won't close the SOA. School officials point out that even though all the combat courses taught at SOA are available to foreign and US soldiers at other US Army
installations, the classes at SOA are in Spanish and therefore available to a broader range of soldiers. US Army Secretary Louis Caldera said last month that officials are considering moving the school from Fort Benning and changing its name, course offerings and student mix because of the continuing protests.

"There is so much horror and death associated with that school it cannot be reformed; it can only be closed," said Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois, who has led protests against the SOA for more than a decade. "And we will follow that school wherever it goes and we will not stop until it's shut down."

This report extracted from the WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #512, November 21, 1999, published by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499