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School
of the Americas Watch
www.SOAW.org
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202-234-3440 |
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Sunday,
November 18
25,000
Strong!
Eleven
Arrested for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
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The
18th annual Vigil to Close the SOA was one of the largest
and most vibrant yet. As early as 7 am, Veterans for Peace
and supporters began marching along Victory Drive to the gates
of Fort Benning where Gennaro Jacinto Calel from the International
Mayan League offered a Mayan Blessing. |
In
1999, Rufina traveled from El Salvador to the gates of Fort Benning,
Georgia, where 19 of the 26 people found responsible for the massacre
had been trained at the School of the Americas. She told the story
of the massacre and worked for justice until her death of a heart
illness earlier this year. Rufina
Amaya Presente!
-
Linda Panetta of SOA Watch NE has created this beautiful
18x26 poster (image on left) in memory of Rufina which is
available for $10 plus s/h through Optical Realities, to
order please contact Linda at Linda(at)opticalrealities(dot)org
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While
thousands commemorated the martyrs in a solemn funeral procession
at the main gate, 10 SOA Watch
activists entered the Fort Benning military base through
a side entrance in an attempt to carry the protest to the site
of the SOA/WHINSEC: Le Ann
Clausen, Diane
Lopez Hughes, Stephen
Schweitzer, Gus
Roddy, Ozone Bhaguan,
Arthur Landis,
Chris Lieberman,
Michelle Yipe,
Ed Lewinson, and
Joan Anderson were
arrested by military police.
Teil
Rainelli, climbed the barbed wire fence at the main
gate of Fort Benning during the funeral procession, raising the
number of arrested to 11. Three
more SOA Watch activists face charges from the city
for refusing to relinquish crosses at the vigil site whose size
exceeded Columbus police regulations.
- VIDEOS: We
are keeping this page updated with videos
of the SOA Watch vigil, speeches and interviews with
SOA Watch activists, and SOA-related documentaries.
- Blog: U.S.
Catholic Assistant Editor Megan Sweas
reports live from the Vigil to Close the SOA
Simultaneous
actions took place throughout the weekend in Santiago,
Chile; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Monterey, California; San Francisco,
California; and Toronto, Canada. More than three hundred
people rallied against torture outside the gates of Ft. Huachuca,
Arizona, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and school
for interrogation. Three people were arrested during the rally
as they tried to bring their witness against torture onto the
base. Betsy Lamb,
Mary Burton Riseley,
and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada
were taken into custody and charged with criminal trespass on
a military installation and failure to comply with a police officer.
- Find
out
more about the Southwest Witness Against
Torture vigil at Fort Huachuca
- Photos
of the Close the SOA events in Santiago, Chile
This
has been a very exciting and energizing weekend of celebration
and we invite you to continue to check the SOA
Watch website for updates regarding this year's vigil, We
also ask that you make a contribution
to SOA Watch so that we can continue the organizing work to close
down the SOA/WHINSEC, to end the racist system of violence and
domination that the school represents and to create a culture
of justice and peace.
MEDIA
OUTREACH: Once you return home and take some time to
decompress, we ask that you use some of the same energy that you
brought to the vigil to take a few minutes of your time to reach
out to your local media and tell them about what you saw, what
you heard, what you shared and learned. Tell them about this School
of Shame that will soon be closed down and those who have suffered
under the violence of its graduates.
Click
here to find contact information for your local media. visit
our Media
Outreach page to see samples of press releases, letters to
the editor and more!
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