rain and the rhinoceros

Marcia and I are going down to Fort Benning, Georgia along with a group from St. Thomas to expose destructive U.S. Foreign policy by protesting U.S. Army of the School of the Americas. Our intentions are to shut down the school.

From SOA Watch:

The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.

The 1989 University of Central America Massacre

“Sources at the [SOA] say that when…soldiers go through the urban-combat exercise with blanks in their weapons, half the time the village priest (played by a U.S. Army chaplain) is killed or roughed up.”
–Newsweek Magazine, August 9, 1993

“Many of the critics [of the SOA] supported Marxism — Liberation Theology — ;which was defeated with the assistance of the U.S. Army.”
– United States Army School of the Americas web page, June, 1999

On the night of November 16, 1989, a Salvadoran Army patrol entered the University of Central America in San Salvador and massacred six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. Nineteen of the military officers cited for this atrocity have received training at the US Army School of the Americas.

Martyrs of the University of Central America

Ignacio Ellacuria, rector of the University and an outspoken critic of the Army

Ignacio Martin Baro, who studied the effects of war on the human psyche

Segundo Montes, a strong advocate for refugees and human rights

Amano Lopez, a gifted counselor and pastoral worker

Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, director of an education program in poor communities

Juan Ramon Moreno, a gifted preacher and retreat leader

Elba Ramos, the Jesuits’ housekeeper, remembered as sensitive and intuitive

Celina Ramos, Elba’s 14-year-old daughter who had worked as a catechist

SOA Graduates that Participated in, Planned, or Covered-up the Massacre

1LT Yusshy Rene Mendoza Vallecillos, 1988, Commando Operation Course

CPL Angel Perez Vasquez, 1987, Small Unit Training and Management

1LT Jose R. Espinoza Guerra, 1982, Spanish Officer Cadet Course

1LT Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos, 1988, El Salvador Cadet Course

COL Carlos Armando Aviles Buitrago, 1968, Cadet Course

GEN Juan Rafael Bustillo, 1965, Counterinsurgency Orientation

COL Francisco Elena Fuentes, 1985-1986, Guest Instructor; 1973, Officer Supply

1LT Francisco M. Gallardo Mata, 1992, Combat Operations; 1990, Combat Arms

LTC Carlos Camillio Hernandez Barahona, 1972, Combat Arms

1LT Ramon E. Lopez Larios, 1992, Combat Arms; 1988, Infantry Officer

1LT Rene Roberto Lopez Morales, 1990, Combined Officer Advanced Course; 1988, Commando Operations Course; 1987, Combat Arms Officer Course

COL Inocente Orlando Montano, 1970, Engineer Officer Course

GEN Juan Orlando Zepeda, 1975, Urban Counterinsurgency Ops.; 1969, Unnamed

1LT Mario Arevalo Melendez, 1989, Commando Operations Course

CPT Jose Fuentes Rodas, 1986, Combat Arms Officer Course; 1980, Cadet Orientation

SGT Antonio Ramiro Avalos Vargas, 1988, Small Unit Training and Management

1LT Jose V. Hernandez Ayala, 1991, Combat Arms Officer Course

1LT Edgar Santiago Martinez Marroquin, 1991, Combat Arms Officer Course

COL Nelson Lopez y Lopez, 1968, Cadet Course

COL Manuel Antonio Rivas Mejia, 1975, Urban Counterinsurgency Ops.;1970, Cadet

GEN Gilberto Rubio, 1976, Logistics Management Course,1971, Tactical Officer Cadet