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StarTribune November 15 - click here >>
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Published Wednesday, November 15, 2000 Star Tribune
Hundreds of Minnesotans to protest military school in Georgia
About 500 Minnesotans will travel to Fort Benning, Ga., this weekend in a demonstration that is expected to draw thousands of protesters opposed to the U.S. Army School of the Americas. As many as 250 Minnesotans may attempt to get arrested in disobedience actions.
The school, which has been a training center for 63,000 military and police officers, most from Latin America, is set to close Dec. 15 and reopen in mid-January as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
The school has been linked to atrocities and human rights abuses and has been denounced by some members of Congress.
But Lt. Col. George Rhynedance, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday: "There has never been a link between training received at the school and any subsequent alleged human rights abuses." He said democratic progress in Latin America "can be traced back to the training and education programs at the School of the Americas."
Rhynedance said that at the new institute, the curriculum will include "courses that foster a mutual knowledge and confidence among the participating nations."
Tom Bottolene, who spent three months in prison for entering Fort Benning property last November, said a number of local antiwar groups are organizing travel to Fort Benning through the Minnesota Chapter of the School of the Americas Watch at the Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis.
He said the demonstration will mark the 20th anniversary of the slaying of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and 15-year-daughter by El Salvadoran soldiers, most of whom were trained at the school.
The Rev. Roy Bourgeois of Columbus, Ga., a longtime protest leader, said: "We are not fooled" by the changes at the school.
-- Randy Furst
© Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. |
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Published Monday, November 20, 2000 Star Tribune
1,700 arrested during School of the Americas demonstration
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, GA. -- Police arrested 1,700 protesters who had marched into Fort Benning on Sunday demanding that the Army close its SchooloftheAmericas, a training center for Latin American soldiers.
About twice that number, including actor Martin Sheen, had entered the west-central Georgia post, chanting and carrying cardboard coffins and crosses, while others continued the protest outside the gates.
The demonstrations have been led for 11 years by the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a Roman Catholic priest who served in Bolivia. Bourgeois blames the school for human-rights abuses committed by some of its former students.
Army officials termed the charge absurd.
"I'd characterize it as false and as propaganda," Maj. Gen. John LeMoyne, the post commander, said at a news conference Sunday. "Roy's thesis is based on emotion and falsehood."
Wearing plastic parkas, many of the protesters shivered in near-freezing temperatures and occasional rain as they marched to a point where they were halted by military and civilian police.
Police officials estimated that 6,500 people gathered outside the gate for the protest, about half the number that appeared last year. The so-called School of Americas Watch organizes the demonstrations each year near the anniversary of the Nov. 16, 1989, killings in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests. A U.N. panel found 19 Salvadoran officers involved in the slayings had been trained at the school, the group claimed.
Col. G.T. Myers, Fort Benning's provost marshal, said most ofthe protesters arrested Sunday were charged with trespassing, given a warning and released. Some who poured fake blood on the street were charged with damaging government property.
Sheen, who plays the nation's president on the TV show "The West Wing," was arrested, Myers said. Sheen has joined the protests for the past three years.
All those arrested were given letters barring them from visiting Fort Benning for five years. Those barred from the post who are charged with trespassing there again within that period could be subject to a year in prison.
Sister Mary Johnalyn, 68, of West Allis, Wis., said she was photographed, fingerprinted and given a "ban and bar" letter. She said she was charged with damaging U.S. property for spilling fake blood.
The School of the Americas is scheduled to close Dec. 15 and be replaced by the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The new school will be run by the Defense Department, under guiding principles ofthe Organization of American States.
© Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
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Published Sunday, November 19, 2000 Ledger-Enquirer
Damp demonstration
SOA Watch says peaceful protesters welcome to join
S Thorne Harper Staff Writer
It may have rained on their parade Saturday, but demonstrators demanding the closure of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning remained steadfast in their plans to enter the post today and plant corn seeds on military property.
"The rain will only help the corn grow," said Randy Serraglio, SOA Watch spokesman and organizer.
With targeted property destruction associated with protests last year in Seattle lingering in the background, security was tight but cordial as anti-corporate groups merged with SOA Watch for the first time since the annual demonstration began 10 years ago.
The protesters are scheduled to march onto Fort Benning at 10:40 a.m. today, after a 9 a.m. memorial service marking the 20th anniversary of the murders of Archbishop Oscar Romero and four churchwomen from the United States.
In a month that has proven difficult to count ballots in the U.S. presidential race, calculating the demonstrators at Saturday's parade and rally was not possible, Columbus police said. "We don't have as many here as we did this time last year," said Columbus police Chief Willie Dozier.
But at least hundreds stood in a cold drizzle of rain as perhaps 200 others paraded down Fort Benning Road carrying puppets and placards - some depicting Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush as themselves puppets of a corporate world order.
Organizers of the weekend protest, meanwhile, passed out corn seeds Saturday and urged demonstrators to plant them on the post.
Corn, organizers said, is a powerful Latin American cultural symbol.
"Corn is life," said Serraglio, who spent six months in federal prison for crossing into Fort Benning during a previous SOA protest. "It carries a powerful spiritual meaning as well. In suffering it is important to keep hope alive. We are talking about planting hope for the future."
In the 10 years since the protest of SOA began, Columbus police, the U.S. Army and SOA Watch have come to work closely to orchestrate the demonstration and keep it peaceful.
"Hopefully it will be pulled off in a fashion where everything will go as planned," said Columbus police Assistant Chief Wesley Mott, who serves as the liaison between the military and the protesters.
Serraglio said some "direct action" members had joined the protest only as a source of peaceful protest.
"If they come here to protest peacefully then they are welcomed as part of the family," Serraglio said. "But if they come here to commit violence they are not part of the SOA Watch family."
For the first time since demonstrations against the school began, authorities closed nearby South Lumpkin Park for the weekend as a precaution. Columbus police, meanwhile, provided 100 officers to this year's protest while Fort Benning put 250 military police officers on call.
During last year's protest at a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, direct action members targeted corporate businesses for property damage. Direct action organizations believe that multi-national corporations are part of a military-industrial complex that is stripping away human rights.
"Columbus police and military police are concerned that some violence may be brought here," Serraglio said. "But we're concerned about the violence generated out of the School of the Americas."
Contact S. Thorne Harper at (706) 571-8516 or sharper@ledger-enquirer.com |
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Published Monday, November 20, 2000 Ledger-Enquirer
Marching on
Fears of violence unrealized; Benning commander meets protesters to present Army's side of story
Richard Hyatt Staff Writer
IPeppered by a rain that could not make up its mind and shrouded by a fear of violence that never came, more than 3,500 protesters solemnly marched Sunday onto Fort Benning, singing and chanting their individual messages against the School of the Americas and the graduates that make up its alumni.
Led by demonstrators wearing death masks and somber black robes and carrying symbolic coffins on their shoulders, marchers braved arrest and filed on the military installation for the 11th year. And though the number of marchers was dramatically down, the number of protesters being processed by military authorities rose from 14 to 1,700, a decision the post's commanding general said was to remind SOA Watch organizers that the Army will not allow Fort Benning to become part of a political protest.
"We want to put them on notice that we will not condone the politicalization of the United States Army, said Maj. Gen. John LeMoyne, who watched the confrontation from a nearby hillside.
More than anything, he wanted to talk about efforts to evangelize with protesters who crossed over the line, giving them the Army's side of the School of the Americas story.
"I went down into the group myself today, to engage them in conversation, trying to open their minds to the other side. And they listened, enough so that 1,400 of them turned around and walked back without breaking the law, LeMoyne said.
LeMoyne was joined by chaplains and members of the SOA staff in the unusual effort. Army officials have acknowledged they have lost the information war to the Rev. Roy Bourgeois and his followers. Sunday, they tried to outflank the Catholic priest who has been living only a few feet from their main gate since 1989.
"Father Roy doesn't want his people to hear the other side and, frankly, we took advantage of today to do just that, LeMoyne said.
In addition to the marchers who were detained, Fort Benning authorities arrested around a dozen individuals who tried to enter the post on South Lumpkin Road. Columbus police reported no weekend arrests.
Local police had a detachment of specially trained and equipped officers in reserve. Maj. Russell Traino said he was thankful his people never had to leave the warmth of their nearby apartment. "I'm glad all they had to do was watch a football game, he said.
More than 100 law enforcement personnel from the police department and the Muscogee County's sheriff's department patrolled the site. Fort Benning had 275 military police and Department of Defense officers on duty. A special unit from the Georgia State Patrol was also in reserve.
Security was more intense because of concerns about reports of rogue protesters coming here to join the effort. However, SOA Watch's nonviolent tradition continued.
"They said it would be a peaceful demonstration - and it was, said Col. Joe Torres, Fort Benning's garrison commander for the past five days.
Col. G.T. Myers, the post provost marshal, said he has been in frequent contact with Bourgeois. "Listening to what was being said on the stage, it was evident the message was more far-reaching this year, Myers said.
Wesley Mott, the assistant chief of police in Columbus and the longtime leader of the department's SOA detail, said new wrinkles used by protesters Sunday were alarming. "There was more action, but still non-violent, he said.
Bourgeois and Mott exchanged warm handshakes as the protest ended near dark Sunday. The Maryknoll priest said the weekend went smoothly. Before the change of weather, organizers had anticipated 12,000-15,000 people. Officials estimated around 6,500 people clustered around the makeshift stage on Sunday.
"We're after commitment, not numbers, said Bourgeois, maintaining the protest will continue to be peaceful. "We're very clear. You come in the spirit of nonviolence or you move on."
Still, there were surprises. Long after the first wave of protesters crossed the line, smaller groups followed. Instead of staying on the south side of the road, they crossed the grassy median to the other two lanes, laying down in the roadway. Later, groups of large puppets pranced across the line.
Processed for the first time, activist actor Martin Sheen was among the group of protesters detained Sunday night. It was his third time crossing the line but the first time he has faced charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Macon will make the decision on which of the 1,700 being processed will be charged.
Contact Richard Hyatt
at (706) 571-8578 or rhyatt@ledger-enquirer.com |
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Published Tuesday, November 21, 2000 Ledger-Enquirer
SOA protesters to face charges
S. Thorne Harper Staff Writer
At least 21 people will face federal charges ranging from criminal trespassing to vandalism following this weekend's protest of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, a post spokeswoman said Monday.
Furthermore, more than 1,700 demonstrators - including actor Martin Sheen - have been banned from Fort Benning for five years after crossing onto the post during the demonstration, said spokeswoman Elsie Jackson.
"Thankfully, it was pretty peaceful," Jackson said. "We didn't have anybody give our law enforcement people a hard time."
SOA Watch, which organized the protest, counted this year's demonstration as a success.
"We're tired and exhausted but feeling good," said SOA Watch founder the Rev. Roy Bourgeois. "We had a lot of young people there this year and they were high energy. We expect even more next year."
About 3,500 protesters crossed onto post grounds Sunday. Of that number, 1,766 were detained and issued "ban and bar letters" preventing them from entering Fort Benning for five years, Jackson said. Sheen, who plays U.S. President Josiah Bartlet on the popular NBC series "The West Wing," was among them.
They were processed and bused from the post to Rigdon Park in Columbus.
Though exact figures were not available Monday, Jackson said at least 21 people who had been issued "ban and bar letters" before Sunday's action face charges in U.S. District Court. The charges and hearing dates will be determined by the court, she said.
Of the 3,500 who approached the line, about 1,400 turned away from the post line and returned to the protest area.
As in previous years, total crowd estimates of Sunday's protest remain in dispute. The post put the number of demonstrators Sunday at 6,500.
SOA Watch put the number of protesters, who were bused in from as far away as Canada, at 10,000.
"We had 3,500 crossing but I would say at least double that stayed," Bourgeois said. |
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