Salvadorans, U.S. religious target School of Americas - Fort Benning, GA school trained Latin American agents of human rights atrocities

National Catholic Reporter, May 9, 1997

Protests were held in the United States and El Salvador in late April demanding the closure of the School of the Americas, the U.S. Army-run school of Fort Benning, Ga., which activists say has trained Latin American military leaders responsible for human rights atrocities.

A group of Salvadorans and U.S. religious held a weeklong protest April 21-29 outside the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. Holding banners and placards containing the photographs of victims of human rights abuses, about 100 people gathered in front of the embassy building, located in a San Salvador suburb.

One of the placards read: "These are the results of the lessons at the School of the Americas." Below the words were photos of Archbishop Oscar A. Romero and of six Jesuit priests, killed by the army in 1980 and 1989 respectively.

"This institution has done enough damage to Salvadoran society. Its existence is a threat to humanity," said Alicia Garcia, head of the Committee of Mothers of the Disappeared, called COMADRES.

A letter addressed to members of Congress was handed to embassy staff calling on them to support an initiative by Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy, D-Mass., to close the school. A copy of the letter, signed by representatives of Salvadoran human rights groups, was forwarded to the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Anne Patterson, who was to arrive at the end of April.

Protests took place the same week in Washington to press Congress on the Kennedy bill.

Twelve activists were arrested at a demonstration held April 29 at the Pentagon. The protest, which drew 200 to the U.S. military headquarters complex just outside Washington, featured a costumed Uncle Sam leading a dozen people, each representing a Latin American nation, to the Pentagon's parade grounds, where they were "shot" by a cardboard machine gun. After the mock executions, some protesters dug up chunks of dirt from the grounds and tossed them atop the "executed" of different nations to signify their graves.

Paddy Inman, one of the organizers, said that Bolivia, Nicaragua and El Salvador, the three nations with the highest number of School of the Americas graduates, are also the three nations with the worst human rights records in Latin America. Graduates of the school "have left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where they have returned," Inman said.

The Pentagon had canceled a proposed April 24 meeting with heads of religious and peace groups to discuss the school. The delegation of SOA Watch members still went to the Pentagon at the appointed time.

Carol Richardson, SOA Watch member, said when they arrived at the Pentagon they called the Defense Secretary's office from a parking lot pay phone to announced their presence. "A Pentagon spokesperson said it was now the policy not to meet with nonprofit groups on issues related to the SOA," she said.