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State News Release - Nov 18, 2002 |
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Georgia Green Party |
| Greens Join National Demonstration Against the School of the Americas. |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hiawassee Georgia - This weekend residents of Hiawassee joined thousands from around the nation and the hemisphere to call for the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, GA. The SOA, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, and is known internationally as the School of Assassins, for its reputation for human rights abuses across Latin America. The November 15-17 event marks the anniversary of the 1989 assassination of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. Nineteen of the 26 officers found responsible by a UN Truth Commission report were SOA grads. The US State Department and Human Rights Watch continue to document atrocities committed by SOA grads. Sunday's prayer vigil featured a four hour "Presente" litany calling the names of thousands of known victims of the school's students. "Ending Terrorism must begin at home," said Kerrie Dickson, Hiawassee resident and past co-chair of the Georgia Green Party. Ms. Dickson lived in Chiapas Mexico in the early 90's where she was a eye witness to the atrocities. The village where she worked was the site of a massacre that left dozens in a mass, unmarked grave only a year or so after her return to the states. "I hope that our Georgia Congressional delegation will support shutting down the terrorist training camp operated by our government, on our tax dollars, right here in Georgia." This weekend, an estimated 12,000 - 15,000 people gathered at Ft. Benning to call for the closure of the notorious school. The Columbus Police set up check points on public streets where they searched the persons and belongings of those who had come to join the prayer vigil at the gates of Ft. Benning. At last count at least 92 (including many clergy and lay leaders of faith) were arrested for acts of civil disobedience, including some for refusing to waive their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search. The SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in commando tactics, military intelligence, psychological operations and other counter-insurgency warfare. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. In 2000 Congress authorized the WHISC to replace the SOA. The renaming was widely viewed as the Pentagon's attempt to diffuse public criticism and to disassociate the school from its reputation at a time when SOA opponents were poised to win a senate vote on legislation that would have dismantled the school. "The first step toward justice and accountability is to close the school," said Hugh Esco, another Hiawassee resident who attended the vigil on Sunday and the 2002 Green Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. "We need a Truth Commission to explore the full scope of SOA atrocities, not to mention reparations for the thousands of their students' victims in Latin America." The campaign to close the school continues to grow since the renaming. A broad movement of human rights groups, people of faith, students, veterans, unionists and others maintain that the underlying purpose of the school remains the same: to control the economic and political systems of Latin America by aiding and influencing Latin American militaries. New legislation to close the school (HR1810) was introduced in the House of Representatives last year. # # # |
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