To Close the SOA
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A peace activist who has lived and worked with the poor in Nicaragua urges support for legislation to shut down the notorious school
by George W. Baldwin
It was an illegal war, an immoral war, a covert war. Carmen was just one of the victims. She and her family had to flee for their lives to avoid the terrorism of the Contras who were trained and supported by the United States to make war on their own people in Nicaragua. She was on their list to be neutralized because she had been a leader in a village where many other displaced campesinos had fled.
Carmen was a Delegate of the Word in her church. She was one of the founders of a women’s organization and helped to develop baking and sewing cooperatives for widows with orphaned children. On December 2, 1987, she was killed in an ambush set by the Contras. I wept. She was my friend. She became a martyr of the revolution and her memory continues to inspire those of us who knew her. She is "one of the dead who never dies."
I lived in Nicaragua from 1984 to 1996. It was there I first learned about the United States Army School of the Americas (SOA), established in Panama in 1946, which has trained over 59,000 troops from Latin American and Caribbean countries. Since 1984 the SOA has been at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia. Military and police personnel attending the School of the Americas are not taught to defend their own borders from invasion; they are taught to make war — called counter-insurgency warfare — on their own people. Like Carmen, most of the victims are poor peasants, laborers, health care workers, teachers and others whose only crime is countering oppression and injustice.
"School of Dictators"
By the time I learned about the SOA it had come to be known as the "School of Dictators," or the "School of Assassins." It comes as no surprise that the countries with the worst human rights records have sent the most soldiers to the School of the Americas: Colombia 9,776: El Salvador 6,776; Honduras 3,691; Panama 4,235; Bolivia 4,349; and Chile 2,805.
During his reign in Nicaragua, Samoza sent 4,693 of his infamous National Guard. In Colombia over 100 or the 246 officers cited for war crimes by 1993 international human rights tribunal graduated from the SOA. The notorious Battalion 3-16 in Honduras was organized by SOA graduate Gen. Luis Alonso Discua. Gen. Manuel Noriega from Panama is now in a US prison. Latin American military trained at this school have left a trail of violence and suffering in every country to which they have returned.
The School of the Americas Watch
In 1990 Father Roy Bourgeois started the School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch). It has become an ecumenical endeavor with hundreds of concerned citizens from various walks of life and religious persuasions participating in protests and direct actions to reveal the truth about the School of the Americas. Father Bourgeois has spent more time in jail for his protests to close the SOA than have the SOA graduates who murdered the six Jesuit priests and two women.
The project to close the SOA grew to the point that on November 16, 1995, the sixth Anniversary of the massacre of the six Jesuits and the two women in El Salvador, 23 concerned citizens were at the gate of Fort Benning. They were there to protest the cost in human lives as well as the use of taxpayer dollars, which, according to recent Pentagon figures, costs US taxpayers almost $20 million a year. Thirteen were arrested and have spent time in federal prisons. In making this sacrifice they sought to keep the truth from being silenced.
In 1992 Congress (but not the public) learned that the use of "Torture Manuals" was part of the SOA curriculum. Finally, in September 1996, the Pentagon released seven training manuals used at the SOA as well as distributed to military forces throughout Latin America. These manuals instructed officers on the use of torture, murder and blackmail, and they advocated such tactics as executions of guerrillas, extortion, physical abuse and paying bounties for enemy dead. Perhaps most alarming, the manual even equated democratic, non-violent electoral campaigning with terrorist activity.
More public awareness became evident on November 16, 1996 when more than 450 people were at the gates of Fort Benning for the vigil marking the seventh anniversary of the massacre of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador. This time 60 persons were arrested. Statements of support came from the Jesuit Community, the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Leadership Conference of Women Religious (80,000 strong), Pax Christi, Veterans for Peace, Witness for Peace, the Latin American Working Group, Amnesty International and many representatives of peace groups and churches. Joseph Blair, US Army retired and former SOA instructor, said, "The School of the Americas is a cold war dinosaur and should be closed."
Editorials appeared in leading newspapers calling for the closing of the School of the Americas. Prayer vigils and protests were being held in other parts of the country. For three consecutive years, Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) presented amendments to the National Defense budget to close the School of the Americas, but without success. The "School of the Assassins," a documentary about the SOA was nominated for an Academy Award.
In spite of these actions, I found that most persons I spoke with had never heard of the SOA, so I felt called to join the campaign to close the SOA. As a member of The United Methodist Church, I inquired into what my own denomination was doing about this issue. Once again I found that the existence of the SOA and the effort to close it were essentially unknown. Although the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) has been cooperating on this project with the Latin American Working Group in Washington, D.C., most United Methodist knew little or nothing about the existence of the SOA and the campaign to close the school.
HR611 — to Close the SOA
The SOA Watch continued its operation at the front gate of Fort Benning in January 1997; it also opened a second office in Washington, D.C. In April 1997 a 10-day vigil was held on the steps of the Capitol to promote the fourth bill to close the School of the Americas, HR611 (see box). By the end of April Rep. Joseph Kennedy had more than 100 co-sponsors, and, for the first time, a companion bill was being prepared for the Senate. On April 28, during a protest at the Pentagon, 17 concerned citizens were arrested. Over the 10-day vigil more than 1,000 people gathered at the steps and visited the offices of congressional leaders.
By April a lot more activity was evident within The United Methodist Church. Many chapters of the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) were introducing resolutions in their separate annual conferences to close the SOA. The General Board of Church and Society, through its Peace with Justice program, was supporting the activities at the Capitol and doing what it could to get information about the SOA more widely distributed. The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church adopted a resolution to work in cooperation with the General Board of Church and Society to address this matter of closing the SOA through study, dialogue and action. (See "United Methodists Join SOA Debate.")
The Preface of the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church states, "The United Methodist Church has a long history of concern for social justice. Its members have often taken forthright positions on controversial issues involving Christian principles." In Paragraph 63 it further states, "Though coercion, violence, and war are presently the ultimate sanctions in international relations, we reject them as incompatible with the gospel and spirit of Christ."
Thus, the United Methodist Church has long-standing positions that would encourage its members to act to close the School of the Americas.
"Isn’t It Really About Killing Indians?"
A Native American woman from Tacoma, Washington, at Fort Benning last November carried a sign that read, "It’s Really About Killing Indians. . .Isn’t It?" The truth set forth by this question is reflected throughout the history of the last 500 years both here in the United States and in Latin America.
However, it is a present day reality and a matter of urgency given the fact that Mexico has recently become the SOA’s largest client. The increase in the number of Mexican military began shortly after the uprising of the indigenous people in the Mexican State of Chiapas. These people, who named themselves after the historic revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata, rose up in opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other economic policies that benefit the rich in the United States and Mexico while heaping misery on the poor, especially the indigenous population.
These indigenous people have never had access to the rights enjoyed by the other citizens of Mexico. They are simply calling for their constitutional rights within that nation and doing everything they can to resolve the conflict without violence. However, the Mexican government is keeping the peace accords from happening while the School of the Americas is preparing the Mexican Army for counter-insurgency warfare. Public statements by the State Department and the Pentagon say the United States is not interfering with what is happening in Mexico. What we know about the SOA dispels this deceptive information.
In his book, School of Assassins,Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer says we are left with only two realistic possibilities in assessing the SOA:
"Option 1: The fact that numerous SOA graduates are associated with repression, torture, human rights abuses, the overthrow of constitutional governments, targeted persecution of progressive religious, and other atrocities indicates that the SOA is a colossal failure and has done its job exceedingly poorly. Therefore it must be shut down.
"Option 2: The fact that numerous SOA graduates are associated with repression, torture, human rights abuses, the overthrow of constitutional governments, targeted persecution of progressive religious, and other atrocities is evidence that the SOA has tragically succeeded in carrying out its mission and done its job in an efficient, albeit deadly manner. Therefore, it must be shut down" (Nelson-Pallmeyer, Jack, School of Assassins. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1997).
When persons hear about the SOA they usually want to do something about it. Three things come to mind. They can:
• Pray about it, asking for God’s will to be done. Like Jesus, we must not only have compassion for those who are victims, but pray for the liberation of those who are the perpetrators of suffering and death.
• Write or call their Members of Congress and the President, asking them to support legislation to close the US Army School of the Americas.
• Share the information with other, making it part of worship, sermons, youth activities, United Methodist Men, United Methodist Women, telling families and friends.
Such actions can help to close the School of the Americas. Both as individuals and as a church we can save countless lives and at the same time redirect the foreign policies of the United States toward diplomacy instead of militarism.
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George Baldwin, a former United Methodist minister and professor at Saint Paul School of Theology, has for years lived and worked among the poor in Latin America and the United States. |
