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May 5: SOA Watch on Capitol Hill
Representatives from SOA Watch groups and partner organizations all across the country will be meeting with their Representatives in Washington, DC throughout the day today to garner support for HR 1707, the bill to suspend operations and investigate the SOA/WHINSEC.
Join us in support of our 2008 Lobby Days by calling your representatives office in Washington, DC or sending an e-mail or fax to their offices through our automated action letter.
Click here to see if your Representative has already signed on as a co-sponsor and for a link to our automated action letter!
Please take the time to call the D.C. office of your Representative by calling the Capitol Hill Switchboard (202-224-3121). Ask to speak with the foreign affairs legislative assistant and here is a suggested message for you to convey:
"As a constituent living in _________, I am calling Congressman/woman ________ to urge him/her to contact Rep. McGovern and ask to be a cosponsor of HR 1707, legislation that would suspend operations at the School of the Americas, renamed WHINSEC, and investigate the history of human rights abuses and failed policies of the institution.
New information indicates that WHINSEC has allowed known human rights abusers to instruct and receive training at the school. Argentina and Uruguay are two more countries that have made public announcements they will no longer send students to the school, citing the negative image and history of this institution. Despite demands by Congress to have oversight over the curriculum and promote human rights, the Pentagon is now denying all requests to provide information to human rights organizations and the public about students and graduates of the school.
I urge you to contact Cindy Buhl in Representative McGovern's office and ask that your boss be added as a cosponsor of HR 1707. I hope you will represent my views and support this legislation."
 During April 23-36, SOA Watch activists around the world gathered together in community and in individual reflection to call for the closure of the School of the Americas/Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation.
Vigils, marches and street theater, film fests and group or individual fasts were held in places like Ghana; Oaxaca, Mexico; Susquehanna, PA, and cities all over the United States.
Together we are weaving a fabric of resistance to US imperialism in Latin America enforced by SOA/WHINSEC-violence. Join us!
Click here to find folks who organized fasts and events in your area, and let us know know how your experiences and events went by sending an e-mail to info(at)soaw(dot) org or calling us at 202-234-3440.
The SOAW 11
April 10, 2008 - Last of the SOAW 11 Report to Jail
 “I crossed the line at WHINSEC and prayed on the grounds to bring attention to the teaching of torture and assassination. When enough people learn the truth about this school and act to end these practices, the healing can begin.”
– Diane Lopez Hughes, one of the SOAW 11
The 11 courageous souls that willingly put their freedom and bodies at risk to stand in witness against the SOA/WHINSEC during the November 2007 Vigil are now serving, or have completed serving, jail sentences ranging from 30 to 90 days. Show them your support today! Check out these actions to take in solidarity with prisoners and click on each prisoner's name below to get their address in jail.
The SOAW 11, ranging in ages from 25 to 78 and from very diverse walks of life, testified before magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth. Ed Lewinson, a 78-year old History professor who in November crossed the line for the fourth time, was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison and a $500 fine. This is his first conviction since in previous years the government refused to prosecute due to his blindness. Tiel Rainelli, a 25-year-old activist from Canton, OH who was arrested this past November after climbing over the barbed wire fence blocking the main gate of Fort Benning, announced that in spite of the court's decision to sentence her to 90 days in prison, she would return to protest at the gates of Fort Benning in November.
The SOAW 11 are:
- Joan Anderson, 65, Casper, WY - 30 days and a $500 fine
- Ozone Bhaguan, 33, Duluth, MN - 90 days
- Le Anne Clausen, 29, Chicago, IL - 30 days
- Art Landis, 74, Perkasie, PA - 30 days
- Ed Lewinson, 78, Newark NJ - 90 days and a $500 fine
- Chris Lieberman, 54, Albuquerque, NM - 60 days
- Diane Lopez Hughes, 58, Springfield, IL - 45 days and a $500 fine
- Tiel Rainelli, 25, Canton, OH. – 90 days and a $500 fine
- Gus Roddy, 45, Chicago, IL – 30 days and a $500 fine
- Stephen Schweitzer, 45, Binghamtom, NY – 60 days and a $500 fine
- Michelle Yipé, 45, of Argonia, KS - 30 days and a $500 fine
 Before entering the court, the SOAW 11 held a press conference for the media on the courthouse steps on January 28, 2008 with Diane Lopez Hughes and Ed Lewinson speaking on behalf of the group.
- Read the chronology of past SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience
- Read about the SOA 16 (2006-2007)
- Please consider making a contribution to support the Trial, Festival of Hope and campaign to Shut Down the SOA/WHINSEC!
SOA Watch meets with Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa and with Daniel Ortega, president of Nicaragua
 SOA Watch activists and human rights advocates Pablo Ruiz (of SOAW-Latina), Lisa Sullivan-Rodriguez (SOAW Latin America Project) and Fr. Roy Bourgeois met on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 with Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa. The meeting was part of the Latin America Project, the ongoing Americas-wide initiative by grassroots social justice groups to persuade Latin American governments to cut their ties with the School of the Americas/ WHINSEC. So far, the defense ministers of Argentina and Uruguay as well as the presidents of Bolivia, Costa Rica and Venezuela have denounced the legacy of the SOA and pledged to stop sending soldiers to be trained at the school.
(Photo - from L to R - Fr. Roy, Lisa Sullivan, President Correa, Pablo Ruiz)
Ecuador's president Correa was very familiar with this school and with its terrible legacy in Latin America. He was, however, surprised at the growing numbers that Ecuador is sending to this school. He was, quite frankly, unaware of the large number. This was a reaction that we anticipated, since all the previous 4 presidents with whom we have met (and quite a few Defense Ministers in Latin America) are unaware of just how many of their soldiers and officers are participating in this school. This seems to be indicative of how the school goes about giving out invitations. He was glad that we brought this issue to his attention. We also gave him the full list of Ecuadorian soldiers from 1946-2004 which he appreciated. In addition, we gave him a copy of the "blacked out list" which he found surprising and disconcerting.
President Correa made it very clear that he is in sympathy with our cause and asked that we express this support to the movement. He indicated that while it would be difficult to withdraw the students who are currently studying at SOA-WHINSEC, that he will commit to taking a serious look at whether Ecuador will continue at SOA-WHINSEC in 2009. This is very exciting news! The fact that he took so much time to listen, to express support, and to firmly commit to re-considering Ecuador´s participation at SOA-WHINSEC gives us tremendous hope.
 Before their visit to Ecuador, Lisa Sullivan-Rodriguez and Father Roy Bourgeois spent time in Nicaragua. They were able to meet with SOA Watch allies in the country and had several very important conversations with Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua. Ortega expressed public outrage over the school and will look at the continued participation of Nicaragua at SOA.
(Photo - from L to R - Fr. Joe Mulligan, Lisa Sullivan, Daniel Ortega, Fr. Roy)
Standing up to the Pentagon has serious implications for Latin American countries and the history of U.S. military involvement in Nicaragua is long. The United States Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1934. The U.S. government supported the 45 year long Somoza dictatorship financially and trained the members of its National Guard at the School of the Americas in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.
Read more -Background on U.S. Military Involvement in Nicaragua
Read more -The Latin America Project
Sister Dorothy Hennessey, Presente!
March 24, 1913 – January 24, 2008
 Franciscan Sister Dorothy Marie Hennessey, a teacher turned activist who made national news at age 88 when she was sentenced to federal prison for trespassing at a Georgia military base, died Jan. 24 at the age of 94.
In 2001, Sister Dorothy Marie and her sibling, Franciscan Sister Gwen Hennessey, then 68, were sentenced, along with 24 others, to six months in the federal prison in Pekin, Ill., for trespassing at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., as part of the annual vigil to close the School of the Americas in November 2000.
(Photo: (from L to R) Sister Dorothy and Gwen Hennessey)
When a judge offered to commute Sister Dorothy Marie's sentence to "motherhouse arrest," she replied, "I'd rather not be singled out. If you wouldn't mind, I would just as soon have the same (sentence) as the others."
After several weeks, Sister Dorothy Marie was sent to complete her sentence at the Elm Street Correctional Facility in Dubuque "for health reasons."
Continue Reading...
About the School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
 The US Army School of Americas (SOA), based in Fort Benning, Georgia, trains Latin American security personnel in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. SOA graduates are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Among the SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia. Lower-level SOA graduates have participated in human rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians. (See Grads in the News).
In an attempt to deflect public criticism and disassociate the school from its dubious reputation, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001. The name change was a result of a Department of Defense proposal included in the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal 2001, at a time when SOA opponents were poised to win a congressional vote on legislation that would have dismantled the school. The name-change measure passed when the House of Representatives defeated a bi-partisan amendment to close the SOA and conduct a congressional investigation by a narrow ten-vote margin. (See Talking Points, Critique of New School, Vote Roll Call.)
In a media interview, Georgia Senator and SOA supporter the late Paul Coverdell characterized the DOD proposal as a "cosmetic" change that would ensure that the SOA could continue its mission and operation. Critics of the SOA concur.
SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots movement that works through creative protest and resistance, legislative and media work to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America, to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that institutions like the SOA represent. We are grateful to our sisters and brothers throughout Latin America and the the Caribbean for their inspiration and the invitation to join them in their struggle for economic and social justice.
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