THIS WEEKEND!! EVERY YEAR 20 november!
Thousands Converge at the gates of Fort Benning for 20th Anniversary of November Vigil to Close the SOA
26 PEOPLE ARRESTED AND HELD IN THE COUNTY JAIL ON MULTIPLE CHARGES
Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Action Followed by Indiscriminate Arrests and Targeting of Journalists. Among those arrested by Columbus Police were three Journalists, including TV News Crew from RT America and Unrelated Bystanders.
==== THE GUARDIAN ===
The school of Latin America's dictators
Since so many alumni are notorious human rights abusers, the US military should close its deadly School of Americas
When the elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was dragged from his bed and flown out of the country in his pyjamas last year, it was no surprise to find that this classic coup was led by a graduate of the School of Americas, the notorious army training school in Fort Benning, Georgia. But General Vasquez was simply following a well-trodden path for autocrats in Honduras – after all, two of the country's most hated past dictators, Juan Melgar Castro and Policarpo Paz Garcia, had also attended the school.
More than 60,000 Latin American soldiers have been trained at the School of the Americas – among them, the some of the region's most notorious human rights abusers, such as Salvadoran death-squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson. In all, 11 dictators have attended its courses: men such as Argentine junta leader, Leopoldo Galtieri, infamously responsible for the "disappeared" and Guatemala's Efraín Ríos Montt, whose scorched earth campaign against indigenous villages, was classified as "genocide" by a UN-sponsored commission.
Founded in the Panama Canal Zone in 1948, it was originally named the Army Caribbean School. It was renamed the School of Americas in 1963, and a new curriculum was introduced, offering courses in counter-insurgency, military intelligence and psychological warfare. The school was moved to Fort Benning in 1984 and, in 2001, in an attempt to improve its image, its name was changed again to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Cooperation (WHINSEC).
Training manuals (pdf) used at the School of the Americas were declassified in 1996. They advocated the use of "fear, payment of bounties for enemy dead, beatings, false, imprisonment, executions and use of truth serum", according to a Pentagon memorandum (pdf). The manuals also included detailed interrogation techniques and used the term "neutralisation", which the department of defence admits is a euphemism for illegal execution.
Those manuals have now been withdrawn from use and the anodynely-named WHINSEC offers courses in human rights, ethics, democracy and peace-keeping. But there is very little take up of these "soft" courses, according to institution's own statistics released to Congress in 2000, and by far the most popular courses remain: commando tactics, military intelligence, psychological operations and combat training.
Despite its revamped image and promise of transparency, WHINSEC has been remarkably secretive. It refused to publish the names of its military trainees and has turned down numerous freedom of information requests by campaigners. Only after a congressional vote last year, did it begin to release names and country origins of graduates.
This weekend (19-21 November), thousands of people will congregate at the gates of Fort Benning to call for the school's closure. The protest is called by School of Americas Watch, a group founded by Father Roy Bourgeois, which has catalogued the abuses of School of Americas graduates for 20 years. Protests will also take place in 14 Latin American countries, including Chile, Honduras and Guatemala.
A vigil will take place in Colombia, which has sent more officers to US training schools than any other Latin American country and, today, has the worst human rights record in the region. In the last two years, the country has been rocked by the news that the army has been killing innocent civilians, then dressing the victims in guerrilla uniforms. Prosecutors are investigating more than 1,700 alleged extrajudicial killings by the security forces. Who is responsible for the grisly "false positive" murders? Well, one of the first generals sacked for involvement was Paulino Coronado Gámez, a graduate of the School of Americas.
The term "neutralisation" may have been taken out of the school's manuals, but its students still appears to be carrying out what they learned on the ground. Reason enough to close down this school for good.
Thousands Converge at the gates of Fort Benning for 20th Anniversary of November Vigil to Close the SOA
26 PEOPLE ARRESTED AND HELD IN THE COUNTY JAIL ON MULTIPLE CHARGES
Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Action Followed by Indiscriminate Arrests and Targeting of Journalists. Among those arrested by Columbus Police were three Journalists, including TV News Crew from RT America and Unrelated Bystanders.
Thousands of human rights activists, torture survivors, veterans, faith-based communities, union workers, students, musicians and others from across the Americas are gathered today at the gates of the U.S. military base Fort Benning to call for the closure of the School of the Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).
Following the SOA Watch rally, human rights activists brought their nonviolent witness to close the SOA into the street leading onto the military base. The activists briefly shut down the road with a large sign that said, "Stop: This is the End of the Road for the SOA." Their action is part of a longstanding tradition of creative civil disobedience to call attention to the atrocities committed by graduates of the School of the Americas. 10-12 people were arrested, and others charged, including the 90-year old Jesuit priest Bill Brennan, and ordained Catholic priest Janice Sevre-Duszynska.
Two human rights activists crossed onto Fort Benning through the highway entrance. They have been charged with federal trespass and face up to six months in federal prison and a fine up to $5,000.
When the rally participants tried to leave the vigil area, the police blocked off all exit points. After a few minutes, the police allowed people to leave on the sidewalk, only to follow them, indiscriminately arresting people who had neither committed any crimes nor engaged in civil disobedience. Among those arrested was the RT America TV crew, who was filming the police misconduct and bystanders. All arrestees are currently being held in the Muscogee County Jail for up to a $5,500 bond.
SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots organization that works for the closing the
School of the Americas and a change in U.S. foreign policy - www.SOAW.org
Posted: Nov 19, 2010 10:51 AM Updated: Nov 20, 2010 10:44 AM
Press Release
FORT BENNING, GA – The access control point on Fort Benning Road will be closed from 6 p.m. Nov. 19 to 5 a.m. Nov. 22.
Motorists are strongly encouraged to avoid Benning Blvd. between Victory Drive and Fort Benning's "Stone Gate" the weekend of Nov. 21.
Entry to the installation is strictly controlled at access control points.
All vehicles attempting to enter the installation at any access control point will be stopped and may be searched. Drivers and adult passengers in the vehicle will be asked to present identification.
Drivers of vehicles without military stickers must stop at the visitors' center on I-185 to get a temporary access pass.
Source: Fort Benning Office of Public Affairs 
Protesting to bring thousands to Columbus
SSOA WATCH PREVIEW
Protesting to bring thousands to Columbus
By Curtis McCloud
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) -For four years Tam Ngyen has come to Columbus to stand with thousands of protesters at the gates of Fort Benning, this year won't be any different.
"Tomorrow's protest is a vigil, it's to commemorate all those that have died at the hand of graduates of the School of Americas specifically those who have died in Latin American countries," Ngyen said.
Ngyen is working with Puppetista's to create dramatic images for tomorrow big event. It's an annual effort put on by the School of America's Watch group. Protesters come together at the gates of Fort Benning to shut down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation formally the School of Americas on post.
The vigil and protest has been going on for twenty years. It started after graduates of the then School of Americas killed 14 year old Celina Ramos, her mother Elba, and six Jesuit priests in El Salvador
Protestors claim those same tactics are being taught at the school today, groups from north and Central America have united to call for closing of the institution all together.
"We have thousands of people from all over the country, who are coming together to speak out against injustice, speak out against violence, and speak out against the school of the Americas," Hendrick Voss said.
SOA Watch director of Communications Hendrick Voss tells us that people come every year to be heard and simply want the school to be closed.
"It's a big coalition of groups, that is standing up for human rights, that is standing up for justice in the Americas," Voss said.
"We don't move on because, there is a memory that needs to be remember and that's the memory of all those that have died," Ngyen said.
Victims of Operation Condor
Former Ft. Benning commanders promoted
PRESS RELEASE
Story Created: Nov 18, 2010 at 4:46 PM CST
FORT BENNING, Ga. – Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has announced that the President nominated Maj. Gen. Michael Ferriter for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as the deputy commander for Advising and Training, United States Forces-Iraq, OPERATION NEW DAWN, Iraq.
Ferriter most recent assignment was as the commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning. He relinquished command of Fort Benning on Nov. 4, 2010.
Gates also announced that the president has nominated Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero for reappointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as director, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, Arlington, Va.
Barbero is currently serving as Deputy Commander for Advising and Training, United States Forces-Iraq, OPERATION NEW DAWN, Iraq.
Barbero served as the commanding general of Fort Benning from November 2008 to June 2009.
(SOURCE: Ft. Benning Public Affairs)
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