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Citation: The Humanist July 1999, v.59, 4, 22
Author: Eilerman, Marge
Title: Dancing the Dance to Freedom.(activities of the School
of the Americas) by Marge Eilerman
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COPYRIGHT 1999 American Humanist Association
I believe that all of life is much like a ballet. Special moments and
special people move in and out of life giving it movement and grace. Lights
and shadows are made to take center stage as the dance goes on. One of those
special moments in my life was a four-year missionary stay in Chiapas, Mexico.
Without a doubt, those years formed a strong basis for my convictions
regarding the School of the Americas.
Although my Mexican venture served as a foundation, the experience of
traveling to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, in August 1996 was the spark
plug that engendered the energy to become interested in this particular issue.
On that particular day, 400 nuns from across the United States came to the
entrance of the army military base to conduct a prayer service, asking for the
close of the SOA and pledging to continue to bring the institution and its
program to light. It was during this time of prayer, and upon seeing the
conviction of all those gathered there, that I decided it was important to
also become involved.
From that moment, I began climbing the ladder of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
four steps of civil disobedience: collection of the facts to see if injustice
exists, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. For the next
several months, I tried to learn all I could about the SOA; its antithesis,
the School of the Americas Watch; and the situation in Latin American
countries.
I learned that the SOA was established in Panama in 1946 as the Latin
American Training Center--Ground Division. It was quickly dubbed the "School
of the Assassins" and was removed from Panama in 1984 to comply with the terms
of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty and relocated to Fort Benning. The curriculum
includes thirty-three courses. Students are nominated by their own nations.
And tuition is funded, at least in part, by U.S. taxpayers.
Over its fifty-plus years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 soldiers, police,
and government personnel, mostly from Latin America. According to its website,
the mission of the school is "to provide doctrinally sound, relevant military
training and education to the nations of Latin America; promote democratic
values and respect for human rights; and to foster cooperation among the
multinational military forces." In 1961 President John F. Kennedy altered the
original mission so that the SOA was "to provide instruction necessary to the
nations in Latin America to thwart armed Communist insurgencies." In 1989,
"when the guerrilla thrust subsided due to the collapse of the former Soviet
Union," the curriculum shifted to focus on supporting the primary
foreign-policy goals of the United States in the region.
SOA Watch took a different view of what the school was truly about. Founded
by activist Father Roy Bourgeois in 1990, SOA Watch has been leading the
struggle to close the school. His first up-front and personal involvement with
the military began as a naval officer in Vietnam. He later became even more
intimately involved in U.S. foreign policy as a Maryknoll missionary to
Bolivia. It was his work there with political prisoners and their families
that eventually led to his arrest and expulsion under threat of death in 1977.
Bourgeois first focused on the SOA in 1989 after the murder of six Jesuit
priests and two female co-workers in El Salvador. A United Nations commission
later found that nineteen of the twenty-six people participating in the attack
were SOA graduates. Three Salvadoran graduates were also convicted in the 1980
rape and murder of four American churchwomen: three nuns and a laywoman.
Graduates have been tied to human rights abuses in Chile, Mexico, Colombia,
Guatemala, Honduras, and other Caribbean countries.
SOA Watch and other proponents of closing the SOA continued to express fear
and belief that the army-run school was training students in torture. This
allegation was repeatedly denied by school personnel. SOA Watch claimed that
the school trained its students in "low-intensity" counterinsurgency
techniques. Through vigils, fasts, demonstrations, and media and legislative
work, SOA Watch sought to alert the U.S. public to the brutal consequences of
SOA training.
In September 1996, in the face of intense pressure from religious and
grassroots groups, the U.S. State Department revealed that there were seven
manuals in use throughout the military that were deemed inappropriate. One
manual, Handling of Sources, states: "The counter-intelligence agent must
offer presents and compensation for information leading to the arrest, capture
or death of guerrillas." Another manual, Terrorism and the Urban Guerrilla,
states that counterintelligence agents' duties should include recommending
"targets for neutralizing." Following this disclosure, the New York Times
reported:
Americans can now read for themselves some of the notorious lesson
s
U.S. Army taught thousands of Latin Americans.... [SOA] manuals re
commended
interrogation techniques like torture, execution, blackmail and ar
resting
the relatives of those being questioned.
Because of teachings such as these, human rights violations were rampant in
Latin America. Consistently, the Latin American nations with the worst record
of human rights violations were seen to have the largest military
contingencies of students at the SOA. The school's list of graduates is a
"who's who" of discredited government leaders once backed by the United States
because of their anti-communist stands, including Manuel Noriega of Panama,
Roberto D'Aubuisson of El Salvador, and Anastasia Somoza of Nicaragua.
The SOA's lack of concern for human rights is dramatically illustrated by
those it chooses to honor in its "Hall of Fame" photo gallery or to invite as
speakers and guest instructors. For example:
* General Hernan Jose Guzman Rodriguez, 1993 SOA Hall of Fame--protected and
aided the Colombian paramilitary death squad MAS, which was responsible for
the deaths of at least 149 people.
* General Hector Gramajo, 1991 SOA guest speaker--architect of genocidal
policies from 1980 to 1991, which resulted in the murder, rape, torture, and
displacement of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in Guatemala; found
guilty by a U.S. court of numerous war crimes before speaking at SOA
graduation ceremonies.
* Colonel Pablo Belmar, 1987 guest instructor--directly implicated in the
1976 torture and murder of U.N. official Carmelo Soria, whose neck was broken
after he was arrested and tortured by Chilean secret police.
The U.N. Truth Commission report, released on March 15, 1995, cited over
sixty Salvadoran officers for the worst atrocities committed during that
country's brutal war. Over two-thirds of those named were alumni of the SOA.
For example:
* two of three cited for the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero
* three of five cited for the murder of U.S. churchwomen
* three of three cited for the murder of union leaders
* ten of twelve cited for the massacre of the 900 villagers of El Mozote
* nineteen of twenty-six cited for the massacre of six Jesuit priests and
two women co-workers
A 1993 report from Columbia reads very similarly:
* three cited for Trujillo "chain saw" massacre of 107 villagers
* nine cited for Segonia massacre of forty-three, including children
* eight cited for Uraba massacre of twenty striking banana workers
So many of these trails of pain and death were covered with blood carrying
the handprints of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas.
Despite the fine statements the SOA made about itself, the evidence seemed
to be very negative. A lengthy article in the New Yorker about the massacre of
the 900 at El Mozote helped me to put a face on the people who were being
victimized by the graduates of the school. I decided it was time to begin to
respond to all this information.
I became active by giving talks, showing a video produced by SOA Watch,
writing letters to congressional leaders, and encouraging many others to do
the same. People started sending me the letters they were receiving as
responses from representatives and senators. And it didn't matter what state
or district they represented, two pat answers were almost always given.
If the constituent mentioned the behavior of one or more SOA graduates, the
response was that one doesn't throw out the whole bushel of apples because of
a few bad apples. According to one response, "If one serial killer graduates
from Yale, you wouldn't close the university down." If the constituent didn't
mention the graduates, the responses contained something about the school's
goal of establishing democracy in the twenty-six countries of Latin America
from which SOA students come. These were the same arguments used by SOA
officials.
The argument about the serial killer from Yale never made much sense to me.
Of course we wouldn't request closing the university, but you can be assured
that, if that serial killer were given an honorary degree or asked to deliver
the graduation address, Yale's enrollment would quickly plummet.
This was a disappointing time for me. I had hoped for a much more open
attitude on the part of elected officials, especially since Representatives
Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts and Esteban Torres of California were working
hard to get a bill passed in the House to stop the funding of the SOA and
close it down.
I felt compelled to do more to bring to the consciousness of the American
people how many innocent victims were dying at the hands of SOA graduates. I
became particularly concerned about the growing unrest in the mountains of
Chiapas, Mexico, where I had been a missionary. Shortly after the 1994
indigenous resistance began, Mexico became the largest SOA client. It was time
to step up nonviolent action.
I entered into an open discussion and prayer with the sisters of my
Franciscan community. Everyone was very supportive. I believe they all
realized that this was something deep inside of me. During this period of
decision-making, I was also reading about civil disobedience--or, as I prefer
to call it, civil initiative. John Dear, author of several books on civil
disobedience, inspired and challenged me to speak my truth. His books were
important to me during this time, especially Sacrament of Civil Disobedience.
Traditionally, on November 16 SOA Watch commemorates the anniversary of the
assassination of the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter.
A prayer service, speakers, and a demonstration to protest the ongoing
training at the SOA are staged at the entrance to Fort Benning where the
school is located. I was there in November 1996 and joined in the
demonstration. Sixty people silently and reverently crossed onto the military
base. Each person carried an eighteen-inch white wooden cross bearing the name
of a victim of the SOA and the name of his or her country. I carried the cross
of a child from El Salvador--a victim of El Mozote.
All we wanted to do was to walk quietly and peacefully to the entrance of
the school and to place the crosses in the ground there. It was a ritual of
honor, of healing, of respect. This was not to be, however; as soon as we
protesters rounded a bend out of sight of the media, the military personnel
moved in and arrested us. For taking the step onto the military base, each of
us were given a "bar and ban" letter that prohibited our return for one year.
In May 1997, this ban was upped to five years.
During the intervals when I wasn't protesting, I continued to share the
facts of the SOA as I knew them with the media and many groups. In late April
1997, SOA Watch planned a gathering in Washington, D.C. This included a rally
on the White House steps, lobbying days to speak personally with congressional
members, as well as a vigil and civil disobedience at the Pentagon. Two
hundred people participated in the action at the Pentagon.
We truly hoped that through our actions the members of the top brass would
see and know, at least vicariously, what it meant to be at a massacre. We
staged the mock murder of six campesinos, representing Latin American
countries. Seventeen of us then began to dig a mass grave on the parade
grounds of the Pentagon. Just as someone placed the cross of Sister Ita
Ford--who had been killed in El Salvador--on the mass grave, Pentagon security
police came, handcuffed each of us, and took us into the Pentagon to be
fingerprinted and booked.
Five people were immediately released for an inexplicable reason. The
remaining twelve were given a court date of June 6, 1997, in Arlington,
Virginia. We mused how like the military this action was. People in Latin
American countries can't determine or understand who or why one person is
freed and another is exterminated. When the twelve reported to court, all
charges were dropped and the case was dismissed for "confidential reasons."
While at the rally, several members of SOA Watch spoke about conducting a
less passive action at Fort Benning. They discussed an action that would
clearly demonstrate how SOA Watch felt about that institution. On September
27, 1997, seven members began planning a way to make the truth more public;
two days later, they used crowbars to remove several words from the base's
welcome sign and spray-painted new words on it. The sign which had read
"Welcome to Fort Benning, U.S. Army" was altered to read "Welcome to Fort
Benning, Home of School of Americas, School of Shame, SOA=Torture." The
spray-painters also placed handprints in paint on the entrance sign to accept
their responsibility and complicity in the killing and torture that results
from SOA training. All seven were arrested and ordered to appear in court.
Because of the arrests and continued media contacts of SOA Watch members,
the annual demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning grew considerably in
size. Where 500 had gathered in November 1996, 2,000 gathered in 1997. Six
hundred one people were arrested, thirty-one of whom--including me--had been
arrested the previous year. I was convicted and fined $3,000 and sentenced to
federal prison for both incidents: destruction of government property in
September 1997 and trespassing in November 1997.
I began my incarceration on September 28, 1998. It's a sad commentary on our
judicial system that, after just one day in prison, I had done more time than
those implicated in the thousands and thousands of deaths of Latin Americans.
Despite my confinement, however, I continue to speak out to the American
taxpayers--as do all SOA Watch members.
In November 1998, 7,000 people gathered at Fort Benning's gates and over
2,300 risked arrest. Violators of the order not to cross the white line that
marks the boundary of the military base were placed onto buses, given a
bar-and-ban letter (of which no record was made), and dropped off about two
miles away.
This past May, hundreds gathered in Washington, D.C., to lobby and rally in
support of two new bills to close the SOA. House Resolution 732 was introduced
by Massachusetts Representative Joseph Moakley in February and has since
picked up 127 co-sponsors; Senate bill 873 was introduced by Illinois Senator
Richard Durbin in April and has since picked up twelve co-sponsors.
The SOA maintains that it has changed for the better. To improve its image,
it now uses the acronym USARSA (United States Army School of the Americas).
School officials also maintain that the training manuals are a thing of the
past and that extensive human rights training is now offered. But opponents of
the school believe the changes are only cosmetic. So-called experts who have
reviewed the SOA's courses are often the course instructors themselves. No
independent studies have been made or are planned. And the reality is that the
extensive human rights course is only four hours long, consisting of a slide
presentation, a twenty-minute movie, class discussion, and a test.
A thread of truth was revealed by President Clinton when he accepted
responsibility for the United States' role in the violence committed in
Guatemala over the past four decades. On February 25, 1999, the Guatemala
Truth Commission issued a report that confirms that military assistance
provided by the United States was directed at reinforcing the national
intelligence apparatus and for training the officer corps in counterinsurgency
techniques--key factors which had significant bearing on human rights
violations during the armed confrontation in Guatemala. A startling 93 percent
of the violence--including the deaths of 200,000 people--was carried out by
the army or state-connected civil patrols and death squads. Ninety-three
percent of the identifiable victims were Mayans. This was not a civil war. It
can only be called a genocide. On his recent visit to Guatemala, Clinton
apologized for U.S. involvement: "For the U.S., it is important that I state
clearly that support for military forces or intelligence units which engaged
in violent and widespread repression, of the kind described in this report,
was wrong. The United States must not repeat that mistake."
The six of us SOA Watch members who remain incarcerated for acts of civil
disobedience, the thirty others who have been released after their
incarceration, and the thousands of people who are watching the SOA and have
risked prison believe strongly that, in order for the military to prove
Clinton's words sincere, the infamous U.S. Army-run school at Fort Benning
must be closed. And the number of people who join us in our efforts grows
daily.
Being imprisoned these many months for speaking truth has not been an easy
time for me. I wait now to see if our government is sincere this time in
saying with our Guatemalan friends, "Nunca mas!"--"Never again!" Can we be
assured that the United States will not continue to be a part of the same
scenario in Mexico and Colombia? The December 1997 massacre of forty-seven
Mayans in Chiapas had trails leading to Fort Benning. Are we willing to admit
the U.S. military's complicity there?
Imprisoned or not, I and many others will continue to monitor the situation
and make our voices of opposition heard. Only love can make us free. Only when
we are able to look into the eyes of our brothers and sisters and feel proud
of our national relationship can we be free.
I expect to be released from prison in October 1999. What will I do then?
Where will I relocate? I'm not certain. But somehow, somewhere, I will
continue to work to make people aware of the SOA, and maybe one day soon
Congress will vote to stop funding the killing and close the school. Then the
great ballet can be danced--by all.
Marge Eilerman is inmate 88106-020 at the Federal Women's Prison Camp in
Lexington, Kentucky. For more information on the SOA, contact the School of
the Americas Watch, P.O. Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017-0566; (202) 234-3440;
www.soaw.org.3
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