Protester: SOA crosses line
by Rose Bowen

"By participating in this memorial funeral procession, you honor the lives of those who have and continue to suffer because of the School of the Americas. Like so many before you, you go as emissaries of peace to confront violence with nonviolence."

Such were the words of blessing to a group of 4,408 protesters who risked arrest Sunday, Nov. 21, by crossing the line into the Ft. Benning military base in protest to the school's long association with human rights atrocities in Latin America. Before crossing the line, the group was addressed by Martin Sheen, actor and social activist.

"We are here," he said, "to follow the action of the nonviolent Jesus." The total crowd numbered more than 12,000, a significant increase over last year's 7,000. They came from 48 states, from as far as Hawaii, and included members of various religious denominations, members of religious orders, students, teachers, grandparents and even parents with children.

So many people crossed the line that authorities could not take down their names in order to issue an official "ban and bar" letter, which could lead to their arrest if they returned next year.

WHEN THE parents of a 14-month-old child (named Maura after the Maryknoll sister murdered by the military in El Salvador) were questioned about the wisdom of bringing their daughter to the protest, they said they realized it was risky. But they had lived in Central America for eight years, and they were honoring the people whose children had been killed by the Latin American military, who were trained at the SOA.

Rufina Amaya, survivor of the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador in which more than 800 men, women and children were gunned down, carried pictures of two of her children killed in the massacre along with her husband and 27 relatives. The United Nations Truth Commission (March 15, 1993) cited 10 of the 12 officers responsible for the massacre as SOA graduates and documented that three-quarters of the Salvadoran officers responsible for seven other massacres during El Salvador's bloody civil war were trained by the Ft. Benning school.

The culmination of the weekend protest was the mock funeral procession led by mourners who carried full-sized coffins and tiny, white child-sized coffins to symbolize the thousands who were killed or who "disappeared" as a result of involvement by graduates of the SOA. Each person crossing the line was given a wooden cross bearing the name of one of those killed. As the names of the victims were called out, the participants held their crosses high and answered 'presente."

While waiting to go into the base-- my second year across the line without being arrested-- I looked around at all the crosses near me, especially those representing children. The ages of those painted on the crosses nearby as well as on the crosses of those called out from the speaker's stand covered the life journey of thousands: ages 2, 7, 9, 10, 14, 54, 70 and children unborn.

THE NAME on my cross was Ruben Lopez, age 18. As I prayed for him, I also prayed that young people of his age would be able to do as the students here were doing when faced with injustice.

Despite many efforts, the school remains open. Major Joseph A. Blair, former faculty member of SOA, has worked closely with Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois for the past six years to shut it down. A report of the Intelligence Oversight Board (June 28, 1996, in Washington, D.C.) discredits repeated statements from the SOA and Pentagon officials that the SOA seeks only to professionalize Latin American armies and strengthen democracies.

According to Army Secretary Louis Caldera, the SOA is considering softening its curriculum and possibly changing its name to the Center for Inter-American Security. It is hoped that the year 2000 will bring more than a name change to the "School of the Americas."

Reprinted with permission from Clarion Herald, December 9, 1999

Sister (Doctor) Rose Bowen, O.P., is currently adjunct professor of theology at Loyola University, New Orleans.