Close the School of the Americas!

national | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Thursday November 17, 2011 23:48 by Mairtin MacMaolain - Grupo Raices/Dublin Catholic Worker

Vigil 12-1.30pm Saturday 19th November

In solidarity with our Latin American sisters and brothers there will be a Vigil outside the US Embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, on Saturday 19th November 2011 12pm-1.30pm to demand the closure of the School of the Americas, a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins. This vigil (staying awake) is organised in conjunction with the expected 20,000 or so people who will gather outside this infamous School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia from 19-21 November 2010, to demand its closure and some of them will engage in nonviolent direct action in a spirit of solidarity with those suffering from the results of the training of military and police personnel at the US School of the Americas. All Latin American solidarity groups and anyone interested in peace/justice issues are encouraged and welcome to attend and bring whatever placards/banners etc they have to make it a colourful demonstration that people in Ireland know what is going on and won't be silent about it. Please send the message on. Hope you can make it, Mairtin MacMaolain (Grupo Raices Irish/Colombian Solidarity Group + Justice For Colombia Ireland + Dublin Catholic Worker) See www.soaw.org for up to date details on the campaign to close this school of assasins. Click below for link to story of the election of the new Guatemala president General Otto Perez Molina who was also trained at the infamous School of the Americas... http://lasc.ie/content/mass-murderer-will-be-president-...emala In addition... Four of 6 Generals Tied to the 2009 Honduran Coup Were Trained at the SOA The Honduran Supreme Court voted 12-3 to reject abuse of authority charges against now-retired Generals Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, Luis Prince Suazo, Venancio Cervantes, Miguel Garcia, Juan Pablo Rodriguez and Carlos Cuellar. The charges stem from the 2009 coup in which the democratically-elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown and flown to Costa Rica. As a result of the case, SOA Watch has been able to determine that of these six generals officially linked to the orchestration of the coup, 4 were trained at the notorious School of the Americas. These are Generals Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, Luis Prince Suazo, Miguel Angel García and Carlos Cuellar.