Protests demand: 'Close School of Americas'

Approximately 25,000 people assembled at the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., on Nov. 18 as part of an annual protest to demand that the U.S. military close the notorious School of the Americas (SOA).

The SOA, now named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation, is used to train military and security personnel from Latin American nations. SOA graduates are responsible for the murder and torture of hundreds of thousands of people in countries across Latin America.

The demonstration began with Gennaro Jacinto Calel, from the International Mayan League, offering a traditional Mayan blessing.Speakers at the demonstration recounted atrocities committed by SOA trained murderers, such as the 1981 El Mozote massacre in El Salvador where more than 900 men, women and children were brutally killed, and demanded that the U.S. military immediately shut down the school. Participants in the demonstration included survivors of torture at the hands of SOA graduates.

Demonstrators placed thousands of white crosses with the names of victims who were murdered by SOA graduates at the gate of the base. Military police arrested 11 people who crossed onto the grounds of the base in an act of civil disobedience.

Simultaneous demonstrations took place in San Francisco; Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Monterey, Calif.; Santiago, Chile; and Toronto, Canada.