Gather with tens of thousands of other activists for the annual vigil to close the notorious School of the Americas (SOA). Each year we grow closer to seeing the school closed for good. Together we can close the SOA! (See background below.)
On the Way to Georgia... PROTEST the corporate crimes of Chiquita, Drummond & Coke against the people of Colombia! November 18 in Cincinatti, OH
November 19 in Birmingham, AL
November 20 in Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, November 18 at 3:30pm Chiquita Brands International, 250 East 5th St., Cincinnati, Ohio
Chiquita is the only U.S. Corporation to plead guilty to violations of the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act. In 2007 they agreed to pay a $25 million dollar fine for their support of the Colombian paramilitaries, but none of the officers have been charged or held accountable. Demand that Chiquita pay compensation to victims' families and hold the corporate officers criminally liable.
Thursday, November 19 at 3:30pm Drummond Company, Inc., Birmingham, Alabama (Site TBA) Demand compensation and accountability from the Drummond Company, accused of serious human rights abuses against Colombian workers, including the deaths of three union leaders.
Friday, November 20 at 11:00am Coca-Cola, 121 Baker St. NW, Atlanta, Georgia
Pending U.S. lawsuits against Coca-Cola and its bottler, Coca-Cola Femsa, charge that Coca-Cola's bottlers in Colombia "contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders." Demand justice for these union leaders.
To RSVP, get more information, or learn about housing options, contact Ken Crowley at 773.564.9535 or 202.423.3402.
Witness for Peace Events at the SOA Vigil:
Friday, November 20 at 3:00pm 10th Annual Colombia Teach-In,Howard Johnson Presidential Room, Columbus, Georgia This is a critical time for U.S. Colombia policy. The Obama administration has reneged on its promise to reject the destructive policies of the proposed U.S./Colombia "Free Trade Agreement". We must stop the FTA NOW! This year's teach-in will explore the political and economic reality in Colombia and the powerful reasons to reject the Colombia FTA:
Impunity for human rights violators
U.S. corporate complicity
Paramilitary murders of trade union leaders.
Speakers: Martha Lucia Giraldo, from Cauca, Colombia. Martha is the daughter of José Orlando Giraldo, a victim of an extrajudicial killing by the National Army. Martha is a member of the Victims of State Crimes Movement working to demand their rights to truth, justice and reparation. Gerardo Cajamarca Alarcón, a native of Sasaima, a village in the coffee producing area of Colombia. Gerardo was forced to flee Colombia in 2004 after receiving death threats because of his work as a human rights advocate and labor organizer, including work with a Coca-Cola labor union decimated by paramilitaries. Gerardo works with International Mission of Sinaltrainal. Jairo Dionisio Fuentes Epiayu, a Wayuu indigenous leader from northern Colombia. His village, Tamaquito, has been systematically cut off and debilitated by the giant multinational Cerrejón coal mine, which supplies coal to power plants up and down the east coast of the United States.
Joined by: Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History and Coordinator of Latin American Studies at Salem State College in Massachusetts, and author of "They Take Our Jobs! And 20 Other Myths about Immigration" Ray Rogers, founder and director of New York City based Corporate Campaign Inc. which has championed labor, human rights and environmental causes for three decades. Saturday, November 21 at 7:00pm Roots of Migration Workshop,Convention Center, Columbus, Georgia One of the key issues facing the current administration is immigration reform. Anti-immigrant legislation, cruel raids and deportations are threatening our immigrant sisters and brothers in communities throughout the country. Considering the danger of the trip across the border, Mexicans' and Central Americans' decisions to immigrate to the United States are often made out of economic desperation. When families cannot afford to feed their children or provide them with basic necessities they take drastic measures.
Mexicans and Central Americans will continue to risk their lives to emigrate partially due to the results of free trade agreements such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement). These failed agreements have devastated the countryside, displacing millions and increasing unemployment and poverty. Learn how the movement for just U.S. foreign policy and the immigrant rights movement can work together to address the root causes of immigration.
Presented by Ben Beachy, WFP Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizer and former member of the WFP International Team in Nicaragua
Sunday, November 22 at 9:00am Memorial Service and Solemn Procession,Ft. Benning, Columbus, Georgia Join us at the Procession. Members of the WFP community will walk together behind the WFP banner during the memorial service and symbolic funeral procession. Background
The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation", is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the "biggest base for destabilization in Latin America ." The SOA, frequently dubbed the " School of Assassins ," has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.
Over its 60+ 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 to flee by those trained at the School of the Americas.
For close to twenty years, School of the Americas Watch has been organizing an annual mobilization to close the school. The vigil is held in November to commemorate the 1989 massacre of six jesuit priests, their co-worker and her daughter by soldiers trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas.
