WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | SOA Protest Wraps Up; 16 Arrested on Fort Benning

SOA Protest Wraps Up; 16 Arrested on Fort Benning

Organizers say twenty-two thousand people gathered in Columbus this weekend for the 17th annual SOA Watch. 

They're protesting the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. 

The demonstrations are timed to commemorate six Jesuit priests who were killed along with their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador on Nov. 19, 1989. Some of the killers had attended the School of the Americas.

And while much of the protest was similar to years past, this time there was reason to believe their goal wasn't far off.

The protest off Victory Drive wasn't the only one happening. Eight Latin American countries joined in to voice their belief WHINSEC should be closed for good.

And this year, there's hope on the horizon, that it might just happen.

This funeral procession ends the weekend long protest of the former School of the Americas. Each wooden cross, according to organizers, represents a victim of torture at the hands of Latin American soldiers...torture, they say is learned at WHINSEC.

"It's for all the people who have suffered injustice around the world," said Rosmary Pinal of Los Angeles, California.

Some protest because they've heard about the alleged abuse and killing.

"This is a disgrace for the American people, we are not murderers, we are not assassins and we've got to close this place down," said Jerry Loteirzo of Syracuse, New York.

Others came because they say they've seen the victims first hand. Melinda Van Slyke lived in Guatemala for two years.

"I lived in a community of returned refugees who had survived massacres that were committed by military officers," said Melinda Van Slyke of Springgreen, Wisconsin.

But now more than ever, these people see a change coming.

Many who are here, hope with the change in the political climate in Washington D.C. They only have to come back one more time and that's to celebrate the closing of WHINSEC.

A bill in Congress last year that could have cut funding to the former School of the Americas lost by just fifteen votes. Now protesters are praying they have the right people on Capital Hill.

"We're closer and closer each year an so maybe with the change in the administration this will be the year," said Sister Louise Lears of St. Louis, Missouri.

Sixteen people were arrested Sunday morning as they took the protest onto Fort Benning. They are charged with civil disobedience and face three to six months in federal prison if convicted.