Late Friday night, two Chicagoans - Sister Kathleen Desautels and Mary Dean - joined the ranks of 27 other peace activists sentenced to federal prison this month for protesting last November at the notorious School of the Americas, the U.S. government’s elite training program for Latin American military forces at Fort Benning, Georgia. (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation)
Seven other protesters received 6 months probation, and the judge imposed fines ranging from $500 to $5,000 dollars. The protesters’ crime? Opposing the SOA’s dismal history of training torturers, who have been accused over the last 2 decades of mounting terror, torture and murder campaigns throughout Latin America. Two years ago, Congress responded to public criticism of SOA by changing the school’s name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - but SOA/WHISC’s agenda continues - as does public opposition to the crimes of its graduates
for more info, go to: (too lazy to make a link, sorry.)
http://www.soaw.org/
