Thousands of religious, trade union, and human rights activists participated in a moving vigil and rally outside the gates of the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia on November 22nd to demand that it be closed. The “school,” renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001, has trained more than 64,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency, military intelligence and interrogation techniques. Luis Posada Carriles, the notorious terrorist and mastermind of the 1976 downing of Cubana airline flight 455, trained at this School of Assassins in 1961.
 
Graduates of the SOA, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, have been linked to human rights violations and suppression of popular movements throughout the Americas, most recently in Honduras where they led the coup against democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya.
 
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter in El Salvador in 1989. Those responsible for the killing were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas according to a U.S. Congressional Task Force. Since then, the non-violent, grassroots group called SOA Watch has organized annual protests at the gates of Fort Benning, often involving massive acts of civil disobedience. For 20 years, the SOA Watch movement has stood in solidarity with the people of Latin America to change oppressive US foreign policy.
 
This year, for the first time, the issue of the Cuban Five was introduced to thousands of participants. A literature table set up on the road leading to Fort  Benning’s entrance attracted activists from all over the country with its two large banners. People stood in line to sign petitions demanding an end to the travel ban. They added their names to letters to President Obama demanding the immediate release of the five heroes, took copies of letters to Hillary Clinton calling for her to grant visas for the wives. They filled out postcards to different media outlets asking them to cover the case.  Many gobbled up brochures, fliers and free DVDs about the case to take home to their communities. What was most remarkable to this participant was the curiosity that people brought to the table and their willingness to ask questions until they understood the complexity of the situation. Many were incredulous that they had never heard about the colossal injustice and then would ask, “What can I do?”
 
A workshop on Nov. 20th entitled, “Anti-Cuban Terrorists & Anti-Terrorist Cubans: Luis Posada, the SOA, and the Cuban Five Connection,” attracted about 70 attendees. It was organized by Stan Smith of the Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban Five and myself and held at the Columbus, GA Convention Center. Participants came away with both indignation and ideas about how to become more involved in winning the release of Gerardo, Antonio, Rene, Fernando and Ramon.
 
At the vigil on Sunday morning, thousands stood in the rain holding small crosses with the names of victims murdered or disappeared at the hands of graduates of the SOA. For nearly three hours, as names were read off, people would raise their crosses in unison and chant “Presente!” This year, thanks to the ingenuity of Marilyn McKenna, former co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), there were crosses for members of the Cuban National Fencing Team who perished in the 1976 downing of flight 455. As I held the cross for Julio Herrera Aldama, age 25, and the man next to me held that of Jesús Méndez Silva, age 30, a national foil team competitor, it struck me that solidarity between the North American movement and the Cuban people had taken on a deeper significance. And as we marched up to the gate, to stick those small crosses into the fence, I knew that the selfless acts of the Cuban Five to protect their island from terrorist attacks would soon be seen in that light by people of conscience who will raise their voices to free the Five.