Ft. Benning Protesters Sentenced

Five protesters have been ordered to spend 60 days in prison on federal trespassing charges after a rally in Georgia last November to demand the closing of the former School of the Americas.

Demonstrators blame the school, which trained generations of military officials, for human rights abuses in Latin America. They have rallied at Fort Benning every November for years against the school, currently known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

Eric LeCompte, with the group School of the Americas Watch, says an Episcopal priest from New York and a Roman Catholic nun from Ohio were among those sentenced Monday in federal court in Georgia. He says a sixth protester, age 68, was given six months of house arrest because of medical problems.

(AP)

Change of command at WHINSEC

Colonel Félix L. Santiago (Courtesy)

At Fort Benning near Columbus, a change of command at The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation – previously known as The School of The Americas.

Latin American military personnel during a training session at WHINSEC. (Dave Bender/file photo)

Colonel Félix Santiago on Tuesday replaced 31-year army veteran Colonel Gilberto Pérez, who headed the facility for the last four years. Pérez is retiring from active duty.

Santiago is a native of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico. He also holds a Master in Administration from Central Michigan University.

Santiago is the third commander of the organization, and has served with the Multinational Force in the Sinai; the US Army Section Chief, US Military Group – Perú; Military Group Commander in El Salvador, and as the most recent US Observer to the Conference of Central American Armed Forces among other postings, according to a WHINSEC statement.

WHINSEC headquarters: a stained glass window with the institution's seal, overlooking training areas on Fort Benning. (Dave Bender/file photo)

Click here for more GPB coverage of events at WHINSEC.

Ft. Benning SOA protesters sentenced

SOA Watch founder, Reverend Fr. Roy Bourgeois, talks with members and defendants outside of Columbus District Court after the sentencing. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Demonstrators who illegally trespassed on the Fort Benning Army base during a protest were sentenced today in Columbus District Court.

This past November, eleven men and women protested at the School of the Americas Watch. Thousands of protesters annually demonstrate against the training school, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.


Baghuan after sentencing. (Photo: Dave Bender)

U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth gave 33-year-old Ozone Baghuan of Duluth, Minnesota a three-month sentence, but did fine him:

“This is my second offense and I'm very happy with my sentence.”
Interviewer: When are you going to start serving your sentence?
“I asked for self-report, and hopefully in the spring, once the Bureau of Prisons have made a bed for me.”

Faircloth handed down the group members - whose ages ranged from the 20s to the 70s - sentences including upwards of 90-days prison terms, and fines reaching $500 dollars.

SOA Watch Founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who was at the hearings, say the accused were proud of their deeds:

“You know, they embrace this. I mean, they're not trying to look for a loophole, they know the implications when the cross the line onto Fort Benning.”

Bourgeois says the protesters are following their conscience:

“True, they're breaking a law of Ft. Benning; a law of the state – but – like the Dr. Martin Luther King said, they're trying to follow a higher law.”

SOA Watch says the facility, located on the base, trains Latin American security forces in torture techniques – an allegation the school vehemently denies.


Rials during a tour of the facility, Nov., 2007. (File photo: Dave Bender)

Lee Rials, spokesman for WHINSEC said the facility's doors and classes were open to any visitor. Commenting on the sentencing, he said:

“Visitors are welcome to come see what we are and what we do before making such a life-changing decision.”

Military personnel at a training session at WHINSEC. (File photo: Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of WHINSEC, and SOA Watch.

Kucinich calls for closing Ft. Benning school

Kucinich addressing the rally. (Dave Bender)

Ohio Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich told protesters outside the gates of Fort Benning, today that, if elected, he would close an on-post school that trains Latin American military personnel.

"Today I'm here in solidarity with people from all over the world, who are, who are demanding... that America take a new direction."

Opponents of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation – once known as the School of the Americas - charge that it trains personnel that have been involved in killings and human rights abuses in their home countries.

SOA founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois (blue shirt), and Kucinich comfort a Guatemalan woman, Adriana Bartow and her daughter, Sarina Carrillo sobbing against the fence. The two women, who now live in Chicago said they were grieving over the loss of seven members of their family to military forces in their country in 1981. (Dave Bender)

The weekend-long event, organized by the School of the Americas Watch, culminated with Sunday's march, a mock funeral procession, and a mass "die-in," along the post perimeter fence.

Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren said that Ft. Benning military police detained 10 protesters for trying to infiltrate onto the post. They were caught climbing over the perimeter fence at two locations, both of which were near the construction site of the National Infantry Museum on Lumpkin Road, Boren said.

Two protesters demonstrate "waterboarding," a controversial interrogation technique, opponents consider a form of torture. The willing subject of this simulation was unrestrained, and emerged unharmed from the brief exhibition. (Dave Bender)

Local officials said that on Saturday a similar number of residents and soldiers attended a day-long counter-rally downtown, calling it God Bless Fort Benning (GBFB), in a show of support for the infantry training facility.

Columbus Mayor Jim Weatherington who took an active part in the previous day's activities at GBFB, commented on the SOA Watch rally, saying:

"...We don't support it, but it's our job to make sure that folks can demonstrate -- but they can demonstrate peacefully."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the SOA Watch protest.