Thousands attend annual military school protest

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Posted 1:46PM on Monday, November 18, 2002

COLUMBUS, Ga. - With supporters cheering her on, Caryl Hartjes overcame her fears and squeezed through a 10-inch opening in a chain-link fence to risk jail for her beliefs. The frail, 67-year-old Roman Catholic nun from Fond du Lac, Wis., was among 97 members of School of the Americas Watch, including at least 7 nuns, who crossed the boundary separating the City of Columbus from Fort Benning, a major Army training center in west-central Georgia, to protest a school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America. Bond hearings were scheduled Monday for Hartjes and the others who were arrested. They could face up to six months for trespassing on U.S. government property. Hartjes was among about 7,000 protesters who gathered Sunday for the 13th annual demonstration of School of the Americas Watch. The protest is held every November to commemorate the Nov. 19, 1989 killings of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador. Some of the killers had attended the Army's School of the Americas, which moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984. "I go in solidarity with the men and women - especially the children - of South America who were just whisked away and continue to be whisked away," said Hartjes, a hospice worker. "I feel some anger at the outrage of it all. I feel angry at the deliberate treachery and violence. I don't feel angry at the military police who will put the handcuffs on me." A line of military police officers awaited her and the others who crossed the boundary into Fort Benning. They directed the protesters up a hill, where their hands were bound with thick plastic cable ties before they were led off for processing. "This decision to go in is a spontaneous thing. There was no planning," said Bill Quigley, a lawyer representing the protesters. "We're here to support the voices that are trying to make our country's international actions more just." The School of the Americas was replaced last year by a Department of Defense school, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. It still trains soldiers, but has added courses for police officers and civilian officials to help Latin American countries cope with terrorism, natural disasters and the drug trade. Human rights courses are mandatory. Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of the Americas Watch, said the protests will continue because the change in the school was only cosmetic. "It's still about men with guns," he said. Army officials called the protest an example of positive American democracy at work and said they use it as a teaching tool for the students from Latin America. The institute hosted an open house on Saturday for about 300 protesters. "The peaceful protest today outside the gates is a celebration of democracy," said the institute's commandant, Col. Richard Downie. "At a time when our nation is engaged in a war on terrorism, it is absolutely crucial that we build friendships. We try to teach our students that their duty is to protect and serve their citizens, not abuse them." Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, the post commander, called the demonstration "America at its finest." Still, Eaton said he was "duty bound and legally bound to apprehend those who violate the law." Demonstrators carried American flags and crosses honoring the alleged victims of the abuses in Latin America. Three protesters carried a mock-coffin draped in black. Others wore shirts that said "No War in Iraq." After the traditional funeral procession, the protesters danced and sang to freedom songs, including a performance by the nationally known Indigo Girls. There also was a parade of colorful puppets and young men and women singing and beating tambourines while walking on stilts.