wfn.org | Presbyterians Arrested at School of The Americas Protest

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

18-November-1997 
97441 
 
    Presbyterians Arrested at School 
    of The Americas Protest 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
COLUMBUS, Ga.--Nine members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship were among 
500 protesters arrested here Nov. 16 as part of an ongoing effort to force 
closure of the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at nearby Fort 
Benning. 
 
    More than 1,000 persons prayed silently outside the gates of the 
school, whose graduates have been linked to torture, assassination and 
other human rights abuses in Latin America, while the 500 protesters 
trespassed onto the base carrying crosses and coffins containing nearly 1 
million petition signatures demanding the closure of the school. 
 
    One of the Presbyterians, the Rev. Steve Brown of Greeley, Colo., said, 
"We have met with the Pentagon, we have written our elected officials and 
now we are risking arrest to follow Jesus by telling the truth about the 
SOA as a breeding ground for terrorism."  Presbyterians arrested included 
the co- chairs of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Marilyn White of 
League City, Texas, and Meta Ukena of Pelham, N.Y. 
 
    Established in 1946 and funded by U.S. tax dollars, the SOA's graduates 
have included Manuel Noriega, the ex-dictator of Panama now imprisoned in 
the U.S. for drug running; Salvadoran death squad commander Roberto 
d'Abuisson; Guatemalan military officers who led the killing of more than 
200,000 indigenous Mayan Indians; the assassin of Salvadoran archbishop 
Oscar Romero; and 19 of the 27 soldiers identified as the 1989 killers of 
six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter at the University 
of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador. 
 
    The effort to close the SOA was initiated by Catholic priest Father Ray 
Bourgeoise after the Jesuit killings. 
 
    The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly has repeatedly called 
for the closing of the SOA.  Former General Assembly and Presbyterian Peace 
Fellowship moderator the Rev. Clinton Marsh said, "Congress and the 
administration must move quickly to end this disgraceful and horrific 
chapter.  The American people do not want to help train military dictators 
to wage war against their own civilian populations." 
 
    The most recent congressional effort to close the SOA fell seven votes 
short of passage by the House of Representatives. 
 
    The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship was founded in 1945. 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 
  mailed from World Faith News <wfn-news@wfn.org>  

--