 Today
is the day that you can join SOA Watch activists around the country in
taking a big step closer to closing the SOA/ WHINSEC -- by urging
Senator Levin to release the names of the graduates and instructors of
the SOA/ WHINSEC.This June, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to require the release of the names, lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding the school. The joint House-Senate conference committee is meeting over the next few days to decide whether the amendment language is included in the final version of the bill that will be signed into law. Your voice on the phone today will mean so much. By calling Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, you can help ensure the success of this amendment. We can make real progress towards closing the SOA/ WHINSEC! It takes just a few minutes of your time. Here's what you can do:  Call
Senator Levin by calling his DC Senate office at 202-224-6221, or call
the Capitol Hill Switchboard toll free at 1-800-473-6711 and ask to be
transferred to Senator Levin's office.1. We expect the volume of calls to overwhelm their office, so you may receive a busy signal. Keep trying. Stagger your calls (and follow up calls) throughout the day. 2. Here is the message to convey: "Senator Levin, I strongly urge you to include the WHINSEC amendment (the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop (GA)-Lewis (GA) amendment) language in the final version of the Defense Authorization bill." Additional Talking Points You Can Use: • This amendment would require the release of the names for graduates and instructors at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly named the School of the Americas. • This is the second year in a row that the House of Representatives has passed this bipartisan amendment also supported by Chairman Ike Skelton of the House Armed Services Committee. • This amendment asks for nothing more than the same categories of information that have been released to human rights organizations from 1946 to 2004. • Arguments opposing this amendment are undocumented assertions and nothing more, because opponents have no concrete examples to back up their arguments. Forward this information widely: to your friends, family, community members, coworkers, peace and justice groups, and listservs. Together we can close the SOA! Contact your Representative Now! New SOA/ WHINSEC Legislation Introduced in Congress! On May 21st, 2009, Representative Jim McGovern introduced HR 2567 in the House of Representatives with 42 original cosponsors! This new legislation would suspend operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC and investigate the 
association of torture and human rights abuses associated with the
school.We need your help generating more cosponsors and support for HR 2567! Visit the Legislative Action Index on our website to learn more about how you can get involved and add your cosponsor as a supporter of this legislation. Use our Online Action to send an automatic email or fax to your Member of Congress or access our sample call script and the toll-free congressional switchboard phone number to make your views heard in Washington! You can also access the updated list of cosponsors at the bottom of the Legislative Action Index. If you haven't already signed the petition to President Obama asking that he close the SOA/ WHINSEC by executive order, click here to sign the petition online! For more information, please contact the Legislative Coordinator of SOA Watch, Pam Bowman at pbowman@soaw.org or 202-234-3440.
 Colombian SOA Graduate Arrested for his Participation in Massacre Saturday 23 May 2009, by Prensa - Colectivo: A preventive measure of detention was issued against the former commander of the Palacé Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Alberto Amor Páez, by the specialized human rights prosecutor in the city of Calí, Juan Carlos Oliveros Corrales. This warrant confirmed Amor Páez's participation in the massacre of 24 peasant farmers, which took place in the rural communities of Alaska, Tres Esquinas and La Habana, in the municipality of Buga in the department of Valle del Cauca, on October 10, 2001. Click here to read the full story Father Larry Rosebaugh ¡Presente! In sadness, we share that Fr. Larry Rosebaugh OMI was shot to death in Playa Grande, Guatemala on May 18th. He was a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He was killed by gunmen in an alleged carjacking while he and 4 other Oblates were on their way to a meeting. The gunmen escaped and did not take the van. One other Oblate, Fr. Jean Claude Nowama OMI was wounded, although not mortally. Larry Rosebaugh, along with Fr. Roy Bourgeois MM and Linda Ventimiglia carried out the first action at Fort Benning in 1983. After scaling a tree, they played one of Romero's final sermons overlooking the barracks where the Salvadoran soldiers were training. Larry served 15 months in prison for the action. Many of us see this as the beginning of movement in the US. Since the 1960's when Larry began protesting the Vietnam war he found him self in front of many judges and in numerous prisons for his protests against the School of the Americas, nuclear arms and war. In 1975, he was assigned to the missions in Brazil, where he spent 6 years. Returning to the US in 1981, he was a member of the Catholic Worker House community in New York City for 4 years, spent some time in El Salvador as a volunteer with Christian Volunteer Ministries, and, in 1993, was assigned to the Oblate mission in Guatemala, where he was serving when he was killed During his many years of ministry, Fr. Larry, often known as Fr. Lorenzo, was an advocate for peace and justice wherever he served. His autobiography, To Wisdom through Failure, was published in 2006. He spoke and read his new book at the 2006 November Vigil. |
CLINTON
FRANCISCAN "CENTER" FOR ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE -
CLOSE
THE SOA - SUPPORTING THE UN - GANDHI-KING SEASON FOR NONVIOLENCE
LAND STEWARDSHIP -
SHARING SACRED SPACES
