WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #425, MARCH 22, 1998
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
*3. MORE SOA ACTIVISTS CONVICTED
On Mar. 4, after deliberating for less than an hour, jurors at a US
District Court found five activists guilty of damaging Fort Benning
property in a protest action carried out against the US military's
School of the Americas (SOA) on Sept. 29, 1997. The SOA trains Latin
American military officers; many of its graduates have been linked
to human rights violations. Kathleen Rumpf and Ed Kinane of
Syracuse, NY; Marge Eilerman of Booneville, KY; Rev. Bill Bichsel of
Tacoma, WA; and Mary Trotochaud of Atlanta, GA, were all convicted
of a felony charge of attempting to damage SOA's welcome sign, and
all except Bichsel were also found guilty of a misdemeanor charge.
The defendants said they acted as a unit when they removed the
lettering on the welcome sign at the base's main entrance on Fort
Benning Boulevard, and wrote "Home of School of Americas--School
of Shame" and "SOA = Torture." Bichsel testified that he dipped his
hand in red paint mixed with blood and placed his handprint on the
sign; he was not convicted of the misdemeanor charge because he
said he was helping two men scale a ladder to mount tree stands
while his four colleagues used crowbars to remove the sign's metal
letters and painted anti-SOA slogans. The maximum punishment for
conviction on both charges is six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Judge J. Robert Elliott is expected to hand down a sentence in several
weeks, after a pre-sentence investigation.
In explaining his action, Bichsel told the jury: "It was a symbol to me
that we have blood on our hands and we have to stop. We have to
stop the killing that's going on. It's going on right now in Colombia.
We are all complicit in this if we don't stop the killing." [Columbus
Ledger-Enquirer 3/5/98, 3/4/98]
On Jan. 16, Judge Elliott sentenced 22 people to six months in prison
and a $3,000 fine each for trespassing at Fort Benning [see Update
#417]. The 22 were among 601 people arrested during a massive
protest against SOA last Nov. 16 [see Update #408]; they were given
the maximum sentence because they had been arrested at the base
in previous actions. Most are starting their prison terms this month.
On Feb. 25, Fort Benning police arrested activist John Patrick Liteky
after he splattered the outside of the SOA headquarters with red
paint. Authorities have charged Liteky with criminal trespass and
"injury" to government property, Fort Benning spokespeople said.
Both charges are misdemeanors, but the injury charge could be
upgraded to a felony if the cost to repair the damage exceeds $1,000.
Each misdemeanor carries a maximum six- month prison term.
Liteky was among a group of six people with previous base arrests
who were arrested at the Nov. 16 protest but who avoided the
maximum sentence because federal prosecutors dropped the charges
after failing to prove that the six had received a letter banning them
from the base. [CLE 2/26/98]
*4. COLOMBIA: US TRAINING COUNTERINSURGENCY FORCES?
The Clinton administration said on Mar. 17 that the US has not sent
military advisers to Colombia to support counterinsurgency
operations. "I suppose everyone knows that US assistance to
Colombia is strictly for the fight against drug trafficking," said State
Department spokesperson James Rubin. Rubin's comment was in
response to statements made by one of the commanders of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who said that the
US has sent to Colombia "many more advisers than what is said
officially and their principal target is not drug traffickers but the
guerrillas." [El Diario-La Prensa 3/18/98 from AP, quote retranslated
from Spanish]
FARC commander Fabian Ramirez, in an interview with journalists
from Reuters Television which was reported by local news media,
announced that the FARC is targeting officials of the US Embassy in
Colombia--especially those in charge of antinarcotics efforts- -as
"military objectives." "All that about how the US is fighting drug
trafficking in Latin America, especially in Colombia, is a sophism of
distraction," said Ramirez. "All the aid to the Colombian army, both
economic and military, is being directed against the guerrillas." As
Ramirez spoke with journalists, an OV10 plane, donated by the US to
the Colombian army, flew over the jungle to bomb the rebel camp.
"In most of the battalions there are US army advisers helping to fight
the guerrillas," said Ramirez. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 3/19/98]
Despite Rubin's comments, US and Colombian officials have become
increasingly frank about the use of US antinarcotics aid against
Colombia's leftist rebels, under the pretext that the rebels are
"narcoguerrillas," engaged in drug trafficking [see Update #403].
While this strategy is being talked about as new, in fact US officials
have known since at least 1994 that antinarcotics aid and training to
Colombia may be used in counterinsurgency efforts. In a memo dated
Apr. 8, 1994, from the US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) of the
Department of Defense, Staff Judge Advocate Warren D. Hall III
noted that "USSOUTHCOM is vulnerable to criticism because of the
similarities inherent in the counter- drug (CD) and counter-
insurgency efforts in Colombia." The memo points out that US
counter-drug training and equipment can be used in
counterinsurgency missions. Hall concludes that "it is unrealistic to
expect the military to limit use of the equipment to operations
against narcotraffickers." [DOD USSOUTHCOM "Memorandum for CINC"
4/8/94] In a Dec. 29, 1997 letter sent to the Washington Post,
Amnesty International's Carlos Salinas refers to Hall's memo and
adds that in Colombia "no military units are dedicated exclusively to
counternarcotics activities." [Fax of original letter to WP, 12/29/97]
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is planning to
increase its support operations for the Colombian police as a
consequence of the conditioned certification approved by the US for
Colombia's anti-drug war [see Update #422], announced Col.
Leonardo Gallego, director of Colombia's anti-narcotics police force,
on Mar. 2, moments after returning from a trip to the US. Colombian
authorities are currently getting help from the DEA in such areas as
exchange of intelligence information, training for National Police
agents and provision of equipment that improves efficiency. [El
Colombiano 3/3/98]
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