Sherrie Huffman, Staff Writer

Three members of Appalachian State University’s Amnesty International chapter called for the closing of the U.S. Army School of Americas, as they joined other protestors at Fort Benning, Ga. last week.

Juniors Jennifer Whetstone and Catherine Cope and graduate student Nestor Lapez participated in a national peaceful vigil in memory of Latin Americans killed at the hands of graduates of the School of Americas.

A military training school located within the base of Fort Benning, the School of Americas trains Latin American soldiers to return to their home countries to kill unjustly, said Whetstone.

The school’s initial purpose was to defend Latin American countries against communism.  After the Cold War ended and the threat of communism died, the school was used to promote democracy.

Lapez and Whetstone said that Latin American countries with the worst human rights violation records are the countries that have sent their soldiers to the sschool. Various Latin American dictators have graduated from the school, including former Panamanian President Manuel Noriega.

Defenders of the School of Americas say that the school is teaching Latin American soldiers to spread democracy through the Latin American countries.  However, Lapez said, “If the school is trying to preserve democracy, then they are failing to do so.”

The vigil was part of an effort from Amnesty International to close the school.  Whetstone said that only 500 people were expected to attend, but that the crowd expanded to over 2,000 demonstrators.

The school was presented with a petition of over a million signatures from Americans requesting that the school be closed, Whetstone said.

The vigil included a peaceful, silent mock funeral procession to the school.

Whetstone said that almost $20 million in U.S. tax money supports the school. “Once poeple know about it [the school] they can’t believe what is happening.  Once they get the facts, they are appalled,” Whetstone said.

Whetstone also said that when the bill to close the School of Americas was presented to the U.S. House of Representatives, only half of North Carolina’s senators and representatives voted to close the school.  The bill was defeated by only 7 votes, but it will be presented to the House again next year.

Whetstone and Cope spent time in Guatemala and the Honduras this summer, which inspired them to protest. “There were banners all over [the protest area] that said, ‘The truth cannot be silenced.’  We were there to speak for our friends from Guatemala and Honduras.”

In response to the vigil, Lapez said, “I love (America) and what it stands for.  I feel that the School of Americas is an embarrasment to this society.”

“We try to stop human rights violations worldwide, but there is a dark side of this that we aren’t aware of,” he said.

Next week, Amnesty International begins its year-long effort to close the school.

Appalachian’s Amnesty International chapter will sponsor a video featuring a former School of Americas professor who is now against the school.

The video, entitled “An Insider Speaks Out,” will be shown Monday, Nov. 24 in the student union’s Watauga River Room. 
 
 

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