At UD, our Catholic and Marianist values inform us to uphold the human rights of all people, especially those whose agency has been diminished by unjust laws and corporate government policies. Guided by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, including solidarity with the poor, we seek ways to join together to bring about a more peaceful and just world. The annual SOA Watch Encuentro, a peaceful protest to close the School of the Americas (SOA), is such a movement.
Established in 1946, the SOA has operated at Fort Benning, Georgia since the 1980s. Technically closed in 2000, it immediately reopened as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001. For over 70 years, the SOA/WHINSEC has trained thousands in military tactics, prompting reigns of terror and human rights abuses throughout Latin America. Names like Efraín Ríos Montt, Manuel Noriega, and Mexico’s Zeta Cartel founders are all graduates of the SOA/WHINSEC.
The SOA Watch started following the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a champion for the poor, slain while saying mass in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. His assassins were members of the Salvadoran death squads, including two SOA graduates. Major Roberto D’Aubuisson, also a graduate, was identified as ordering the killing by the 1993 UN Truth Commission.
The Encuentro, held along the U.S. Mexican border, is an intersectional initiative, bringing together activists to share spaces, stories, and objectives for closing the SOA. With actions like the Presente! Litany, a roll call of the missing or murdered, the public is reminded that memory is strong, powerful and affective. This panel will focus on the stories of UD faculty, staff, and students who have been immersed in this environment of artistic interventions, activist speeches, and scholarly perspectives, all of which that they bring back to Dayton, OH and our campus
