Video: Direct Action at Colombian Military Base

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Protest at the Tolemaida Military Base in Colombia SOA Watch Activists Block Entrance of Military Base, Demand Withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Colombia Email and call the U.S. embassy in Colombia at 011-571-315-0811 to state your opposition to current U.S. policy towards Colombia and ask U.S. Ambassador William R. Brownfield to meet with the SOA Watch delegation. A group of nine SOA Watch activists is currently in Colombia to confront the escalation of U.S. policy in the region and to express solidarity with courageous Colombians working for peace and justice. On Tuesday, the group set up a vigil at the Tolemaida military base, where U.S. soldiers are stationed. Yesterday, two busloads of 65 activists from Justicia y Paz, the Movement of Victims of State Crimes, the Mothers of Soacha (who are seeking justice for their children who were killed as part of the "false positive" scandal), SINALTRAINAL, and others arrived to join the 9-member SOA Watch delegation, who proceeded to block the entrance to the base. Activists held banners denouncing US intervention in Colombia as well as Iraq. Visit www.SOAW.org to watch a video of the protest at the military base. Father Roy Bourgeois said of the action: "It's a great joy to be in Colombia speaking with Colombians, with one voice, against U.S. domination and militarization. Our delegation has been deeply moved by the strength and spirit of so many Colombians struggling for a just peace in Colombia." National and international press reporting on the protest: Latin American Herald Tibune, El Espectador (Colombia), La Jornada (Mexico), TeleSUR (Venezuela), Common Dreams (United States). Later today the SOA Watch delegation will leave the area and travel to Bogotá, is the capital city of Colombia. Tomorrow, the group will go to the U.S. embassy in Bogotá. Amplify the voices for justice and peace in Colombia by contacting ambassador Brownsfield now. Call the U.S. embassy in Colombia at 011-571-315-0811 and send an email by clicking the link below. Click here to send an email to the U.S. embassy in Colombia. The School of the Americas and Colombia Colombia, with over 12,000 troops trained at the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC), is the institute's largest customer. SOA Watch has documented cases in which SOA graduates and instructors have been involved in massacres, the killing of striking workers, assassinations and torture. The report State Terrorism in Colombia cites 247 Colombian officers for human rights violations. Fully one half of those cited were SOA graduates. Some were even featured as SOA guest speakers or instructors or included in the "Hall of Fame" after their involvement in such crimes. The FOR/ USOC report Military Assistance and Human Rights: Colombia, U.S. Accountability, and Global Implications continues to uncover the connections between SOA/ WHINSEC graduates and instructors with extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations in Colombia. Human rights activists from Colombia will travel to the United States in November to join the Vigil to Close the SOA at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia. Join them and thousands of others as we speak out against SOA violence and change U.S. foreign policy. Support the Resistance to U.S. Military Intervention SOA Watch does not accept money from the U.S. government nor corporations. Support from our 68,000 members is what makes our work possible. Please make a contribution today. Stand up for justice at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia in November: SOAW.org/take-action/november-vigil We appreciate your interest! You are subscribed to the SOA Watch list as davidbchirot@hotmail.com. Click here to unsubscribe. Contact us. Our mailing address is: SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, D.C. 20017, USA Our telephone: (202) 234 3440 Click here to fund the campaign to close the SOA.