SOAW Activists on Trial

[Amber Mason]

Five Human Rights Activist Facing Trial For Protesting on Capitol Hill


For immediate release                              
Contact: Hendrik Voss
Media advisory                                                202.425.5128
September 12, 2012                                            [e-mail]
School of the Americas Watch                                          
www.soaw.org



DC Catholic Workers Amber & Kevin Mason Among Five Human Rights Activists Facing Trial For Protesting the School of the Americas on Capitol Hill


On April 16, the Activists Were Arrested On Capitol Hill As They
Opposed the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) and the
militarization of Latin America


At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 18, 2012, the peace activists will
be available to speak with the media. They will then proceed to a
trial, which will be held in the DC Superior Court.


Washington, Dc - On April 16, 2012, hundreds of activists marched on
Capitol Hill to demand the closure of the School of the Americas
(SOA/WHINSEC). 13 of these activists were arrested when they attempted to march past the Congressional office buildings, were held for 6 hours by Capitol Hill police, and finally charged with "Blocking
Passage."


Five are scheduled to go on trial on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 for
engaging in a protest to close the SOA/ WHINSEC on Capitol Hill in
Washington, DC.

The "SOA 5," a group of human rights activists from different parts of
the country, were on Capitol Hill, among hundreds of other activists,
to ask Congress to close the SOA and end the militarization of Latin
America. As they tried to lead the march down Independence Avenue in front of the Congressional buildings, they were impeded by dozens of police who blockaded their passage. Despite the threat of arrest by
the Capitol Hill police, the brave activists insisted to stand for
their right of speech.


The defendants are: Amber Mason (26; Washington, DC), Becca Polk (27;Bloomfield, Michigan), Kevin Mason (29; Washington, DC), Maia
Rodriguez (24; Arlington, Virginia), & Fr. Roy Bourgeois (73;
Columbus, Georgia)


"Militarization in the Americas has increased during the Obama
administration, as evidenced by the military coup and the ongoing
violence in Honduras, the ever-expanding 'War on Drugs,' the
continuing murders of unionists in Colombia and the construction of
new U.S. military bases throughout the hemisphere," says Father Roy
Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch and one of the defendants.  "It's time for us to step it up, to get anti-militarization on the national
agenda in 2012, and to create alliances to stop 'teaching democracy'
through the barrel of a gun!"


Amber Mason, one of the defendants, says: "I refuse to be complicit in
war and injustice committed by my government in my name and I believe you cannot claim to be for peace and justice unless you are publicly actively against war and injustice. For these reasons, I chose to risk arrest, and stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America, and all around the world calling for end to all
militarization. As Dr Martin Luther King Jr said, 'injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice everywhere'."

The SOA/WHINSEC is a combat training school for Latin American
soldiers. Its graduates are consistently involved in human rights
abuses and atrocities. In 2009, SOA graduates overthrew the
democratically elected government of Honduras. The protest on Capitol Hill was part of a larger effort to increase pressure on President Obama to close the SOA by Executive Order. Ecuador and Nicaragua have recently joined Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Bolivia on the decision to remove its troops from the School of the Americas. On September 4, 2012, President Ortega said: "the SOA is an ethical and moral anathema. All of the countries of Latin America have been victims of its graduates. The SOA is a symbol of death, a symbol ofterror."