Remembering El Salvador, Guatemala and Argentina
Today marks the 35th anniversary of the martyrdom of Monseñor Romero, murdered by members of Salvadoran death squads, including two School of the Americas (SOA) graduates while celebrating mass. A 1993 UN truth commission report confirmed that almost two-thirds of the Salvadoran military had been trained at the SOA, now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). While Romero has been declared a martyr by Pope Francis, and will be beatified and later declared a saint, we at SOA Watch insist that only by addressing the question of why and howhe died will we truly be able to honor and dignify his memory. Closing the SOA/WHINSEC is a huge part of this discussion, and is a symbolic way to back words up with concrete actions. This week, an SOA Watch Delegation joins the activities taking place in San Salvador to honor the memory of Monseñor Romero, to learn about the realities El Salvador is facing today, paying close attention to the root causes of migration and continued US interventionist and military policies. The delegation, led by Latin America Liaison Brigitte Gynther, SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois and Col. Ann Wright, will meet with President Salvador Sánchez Cerén to ask his government to stop sending military personnel to the SOA/WHINSEC.
In neighboring Guatemala, we remember the March 23, 1982 military coup that brought SOA graduate General José Efraín Ríos Montt to power. For 18 months, Ríos Montt carried out some of the most brutal human rights atrocities that occurred during the 36-year-long internal armed conflict. In March 2013, Ríos Montt, along with former chief of military intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, were put on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide. On May 10, 2013, Ríos Montt was condemned to 80 years in prison for crimes against humanity and the genocide of 1,771 Ixil Mayans.What is historic about this trial is that, aside from being the first time a former head of state has been put on trial for genocide, the sentence has established a truth - a counter memory - that cannot be denied nor erased, despite the annulment of the sentence just ten days later. This past January 5, a retrial was set to resume, but the defense motioned for a postponement, arguing that Ríos Montt is too old and too sick to stand trial. Nevertheless, in the face of a historical impunity, Guatemalan civil society and Guatemalan Human Rights groups continue to push for justice and hold those responsible accountable, both through legal sentencings as well as social condemnation.
In neighboring Guatemala, we remember the March 23, 1982 military coup that brought SOA graduate General José Efraín Ríos Montt to power. For 18 months, Ríos Montt carried out some of the most brutal human rights atrocities that occurred during the 36-year-long internal armed conflict. In March 2013, Ríos Montt, along with former chief of military intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, were put on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide. On May 10, 2013, Ríos Montt was condemned to 80 years in prison for crimes against humanity and the genocide of 1,771 Ixil Mayans.What is historic about this trial is that, aside from being the first time a former head of state has been put on trial for genocide, the sentence has established a truth - a counter memory - that cannot be denied nor erased, despite the annulment of the sentence just ten days later. This past January 5, a retrial was set to resume, but the defense motioned for a postponement, arguing that Ríos Montt is too old and too sick to stand trial. Nevertheless, in the face of a historical impunity, Guatemalan civil society and Guatemalan Human Rights groups continue to push for justice and hold those responsible accountable, both through legal sentencings as well as social condemnation.
Lastly, this March 24 marks the 39th anniversary of the the civic-military coup in Argentina, a period during which 30,000 compañeras and compañer
What do these countries have in common? They are marked by stories of deliberate intervention and subversion by the United States, as well as human rights violations committed by SOA graduates trained by US military personnel, funded by US tax dollars. They are histories filled with horror, to the tune of thousands of cases of disappearances, torture, rape, massacres, forced recruitment, internal displacement, exiles and refugees, robbed identities and illegal appropriations of children, and the list goes on. The changes that have taken place in these countries that have survived such a brutal past have not happened by chance - they are the result of grassroots struggles by those most impacted by the horror. If they can create change, why can't we?
As we remember the victories in El Salvador, Guatemala and Argentina, we are inspired by their struggles to face the horror head-on to counter a historical and systematic practice of impunity, as well as the grassroots efforts to build a historical memory of the past; a counter-memory so that the slogan nunca más can become reality. As a grassroots movement founded on the principles of peace and justice, we call on ourselves to take inspiration from our brothers and sisters in Latin America who have suffered as a result of decades of disastrous interventionist policies, and push for accountability within the ranks of the US government and armed forces. While human rights atrocities were, and continue to be committed in Latin America, we remember that the US is responsible, and not one person has been held accountable. We are ashamed of this legacy, and we must continue to work together to change the tide here in the US.
