When Seth Cohen approached the fence that surrounds a military
compound in Georgia last Sunday, he knew he was in trouble. But,
harboring a five-year grievance against the training ground for
Latin American soldiers, he and nearly 90 others stepped across the
line anyway.
And now he’s facing up to six months in jail.
Cohen, a fourth-year political science student at UCLA, flew to
Columbus, Ga. to participate in a two-day protest of a military
school some say is responsible for human rights abuses in Latin
America.
The protest, which police said drew 6,500 participants this
year, is held every November to commemorate the Nov. 19, 1989
killings of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador. Some of the killers
had attended the Army’s School of the Americas, which moved
to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984.
Cohen’s interest in the protest was piqued by a monthlong
trip to El Salvador as a junior at a Jesuit high school in
Sacramento.
“I met people whose family members had been killed by
people trained at the School of Americas,” he said.
Though he said he had known about the annual protest since that
visit, he was only able to go this year because he had a free plane
ticket.
Though he originally intended to participate in the
demonstration, Cohen said he decided trespass “in honor of my
friends in El Salvador” when other protesters began pushing
past the chain-link fence into the fort.
Police arrested 89 people, including Cohen, for entering the
fort. Cohen and 65 others received a 5-year restriction from
entering the post, while 23 others were banned from entering the
post ever again.
They were immediately taken into custody, and interviewed by
U.S. Marshals. After being transferred to the Muskogee County Jail,
Cohen spent the night in a cell he shared with 40 other arrested
protesters.
The windows were broken and they had only one blanket, he
said.
“We were all physically shivering for the whole time we
were there,” he said.
In previous years, post authorities charged violators with
trespassing and then released them. This year, however, protesters
were held until bond could be posted. After launching a fundraising
campaign, School of the Americas Watch ““ the organization
that staged the demonstration ““ was able to raise
approximately $50,000 to cover bail costs.
Cohen was released on bail and will return to court in January
for sentencing. He faces the possibility of having to serve prison
time, but Cohen said he is not deterred.
“I’d definitely go to the protest again,” he
said. “I’m just probably not going to trespass
again.”
The School of the Americas was replaced last year by a
Department of Defense school which still trains soldiers, but which
has added courses for police officers and civilian officials to
help Latin American countries cope with terrorism, natural
disasters and the drug trade.
Cohen isn’t convinced the change is anything other than
cosmetic.
“We gave it such a bad name that they changed the name
““ but you look at the curriculum and it’s still the
same,” he said.
Meanwhile, Army officials called the protest an example of
positive American democracy at work and said they use it as a
teaching tool for the students from Latin America.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.