School of The Americas Watch,

always moving forward

www.soaw.org

1. This is an incredibly exciting time right now- just last month, an SOA Watch delegation went to Ecuador and met with President Correa. In conjunction with granting Julian Asange asylum, Correa agreed to no longer send his troops to the SOA/ WHINSEC.

2. Earlier this month, another delegation went to Nicaragua and met with President Ortega, who also agreed to withdraw his troops from the SOA/ WHINSEC. These are huge successes that were made possible through your financial support!

3. On Monday of this week, we were scheduled to have our long anticipated SOA Watch meeting with the White House to discuss the SOA/ WHINSEC. The timing is perfect, as Congress is being forced to cut 50% of its stateside military budget. However, on Sunday afternoon, we were told us that because of recent events in Libya and the Middle East, Denis McDonough, Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor, would not be able to attend and that we were to meet with two other Senior officials instead; Ricardo Zúñiga from Obama's National Security Staff and Frank Mora from the Pentagon. We rejected the meeting with them since it would have meant forgoing our opportunity to meet with McDonough. Since our delegation, composed of torture survivors, educators, religious and labor leaders, had already traveled to DC for the meeting, we decided to make lemonade out of lemons, and we spent the day strategizing with long time ally Representative Jim McGovern. The SOA Watch meeting with McDonough has been rescheduled for mid-October and will take place in the White House. We will ask the Administration to close the SOA and to end U.S. militarization! Please click here to help us to cover the costs associated with this important delegation.

4. Trial update: We continue to push on and persevere direct action. Over the past three days, the "SOAW 5" (composed of Amber Mason, Becca Polk, Kevin Mason, Maia Rodriguez, & Father Roy Bourgeois) were on trial at the U.S. Superior Court for protesting in the streets of Capitol Hill in DC in April. The activists represented themselves in court and put on a vigorous defense, in which they put the SOA on trial and spoke up for free speech. While the judge was genuinely moved by the testimonies, she couldn't muster the courage to acquit the defendants. She found the "SOAW 5" guilty as charged but gave them the lowest possible sentence (a $50 fine). Support SOA Watch so we can continue to raise our voices!
Because of your continued support, the movement is facing incredible opportunities!


Regardless of what happens this Presidential election, we truly need to continue applying pressure and raising our voices in solidarity with those whose voices the SOA/ WHINSEC is attempting to silence. Closing the SOA is a huge step in the larger struggle against oppressive systems.

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