Why we return to the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia

November 18-21 Convergence, Vigil and Direct Action at Fort Benning, Georgia
Mobilize your community
to close the SOA!
Support our
Prisoners of Conscience
Prisoner addresses on Page 5
November Vigil 2010 Street theater to close the SOA
Why we return
to the gates of
Fort Benning, Georgia
...and our plans for Washington, DC
November 2010 will mark the 20th anniversary
of the vigil that brings together religious communities, students, veterans, community organizers,
musicians, puppetistas and many others.
The November Vigil to Close
the School of the Americas
at the gates of Fort Benning,
Georgia will be held from
November 18-21. The annual
vigil is always held close to
the anniversary of the 1989
massacre of Celia Ramos,
her mother Elba and six Jesuit priests by SOA graduates
at the University of Central
America in El Salvador.
The killing continues...
so our resistance can’t stop.
Graduates of the School of the
Americas (renamed the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation) continue to use
the skills taught at the school
to wage a war against their
own people. In Colombia, the
SOA/ WHINSEC promotes
“military solutions” that have
Continued Terror in the Lives of
Survivors from Argentina
Page 6
April 2010: Human rights activists staged a street theater action and passed out fliers in front of the
Capitol metro station in Washington, DC to remind hundreds of congressional staffers who passed by
that the decisions they make on Capitol Hill cause death and suffering in Latin America.
For more photos and tips on how to replicate this street theater, visit www.SOAW.org/theater
Continued on Page 4
Looking Back to Move Ahead
Todos Somos Arizona
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Página 10
Mirando Atrás Para Seguir
Adelante
Página 11
Page/Página 2
Spring/ Primavera 2010
Keeping our hands on the plow
and our eyes on the prize...
Often we hear that the election of President Obama has not fulfilled the
hope for change and that U.S. policy towards Latin America under the new
administration has basically stayed the same as under President Bush. Yet
it has never been those in government who’ve created the change we need
-- that’s the task of grassroots movements like ours.
We have to step up our resistance to the School of the Americas and to
U.S. militarization in Latin America. It literally is a question of life and death.
Consider taking your activism to the next level. If you organized a car-load
for the Vigil last year, think about organizing a van or maybe even a bus
this year. Consider hosting a film screening or a benefit party. Build new
relationships. Join local coalitions to fight anti-immigrant legislation. Engage
in nonviolent direct action! The possibilities are endless.
This November, when we gather at the gates of Fort Benning to speak
out and to commemorate the victims of SOA/ WHINSEC violence, we’re
stepping up with plans for a mass mobilization to Washington, DC in April
2011. Get ready!
Thank you so much for your support and for the important work you do
- each step we take together brings us closer to shutting down the SOA/
WHINSEC once and for all and changing U.S. policy!
Contents
The position is based in Washi
ngton, DC. To read the job des
cription
and to apply, visit www.SOAW.o
rg/work
Vol 15, No.2, Summer 2010
Why we return to the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia ..................................................................
Street theater to close the SOA ....................................................................................................
Leave a comment... ......................................................................................................................
News Briefs ..................................................................................................................................
Resistance to militarization ..........................................................................................................
Secure Communities? ..................................................................................................................
Support our prisoners ...................................................................................................................
You can build grassroots power ...................................................................................................
Continued terror in the lives of Argentina Dirty War survivors .......................................................
Looking back to move ahead .......................................................................................................
CIA paid Colombian intelligence agency to spy on South American Embassies .........................
Interview with Ana Teresa Lozada on Colombia, women, war, and social movements ...............
Father Roy Bourgeois’ Speaking Schedule ..................................................................................
Thank you to the artists ................................................................................................................
Educate your community - order the SOA Watch DVD ................................................................
Todos Somos Arizona ...................................................................................................................
Mirando Atrás Para Seguir Adelante ............................................................................................
Leave a Comment...
Visit the Presente webpage at www.SOAW.org/presente, read past and current
articles and leave your comments. The comments
section on the webpage is a tool for people who
are active in the campaign to close the
School of the Americas to discuss and
share feedback about the articles.
Here are some comments and
excerpts of comments from the
Presente webpage:
A Challenge to Institutional Racism
One New York activist group transforms
how they approach their work
by Nada Khader, Presente issue Fall 2009
www.SOAW.org/institutionalracism
Comment by Robin Pavesi, October 13, 2009
The statement “It is easy for white folk to
preach non-violence because their communities are not the ones being targeted
by capitalism, militarism and war.” bothers me because it is not true. Everyone
who lives in the United States is targeted
by capitalism! I’m white and it annoys
Work at SOA Watch
SOA Watch seeks an experienced and
bilingual, full-time National
Organizer to work in collaboration
with the grassroots movement and
other staff to engage in field org
anizing, campaign and event plann
ing.
me every time I’m lumped together with
“whites” and how easy it is for them and
how we have done this or that against
“people of color”. I am a human with
struggles of my own. My struggles may
be different than another persons, but
each person is unique. I think ending
racism includes treating people as people
and stop separating us by color!
Comment by Moe, February 14, 2010
… It is important to understand that although race is not a biological reality but
rather a social construct, it does have real
life ramifications. Communities of colour
disproportionately bear the brunt of capitalism and state violence, as this article
points out, although not exclusively...
Colombian Bases for Training and
Operations by John Lindsay-Poland
www.SOAW.org/bases
Comment by James T. Dette, June 02, 2009
Colombia has been the victim of its own
military, an ineffective government, an international drug trade, and internal terrorism on a scale not equaled in the Western
Hemisphere. Yet in 2006 alone, 80% of
the $728 million of the aid we spent in
Colombia went to the military. All it has
accomplished is aiding and abetting the
paramilitary groups who are responsible
for the murder of union and cooperative
leaders and their supporters on a regular
basis. Now we want to build a base there.
For what? Instead, we should stop funding brutality. When will we stop deluding ourselves that peace can be attained
through military intervention?
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Comment by Valerie, November 12, 2009
It’s kind of stupid to fight drug traffic
at the supply end. Who in the U.S. is
funding an end to the demand? Countries produce cocaine because there’s a
demand for it...
Petition to President Barack Obama
by SOA Watch, Presente issue Spring 2009
www.SOAW.org/obamapetition
Comment by Lori, February 12, 2010
I won’t vote for Obama again or support
Clinton unless they condemn the current
Honduran government and the recent coup
and move to close the SOA. The cold war is
over. It’s time to be tolerant of differences and
let the people have what they need and wantsocial change and equity...
Join the conversation at
www.SOAW.org/presente
www.SOAW.org/presente
Page/Página 3
Movement Voices
Resistance to Militarization
People’s movements in the Americas are working together to confront U.S. militarization and to shut down the School of the
Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC). Voices from participants in the June 21-26 SOA Watch Encuentro in Venezuela:
Honduras
Attacks Continue
The U.S. Pentagon is resuming full military
cooperation with the repressive Honduran
military, despite more than 4,000 human rights
violations (including more than 40 political
assassinations) since the June 2009 SOA
graduate-led military coup. The illegitimate
Honduran government and its paramilitary
partners continue to attack members of the
pro-democracy movement.
Human rights workers, including Jesuit priest
Ismael Moreno, SJ (Padre Melo) are receiving
death threats, along with journalists, movement leaders and others - - threats made real
by periodic targeted assassinations.
Chile
Repression Against the
Mapuche in Temuco
On May 13, 2010 hundreds of family members, friends and supporters of the Mapuche
political prisoners in Temuco staged a peaceful demonstration that was violently dispersed
by state forces who arrested 18 people,
including children, women and elderly. Among
those arrested was Waikilaf Cadin Calfunao,
son of Juan Paillalef and community leader
Juana Calfunao. Juana has been detained
already four years in Temuco this time -- during one of her previous arrests she miscarried
a child due to the torture she sustained in
custody.
The Mapuche resisted the colonial Spanish
invasion and still do not recognize the borders
imposed by the states of Argentina and Chile.
Chile is second only to Colombia in numbers
of WHINSEC students, and its security forces
are routinely deployed against Mapuche
struggles in the southern part of the country.
Betha Oliva, Committee of
Relatives of the Disappeared
and Detained, Honduras
“The SOA graduate
led coup in Honduras
underlines the need for
a coordinated peoples
response throughout all
the Americas.”
Pablo Ruiz, Observadores
de la SOA, Chile
“The only way to stop
militarization and the
abuse of human rights
in our America is for
the people of the north
and south to work together and make their
voices heard. Our only
strength is our unity.”
Colleen Kattau, SOA Watch
Central New York
United States
Christy Ayala, Centro de
Intercambio y Solidaridad
El Salvador
“Increased U.S. access
to military bases in Colombia underscores the
urgency and necessity
of people’s creative resistance to violence in
the Americas.”
“It is our right to decide “The U.S. military
our present and future agreement with Cowithout intervention.”
lombia is rooted on interventionism. It is an
attempt to counter the
regional integration efforts.”
Juan Diego Castro Leon,
SOA Watch Southwestern
Ontario, Canada
For more information about the Encuentro, visit www.SOAW.org/encuentro
“Secure Communities”?
A deportation program, deceivingly called “Secure Communities,” is
targeting immigrant communities in the United States
by Sarahi Uribe, organizer, NDLON
Many immigrants that come to the
United States from Latin America
are victims of SOA graduates who
carry out violence against civilian
populations in their own countries.
SOA Watch recognizes that turning
to military and police “solutions” at
home or abroad especially targets
the working class and communities
of color, because of our inherently
racist and classist systems.
Imagine having every U.S. jail in the
country serve as pipeline for deportation for anyone simply charged and
arrested for anything as minor as traffic offenses. Scary, right? Even scarier
is that this massive deportation proContinued on Page 12
Page/Página 4
Spring/ Primavera 2010
November 19-21, 2010 - November Vigil to Close the SOA
Why we return to Fort Benning, Georgia...
and our plans for Washington, DC in April 2011
Continued from Page 1
Our work has unfortunately not got- tural, working-class communities.
ten any easier and U.S. militarization
in Latin America is accelerating. The The annual November Vigil plays
continued operation of the SOA and a significant role in our movement.
the expansion
Just as the Mothers of
New layers of activists are the Disappeared in Arof US military
bases in Latin
gentina have sustained
joining our movement, inIn 2009, SOA graduates overthrew the America
are cluding numerous youth and their vigil at the Plaza
democratically-elected government of examples of the
de Mayo in Buenos
students from multinational, Aires, we continue to
Honduras in a military coup, to pre- ongoing threats
working-class communities. commemorate the peovent a poll that would have asked if of a U.S. forHondurans wanted a popular consti- eign policy that
ple who have been martutional referendum to take place. A is using the military to exert control tyred by graduates of the School of the
brutal repression of the Honduran pro- over the people and the resources in Americas at the gates of Fort Benning,
democracy resistance continues.
the Americas.
Georgia, and we continue to demand
justice.
Over the past
two
decades, SOA Watch organizer and torture surSOA Watch has vivor Hector Aristizábal writes about
grown
from the November Vigil as “not just a proa handful of test, but a distinctive place of healing
people,
fast- for us as individuals and as a culture.
ing for justice
at the gates of Every year at the SOA Watch vigil a
Fort Benning sudden village is created. Elders come
into one of the with groups such as Veterans for Peace
most dynamic and The Wailing Grandmothers, youth
c r o s s - c o n t i - cross the country in buses from collegnental move- es and high schools, and children are
ments against brought by their conscientious parents.
militarization. As this village is created, the grounds
Thousands have of Fort Benning are transformed from
been educated a place that trains assassins to a place
and mobilized of initiation into political awareness.”
to speak out
against
U.S. Taking our Resistance to
foreign policy
and to engage in Washington, DC in 2011
nonviolent direct action. New Like all movements for social justice,
layers of activ- we have to constantly evaluate, adjust
ists are joining and advance our strategies and tactics.
our movement,
including nu- Following extensive discussions in the
merous youth movement, the SOA Watch Council
decided, after weighing all the feedback
and
students
Commemorate the dead and stand up for justice Photo by Tom Bottolene from multiculContinued on Page 15
killed thousands of peasants, unionists, religious workers and others who
speak out for the rights of the poor,
and have displaced almost 5 million
people.
Colombia
Death Threats against
Peace Communities
Peace Communities like San José de Apartadó continue to receive a growing number of
threats from paramilitaries. Last year Somos
Defensores registered 125 cases of threats
against human rights defenders, 32 of whom
were subsequently assassinated. A fourth
paramilitary chief confirmed that his forces
supported Uribe’s 2002 election. More than
10,000 Colombian soldiers have received
training at the SOA/ WHINSEC. The Colombian army has the worst human rights record
in the hemisphere and consistently collaborates with the paramilitaries. Nearly five
million people have been internally displaced
by the conflict in Colombia that is fueled by
U.S. policy.
Panama / France
Noriega Extradited from
the U.S. to France
Former Panamanian dictator and SOA
graduate Manuel Noriega, who has been
imprisoned in the United States since 1989,
was extradited to France, where he is facing
money laundering charges.
Paraguay
Controversy Over Troop
Deployment
In May 2010, Paraguay declared a state
of emergency and deployed military troops
and extra police in northern Paraguay to
crack down on a rebel group that calls itself
the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP).
Paraguayan human rights groups fear
that these measures lead to human rights
abuses by state agents, while restricting
the civil and political rights of individuals.
www.SOAW.org/presente
You Can Build
Grassroots Power
court date in January, was arrested by
federal marshals and is awaiting his trial
while in jail in Georgia.
Letters of support written to Nancy,
Ken, Louis and Michael would be
much appreciated and can be sent to
the following addresses:
Four SOA Watch activists are currently
incarcerated in federal prisons across the
country. Nancy, Ken, Louis and Michael
- the ‘SOA 4’ - were arrested by the
military during the 2009 November Vigil,
when they crossed onto Fort Benning to
carry our message that the School of the
Americas must be closed onto the base.
Their nonviolent civil disobedience action
was an act of love and solidarity with the
people of the Americas.
In January 2010, federal judge Mallon
Faircloth sentenced Ken, Louis and Nancy to six months in prison - the maximum
allowed for the charge of tresspass. The
extremely harsh sentences are intended to
deter others from following the example
of the ‘SOA 4.’ Michael, who resisted the
judges orders to voluntarily
return to Columbus for the
Page/Página 5
As we prepare for this year’s vigil in Ft. Benning and begin preparations for
our event next year in Washington, we turn to you for help. Our work would
not be possible without the extensive efforts of grassroots supporters such
as you who work tirelessly behind the scenes in the streets of Columbus, in
the halls of Congress, and on the ground in Latin America. Right now the
movement also needs another kind of support – your financial contribution to SOA Watch.
Nancy Gwin #94046-020
FCI Danbury
Federal Correctional Institution
Route 37
Danbury, CT 06811
When we say that this is a grassroots movement, we mean it. Last month
we added several cosponsors to our bill in Congress after supporters from
across the country carried out a series of grassroots lobby actions on Capitol
Hill. Our fundraising comes from the grassroots as well – over 90% of the
funding for our program work and our events come from small contributions by individual donors. We need you to add your name to those who
contribute to our movement. Please donate today.
Kenneth Wayne Hayes #94045-020
FCI Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 15330
Fort Worth, TX 76119
Louis Vitale #25803-048
FCI Lompoc
Federal Correctional Institution
3600 Guard Road
Lompoc, CA 93436
For twenty years, SOA Watch has been at the forefront of the Latin America
solidarity movement, working for peace and justice in the Americas. We
couldn’t have done it without you, and we don’t plan on stopping until we
win. Please invest in the change we need in this world by making a contribution in support of our upcoming events. Thank you.
Michael Walli
c/o SOA Watch
PO Box 4566
Washington, DC 20017
Please Clip and return this fo
rm today,
or go online to www.SOAW.o
rg/donate
to make a donation to SOA Wa
tch!
You can jail the resister, but you can’t
jail the resistance! See you in November
at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia!
Yes, I want to close the SOA and build the movement for justice in the Americas
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Clip and mail form to: SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017 or donate online at
www.SOAW.org/donate
Page/Página 6
Spring/ Primavera 2010
Continued terror in the lives of
Argentina Dirty War survivors by Theresa Cameranesi and Adrianne Aron
research and documentation
of the crimes of her oppressors, Patricia had been able
to prosecute nine of them.
Last year she had the satisfaction of seeing six of them
convicted and sentenced by
a court of law. The verdict
vindicated Patricia and her
co-plaintiffs. When it was
announced she was able
“To honor the memory of
The violent crime is being
to say, “You see, we were
investigated by area police as this strong woman, we will
right. That was a crime.”
a simple robbery gone awry
continue on this path,” she
But Domingo Marcellini, the
and 2 young men have admit- added.
powerful SOA-trained
ted to the kill“If this a message against witnesses so as Chief of Intelligence,
ing. However,
to silence them, then the witnesses too have escaped prosecution.
Silvia Suppo’s
family and
a message: we spoke out in the past, we Too ill to stand trial,
died without ever
other Dirty War
speak out now and we’ll keep on speaking he
receiving
the judgwitnesses and
out
despite
these
painful
and
terrible
things.”
ment of the court or
survivors are
the punishment meted
not convinced.
out to those who committed
These are not idle words.
They point to the hour of the
atrocities, including atrociAfter decades of tireless
killing (family stores do not
generally have money
in the till at that time),
the closeness of the
murder to the anniversary date of the
Argentine coup, March
24, and the horrible
violence of the act.
Silvia was slashed and
stabbed 9 times.
Patricia Isasa was a 16 year-old high school student in 1976 when henchmen of a brutal coup regime disappeared her from her home in Santa Fe,
Argentina. For more than two years she was illegally detained and miserably tortured, but unlike the majority of her fellow prisoners, Patricia was
not killed. More than 30 years later she was able to bring 6 of her torturers
to trial, and this past December heard them condemned to between 19 and
22 years each, convicted of crimes against humanity.
Patricia is well known to
the SOA Watch movement,
having spoken eloquently
about her struggles and
experiences numerous times
at the gates of Ft. Benning
during the yearly November
Vigil, and also at several
SOAW Strategy meetings, in
the halls of Congress, and
around the U.S. to many
grassroots groups and universities.
However, today, at 50, she
laments the fate of one of her
torturers, the SOA graduate
Col. Domingo Marcellini,
who died in March 2010
without ever standing trial.
And even more painfully, Patricia and her fellow survivors
grieve in the aftermath of
the suspicious early morning
murder of an important witness in Patricia’s trial. Silvia
Suppo was in the beginning
stages of another trial related to the disappearance
of her then-fiancé, but she
was stabbed to death under
suspicious circumstances
the morning of March 29th,
inside her store in Rafaela,
Argentina, where some of the
accused also still reside.
Isasa remarked about
the murder of her concentration camp companion, “If this a message against witnesses
so as to silence them,
then the witnesses too
have a message: we
spoke out in the past,
we speak out now and
we’ll keep on speaking
out despite these painful and terrible things.”
Survivors in Argentina are working for justice
ties against the young Patricia
Isasa and Silvia Suppo.
When the other criminals on
Patricia’s list were convicted,
she was able to observe a
justice system back on its
feet: “They had a defense and
were imprisoned in a reasonably decent place, which is
something I obviously did not
have. They had all the rights
that they took away from me.
This gives me a dignity, and
points out the difference between who I am and who they
are. I would never do to them
what they did. It’s a crime.”
But now the death of Suppo
has shaken many of the witnesses. Some now live under
24 hour police protection. All
Continued on Page 13
Photo by Linda Panetta
www.SOAW.org/presente
Page/Página 7
Looking Back to Move Ahead
by Simón Sedillo
I was asked to write a piece about people of color organizing to
attend the 2009 SOA Watch vigil and about our plans for 2010.
I believe everything happens for a reason. I am writing this
from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.
I find it serendipitous simply because
when we talk about people of color
organizing, I think it is always important to remind ourselves about painful
pasts, in order to remove any blinders we are wearing in the present.
Haskell University was originally a
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Native
American “Boarding School.” Secretary of War John C. Calhoun set up
the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824,
which became the War Department’s
main agency for dealing with Native
Americans until 1849 when it was
transferred to the Department of the
Interior.
The Boarding School program was
developed by a U.S. Army Captain
by the name of Richard Henry Pratt
In 1879. At the time, the Army was
concluding that assimilation into
white settler society by most Native
Americans was impossible, because
they simply would not “give up
their traditions and ways of life.” So
Richard Pratt developed a strategy he
called “kill the Indian, save the man.”
The idea was probably stolen from
the various Christian boarding school
programs developed during the Spanish occupation of the Americas. The
main idea behind Pratt’s program was
that Native families would be forced
to send their children to live in these
so-called “boarding schools.”
The ugly truth is that all over the
United States, Native children were
kidnapped by U.S. soldiers, loaded
into freight train box cars and sent
to concentration camps all over the
country. Haskell still has the old “rail
trail” distinctly marked at the edge
of campus. As you can very well
imagine, the boys were trained to be
soldiers and the girls were trained to
be domestic servants. On a national
average eight out of ten girls and
at least half the boys were sexually
assaulted. Overwhelming evidence
shows that less than half the children
who originally attended Haskell as a
boarding school, survived their experience at all.
Continued on Page 14
Illustration by Robert Trujillo
CIA Paid Colombian Intelligence Agency to Spy on
South American Embassies by Susana Pimiento, Fellowship of Reconciliation
On May 4, 2010 the Colombian
Senate held a special hearing on
the illegal activities of the Colombian intelligence Agency (DAS).
Such activities have included not
only illegal surveillance, but a series of acts that amount to State
terrorism, such as death threats,
kidnappings, harassment of
children, blackmailing and fram-
ing of Supreme Court Justices,
opposition leaders, journalists
and human rights defenders. DAS
even created a manual for how
to threaten the children of their
targets.
At the hearing opposition senator
Gustavo Petro unveiled the alleged role of United States in one
of these operations, citing official
documents. Under the code name
“Operacion Bahía” (Bay Operation), an illegal operation in 2007
and 2008 was directed not by the
Colombian intelligence agency,
but by the US. The operation
targeted diplomatic representatives from Colombian neighbors
from “all the Latin American left,”
including Venezuela, Ecuador,
Bolivia, and Cuba. Similar operations were undertaken under the
code names “Salomon”, “Fenix”
and “Condor.”
The episode is likely to have an
impact on stability in South America. It clearly shows Colombian
willingness to act as trampoline
from which Washington launches
illegal surveillance activities. How
then can either government be
trusted when they claim that the
US-Colombia military base agreement is not going to be used
against Colombia’s neighbors?
Page/Página 10
Spring/ Primavera 2010
Todos Somos Arizona
Un programa de deportaciones, engañosamente llamado “Comunidades Seguras” (Secure Communities), apunta a las comunidades de
inmigrantes en Estados Unidos.
a cualquier persona bajo “sospecha
razonable” de estar indocumentada.
Numerosos inmigrantes que han llegado a Estados Unidos
Traducción: le pueden detener en la
calle sin más motivo que el tener la piel
provenientes de América Latina son víctimas de egresados
oscura o hablar español. La Ley SB
de la Escuela de las Américas (School of Americas SOA),
1070 convierte el odio racial en legisquienes perpetran actos de violencia contra las poblaciones
lación, trastoca la unidad nacional y es
la legislación más abiertamente racista
civiles de sus propios países.
de tiempos recientes. La ley es una
Dicho programa es especialmente
extensión de programas llevados a cabo
Imagínese que cada cárcel en Estados
alarmante en un momento en el que las
entre la policía y el ICE, que coloca la
Unidos sirva como un conducto para
alianzas definidas entre la policía y el
aplicación del derecho de inmigración
deportar a alguien, simplemente al hab- ICE han desembocado en la crisis de
en manos de las autoridades locales.
er sido inculpado y arrestado por una
derechos
La nueva ley de
ofensa tan menor como una infracción
humanos
SOA/ WHINSEC y políticas de
Arizona es el
de tráfico. Es asustador, ¿verdad? Más
que atravieinmigración injustas, como el pro- resultado directo
asustador resulta que este programa de
sa Arizona
grama de deportaciones “Comuni- de la transferendeportaciones masivo se llame “Cohoy en día.
cia de poder, a
munidades Seguras”, y el que ya esté
El Estado
dades Seguras”, forman parte del las autoridades
siendo implementado a la velocidad del de Arizona
mismo sistema racista sustentado en locales, de lo
vértigo sin que la mayoría del público
es uno de
que debería ser,
la violencia y la dominación.
se entere.
los primexclusivamente,
eros lugares
una responsabiliA partir del 11 de septiembre y desde
piloto para este tipo de
dad federal, el derecho inmigratola creación del Departamento de
programas, haciendo
rio.
Seguridad Nacional (Department of
alarde, como lo hace, de
Homeland Security), la proliferación de contar con algunos de
Diversas comunidades en todo el
alianzas entre fuerzas de policía locales los primeros programas
país están exigiendo al Presidente
y el Servicio de Inmigración y Control
policía-ICE, así como
Obama que dé por terminadas las
de Aduanas de Estados Unidos (Immicon el mayor número de
desastrosas alianzas entre la policía
gration and Customs Enforcement ICE) ellos. Bajo las apariencias
y la ICE, y que además emita un dehan comandado un asombroso aumento de que el gobierno federal
creto presidencial para anular la Ley
de detenciones y deportaciones en los
hace todo lo que puede por
SB1070 en Arizona. Tan sólo la
Estados Unidos, a la vez que van crecumplir con la ley de inmisemana pasada, grupos dedicados
ando una grave preocupación en torno
gración, el sheriff Arpaio ha
a los derechos civiles, la justicia
a los derechos civiles y las garantías
desencadenado un régimen
penal y los derechos de inmiprocesales. Hoy en día, estas alianzas
de terror sobre las comunigración, en 14 ciudades, parestán siendo sistematizadas, formalizadades de color en la ciudad
ticiparon en el lanzamiento
das y promovidas en forma agresiva
de Phoenix, Arizona.
de la campaña “Descubra
por el Servicio de Inmigración y
la verdad de las colaboraControl de Aduanas de Estados Unidos
El 23 de abril de 2010 fue un
ciones Policía-ICE”
ICE. La administración de Obama ha
triste día para Arizona, y un hito
(“Uncover the
anunciado planes para que, de aquí a
sumamente peligroso para el resto
2013, a través del Programa de Comudel país. La gobernadora de Arizona
nidades Seguras (Secure Communities
promulgó la Ley SB1070, legaliProgram), en cada cárcel del país se
zando, de hecho, el perfilamiento racial
proceda a verificar el estatus migratorio en aquel Estado. La ley
de todos los individuos arrestados.
requiere que la autoridad local interrogue
por Sarahi Uribe
Truth on Police-ICE Collaborations”).
Con ruedas de prensa, manifestaciones
y conferencias políticas conocidas
como ‘teach-ins’ en todo el país, todos
elevaron una voz de protesta: “No más
Arizonas.” En la capital de la nación,
concejales del Distrito de Columbia
tomaron una firme postura, al introducir, en forma unánime, un decreto
de ley que rechaza su participación en
el llamado “Programa Comunidades
Seguras”---creando un precedente que
ha ido cobrando apoyo, velozmente, en
otras ciudades interesadas en hacer lo
mismo.
SOA/ WHINSEC y políticas de inmigración injustas, como el programa de
deportaciones “Comunidades Seguras”,
forman parte del mismo sistema racista
sustentado en la violencia y la dominación. Nos aliamos con las personas
más afectadas por la violencia de la
SOA, y con sus familias, en nuestro
esfuerzo por alcanzar un mundo mejor.
www.SOAW.org/presente
Page/Página 11
Mirando Atrás Para Seguir Adelante
por Simón Sedillo
Me invitaron a escribir algo sobre la gente de color que se organizaba para asistir a la vigilia
realizada por el Observatorio de la Escuela de las Américas (SOA Watch) en 2009 y sobre
nuestros planes para el 2010. Creo que las cosas pasan por algo. Escribo estas líneas desde la
Universidad de las Naciones Indias de Haskell en Lawrence, Kansas.
Me parece una grata casualidad
simplemente porque cuando
hablamos de gente de color que
se organiza, es importante recordarnos de los pasados dolorosos para quitarnos cualquier
anteojera que usemos en el presente. Originalmente, la Universidad Haskell fue un “Internado”
de Americanos Nativos administrado por la Oficina de Asuntos
Indios (BIA). Establecida por
el Secretario de Guerra John C.
Calhoun en 1824, la BIA era la
agencia principal del Departamento de Guerra para lidiar con
los indígenas hasta1849, cuando
fue transferida al Departamento
del Interior.
gramas de internados católicos
durante la ocupación española de
las Américas. La idea principal
tras el proyecto de Pratt era obligar a las familias nativas a enviar
a sus hijos e hijas a vivir en estos
llamados “internados”.
Haskell, la base militar del
Fuerte Leavenworth sirve como
otro recordatorio constante de
una historia atrincherada y tenebrosa, una historia oficial de la
devaluación humana a través de
la criminalización. El Fuerte era
el epicentro de la expansión del
Ejército en las tierras indígenas
del Oeste. La trayectoria de estas
instituciones demuestra, sin lugar
a dudas, que el gobierno de Esta-
La fea verdad es que por todas
partes de Estados Unidos, las y
los niños nativos fueron secuestrados por los soldados estadounidenses,
Aquí empieza la historia de la criminalsubidos a los
ización de la juventud pobre por el gobierno
vagones de
de Estados Unidos. Hoy en día, las y los
trenes de carga
jóvenes empobrecidos de los barrios urbanos
y enviados a
del país viven una nueva encarnación de la
campos de concentración a lo
misma devaluación humana sistemática.
largo del país.
El programa del Internado fue
Aún ahora se ve distintamente el dos Unidos llevó a cabo prácticas
desarrollado en 1879 por un capi- trazo de la vieja vía de tren en las genocidas, y que su manera de
tán del Ejército de Estados Unijustificar dichas prácticas era
afueras del campus de Haskell.
dos llamado Richard Henry Pratt. Como se pueden imaginar, los
criminalizar oficialmente el acto
En aquel entonces, el Ejército
niños fueron entrenados para ser de ser indígena.
estaba llegando a la conclusión
soldados y las niñas para ser emque la asimilación a la sociedad
pleadas domésticas. Un promedio Aquí empieza la historia de la
de colonos blancos de la mayoría nacional de ocho de cada diez
criminalización de la juventud
de los Americanos Nativos era
niñas, y por lo menos la mitad de pobre por el gobierno de Estados
imposible porque estos simpleUnidos. Hoy en día, las y los
los niños sufrieron de agresión
mente se negaron a “renunciar
jóvenes empobrecidos de los barsexual. Pruebas contundentes
a sus tradiciones y maneras de
rios urbanos del país viven una
demuestran que ni siquiera la
vivir.” Por eso, Richard Pratt
mitad de los niños y niñas que in- nueva encarnación de la misma
desarrolló una estrategia dedevaluación humana sistemática.
gresaron al internado de Haskell
nominada “Mata al Indio, Salva
Las comunidades negras, moresobrevivió a la experiencia.
al Hombre.” Es probable que la
nas, amarillas, inmigrantes,
idea haya sido robado de los pro- Situado a apenas 49 km de
pobres, y sí, nativas-americanas
que siguen vivas y vigentes hoy
en día en Estados Unidos, tienen
poco acceso a los servicios básicos y elementales. Esto implica,
también, una falta de acceso a los
aviones, barcos y camiones que
inundan a sus comunidades con
armas y droga.
La vieja estrategia ahora se
extiende a la criminalización de
la pobreza, de la juventud y de
cualquier forma de disensión.
La única diferencia es que en
lugar de enviar a los jóvenes a
los “internados” por la fuerza, la
estrategia es enviarlos, ya criminalizados, a prisión.
Los Estados Unidos de América
encarcela a más de sus propios
ciudadanos que cualquier otro
país del mundo. Y el encarcelamiento de gente de color de las
comunidades pobres está totalmente fuera de proporción. Día
con día, se aumenta el número
de prisiones privadas en el país
––prisiones operadas para sacar
ganancias. ¿Cómo se justifica
un sistema que encarcela a sus
ciudadanos con fines lucrativos?
Esta versión actualizada de la
estrategia para criminalizar y
“cambiar” a la juventud de color
sigue cosechando violencia en
nuestras comunidades.
Por eso pensamos que es importante que las y los jóvenes de
color del mundo tomen un papel activo en cerrar la SOA y el
Fuerte Leavenworth y el Fuerte
Page/Página 12
Spring/ Primavera 2010
Mirando Atrás Para Seguir Adelante
Huachuca. Desde su perspectiva
en la línea de frente de la guerra
desatada contra ellos, la lista de
lugares, instituciones e industrias
que contribuyen a la criminalización y devaluación de sus
comunidades es interminable.
cha actitud. Si estaban prestando
atención, tal vez se fijaron en algunas de nuestras maneras creativas de transmitir un mensaje que
puede ayudar a cerrar la SOA. A
veces los canales de televisión y
los periódicos dan la impresión
que la gente que se viste y actúa
El noviembre pasado, es posible
como nosotros es solo una banda
que ustedes se dieran cuenta de la de delincuentes. Pero sabemos
presencia en la vigilia de muchos que ustedes del SOA Watch ya
jóvenes de piel negra y morena
saben quienes son los verdaderos
que traían gorras de beisbol de
criminales. Ustedes verán cada
lado, pantalones caídos y muvez más jóvenes de color en las
puertas del Fuerte Benning, hasta
que todos juntos cerremos la
SOA. Ojalá no nos veamos ahí
durante mucho más tiempo y que
empecemos a vernos en todos los
demás frentes donde haya injusticias para combatir.
No nos olvidemos de nuestra historia, mientras fijamos un tercer
ojo, tan limpio como un parabrisas recién lavado, en el presente.
La gente de color joven ha sido
y sigue siendo criminalizada, no
por ser malvada o malnacida,
sino porque siempre ha sido
hermosa, poderosa, creativa e
implacable en resistir la opresión
y en llegar a la primera línea de
batalla de los movimientos que
compartimos. Cuando nos vean,
aunque les parezca que somos
ruidosos, hasta estridentes,
simplemente sonrían, porque
todos sabemos que no podemos
ganar esta lucha sin estar el uno
con el otro.
“Secure Communities”?
Continued from Page 3
gram is called “Secure Communities”
and its already being implemented at
breakneck speed without most of the
public knowing.
Since September 11 and since the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, the explosion of local
police and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) partnerships have
driven a staggering increase in detention and deportations in the United
States while creating serious civil
rights and due process concerns. Today, these partnerships are being systemized, formalized, and aggressively
promoted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Obama administration has announced plans to have
every jail in the United States check
the immigration status of arrested individuals by the year 2013 through the
Secure Communities Program.
This program is particularly alarming
at a time when its clear police-ICE
partnerships resulted in the human
rights crisis in Arizona today. The state
of Arizona is one of the first testing
grounds for these programs, boasting
some of the first and also the highest
number of police-ICE programs. Notably, the federal government empowered Sheriff Arpaio with the largest
partnership. Under the guise of immigration enforcement on behalf of the
federal government, Sheriff Arpaio
unleashed a reign of terror on communities of color in Phoenix, Arizona.
cent memory. The bill is an extension
of police-ICE programs like “Secure
Communities” that put immigration
enforcement into local hands. Arizona’s new law is the direct result of the
federal government’s reckless empowerment of local enforcement agencies
to enforce what should be an exclusive
federal responsibility, immigration
law.
April 23, 2010
was a sad day The SOA/ WHINSEC and the unjust Communifor Arizona immigration policies like the “Secure ties across
and a terribly
Communities” deportation program the coundangerous
try
are
are
parts
of
the
same
racist
system
of
moment for
demandviolence and domination.
the rest of our
ing
that
country. AriPresident
zona’s governor signed SB 1070 into Obama terminate the dangerous and
law, effectively making it legal to ra- disastrous police-ICE partnerships
cially profile in the state. The bill re- and that he also issue an executive
quires local law enforcement to ques- order to nullify SB 1070 in Arizona.
tion anyone they have “reasonable Just last week, civil rights, criminal
suspicion” of being undocumented. justice, and immigrant rights groups
Translation: you could be pulled over in 14 cities participated in the launch
for no other reason than that you are of the “Uncover the Truth on Policebrown-skinned or speak Spanish. SB ICE Collaborations” campaign. In
1070 codifies hatred into law, disrupts press conferences, rallies, and teachnational unity, and constitutes the ins across the country they all cried
most blatantly racist legislation in re- out “No more Arizonas.” In the na-
tion’s capitol, councilmembers in the
District of Columbia took a strong
stance by unanimously introducing a
bill that rejects their participation in
the so-called “Secure Communities
program”---creating a precedent that
is quickly drawing support from others
cities interested in doing the same.
The SOA/ WHINSEC and the unjust
immigration policies like the “Secure
Communities” deportation program
are parts of the same racist system
of violence and domination. We ally
ourselves with those most affected by
SOA violence and their families in our
effort to create a better world.
www.SOAW.org/presente
Page/Página 13
Interview with Ana Teresa Lozada on Colombia,
women, war, and social movements by Chris Knestrick of the Christian Peacemaker Team
this law are starting judicial processes
against recognized social leaders in the
region. Furthermore, the paramilitaries
continue to operate under other names
and ordinary people know this. For
example, in Barrancabermeja there
The demobilization process that started were over 145 people selectively assasdispute over the territory. This dissinated last year. There are no massain 2005 was a process that was done
pute has caused the dispossession and
cres but control continues to exist at the
behind the backs of communities in
displacement [of poor and marginalized
economic, political, and social levels.
the region. It has not been an open
people] from lands [in order that more
There are extortion, threats, and pamprocess for the communities, and it is
powerful people might gain] minerals
phlets given out with names of those
not known how many paramilitaries
and natural wealth that we have.
to be killed. There is no policy
This has led to the presence of
of dismantling the paramilitar“...the
paramilitaries
continue
to
operate
...
illegal armed groups and the
ies. These armed actors have
in Barrancabermeja there were over 145
increased militarization by the
helped to facilitate the entry of
state armed forces in the area.
people selectively assassinated last year.
[multinational corporations] by
At one point, there were the
...These armed actors have helped to facilitate removing the farmers from their
guerrillas in the urban areas of
land and doing the dirty work
the entry of [multinational corporations] by
the municipalities but now the
that the government would not
paramilitaries are patrolling,
removing the farmers from their land...”
be able do.
in spite of the demobilization
process. The demobilization
The people here in Barrancabermeja
there are and where they are. Furtheris a proposal that the Colombian state
live in poverty despite all the economic
more, the victims began to be charged
called the “law of justice and peace,”
activity we have here. There was the
with crimes and [began to be regarded
but it is not a law of justice, or peace.
oil boom but the people who benefited
as] the perpetrators [instead of vicIt has been a process of impunity [i.e.,
were not from the city. The beneficiatims.] The organizations identified
eliminating any sort of consequence for
ries from the resources in the regions
paramilitaries and in some cases have
those who have committed violent acts]
are large multinational corporations and
generated judicial processes. Now
and legalizes the process of forgiving
the people who have benefited from
Continued on Page 15
Ana Teresa Lozada is part of the Popular Women’s Organization
(OFP), an organization that is defending human rights and encourages women to transform social reality and to reconstruct their own
social fabric and civil society.
What is the political context that you are
working in? And what does this mean
for women?
The political, social, and economic development of the region is very difficult
and complex. First, I am going give
us some historical context to
ground the conversation that
will enable us—women and
communities—to say how
we are currently living.
Barrancabermeja and the
Magdalena Medio region
[have] lived for many years
with different forms of
violence. The
armed conflict
has its roots
in deep social
inequalities,
such as the
Continued terror in the lives of
Argentina Dirty War survivors
Continued from Page 6
recall the 2006 kidnapping and disappearance of another witness, Mario
Lopez, soon after he gave witness in a
trial in Buenos Aires.
The unexplained murder grieves
Suppo’s former companions, and
they particularly point out her terrible sufferings and her strength when
resisting her tortures, and her courage in proceeding with the trials and
recognizing those responsible. In the
streets of Santa Fe province, inside
the human rights and social justice organizations, and in Argentine primary
and secondary schools, the name of
Silvia Suppo will start to be learned
as synonymous with a permanent
struggle against impunity, against forgetting the past, and against staying
silent in the face of state oppression.
And as Patricia Isasa vows, “To honor the memory of this strong woman,
we will continue on this path.”
Visit www.SOAW.org/presente to read a
previous interview with Patricia Isasa
the armed actors—in [the case of the
Magdalena Medio region], paramilitaries who have killed and destroyed
families and the social fabric with the
complicity of the military.
Father Roy Bourgeois’ Speaking Schedule
Hear Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch, speak powerfully
and from personal experience about peace and justice
June 21-24: SOA Watch South-North Encuentro in Venezuela
June 25-27 Dallas, Texas, Contact 928-282-4122
August 1-8 Delegation to Colombia
August 27-29 Madison, Wisconsin, Contact 608-257-1259
September 11-12 Lansing/Detroit, Michigan, Contact 313-891-2192
September 25-26 Ben Lomond, California, Contact 802-387-4789
October 2-3 Minneapolis, Minnesota, Contact 612-529-3551
October 23-24 Ontario, Canada, Contact 905-934-9115
November 5 Concord, New Hampshire, Contact 603-254-4727
To invite Father Roy to speak in your community, call 706-682-5369
Page/Página 14
Presente is the newspaper
of the movement to close the
School of the Americas.
It is published three times a
year and sent to subscribers.
Several thousand additional
copies are being distributed by
local activists and organizers.
Visit www.SOAW.org/presente
to read and comment on articles online.
SOA Watch Council:
Katie Varatta, Palmer Legare,
Deirdre MacDermott, Linda
Panetta, Ken Hayes, Greg
Speltz, Theresa Cameranesi,
Pedro-Jesus Romero-Menendez, Andy Kafel, Gray Newman, Wayne Wittman, Demissie Abebe and Harold Nelson
SOA Watch Staff:
Liz Albanese, Luciana Andrade, Michael Baney, Father
Roy Bourgeois, Pam Bowman,
Pablo Ruiz Espinosa, Lisa Sullivan, and Hendrik Voss
Contact:
SOA Watch, PO Box 4566
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: 202-234-3440
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.SOAW.org and
www.SOAW.org/presente
Subscriptions
www.SOAW.org/subscribe
Distributor Network
Spring/ Primavera 2010
Looking Back to Move Ahead
Continued from Page 6
Less than 30 miles away from
Haskell, the U.S. Army base Fort
Leavenworth serves as another
continuous reminder of deep dark
history, an official history of human
devaluation through criminalization.
Fort Leavenworth was the epicenter
of U.S. Army expansion into native
lands in the west. These institutions
prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt,
that the U.S. government engaged
in genocidal practices, and justified
these practices by officially criminalizing the act of being indigenous.
The United States of America incarcerates more of its citizens than any
other country in the world. The U.S.
disproportionately incarcerates people
of color from poor communities.
Everyday this country has more and
more private prisons, prisons run for
profit. How do you justify a system
that incarcerates its citizens in order
to make a profit? Today this updated
version of the same strategy to criminalize and “change” young people of
color has continued to reap violence
in our communities.
The history of the U.S. government
criminalizing poor young people
begins here. Today inner city and
impoverished youth throughout this
country are experiencing a new incarnation of the same systematic human
devaluation. Black, brown, yellow,
immigrant, poor, and yes many Native American communities alive and
well in the U.S. today have little access to basic needs and services. This
implies a lack of access to the planes,
boats, and trucks that fill their communities with weapons and drugs.
This is the
story of
why we
think it is
important
them, and send them to prison.
for young
people of
Let us not
color from around the world to have
forget our history, while keeping
an active role in shutting down the
a squeegee clean third eye on the
SOA and Fort Leavenworth and Fort
present. Young people of color have
Huachuca. From the perspective of
been and continue to be criminalized
young people of color on the front
not because they are evil or born bad,
lines of a war against them, this list of but because they have always been
places, institutions and industries that beautiful, powerful, creative, and
contribute to the criminalization and
relentless when it comes to resisting
devaluation of their communities is
oppression and meeting us on the
endless.
front lines of these movements that
we share. When you see us, even
This last November you may have
if we seem loud, or even abrasive,
noticed a lot more black and brown
just smile because we all know that
young people with crooked baseball
we can’t win this fight without one
caps, sagging pants and a whole lot
another.
of attitude. If you were paying at-
The strategy has been broadened to
the criminalization of poverty, of
youth, and of any form of dissent.
The only difference is that instead
of forcibly sending young people to
“boarding schools” today, the official
strategy is to criminalize them, and
send them to prison.
tention, you may have seen some of
the creative ways in which we are
carrying a message that contributes to
shutting down the SOA. Sometimes
the TV and newspapers do a good job
of making people that act and dress
like us look like nothing more than
a bunch of criminals. But we know
that folks at SOA Watch know who
the real criminals are. You will see
more and more young people of color
at the gates of Fort Benning, until we
all shut down the SOA. Hopefully
we won’t see each other there for too
much longer, and we can start seeing
each other on
Instead of forcibly sending young every other
people to ‘boarding schools’ today, front where
the official strategy is to criminalize injustices are
taking place.
www.SOAW.org/distribute
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Submissions
www.SOAW.org/submissions
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www.SOAW.org/advertise
Thank you to all the artists who have contributed their work to Presente.
Artists are a tremendously important part of the movement to close the School of the Americas.
The creatively minded inspire the campaign. Art and activism is an effective combination that is able
to reach people on a different level and moves them to take action.
Visit www.SOAW.org/artists to learn more about the contributing artists and to see their work.
www.SOAW.org/presente
Page/Página 15
Why we return to Fort
Benning, Georgia
and our plans for Washington, DC
Shut Down the School of the Americas
A Compilation of Films to Close the SOA/ WHINSEC and to Change Oppressive U.S. Foreign Policy
Twelve of the finest films on the School of the Americas and the
movement to shut it down on one DVD! Shut Down the School of
the Americas is a bilingual compilation of eight English and four
Spanish films and is an excellent resource for both those who are
new to SOA Watch and those who are long-time activists.
The following films are on the compliation DVD:
English: Guns and Greed, Nightwind, The New Patriots, Journey
to Awareness, An Insider Speaks Out, Prisoners of Conscience,
Trailer for El Enemigo Comun
Español: Protesta en Colombia, Armas y Avaricia, Un Instuctor
Denuncia
Buy the DVD: Order it now online at www.SOAW.org for only $17
plus $3 shipping and handling You can send a check or money
order to:
SOA Watch
P.O. Box 4566
Washington DC 20017
Interview with Ana Teresa Lozada on Colombia, women,
war, and social movements by Chris Knestrick of the Christian Peacemaker Team
Continued from Page 13
mega projects. There are no jobs. There is rummaging for work like the selling of cell phone minutes
[cards] and the making and selling of tamales.
From the national and local government there are no
real solutions to the poverty experienced in the region.
It is clear that when we talk about the assistance programs that have emerged from the national government, that their solutions are superficial
around military bases], we notice the increase in prostitution of very young girls and forced abortions. [If there
is] additional deployment of the U.S. military bases in
Colombia, it is going to be a disaster for the women and
the people because the American soldiers … cannot be
punished for the crimes they commit in Colombia.
Why are you working in the peace movement?
The social movement talks about “the militarization of
women’s bodies.” Could you explain what this means
in the context of the war here in Colombia?
It has to do basically with wanting to contribute to the
transformation of this reality that we live, especially for
women. Colombia is a country that has faced an armed
conflict for many years—an armed conflict where many
women and men have died, been displaced and have
been disappeared. I want to build a better country, for
my nephews, my children, and my friends. I dream that
one day this country will be fair for everyone, where
everyone has place and where all can be…
For many years, women’s bodies have been used by
armies as shields, insulted, and [used to humiliate]
their enemies, by placing them in places to be publicly
mocked and [degraded], which generates fear. [In areas
Visit www.SOAW.org/presente for the full text of the interview
in English and Spanish.
In the region we, the women, continue to actively
resist, to denounce human rights abuses, and to work
hard for the reconstruction of the social fabric.
Continued from Page 4
that they received, that the November vigil will stay in
Georgia and that we need to continue to converge on
the base, where the killers are being trained, until the
School of the Americas is closed once and for all.
In addition, SOA Watch is going to mobilize for a massive gathering in Washington, DC in the Spring of 2011
that will take our demands to the halls of Congress and
other places where military and foreign policy decisions are made. We’ll be joining with the Latin America Solidarity Coalition’s 5th Conference, concentrating
our creative direct action and lobbying efforts where
the policy makers are, to finally shut down the SOA/
WHINSEC! By first creating the world we wish to see
in November as we remember the fallen, we will then
carry those visions with us to DC in the Spring and
make 2011 the year that we triumph!
“If the abolition of slave-manacles began as a vision of hands
without manacles, then this is the year; if the shut down of extermination camps began as imagination of a land without barbed
wire or the crematorium, then this is the year; if every rebellion begins with the idea that conquerors on horseback are not
many-legged gods, that they too drown if plunged in the river,
then this is the year. So may every humiliated mouth, teeth like
desecrated headstones, fill with the angels of bread”.
(from Imagine the Angels of Bread, Martín Espada)
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