11/18/05: Peace Activists Press Morlino
Peace Activists Press Morlino
Bishop Urged To Promote Reform Of Infamous Ga. Military Center
The Capital Times :: METRO :: 1B
Friday, November 18, 2005
By Aaron Nathans The Capital Times
Before making an all-night journey to an infamous military training center in Georgia, Madison area peace activists urged Bishop Robert Morlino to work to bring about change there.
Morlino was appointed last month to the 13-member board of visitors of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas, at Fort Benning in Georgia. The review board is an arm of the Defense Department and delivers an annual report to Congress.
Sister Maureen McDonnell of Edgewood College, who is making the trip, said Morlino has the power to "exert some pressure and get perpetrators of human rights abuses to come to trial."
"I have heard him say he will be careful to assess the value of this board, whether it has any authority," McDonnell said. "If it doesn't, if it isn't listened to, I would expect him to make a public statement in that regard."
The activists came together for a service at the college before boarding buses. The 42-member Madison delegation included 30 college age students, including six from Edgewood and 15 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They are scheduled to arrive at Fort Benning today, protest over the weekend, and return early Monday afternoon.
The school trains soldiers, police and government officials from Latin American nations. The advocacy group SOA Watch claims that some of the school's graduates commit murder and civil rights abuses. The group says the alumni were involved in human rights abuses in the 1980s, and continue to harm people in Latin America.
At the service on Thursday, the activists remembered Archbishop Oscar Romero and four Catholic sisters, who were assassinated in El Salvador in 1980, and six Jesuits who were murdered in El Salvador in 1989. The activists said the killers were all graduates of the School of the Americas. The human rights violations continued in Columbia this year, the activists said.
"I think Bishop Morlino is politically savvy enough to know exactly what he accepted," said Gavin Eagan, a senior at Edgewood College who is making the trip. He said he was skeptical that Morlino will be able to bring about change in the institute. "I think he's legitimizing the School of the Americas."
Father Jim Murphy of St. Mary's Parish in Portage said activists are organizing a 24-hour fast, to begin on Dec. 1 at the Madison Catholic Pastoral Center. It will coincide with Morlino's first meeting as a member of the board of visitors.
"We're praying for the bishop to have the strength to say we need to close this institute, it's not bringing about justice," said Murphy, who is not making the trip to Georgia.
According to a written statement from Morlino's office, the school educates military and civilian students to solve regional problems by "peacefully resolving border conflicts, respecting civilian control of the military, fighting terrorism, combating illegal drug trade and valuing human rights."
The bishop will wait to comment until he goes to his first meeting of the panel, scheduled for early December, said his spokesman, Bill Brophy.
"He wants to go down and find out what the group's all about," Brophy said. "He wants to add a Catholic perspective on justice and morality to the board."
Morlino will serve on the board alongside members of the U.S. Senate and House Armed Services committees, representatives from the U.S. State Department, generals and civilians.
The trip to Georgia is not an official Edgewood function. In a written statement, Edgewood President Daniel Carey wrote: "We take in good faith the Bishop's word that he accepted this position with the board because of his desire to fulfill his responsibility to promote human rights."