College explores U.S. policy in Latin America during Hispanic Heritage month
UDM’s James Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive celebrated Hispanic Heritage month in October with a special viewing of Hidden in Plain Sight, the award-winning documentary about U.S. policy toward Latin America and the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Ga. The documentary, which contains first-hand interviews on both sides of the debate regarding the effects of U.S. military training of Latin American Troups at Fort Benning, also features military instructors at the SOA and activists who have tried to close the school due to its connection with human rights violators.
Following the film, guests heard from the film’s co-producer and activist Andrés Thomas Conteris and Joe Mulligan, S.J., who discussed “My Participation in Civil Disobedience at the SOA and My 90-day Sentence.” Fr. Mulligan, a Jesuit priest from Detroit, has been working since 1986 in Nicaragua with the Christian Base Communities, with people with disabilities, and as in-country coordinator of the Jesuit Volunteers International. He recently served a 90-day sentence for “crossing the line” at Ft. Benning to protest the School of the Americas. He is an author of two books, and has also dedicated his life to investigating the questionable circumstances of the death of James Carney, S.J.