[Ppnews] FBI Files Reveal Years of Counter-Terrorism Surveillance

[Political Prisoner News]

http://www.soaw.org/new/pressrelease.php?id=109

for immediate release
May 4, 2006

School of the Americas Watch, http://www.soaw.org
Contact: Christy Pardew, Eric LeCompte
202.234.3440 or 202.903.7257, media at soaw.org


DECLASSIFIED FBI FILES REVEAL YEARS OF SURVEILLANCE OF PEACEFUL
DEMONSTRATIONS BY FBI'S COUNTER-TERRORISM DIVISION

ACLU and School of the Americas Watch filed for documents; much
information blacked out, some pages not released

WASHINGTON, DC ­ The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of
Georgia today released new evidence that the Federal Bureau of
Investigation is conducting counterterrorism investigations into School of
the Americas Watch (SOA Watch), a faith- and conscience-based human rights
group. SOA Watch, which organizes yearly nonviolent demonstrations calling
for the closure of the School of the Americas, a controversial training
school for Latin American soldiers located at Fort Benning, charges that
the files demonstrate a clear attempt to stifle political opposition.

“We gather yearly to remember those killed by graduates of this school,
and to nonviolently call for a change in U.S. policy towards Latin
America,” said Reverend Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest and founder of
SOA Watch.  “It’s clear that this surveillance is politically motivated,
and it’s a disgrace that Instead of investigating any of the heinous
crimes of graduates of the School of the Americas, our government is using
its resources and time to monitor peaceful demonstrators, people who are
working for true democracy in this country.”

In the released documents, the FBI noted that "The event has grown
dramatically over the past several years." The Bureau monitored the media
attention that the annual November vigil and the trials of people arrested
for nonviolent civil disobedience received, and agents noted which court
tactics had chilling effects on people’s decisions to participate in civil
disobedience.

The documents released today show that after 2001, FBI surveillance of the
demonstrations became “priority” and subject to “counterterrorism”
monitoring ­while repeatedly emphasizing that the protests were peaceful.
An October 2003 memo even states that “[t]he leaders of the SOA Watch have
taken strides to impart upon the protest participants that the protest
should be a peaceful event.”

“Clearly the FBI knew it was spying on a peaceful demonstration, activity
protected by the First Amendment,” said Gerry Weber, a staff attorney with
the ACLU of Georgia.  “That vital protection includes those who express
controversial beliefs.”

The documents come to the ACLU as a result of a national campaign to
expose domestic spying by the FBI and other government agencies.  The ACLU
has filed Freedom of Information Act requests in 20 states on behalf of
more than 150 organizations and individuals.  In response to these
requests, the government has released documents that reveal monitoring and
infiltration by the FBI and local law enforcement, targeting political,
environmental and anti-war groups.

The documents released today are available on the SOA Watch website at
http://www.soaw.org/new/docs/SOAWFBIFiles.pdf and more information,
including a profile of Father Roy Bourgeois, is available online at
http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles.

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