Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Thinking about going to the SOA Vigil?  Now is the time to buy your airline tickets!  On-line round-trip air fares are $229 (Chicago-Atlanta) on Delta, America or United from O'Hare, and Air Tran from Midway.  This is a very good deal, and will be unlikely to be available for long.  Please plan to arrive the afternoon or evening on Friday, November 21.  If you want to attend the 3:00 pm Colombia Teach-In, you need to arrive by 1 pm at the latest, since it is a 90-minute drive to Columbus, GA, where Ft. Benning and the SOA/WHINSEC are located.  We will set you up with someone who is renting a car.  Some people are leaving Chicago as late as 7pm after work, arriving in Atlanta at 10, and driving directly to the hotel we have reserved in Columbus. To sign-up online, click here.

Saturday morning is the orientation for ALL vigil participants, but especially those attending the vigil for the first time.  A rally is held ALL afternoon at the front gate, as well as workshops and panel discussions at the Convention Center.  Answers for many of your questions can be found in the organizing packet which can be found at the SOA Watch web site:   http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=1671

Sunday morning and early afternoon is the solemn funeral procession to remember the victims killed by SOA/WHINSEC graduates.  At this time, some of those present will engage in non-violent civil disobedience by entering into Ft. Benning to carry out symbolic liturgies and actions highlighting the human rights atrocities carried out by SOA/WHINSEC graduates.  Only those entering Ft. Benning are subject to arrest.  You will NOT be subject to arrest for participating in the solemn funeral procession.  This is to say you should have no fear of being arrested unless you plan to be.  On Sunday evening, we hold a CRLN group reflection at our hotel, which we ask you all to stay over for if at all possible.  Year after year, this proves to be one of the most important times of the weekend, as we have a chance to process together what we have seen, heard and experienced.  

Monday, November 24 in the morning and early afternoon, we return to Chicago from Atlanta.  Remember, it is a 90-minute drive back to the Atlanta airport from Columbus.

We understand that among the speakers this year will be Fr. Jon Sobrino, the prominent liberation theologian in El Salvador and brother to the 6 Jesuit priests killed there by SOA graduates in 1989.  Also, we are pleased that Rev. Milton Mejia and Rev. Adelaida Jimenez, Presbyterian pastors from Colombia in their 2^nd year of study at McCormick Seminary in Chicago, will part of the CRLN group along with their two children, Iván and Andrés.

If you have never joined us for this compelling memorial vigil and public witness against the overwhelming militarization of U.S. policy in Latin America, we urge you say, Yes, I will go.  Buy you ticket now!  We will work with you on your rooming details (we have a block of hotel rooms reserved for 3 nights) and road travel from Atlanta to Columbus and back (we will car pool in rental cars).  Our group orientation for all CRLN participants will be in Chicago at 6 pm on Thursday, November 13, at Grace Place, a loft storefront church at 637 S. Dearborn St in Chicago's South Loop.  

Please, buy your tickets now while they are affordable!!!