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The criminal-justice system has a name for people
like Diane Lopez Hughes. When it comes to civil disobedience, call her a
repeat offender. This time, the longtime Springfield peace activist
faces as much as six months in jail for trespassing on military property.
One of 11 people nabbed in November at the infamous School of the Americas,
Hughes faces a Georgia judge early next week.
She expects a stiff sentence but doesn’t mind.
“I’m willing to be uncomfortable for a while,” she says.
That’s how strongly Hughes feels about the
School of Americas. Hughes and other critics say that the school —
now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
— teaches people how to crush human rights. Established in 1946, the
school trains about 1,000 civilian and military law-enforcement
professionals, mainly from Latin American nations. Just before noon on a Sunday last November, Hughes
and 10 other protesters drove through a checkpoint at the military base,
then walked through a hole in a fence. The group — including a
National Guard veteran, a preacher, a musician, and a teacher — was
arrested and released within five hours. “For me, it was a way to be honest and
repentant to my own heritage,” says Hughes, whose father was from
Guatemala.
Hughes, who has been arrested for participating in
similar demonstrations at military installations in Nevada and Illinois,
believes and hopes that the judge will throw the book at her. She is
preparing to enter a no-contest plea if the judge will allow it; if not,
she says, she will plead guilty and read a personal statement. The possibility of prison is a gift, she says, and an
opportunity to learn to trust in her God even more. “I do everything I know to do as a good
citizen,” she says, “but [serving jail time] is one step
further.”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2008.
