The LANL Fathers Day Five, ready for a prayer-action.
At the conclusion of a 24-hour prayer vigil outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), five peaceful demonstrators were arrested on June 20 outside the construction site of the new Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) facility, a critical part of new U.S. nuclear weapons production.
Trinity Nuclear Abolition (TNA) held the vigil with members of Veterans for Peace, Pax Christi New Mexico, Pax Christi Holy Family, Trinity House Catholic Worker, and Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping in honor of Fathers’ Day and Holy Trinity Sunday. Along with meditations, songs and dance, the two dozen activists were able to distribute fliers advising LANL employees about their obligations under U.S. and international law. Arrested were Will Covert, a Veteran For Peace and great-grandfather; Mitzi Kraft, member of Military Families Speak Out and great-grandmother; Bobbie Sue Davis, a former military family member and mother of three; Juan Montoya, member of Pax Christi Holy Family and grandfather; and Marcus Page, Catholic Worker.
By Wednesday afternoon, all five had been released on bond from the Los Alamos Detention Center. Juan Montoya’s trial is currently set for August. He and his four codefendants will ask Magistrate Pat Casados to consolidate the cases into one jury trial. In the past, Casados has stated her opposition to consolidating cases, but the five defendants hope they have enough weight to convince the court that one jury trial for five is better than five jury trials.
The arrests occurred just days before a raging forest fire threatened LANL, leading to the evacuation of the town of Los Alamos.
For four years, TNA has protested LANL’s noncompliance with U.S. Constitutional duties and U.S. treaty obligations. TNA’s monthly vigils remind the public and the LANL employees that LANL is actively conducting international criminal activity, as shown by the nuclear bomb pit production work at the Chemistry Metallurgy Research (CMR) facility, and as LANL continues to build a replacement for the current CMR facility (the new CMRR).
For more information and updates, visit tna.lovarchy.org.