Camilo Ernesto Mejía (b. Managua, Nicaragua, August 28, 1975) is a Nicaraguan American who was a former staff sergeant of the Florida National Guard, best known for being an anti-war activist.
Mejía is a former student of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he intended to major in psychology and Spanish on a military-funded scholarship. Mejía spent six months in Iraq (his first combat tour after enlisting), then returned for a...
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Camilo Ernesto Mejía (b. Managua, Nicaragua, August 28, 1975) is a Nicaraguan American who was a former staff sergeant of the Florida National Guard, best known for being an anti-war activist.
Mejía is a former student of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he intended to major in psychology and Spanish on a military-funded scholarship. Mejía spent six months in Iraq (his first combat tour after enlisting), then returned for a 2-week furlough to the US after which he did not return for duty. He was charged with desertion and sentenced to one year in prison for refusing to return to fight in Iraq. In March 2004 he turned himself in to the US military and filed an application for conscientious objector status.
Mejía was court-martialed, and claimed that he left his post in order to avoid duties that could be considered war crimes: more specifically, the abuse and torture of prisoners. One of his attorneys, former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark, claimed...
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