por Andrés Caballero
Hispanic Link News Service
Opponents of a U.S. Department of Defense school that trains Latin American soldiers say they will continue pressing to pass legislation in 2008 to shut the institute down.
Legislation to cut funding for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, previously named and best known as the School of the Americas, was most recently defeated 214-203 in the U.S. House of Representatives in June.
Critics of the SOA/WHISC claim the school has promoted human rights violations.
They note several of its graduates have engaged in abusive practices in Latin America throughout the years.
Former Panamanian president Manuel Noriega, former Peruvian chief of intelligence Vladimiro Montesinos and Colombian general Mario Montoya are only a few of the high-profile individuals who have attended the institute whose names are marred by controversy.
The organization spearheading the efforts to close down the institute, the School of the Americas Watch, plans to continue lobbying for pending H.R. 1707, and raising awareness on the involved issues at the grassroots level.
The bill would «suspend the authority» for the institute and would open up investigations into human rights violations that may have been fostered by the facility.
Introduced by Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), the bill is co-sponsored by 117 legislators, including Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), Hilda Solís (D-Calif.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) and José Serrano (D-N.Y.).
In terms of raising awareness, protesters say some 25,000 human rights advocates from across the United States gathered on Nov. 18 at the gates of the Fort Benning U.S. Army Base in Columbus, Ga., where the school is located, to demand its closing. Several international human rights organizations were present at the three-day vigil that began on Nov. 16 through informational workshops offered to those interested in pressing human rights issues faced by Latin American societies.
The School of the Americas Watch was started by Father Roy Bourgeois in 1990 following the killing of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador a year earlier. The group has chapters in Venezuela and Chile.
Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics.
«Graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people,» states the SOA Watch Web site.
The institute, which instructs some 700 to 1,000 people annually, primarily in Spanish, maintains that its goals «explicitly include strengthening democracy, instilling a respect for the rule of law and honoring human rights.»
It adds it trains participants to fight terrorism, illegal drug trade and other organized crime, provide relief assistance and participate in other efforts.
The institute claims it rigorously screens its applicants, but adds the stipulation:
«Just as any college or university cannot guarantee that some of their students will not someday commit crimes, neither can we. We can guarantee that all instruction will be conducted in accordance with U. S. law, doctrine and policy.»
Countries in Latin America which do not send their nationals to the institute include Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay.
Costa Rica and Bolivia have announced they will stop sending personnel.
(Andrés Caballero, a native of Argentina, is a senior journalism student at Notre Dame de Namur University in San Mateo, Calif. A former Hispanic Link intern, he covered the Fort Benning protest for the news service. Reach him at andres_c_arg@yahoo.com.) c 2007 END
