U.S. Vote Could Close 'School of the Americas'
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SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 21 (OneWorld) - The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to take what advocates are calling a historic vote this week to close the largest U.S. military training ground for soldiers from Central and South America.
The vote comes on the initiative of Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), who has offered an amendment to the Foreign Operations and Appropriations Bill that would prevent any U.S. tax dollars from funding the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The institute is better known as the School of the Americas, which was its official name until the year 2000. "Human rights abuses by graduates of the school have been widespread," argued Joao da Silva, communications coordinator for School of the Americas Watch, a grassroots group that raises awareness about the school's checkered past. "They have engaged in torture and targeted killings of their enemies, and in this case the enemies were mostly trade unionists and human rights workers," da Silva said.
The School of the Americas was founded in 1946, primarily to prevent communism from spreading in Central and South America. During the 1970s and 1980s many right-wing military dictatorships came to power throughout Latin America; many of their leaders had attended the school. Among the School of the Americas' more than 60,000 alumni are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzar Suarez of Bolivia. According to School of the Americas Watch, graduates were also responsible for the El Mozote massacre of 900 civilians in El Salvador; the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; and the massacre of 14-year-old Celina Ramos, her mother Elba Ramos, and six Jesuit priests in El Salvador; among hundreds of other human rights abuses. Representatives of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, also known as WHINSEC, did not return phone calls by deadline. "The School of the Americas is not very well known in the United States, but it's very well known in Latin America," said Christy Thornton, director of the New York-based North American Congress on Latin America, which publishes a leading journal on Central and South American Affairs. "The School of the Americas is for many a symbol of U.S. imperialism. Closing it would help restore credibility to the U.S. in the eyes of the rest of the world," she added. Thornton said the rise of anti-American left wing leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is in part a reaction against past U.S. support for authoritarian governments in the region. In recent years, four countries have decided to withdraw their soldiers from WHINSEC. In 2004, Chavez stopped sending Venezuelan soldiers to the school, and last year Argentina and Uruguay announced they would end co-operation as well. Last month, they were joined by Costa Rica, which does not have a standing army but had sent police officers there for training. The country's president, Oscar Arias, won the Nobel Peace Prize 20 years ago and has dedicated himself to international arms control. Costa Rica's public safety minister Fernando Berrocal told Agance France Press that Arias made the decision with regard to "the most sacred principles of the country's history." "We must understand that this decision does not in any way contradict our alliance with the United States in the struggle against crime and neither does it impede cooperation in security programs to professionalize our police," he said. Opponents of the school are optimistic that their measure to close it will pass this year. School of the Americas Watch's da Silva said the Democratic tide at U.S. polls last November could prove decisive. "Thirty-five representatives who opposed this last year lost their seats in the November midterms," he noted. Last year, a similar measure to close the school failed by 15 votes in the House of Representatives. To cut off money for the school, measures would have to pass both the House of Representatives and Senate this year. ....................................................................................
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"WHINSEC"Author:
Lee Rials
Time: 06/23/2007 00:12
Comment: I'm the guy at WHINSEC Aaron didn't get a call from in time, so I'll just leave a comment for everyone.
The rather stunning omission in the entire discussion is any concern for what the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation actually teaches. It seems to me the important issue here is not what someone did 10 or 20 or even 30 years after taking some US course, but what was taught to him/her. What we do is no secret; anyone is welcome to come in, sit in classes, talk with students and faculty, and review instructional materials. You need to do that during the week, when we are operating on Fort Benning, Ga. (By the way, Ft. Benning does require a photo ID for entry to the base--that's the only requirement.) For those who only come on the weekend of the protests in November, we hold what we call "Open House Tours" on the Saturday. Last year, more than 650 from high schools, colleges, and religious orders came in on one of three tours. Each got a brief walk-through of our building, ending in our auditorium where the commandant and some of his faculty, a State Department official, an Army representative, and a former chairman of the Board of Visitors attempted to answer every question asked. The School of the Americas was closed by law more than six years ago, and the WHINSEC opened under another law, both in the Defense Authorization Bill for FY 2001, signed by President Clinton. Not one student of any course at either institution has ever been shown to have used what he learned there to commit a crime--not even one. And, to use one example from your list of "Dictators," what relevance did the Engineer Operations Course taken by 23-year-old Lt. Galtieri in 1949 have to his participation in the junta 30+ years later? A good example of how unrelated facts can be put in proximity to give a false impression. |
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