Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans For Peace
The School of the Americas Watch
SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots movement that works to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, to close the SOA/ WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents.
We are grateful to our sisters and brothers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean for their inspiration and the invitation to join them in their struggle for economic and social justice.
For more information, click HERE
What is the School of the Americas?
History
The School of the Americas (SOA) is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 2001 it was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC).
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Since 1946, the SOA has trained over 64,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.
SOA Changes its Name to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
On January 17, 2001 the School of the Americas was replaced by the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. This was the result of a Department of Defense proposal included in the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal 2001. The measure passed when the House of Representatives defeated a bi-partisan amendment to close the school and conduct a congressional investigation by a narrow ten vote margin. The amendment was sponsored by Representatives Moakley (D-MA), Scarborough (R-FL), Campbell (R-CA) and McGovern (D-MA). The following is a summary comparison of the "new" school with the School of the Americas.
In a media interview last year, Georgia Senator and SOA supporter, the late Paul Coverdell, characterized the DOD proposal as "cosmetic" changes that would ensure that the SOA could continue its mission and operation. Critics of the SOA concur. The new military training school is the continuation of the SOA under a new name. It is a new name, but the same shame.
The approach taken by the DOD is not grounded in any critical assessment of the training, procedures, performance, or results (consequences) of the training program it copies. Further, it ignores congressional concern and public outcry over the SOA’s past and present link to human rights atrocities.
The above was extracted from the SOA Watch website on
February 12, 2014
http://www.soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/what-is-the-soawhinsec
Action & Info
SOA Watch Burlington 2014
The Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans For Peace participates in an annual vigil in solidarity with the SOA Watch that is held in Burlington each November. Check back here for more information.
HR 2989
You can support the mobilization to Close the School of the Americas/ WHINSEC by contacting your representatives on Tuesday, April 1st and urging them to support HR 2989 or thanking them for their support and encouraging them to advocate for movement on the measure.
HR 2989: Latin America Military Training Review Act would suspend the authority for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (the successor institution to the United States Army School of the Americas) in the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
This bill was introduced on August 2, 2013 by Represenative Jim McGovern and 44 co-sponsors including Rep. Welch of Vermont. It was deferred to committee on the same day, where it has remained.
For additional information on this bill visit:
Close the School of the Americas!