The School of the Americas now called the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is a notorious institution that has trained military personel from foreign lands in the techniques of torture. There have been significant moves in Congress led by McGovern of Mass. to close this institution but it remains open. Thousands will protest there this weekend. Bill Clinton did not lift a finger to stop this abuse--Will Barack Obama, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Sec. Gates close it down? This will be an early test in how much change is really going to happen in an Obama administration. I hope he doesn't disappoint us.
On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. A U.S. Congressional Task Force reported that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
In 1990 SOA Watch began in a tiny apartment outside the main gate of Ft. Benning. While starting with a small group, SOA Watch quickly drew upon the knowledge and experience of many in the U.S. who had worked with the people of Latin America in the 1970's and 80's.
Today, the SOA Watch movement is a large, diverse, grassroots movement rooted in solidarity with the people of Latin America. The goal of SOA Watch is to close the SOA and to change U.S. foreign policy in Latin America by educating the public, lobbying Congress and participating in creative, nonviolent resistance. The Pentagon has responded to the growing movement and Congress' near closure of the SOA with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image. In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in January of 2001.
In March 2005, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduces HR 1217 with more than 75 bi-partisan co-sponsors to investigate and suspend operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC. Over 19,000 people come to the gates of Ft. Benning each year in November to protest the SOA. Will Barack Obama insist on closing the institution of torture?????