An old bumper sticker said:  "Your taxes pay for torture, rape, and murder in Latin America."  Especially true in the bloody 1980s, it's unfortunately still true today.  We spend about 20 million dollars annually on the Army's "School of the Americas" (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.  Latin American military personnel congregate there, most of the "instructors" are selected from among them, and so many "graduates" have committed atrocities that the SOA has been dubbed "School of Assassins."
         Manuel Noreiga attended, as did 1972 alumnus Roberto D'Aubuisson, who (according to a 1993 UN Truth Commission Report) ordered the assassination of Salvadoran Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero and organized El Salvador's infamous death squad network.  Other graduates include Peruvian Major Carlos Pichilingue Guevara (convicted of the 1992 murder of 9 university students and a professor) and Salvadoran Colonel Francisco Elena Fuentes, who planned the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests along with their housekeeper and her daughter.  A 1973 grad, Elena Fuentes was described by US Ambassador William Walker as "among the worst in terms of human rights," but nevertheless served as an SOA instructor in 1985 and 1986.
         SOA graduates were prominent in Guatemala's "scorched earth" campaign of the early 1980s, in which thousands of indigenous villagers were slaughtered and buried in mass graves.  The 1994 Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification documented 626 massacres by Guatemalan forces, and "in the majority of these massacres there is evidence of multiple acts of savagery."  The organization School of Americas Watch names 13 SOA alumni deeply involved in Mexico's recent brutal policies in Chiapas.  A 1997 resolution passed by the State Assembly of New Jersey calling for closure of the SOA states that 10 of 12 officers cited for the 1981 massacre of hundreds of civilians at El Mozote in El Salvador were SOA graduates, as were 19 of 26 officers cited in the aforementioned murder of Jesuit priests.  The list goes on and on.  In 1995, the Associated Press reported that a
French court had issued international arrest warrants for four Salvadoran SOA grads for the 1989 rape, torture, and murder of a 27 year old French nurse, whose abused and bullet-ridden body was found with the left hand severed.
         It's easy to think of thousands killed, but difficult to imagine one person being tortured and murdered.  Reflect for a moment on what the French woman must have felt in her final hours, and you will know clearly what's at stake here.
         The full scale of atrocities will never be known because Latin American militaries are often "above the law."  Investigation of crimes is sometimes likely only if foreign victims are involved, but much more commonly, these killers butcher their own people.
         There is a growing movement in the US to close the SOA.  A partial list of groups calling for closure includes Amnesty International, the United Church of Christ, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Grandmothers for Peace, the Jesuit Conference, the Presbyterian Church of the USA, the United Methodist Council of Bishops, the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, and the VFW of Santa Cruz.  In November 1997, over 2000 protested at Ft. Benning and 601 were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience.  Judges sent 25 "repeat offenders" to prison for 6 months, including Father Roy Bourgeois of the Maryknoll order, and United Methodist pastor Carol Richardson--leaders of  "SOA Watch" (www.soaw.org).  In November 1998, 7000 protested at Ft. Benning with over 2300 risking arrest by "crossing the line."  The authorities made no arrests this time, probably to minimize publicity.  This year, protests are planned for May in Washington DC, and again in November at Ft. Benning.
         Congressional legislation to cut SOA funding has been repeatedly proposed:  in 1997, the vote lost 217-210; last year it lost 212-201.  This year's bill, House Resolution 732, again calls for closure of the SOA.  Similar legislation will probably be introduced soon in the Senate.
         The SOA was established in Panama in 1946 to train US Army personnel in the region.  By 1956, the purpose had shifted to training Latin American military, and the instruction was all in Spanish.  In 1984, the "school" relocated from Panama to Georgia; Panama didn't want it, and terms of the Panama Canal Treaty enabled them to get rid of it.  Panama's president at the time, Jorge Illueca, called the SOA "the biggest base for destabilization in Latin America."
         Why has the mighty USA condoned atrocities in Latin America?  The answer lies in Calvin Coolidge's famous quote:  "the business of America is business."  In Coolidge's day, the United Fruit Company made phenomenal profits in bananas, and (backed by the US government and military) wielded extreme power in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and other countries.  Local civilian and military "leaders" were richly rewarded for implementing policies friendly to United Fruit, and for "suppressing" individuals (such as labor organizers) who threatened the arrangement.
         This basic pattern has continued.  The best agricultural land is planted in export crops such as pineapples, bananas, or coffee--while local people have scarcely enough to eat.  Field workers are poisoned with pesticides banned in the US.  Wealthy landowners, of course, get ridiculously rich.  Priests or others who inspire the poor to improve their condition are killed or "disappeared."  Los pobres (the poor) eke out a living farming marginal land--often on steep hillsides, leading to terrible erosion problems.  Many work long hours in corporate manufacturing or assembly plants for meager pay with marginal or horrendous working conditions, thereby displacing US workers from their jobs here while driving up the Dow-Jones with cost reductions and record profits.
         When governments arise that actually promote the interests of a majority of their people, they are quickly eliminated.  Two very popular administrations governed Guatemala from 1944 to 1954, and that time is still remembered there as the "Ten Years of Spring."  Springtime ended abruptly with a CIA-orchestrated military coup in 1954.  Another CIA-backed coup eliminated elected President
Allende from Chile in 1973, installing the infamous General Pinochet who is only now being held for some of his crimes against humanity.  The brutal Samoza regime in Nicaragua was replaced in the late 1970s by the popular Sandinista government, which greatly improved health care and education--until it was completely undermined by a relentless Reagan adminstration through proxy attacks carried out
by "freedom fighters" financed by trade in cocaine and by illegal arms sales.
         Why do we do such things, or look the other way when our henchmen do them?  We want a "stable" world with a "favorable climate" for corporate investment.  Father William Bichsel, who went to prison for participation in the 1997 SOA protest, said Latin American terrorism "is perpetuated in order to assure cheap labor to the corporations operating in those countries."
         In addition to rightly condemning the killers who disgrace us with their SOA credentials, we must also question our own responsibility in the matter.  Just where do those inexpensive tennis shoes at K-Mart come from, and under what conditions are they made?  What kinds of investments do our mutual funds make?  The world is interconnected; morality requires us to consider the consequences of our actions.
         The movie "Romero" dramatizes events surrounding the 1980 murder of the Salvadoran archbishop; the 70s film "Missing" (with Jack Lemmon) retains its power as a riveting study of an American family caught up in the 1973 Chilean coup.
         The history of the "School of the Americas" is too sordid to justify an attempt at "reform."  It should be closed--the sooner the better.  Tell your representatives; just a few more voices, and the votes in Congress will be there.
 
 
 

        School of the America's Watch has abundant information, including press releases, reports, and newspaper articles about the SOA, internet links, and extensive lists of SOA graduates organized by country, and what crimes they are implicated in.
        The report of the Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification is very sobering indeed.
        Witness for Peace "is a politically independent, grassroots organization. We are people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean."