SCHOOL FOR ASSASSINS

Vol. 8, No. 2
April, 1999



	The School for Assassins Every year, some 2,000 Latin American soldiers, from generals to privates, are trained at Fort Benning, Ga. in the art of counter-insurgency so they can go back to their own countries to terrorize their people by acts of torture, kidnapping and outright murder. The "insurgents" who become their victims are impoverished peasants seeking land reform; Catholic priests and human rights activists protesting the prevailing terror; students wanting academic freedom, and trade union organizers struggling to improve oppressive conditions for working people. Since 1946, when the School of the Americas (SOA) was first established as a military base in Panama, it has trained more than 55,000 soldiers from 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries--all at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Whenever there is a horrifying atrocity in one of these countries, the odds are that some of these Pentagon-trained "graduates" of the school were involved. In 1980, when four nuns were raped and murdered in El Salvador, three of the five officers who were found guilty were former SOA trainees. The day after Archbishop Romero pleaded for an end to the terror and the killings, he was assassinated. Death squads, tolerated and even encouraged by despotic regimes, massacred an entire Salvadoran village of 900 people, of which 131 were children under 12 years of age. In Guatemala, tens of thousands of peasants and workers were killed by the death squads. Half of the 250 military officers cited for human rights abuses received their training at the School of the Americas. On the walls of the school are framed photos of the prominent military men who attended, a sort of Hall of Infamy. They include former dictators of Bolivia, Honduras, Ecuador and Argentina, as well as military "strongmen" from other Latin American countries. Manuel Ortega, the former president of Panama who is now jailed in the U.S. on drug charges, is an SOA graduate. The school's graduates are especially in demand in those countries that try to attract multinational corporations by offering them guarantees of "no labor trouble." Public Protest Grows to Shut School As the nature and purpose of the school becomes known, protests demanding that the school be shut down have increased. In September 1993, SOA was the subject of debate in Congress for the first time on an amendment to the Pentagon budget by Rep. Joseph Kennedy (Dem.-Mass.) to deny funds to the school so that it would have to shut down. The amendment was defeated, receiving 174 votes to the opposition's 256 votes. In April 1994, protesters held a 40-day fast on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, demanding that SOA be closed. Last November, thousands of people from across the country staged a civil disobedience demonstration at Fort Benning to call for a shutdown of the "School for Assassins." This coming May, there will be another protest rally in Washington. Thus far, the Pentagon has indicated it has no intention of closing the school and has even given it an additional $30 million to renovate its buildings. The Clinton administration remains silent on the issue. A 20-minute videotape of the School of the Americas is available by writing to Maryknoll World Communications, Maryknoll, N.Y. 19545 or telephoning (914) 942-7590. The price is $14.95.

The School for Assassins

Every year, some 2,000 Latin American soldiers, from generals to privates, are trained at Fort Benning, Ga. in the art of counter-insurgency so they can go back to their own countries to terrorize their people by acts of torture, kidnapping and outright murder.

The "insurgents" who become their victims are impoverished peasants seeking land reform; Catholic priests and human rights activists protesting the prevailing terror; students wanting academic freedom, and trade union organizers struggling to improve oppressive conditions for working people.

Since 1946, when the School of the Americas (SOA) was first established as a military base in Panama, it has trained more than 55,000 soldiers from 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries--all at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

Whenever there is a horrifying atrocity in one of these countries, the odds are that some of these Pentagon-trained "graduates" of the school were involved. In 1980, when four nuns were raped and murdered in El Salvador, three of the five officers who were found guilty were former SOA trainees. The day after Archbishop Romero pleaded for an end to the terror and the killings, he was assassinated.

Death squads, tolerated and even encouraged by despotic regimes, massacred an entire Salvadoran village of 900 people, of which 131 were children under 12 years of age. In Guatemala, tens of thousands of peasants and workers were killed by the death squads. Half of the 250 military officers cited for human rights abuses received their training at the School of the Americas.

On the walls of the school are framed photos of the prominent military men who attended, a sort of Hall of Infamy. They include former dictators of Bolivia, Honduras, Ecuador and Argentina, as well as military "strongmen" from other Latin American countries. Manuel Ortega, the former president of Panama who is now jailed in the U.S. on drug charges, is an SOA graduate.

The school's graduates are especially in demand in those countries that try to attract multinational corporations by offering them guarantees of "no labor trouble."

Public Protest Grows to Shut School

As the nature and purpose of the school becomes known, protests demanding that the school be shut down have increased. In September 1993, SOA was the subject of debate in Congress for the first time on an amendment to the Pentagon budget by Rep. Joseph Kennedy (Dem.-Mass.) to deny funds to the school so that it would have to shut down. The amendment was defeated, receiving 174 votes to the opposition's 256 votes.

In April 1994, protesters held a 40-day fast on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, demanding that SOA be closed. Last November, thousands of people from across the country staged a civil disobedience demonstration at Fort Benning to call for a shutdown of the "School for Assassins." This coming May, there will be another protest rally in Washington.

Thus far, the Pentagon has indicated it has no intention of closing the school and has even given it an additional $30 million to renovate its buildings. The Clinton administration remains silent on the issue.

A 20-minute videotape of the School of the Americas is available by writing to Maryknoll World Communications, Maryknoll, N.Y. 19545 or telephoning (914) 942-7590. The price is $14.95.

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