Late in November, 19,000 citizens from across the Americas gathered at Fort Benning, Georgia, to pressure the U.S. government to shut down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Corporation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA). As has been the case in past years, participants both mourned those murdered by SOA graduates, and focussed on the positive alternatives to militarism and violence.

Also consistent with past years, the vigil consisted of several and diverse non-violent civic activities. Activities included a demonstration by the “puppetistas” (participatory street theatre consisting of large puppets), a procession, a “die in” (a display symbolizing massacres carried out by SOA graduates), and citizens crossing over the SOA fence to express their discontent with the institution.

Citizens who crossed the line, like 68-year-old Catholic priest Father Jerry Zawada, accepted a jail term of between three to six months. Despite the fact that the military erected a triple barbwire fence at the main gate of the base, 40 people crossed the line by climbing over or under the fence.

The U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) trains Latin American security personnel in combat, counter-insurgency andcounter-narcotics. SOA graduates are responsible for well documented humanrights abuses in Latin America.

In 1996, the Pentagon was forced to releasetraining manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion andexecution. Among the SOA’s nearly 60,000 graduates are notorious dictatorsManuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Violaof Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, andHugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia.

Lower-level SOA graduates have participated inhuman rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romeroand the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians.

The SOA vigil was organized by SOA Watch, an independent organization that seeks to close the School of the Americas through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. This year’s vigil attracted 2,000 more participants than last year. Some attribute the growth in participants to the Bush Administration’s opposition to banning torture techniques, as well as the public release of pictures of abuse at the hands of U.S. personnel and reports about secret CIA detention facilities.

While the SOA procession took place, the names of the victims of SOA graduates were read out. The names were read, not in isolation, but along with their relationships to others. One name was read out along with the fact that the child was four months old and was massacred with her entire family.

During the time it took to read the names of the SOA victims, participants put thousands of crosses and other objects on the fence of the SOA base representing the deaths caused by the institution. Directly in front of the fence, participants were confronted with a re-enactment of the site of a Latin American village atrocity carried out by SOA graduates (also known as a “Die-In”). When Jerry Zawada, one of the citizens who crossed the line was interviewed, he said, “We want to stop this.” He continued, [another prison sentence would be] “nothing compared to the suffering of torture survivors and war victims.”

Why do citizens want to shut down the SOA?

According to SOA Watch founder, Father Roy Bourgeois, the SOA should be shut down because in Latin America, “âe¦they do not need guns. They do not need their soldiers trained in counter-insurgency. They need food, medicine and schools.”

SOA vigil participants’ responses to this question ranged from simple to complex. One young boy said the SOA should be shut down, “because they torture people.” Another participant defended his position, “because I’m for human rights.” One woman asserted that the SOA should be shut down because, “It trains people to carry out the will of American corporations.”

Many responses linked the SOA to terrorism such as the comments from one man who said, “If the U.S. government claims they are fighting terrorists, they can start right here at home by shutting down the school and stopping the training that results in thousands of deaths.”

Many participants also considered the SOA a waste of their tax dollars. One U.S. citizen said the SOA should be shut down, “because I don’t think it is right that our tax dollars are going to support the torture and killing of innocent people.” Another responded, “Our tax dollars pay for this, and that is absolutely unacceptable. I do not want to pay to have people trained to kill people.” Many SOA vigil participants also considered the SOA a symbol of American foreign policy. One man said, “If there is one place that symbolizes everything that is wrong with American foreign policy, SOA represents it better than anything else I know of.”

Military officials deny the charges

According to Lee Rials, a spokesman for the institute, “There is not one example of any person taking a course at the school âe¦ who later used that information to commit crimes.” Another WHINSEC/SOA representative responded to a query concerning the teaching of torture saying, “Interrogation techniques are taught here but not torture.” The SOA representative later said, “We train people to kill insurgents in their own countries because it is in the U.S. interest.”

Contradiction?

The comments of Lee Rials seem to ignore the fact that in 1996 the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. In fact the National Security Archive made the manuals public last year. Furthermore, SOA representatives have admitted that SOA graduates have gone on to commit atrocities, and according to the WHINSEC’s website: “When students return to their own countries, the U.S. military groups there maintain ties with them as part of the U.S. military-to-military engagement plan.”

Further eroding the credibility of SOA/WHINSEC rhetoric are the comments made by a man identifying himself as Sam, a Vietnam war veteran and former teacher at the SOA. When asked if the SOA teaches psychological warfare and torture techniques, Sam replied, “Oh yeah, of course. That’s what you’d call your advanced training.”

As final preparations for the SOA Vigil were being made on November 17, 2005, troops commanded by General Luis Alfonso Zapata Uribe attacked and killed Arlen Salas David, a leader of the peace community in Columbia. General Luis Alfonso Zapata Uribe — who has commanded the 17th Brigade of the Colombian Army since May, 2005 — was trained in counter-insurgency at the School of the Americas. More than 10,000 Colombian soldiers have been trained at the SOA/WHINSEC.

SOA Watch plans to continue lobbying Congress to close the school and is pressuring South American leaders to follow Venezuela’s example and stop sending students to the school. Earlier this year Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced Bill HR 1217, a bill to suspend operations at WHINSEC and to investigate the development and use of the “torture manuals.” The bill currently has over 122 bipartisan co-sponsors.

Steve Anderson

Steve Anderson

Steve Anderson is the founder and executive director of OpenMedia.ca. OpenMedia.ca is an award-winning Canadian nonprofit organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications...