School of the Americas Watch

Ever since I became interested in pacifism and truly examining our country’s shameful record during the Cold War, I have been challenged by School of the Americas Watch (
).
For those of you who don’t know, the School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation [WHINSEC]) is a US Army-​run training camp for military personnel from Latin America. Throughout its sixty-​two-​year history, the SOA has trained the worst of the worst human-​rights abusers in the very tactics they used to intimidate, torture, rape, maim, and murder people in their home countries. During the height of the Cold War, the SOA was training the officers who would become responsible for the worst abuses in the Western Hemisphere, including the El Mozote massacre that brutally killed more than 900 Salvadoran civilians including dozens of children, the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero while he was saying Mass, and the murder of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter, and many many more. The SOA actually has a Hall of Fame (I’m not kidding) that includes dictators and others who committed crimes against humanity. Another infamous graduate is Manuel Noriega.
Every November, SOA Watch has a festive protest at the gates of Fort Benning, the Army base where the WHINSEC is located. I’ve been to this protest a few times, and even in the pouring rain, it’s an amazing, moving experience. SOA Watch’s other main task is trying to get Congress to shut down the SOA once and for all. We’ve gotten really close on a couple of occasions, but we’re not quite there yet.
I love this group because it challenges me in so many ways even after I’ve known about the SOA and similar government initiatives for more than a decade now. The School of the Americas is an embarrassment to every American, and as such, it should be shuttered immediately. I’ve seen the training manuals used at the «school» (released because of Freedom of Information Act requests), and they directly advocate and describe torture techniques.
Travel to Georgia one November for the annual SOA protest, and whether or not you go, donate some money to this worthy organization.