Dear Oscar...I am certain that what you say about your experience is true. The School of the Americas (SOA)---a USA Army Training Facility---does not exist solely to train counterrevolutionaries in the use of torture and the pre-identification of possible “troublemakers” such as union organizers, political activists, and journalists. I am sure that your experience there was as you say it was. I have no reason to doubt your integrity and truthfulness. In fact, SOA maintains a helicopter training facility at Fort Ruckers, Alabama, and I am quite sure that that participants learn only to fly helicopters at this compound. This being said, I want to point out a few facts gleaned from a report of the CRS, a branch of the Library of Congress that “works exclusively for the United States Congress providing legal analysis to committees and members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation. (loc.gov/crsinfo/) But, despite your own experience, here are the facts: “Human Rights Violations: “As reflected in the 1993 debate, most concerns about the School have centered on graduates who have been implicated in--or are alleged to be responsible for-human rights violations in their countries. According to critics, the School has a history and tradition of abusive graduates who violate human rights. Observers point out that School alumni include: 48 out of 69 Salvadoran military members cited in the U.N. Truth Commissions report on El Salvador for involvement in human rights violations (including 19 of 27 military members implicated in the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests), 2 and more than 100 Colombian military officers alleged to be responsible for human rights violations by a 1992 report issued by several human rights organizations. 3 Press reports have also alleged that school graduates have included several Peruvian military officers linked to the July 1992 killings of nine students and a professor from La Cantuta University, and included several Honduran officers linked to a clandestine military force known as Battalion 316 responsible for disappearances in the early 1980s. Critics of the School maintain that soldiers who are chosen to attend are not properly screened, with the result that some students and instructors have attended the School after being implicated in human rights violations.” CRS Issue Brief) School for Dictators? Critics have labeled the School of the Americas a school for dictators. The ten former Latin American heads of state who attended the School of the Americas include General Manuel Antonio Noriega of Panama, military ruler from 1983 until his ouster from power by U.S. forces in December 1989. In 1992, Noriega was convicted and sentenced in a U.S. Federal court to 40 years in prison on drug trafficking charges, while subsequently he was sentenced in Panama for the 1985 murder of a Panamanian opposition leader and for the October 1989 murder of a Panamanian military officer who led an unsuccessful coup against him. Another Panamanian leader who attended the School of the Americas is General Omar Torrijos who emerged as Panamas de facto political leader after the National Guard overthrew the elected civilian government of Arnulfo Arias in 1968, and ruled either as official head of government or de facto political leader until his death in a plane crash in 1981. While many observers would label Torrijos a populist leader, others criticize the general for his repression of opposition sectors. Two additional School alumni who overthrew elected civilian governments are Major General Guillermo Rodriguez (1972-76), who overthrew Ecuadorian President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, and Major General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968-1975), who overthrew Peruvian President Fernando Belaunde Terry. Breaking with the pattern of previous military leaders in these two countries, Rodriguez and Alvarado initiated extensive periods of direct military rule, seven years in Ecuador and twelve years in Peru. The six remaining Latin American military rulers who attended the School of the Americas consist of two each from Argentina, Bolivia, and Honduras, all of whom succeeded military rulers. In Argentina, Lieutenant General Roberto Viola led a short-lived military government from March to December 1981, but was ousted because of his failure to contain a rapidly deteriorating economy. After Argentinas return to democracy, Viola was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison for criminal responsibility for human rights violations during Argentinas so-called dirty-war against subversion in the 1970s. 8 Viola was succeeded by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri, another School graduate, who ruled from December 1981 until June 1982. Galtieri led Argentina during the unsuccessful war with Britain over the Falkland Islands. In Bolivia, General Hugo Banzer Suarez led a bloody coup in 1971 overthrowing military leader General Juan Jose Torres. According to many observers, Banzers rule until 1978--referred to as the Banzerato--was repressive, with labor leaders and leftist politicians exiled, jailed, and killed. 9 The Banzerato was characterized by relative political stability, however, with initial support from the countrys major political party, the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR). In contrast to Banzer, another School graduate from Bolivia, Major General Guido Vildoso Calderon, ruled from July to October 1982 and had been chosen by the Bolivian military to return the country to civilian democratic rule. In Honduras, School of the Americas graduate Brigadier General Juan Melgar Castro became president in 1975 when the military command ousted General Oswaldo Lopez Arellano from power. Melgar Castro in turn was ousted in 1978 by the military high command and was replaced by School of the Americas alum Policarpo Paz Garcia who returned Honduras to civilian democratic rule in 1982, albeit with substantial pressure from the United States. (CRS Issue Brief) So please, Oscar, control your emotions (and your expletives) and as Isaiah said: “Let us reason together. That is not only advice for you, but for the compadres who seem to share your worldview. The world is not always black and white, but there is truth and there are lies. We stand for the truth. We stand for democratic socialist revolution in all of the Americas---from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. We honor the memories of all of those who died when the Granma arrived in Cuba and almost all were murdered. We support President Maduro and the Chavistas battle against a USA sponsored attempt at regime change in Venezuela. We applaud the courageous people of Latin America for electing---and struggling---with leaders such as Bachelet, Ortega, Correa, Mujica, Morales, Roussef, and others. And we honor the memories of Che Guevara, Salvador Allende, Victor Jara and all the wonderful people who gave their lives so that democracy can flourish throughout the Americas. (Don Felipe) Congressional Research Service (Library of Congress) loc.gov
Posted on: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 22:13:10 +0000
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