Closing the School of the Americas!! [View All]

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Voice4Change
Uniting Our Voices
http://www.voice4change.org



November 14, 2003





Take Action! Close the School of the Americas

The School of the Americas (SOA) - in 2001 renamed the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation - is a combat training school for Latin
American soldiers located at Fort Benning, Georgia. During its 56 years of
existence, the SOA has used U.S. tax dollars to train more than 60,000
Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training,
commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation
tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage war
against their own country's civilians. Among those targeted by SOA
graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student
leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of
thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated,
"disappeared," massacred, and forced into exile by those trained at this
"School of Assassins."

Contact your congressperson and urge them to support HR 1258, a bill to
close, investigate, and prevent another cosmetic remake of the SOA. It is
vital that co-sponsors be added before Congress adjourns on November 21.

Learn more about the School of the Americas:
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/close_the_SOA/explanation

Take Action:
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/close_the_SOA

Forward this alert as widely as possible:
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/send2friends.asp?id=031114~soj.asp