Bolivian Military Withdraws From Controversial US Army Training School

[Judi Lynn]

February 19, 2008
1:04 PM

CONTACT: School of the Americas Watch
Joao Da Silva
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Bolivian Military Withdraws From Controversial US Army Training School

In a letter to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Cooperation’s Commandant, Col. Gilberto Perez, President Evo Morales announced that the Bolivian military will no longer attend the former U.S. Army School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 19 - In a letter to the Commandant of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, U.S. Army Col. Gilberto Perez, Bolivian President Evo Morales formally announced yesterday that he will not send Bolivian military officers to attend training programs at the institute formerly known as the U.S. Army School of the Americas.

The announcement came as confirmation of a previous statement made by President Morales in October of last year when he announced that he would discontinue sending troops to the institute based on its historical ties to oppressive military regimes in Latin America. Bolivia has now officially become the fifth country after Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela to announce a withdrawal from the Fort Benning institution due to its negative image amongst Latin Americans.

The SOA/WHINSEC is a U.S. tax-payer funded military training facility for Latin American security personnel located at Ft. Benning, Georgia. It was originally founded in 1946 in the Panama Canal zone and relocated to Fort Benning in 1984. The institution was catapulted into the headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution.

The SOA/WHINSEC has played a significant role in Bolivia’s recent political history, Hugo Banzer Suarez, who ruled Bolivia from 1971-1978 under a brutal military dictatorship attended the school in 1956 and was later inducted into the school’s “hall of fame” in 1988. In October of 2006, two former graduates of the SOA/WHINSEC, Generals Juan Veliz Herrera and Gonzalo Rocabado Mercado were arrested on charges of torture, murder, and violation of the constitution for their responsibility in the death of 67 civilians in El Alto Bolivia during the “Gas Wars” of September-October 2003.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0219-04.htm

[magbana]

1. Viva Evo!

This is terrific news and shows that a real leader, such as Evo Morales, makes decisions that are not only in the best interest of his country, but the world as well. We have been working to get Bolivia to withdraw its troops from the UN occupation force in Haiti. Maybe this will serve as a catalyst