The article illuminates:
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.
Can't wait to learn that "Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela" have been joined by Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.
This is a great step forward for Bolivia, considering
Bush has had his people breathing down Evo Morales' neck every single day since he decided to run for Bolivia's Presidency. Morales could undoubtedly buy himself some latitude by giving in, but he's not going to do it, and that's the right thing to do for his country and real Bolivians.
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