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Argentina and Uruguay shun U.S. terrorist training camp
(Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, April 6, 2006)
Two Latin American countries are to stop sending troops for training to a controversial military academy in the US. . . . The move was welcomed by groups that have been campaigning against the academy since it was accused, in its previous incarnation, of training Latin American soldiers in illegal interrogation [i.e., TORTURE] techniques. . . . The defence ministers of Argentina and Uruguay have decided to stop sending soldiers to train at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (Whinsec), the military academy based at Fort Benning, Georgia, . . . The institute, which is attended by between 700 and 1,000 students annually, replaced the School of the Americas (SOA) when the latter was closed in 2000. SOA became notorious when it emerged that some of its graduates had gone on to become brutal military leaders in Latin America's "dirty wars" using SOA manuals. . . . Graduates included the late Salvadoran rightwing militia leader Roberto D'Aubuisson, known as "Blowtorch Bob" for his interrogation methods; Efraín Ríos Montt, later accused of genocide in Guatemala; Leopoldo Galtieri, the late Argentinian junta leader jailed for human rights abuses, and Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian leader now serving 40 years for drugs offences in the US. . . . In 2001, following a long campaign against it, the school was officially closed and Whinsec was created. SOA Watch argue that, despite the changes, it should still be closed. . . . "To Latin Americans, the SOA/Whinsec represents nothing but the gravest violations," said Mr Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch. "No amount of reforms will repair those relationships. We must close this school if we want to show that the United States is serious about human rights." . . . The two countries join Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chávez, ended his country's involvement with the school in January 2004. Currently, Colombia has the highest number of students enrolled there.

ALSO SEE:
Latin America hears the message: 'Close the School of the Americas!'

Bolivia to Gradually Close SOA

posted by LoZo 1:26 PM