BACKGROUND

Since its inception in 1946, the U. S Army School of the America’s/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINESC) has trained over 60,000 Latin American officers, cadets, and civilians. In 1996, via documents released by the Pentagon, it was revealed that for much of the previous decade, the school was using manuals that advocated torture, execution, extortion, and kidnapping. Despite the recent addition of human rights courses and a superficial name change, the SOA/WHISC remains a threat to the security of the people of Latin America.

Among many other human rights abuses, graduates of the school have been involved in the murder of El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero, the deaths of 900 civilians in the Salvadoran village of El Mozote, the rape and murder of four US church women in El Salvador, the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, and the bludgeoning death of Bishop Juan Gerardi in Guatemala. Also, more than half of the Colombian officers cited in a definitive human rights abuse report in Colombia are SOA graduates. And in the spring of 2003, Amnesty International released a report detailing the human rights abuses committed by SOA/WHISC graduates.

SOA/WHISC is headquartered at the U.S. Army base Ft. Benning in Columbus GA. The institution is operated and funded by the United States department of defense.

It was announced in June that the FY05 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill is scheduled to be voted on by the full House during the week of July 19th. Here is a great opportunity to lobby Members of Congress to take a stand and co-sponsor HR 1258.

Amendments to Appropriations bills can attempt to cut funds and render the SOA/WHINSEC inoperable. There have been votes in the House on such amendments in 1993, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99 (where the amendment won 230-197!), and 2000 (where the amendment narrowly lost by 10 votes.)

ACTION

Call, write or email your congressman and ask them to vote for and co-sponsor HR 1258.

To find out who your Representative is, click here. Phone, mail and email contact information is available.

Here is a sample letter that you can use. Use it as your script if you call. Write it in your own hand and in your own words if you mail. Cut and paste to email.

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[Your Street Address]

[Town, State Zip code]

[Date]

The Honorable [full name]

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative [last name]:

I am writing to urge you to support human rights in Latin America. Please co-sponsor HR 1258, a bill to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), formerly the United States Army School of the Americas (SOA). The graduates of this institution have a long history of human rights violations. From the atrocities in El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1980's to recent violations in Colombia, SOA/WHISC graduates consistently appear in reports on human rights abuses in Latin America. SOA/WHISC training has resulted in civilian massacres, assassinations, disappearances, death threats and has led to both attempted and successful coups of democratically elected governments in the hemisphere.

Despite efforts to silence opposition to the Ft. Benning-based training school through a name change and cosmetic changes, it is still a combat training school that provides dangerous skills and weaponry to countries with serious and current human rights problems. The proliferation of skills like counter-insurgency and psychological warfare in countries like Colombia, where impunity is offered to paramilitaries, only perpetuates the cycles of violence. Keeping the school open under any name sends a powerful anti-human rights message. Establishing reasonable living conditions for the people of Latin America and strengthening civil institutions will do more to stabilize the region than training militaries. Closing the SOA/WHISC, whatever its name, would demonstrate that the United States has made a clean break from the tragic history of the SOA/WHISC and its graduates.

As your constituent, I urge you to co-sponsor HR 1258 today and work for its passage in Congress. Currently, there are 124 bi-partisan co-sponsors of the bill. Please contact Cindy Buhl in Representative McGovern’s office to include yourself in this legislation. Thank you for your time and commitment to this important matter.

Sincerely,

[Your full name]

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OUR CATHOLIC AND GOOD SHEPHERD CONNECTION

Social justice is an obligation for every Catholic. We are called to justice through scripture, tradition, and the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Solidarity is one of the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching. It states: “Because of the interdependence among all the members of the human family around the globe, we have a moral responsibility to commit ourselves to the common good at all levels: in local communities, in our nation, in the community of nations. We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, wherever they may be. As Pope John Paul II has said, "We are all really responsible for all."

Right here at Good Shepherd:

· There are 15 members of Good Shepherd who actively support the closing of SOA/WHINESC. They have faithfully traveled to Ft. Benning, vigiled for those killed, have been arrested, and faced the threat of imprisonment.

· Our Central America Study Group has fostered a stand of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Ellacuria, El Salvador.

On a local level, two friends of Good Shepherd, Joyce Ellwanger and Gerhardt Fischer, have each served 6 months in federal prison. They have done so to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Central and South America.

And so your action asking your representative to end the funding for SOA/WHINESC is an opportunity to stand in solidarity:

· With fellow parishioners and friends of Good Shepherd who are at risk because of their action

· With our friends in Ellacuria

· With our brothers and sisters in Central and South America

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

To find out if your Representative has co-sponsored the new McGovern bill to close the SOA/ WHISC go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/, then search for HR 1258.

If you need more information, check out the resources in the SOAW Legislative Action Center and please feel free to call the SOAW office at 202-234-3440 or email us at info@soaw.org.