SOA Watch scores victory in Venezuela:President Chávez to withdraw officer

[Judi Lynn]

Issue Date: April 9, 2004

SOA Watch scores victory in Venezuela

President Chávez to withdraw officers from U.S. Army training school

By JAMES HODGE and LINDA COOPER

Ever since graduates of the School of the Americas were linked to the assassinations of six Salvadoran Jesuit priests in 1989, peace activists have worked tirelessly to shut down the military school at Fort Benning, Ga. Opponents of the school have organized protests at the fort and the Pentagon, publicized atrocities committed by hundreds of its graduates, lobbied Congress and ultimately brought about a historic vote to cut its funding, only to see the school close and reopen under a new name.

This year, Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the movement SOA Watch that opposes the School of the Americas, is trying a new strategy: appealing directly to Latin American leaders to stop sending their officers to the school, which in 2001 was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or WHISC.

So far, the priest is batting a thousand. After Bourgeois made an appeal on Venezuelan national television and met with President Hugo Chávez, the government announced it will no longer send its officers to the school.

What’s more, Bourgeois’ organization has obtained, after a three-year battle, the names of WHISC graduates and has already linked several to corruption and human rights abuses -- including a Salvadoran officer involved in a massacre of 16 people, a Bolivian officer responsible for the torture of a human rights leader, and three Colombians implicated in a corruption scheme involving counter-narcotics funds.
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http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004b/040904/040904j.php

[chelaque liberal]

1. Fanastic news

[Aquarian_Conspirator]

2. Chavez is a horrible man!

How dare that thug Chavez remove his soldiers from our right-wing terrorist training camp! Why, his human rights abuses never end! He better change his tyrannical ways, or we may have to go down there and *make* him turn his soldiers into terrorists. (smell my sarcasm)