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School of Coups
The day after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was deposed, President Barack Obama cautioned against repeating Latin America's "dark past," decades when military coups regularly overrode the results of democratic elections. Obama went on to acknowledge, in his understated way, "The United States has not always stood as it should with some of these fledgling democracies."
In fact, the U.S. government has often stood with — or at least behind — the coup-makers. Examples include Guatemala in 1954, Brazil in 1964, Chile in 1973, and Venezuela in 2002 (this last coup attempt, against President Hugo Chávez, was reversed). Also, throughout most of the 1980s, the Reagan administration subsidized and helped direct the "contra" (meaning counter-revolutionary) war against the Nicaraguan government and people.
Notably, the June 28 coup against Zelaya and the Honduran electorate traces back to the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA). Originally established in Panama in 1946, the school was the U.S. Army's premier site for training Latin American officers and soldiers in military intelligence and combat operations, supposedly within the letter of the law.
Within 20 years, however, it was known in Latin American military circles as "la Escuela de Golpes" — the School of Coups. And in the early 1980s, Panamanian President Jorge Illueca declared the SOA "the biggest base for destabilization in Latin America." The "School of Coups" moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia, in 1984.
School rosters obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, leader of the recent Honduran coup, trained there in 1976 and 1984. He was assisted in deposing President Zelaya by General Luis Javier Prince Suazo, head of the Honduran Air Force, who in 1996 rather presciently took an SOA course in Joint Operations.
Fingerprints
But the school's fingerprints have long been evident in Honduras. A death squad known as Battalion 3-16 was organized in the 1980s and operated clandestinely for years — kidnapping, forcibly disappearing, and torturing political opponents, and killing at least 184 of them. Nineteen members of Battalion 3-16 are known to have graduated from the School of the Americas, including three generals who directed battalion activities.
School officials have long insisted that its graduates who flaunt the rule of law do so despite their training. They are, according to that argument, just inevitable "bad apples."
But, to the contrary, documentary evidence indicates these students have learned their lessons well. In 1996, for example, President Bill Clinton's Defense Department revealed that training materials used from 1982-1991 at the School had instructed Latin American military officers and soldiers to target civilian populations and use torture, intimidation, false arrest, extrajudicial execution, blackmail, and more inhumane tactics.
So, while SOA training has emboldened golpistas (coup-makers) to act against legitimately elected heads of state, it also has provoked crimes against citizens challenging illegitimate or antidemocratic powers. As Berta Oliva — who coordinates the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) — said of soldiers repressing anti-coup protests: "They view those who demand their rights as if they were enemies."
Oliva will never forget the Battalion 3-16 years. She founded the COFADEH after her husband was kidnapped and disappeared in 1982. About the recent military coup in her country, she observed: "They've made a return to the 1980s...Friendly governments who hold democratic ideals simply cannot allow this to happen here."
Shine the Light
Arguably the only way for Latin America to avoid repeating its "dark past" is to shine a bright light into it, for all to see. At the fifth Summit of the Americas last April, Obama noted the importance of learning from history. And he declared, "The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made."
With H.R. 2567, the Latin America Military Training Review Act, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and 57 co-sponsors are offering us a light to shine. This legislation would suspend operations at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) — the "successor institution" to the School of the Americas, which is still located at Ft. Benning. Then a bipartisan congressional taskforce would investigate decades of its activities and teaching materials.
Certainly "errors have been made." Some at this moment are threatening to override the will of the Honduran electorate.
It's time. It's past time. Shine the light on the School of Coups.
Shine the light.
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14 Comments so far
Show AllToo bad that puppet dictators (like Pinochet in Chile)end up being the fall guys when all is said and done.
US secretaries of state and US agency officials have as much blood on THEIR hands as the dictators and should be held to account for these crimes.
So many of us have worked and many sacrificed their freedom to get that School (sometimes known as the School of Assassins) closed. I am delighted to read that there is a bill in the House of Representatives to at least review the School's history of teaching international criminal activity, to the members of foreign militaries ,for the purpose of ending the spread of socialism. This School did not respect the Law of the land or the constitution of the U.S. It should have been closed years ago. I have great admiration for Roy Bourgeois and all people who did civil disobedience and crossed the line at Fort Benning ,went to prison, some sentenced to do hard time, to draw attention to the plight of the victims of the WHINSEC School of the Coups.
The truth much as you won't like it is that this is a terrorist school. It teaches the students the fine points of terrorism, destabilization, assassination and other equally egregious things. It alone would serve as enough evidence to have the US government in the dock of any courtroom in the world on support of terrorism charges.
This place (previously known as the "School of the Americas") is one of the biggest reasons that we are hated around Central and South America. It is the WORST that we as a country have to offer anyone anywhere. It should be shut down and disbanded, and reparations made to the families of those who it is responsible for killing and disappearing overit's existence.
We used to have the peace corps, now we have a school for those who want to overthrow legally elected governments. I think that alone shows just how far this country has slid in the last 30 years.
"It is the WORST that we as a country have to offer anyone anywhere. "
Well, I'm not sure about that. Perhaps you're right if meaning "to offer" in a or the literal sense of offering "services" to other governments or countries; but I'm not sure that it stands alone as the worst of what the US offers to other governments and countries. Consider, f.e., African countries, where the government leaders accepted to be weak and do the bidding of the U.S. ruling "elites", while of course get rewarded with the privilege of being able to brutally oppress and rob their own populations, these U.S. proxy governments. What about the notorious, hellish Duvalier government in Haiti?! I doubt that these are any less bad than what SoA did "for" Americans of the South; South America.
If you didn't mean "to offer" for what "offer" literally means, but only meant in terms of what the U.S. does "for" others, then I'd disagree only more strongly. After all, consider the wars on Vietnam, Cambodia, ..., Iraq, Afghanistan, and less obvious, but nevertheless war on Haitians, and, of course, the war on indigenous Americans and peoples of so-called U.S. territories.
Either way, SoA was and remains hellbent, it's a hellbent thing for the U.S. to have and use, but it doesn't stand alone as the worst of the hellbent things the U.S. has done and is doing today. All that's hellbent that the U.S. government and its real ruling "elites" do needs to stop. Ideally, all of the guilty people in all of this should be investigated, tried, convicted, and firmly sentenced, but this won't happen, ever. But the operations need to be stopped.
Father Roy and Margaret are unsung heroes. A friend of mine ( i am not proud that i don't go; imagine a million of us there) goes to Fort Benning every year to play and sing. In 83, we and 75 other citizens stood in front of our small city post office protesting the dirty war on ElSalvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, & what i didnt even know at the time, Honduras. And, oh yeah not to mention, "73 Chile. We must shut down the School of the Assassins, no matter what fancy name they give it!
You know the gulf coast of SW Florida is being threatened with a new "SOA" training center called "Eagle National?"
There is a plan to build a 7700 acre facility in Highlands County, Florida for the purpose of training firefighters, police forces, private armies, anti-terrorist groups, etc.
Beware the closing of the School of Coups in Georgia. They are moving to Florida.
It's long past time to close the School of the Americas. American tax dollars should not be used to train dictators and death squads in Honduras or anywhere else.
Tell President Obama and Congress: close the School of the Americas now!
http://tinyurl.com/closeSOA
Father Roy and Margaret are too kind. I have always referred to the training center as "The School to Train Terrorists".
It's more commonly called the School of Assassins. If they train terrorists, people to be terrorists, then they're state forces sent to be trained to be ... assassins, and assassinations and deadly oppression, ... of populations certainly are terrorising actions.
"In fact, the U.S. government has often stood with — or at least behind — the coup-makers."
There can be NO doubt that such is the case in Honduras right now. It still amazes me the numbers of USAns that simply will not acknowledge that this government does the things that it does through out the world.
The authors of the article wrote near the very end of it, "With H.R. 2567, the Latin America Military Training Review Act, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and 57 co-sponsors are offering us a light to shine", and they link that to a page at opencongress.org. I just checked that out and I'll quote from it.
QUOTE:
H.R. 1707
Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2007
To suspend the authority for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (the successor institution to the United States Army School of the Americas) in the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
PREVIOUS 110TH SESSION OF CONGRESS
Other Bill Titles (2 more)
3/27/2007--Introduced.
Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of the Army to suspend operation of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (Institute). Suspends the authority of the Secretary of Defense to operate such an education and training facility until submission of a report containing the results of an investigation in response to violations of human rights to which training at such Institute contributed. Establishes:
(1) a joint congressional task force to assess appropriate education and training for DOD to provide to military personnel of Latin American nations; and
(2) a commission to investigate activities of the United States Army School of the Americas and its successor institution, the Institute.
END QUOTE
EDIT, COMMENT: I added "H.R. 1707" at the start of the above text quoted from the opencongress.org page, and will extend on this comment in a reply to this post.
I don't understand what '(1)' is for. Why do the U.S. congressional sponsor and co-sponsors of this bill want to "assess appropriate education and training for DOD to provide to military personnel of Latin American nations" when those nations should have absolutely [no] need for this kind of "assistance" from the U.S.? Latin America does not belong to the U.S. and doesn't need the U.S., except for needing the U.S. (and Canada, and possibly some European countries) and their damn gluttonous corporations to get out and budd out of Latin American affairs. I think Latin American nations can surely help each other with good mutual relations and adequate support. Hugo Chavez has been promoting this for some years now and has gained an increasing number of counterparts or allies among Latin American leaders who've been elected or re-elected during these years.
They don't need assistance from the U.S. They need for U.S. imperialism and corporatism to get OUT; as peoples of many other countries also do or need, for the U.S. to get OUT and start to abide by morally sound principles, and mutually agreed laws, conventions and treaties.
What on earth could they need U.S. military training or assistance of any other kind for? They are not at war. They are not threatened, except by the U.S. and possibly one or two of its proxy governments down there, such as the one in Colombia. They need economic corrections, improvements, food, medical and educational systems, etc., which are all non-military things.
If Latin American countries have governments that are morally ethical towards their populations and they wish for some military training or other kinds of support from the U.S. military, then let the leaders of those governments ask for the assistance. There's certainly no need to plan for this day, so there's no need to assess what the U.S. DoD can and/or should do to even prepare in this regard; not until asked by legitimate, morally principled, ... Latin American governments. And that's likely not going to happen; they're not likely to ever ask the U.S. for military aid of any kind; except for the U.S. military and government to abide by mutually agreed international laws, etc.
They keep saying they want U.S. imperialism, ... OUT! It's what populations everywhere want, for the U.S. to get OUT and clean up its own act at home, to stop being the damn superpower of war, hypocrisy, hegemony, and so on that it is and needs to stop being!
So what's the idea that the U.S. congressional sponsor and co-sponsors of this bill have in mind, precisely, and entirely? This item '(1)' that they've established as being something that needs to be done does not strike me as a good sign.
And if we check the related articles linked in the opencongress.org page, then we find one that's entitled, "Democrats Vote to Keep School of the Americas Open", dated June 26, 2007, and this is after U.S. voters put the Dem. Party in power in the U.S. Congress and, I believe, Senate. Guess which party has the U.S. presidency and remains in power in the U.S. Congress, today? The same one; the Dem. Party. Are we to believe that the party has suddenly become morally principled, law abiding, ...? We are, eh? Really? Well, I doubt it.
It's a 2007 article, but given the Dem. Party had already been voted into power in the Congress and Senate six months or a little more than six months earlier, I'm certainly not ... comforted.
It only causes me to be more emphatically concerned about item '(1)' of this bill. Item '(2)' seems okay, but as long as '(1)' is there, I don't like what this bill appears to be. It might be "somewhat" of another smokescreen, or some other malicious trick meant to (try to) deceive the public. It's only a trick if it succeeds in deceiving people, so don't be gullible. Scrutinize!
Subject: H.R. 2567 or 1707?
The authors of the article say, "With H.R. 2567, the Latin America Military Training Review Act, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and 57 co-sponsors are offering us a light to shine", BUT they link that text to H.R. 1707; not 2567. The sponsor evidently is the same in both cases, while having had 125 co-sponsors for 1707, versus the 57 now for 2567; according to this article, "School of Coups".
Well, 1107 and 2567 can't be the very same bill, but they could be similarly or identitically worded, I believe.
The authors of "School of Coups" don't indicate what's different with 2567. They don't give any indication that the item '(1)' referred to in my above post and which, in turn, is from the brief description of H.R. 1707 at opencongress.org is still present; or if it's been removed, for H.R. 2567.
So I just did a Web search of opencongress.org to see if it does have the H.R. 2567 page and it does.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2567/show
QUOTE:
H.R.2567
Latin America Military Training Review Act
To suspend the authority for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (the successor institution to the United States Army School of the Americas) in the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
PREVIOUS 111ST SESSION OF CONGRESS
Other Bill Titles (2 more)
5/21/2009--Introduced.
Latin America Military Training Review Act - Directs the Secretary of the Army to suspend operation of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (Institute). Suspends the authority of the Secretary of Defense to operate such an education and train... more >>
END QUOTE
When clicking on the "more >>" link, the text is expanded within the same page and the above, with the "more >>" text expanded, finishes by saying the following.
QUOTE:
... Suspends the authority of the Secretary of Defense to operate such an education and training facility until submission of a report containing the results of an investigation in response to violations of human rights to which training at such Institute contributed.
Establishes:
(1) a joint congressional task force to assess appropriate education and training for DOD to provide to military personnel of Latin American nations; and
(2) a commission to investigate activities of the United States Army School of the Americas and its successor institution, the Institute.
END QUOTE
The H.R. 2567 page also has a link to a page for, "Read and Comment on Full Bill Text", and that page also says like the above. It's worded slightly differently, but says the same thing; except that it's also a page for the full text of the bill.
Why didn't the authors of the "School of Coups" article comment on this item '(1)' directive in the bill, I wonder. Am I misreading or misinterpreting the directive? I don't think so, not if we stick with the explicit meaning of it, anyway.
So my first post about this bill stand as is. That directive '(1)' causes me to not have much, if any, trust in the purpose of this bill; but maybe we're in for a good surprise, eventually. Maybe the bill contains this directive in order to try to avoid causing too much opposition to the bill before it's been approved and becomes official law. Is this possible? I suppose it's possible. Is it dreaming? It certainly seems to be. Can we trust them? Not based on Congress's track record, so far.