Letter To The Editor
WASHINGTON POST
Friday, 1 October 1999
School of the Americas
By Rep. Joe Moakley (D-Mass.) Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.)
We were disappointed to see The Post editorial in favor of the U.S.
Army School of the Americas [Sept. 15].
Graduates of the so-called school have committed unspeakable atrocities
throughout Latin America. Manuel Noriega went to the School of the Americas.
So did the men who killed Archbishop Romero as well as 19 of the 26 people
implicated in the Jesuit murders in El Salvador. To suggest its presence
will somehow rid Latin America of drug lords and insurgents is naive at
best.
The Post says the school's training includes a human rights component.
Actually, there are no classes on human rights offered at Fort Benning.
The school did offer a pilot course in human rights for instructors,
but no one has taken it since 1996, and it was offered in Paraguay, not
at the School of the Americas.
The editorial implied that atrocities committed by School of the Americas
graduates are a thing of the past just because torture techniques have
been removed from the training manuals. The fact is the atrocities continue.
Earlier this year, School of the Americas graduate Gen. Rito Alejo del
Rio was removed from military service by the Colombian government because
of his role in human rights abuses. Maj. Hernan Castro, another School
of the Americas graduate, is under review for his involvement in the massacre
of 30 civilian peasants in the Colombian village of Mapiripan. We join
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Rep. Bruce Vento (D-Minn.) and Rep. Tom Campbell
(R-Calif.) in working to close the school.
Joe Moakley U.S. Representative (D-Mass.)
Joe Scarborough U.S. Representative (R-Fla.)
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