When Evil Thrives ...
Published in the Arizona
Daily Star by Linda Panetta & Randy Serraglio
School of Assassins
Published in the Yale Latin
American Review by Fr. Roy Bourgeois & Linda Panetta
On November 16th, 1989, six Catholic priests of the Jesuit order, their housekeeper and her 15 year old daughter were killed at the University of Central America in El Salvador. A U.S. Congressional task force, headed by Rep. Joseph Moakley (D-MA), went to El Salvador to investigate the massacre and reported that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA), located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Hearing that this school was on American soil, a small group of peace activists, including Vietnam veterans and clergy, went to Columbus, GA, home of Fort Benning, to investigate. Calling themselves "SOA Watch," they operated from a small apartment located adjacent to the main gate of Fort Benning. Here they held constant vigils, including a 37-day water only fast. Many of these early actions were met with hostility, including the use of tear gas.
Initial investigations began with a few key congressional members. Together they began to amass declassified data through the Freedom of Information Act, and other statistics and reports from human rights groups in Latin America. They soon pieced together the school's legacy, which although in the U.S. it had been hidden behind a tall wall of secrecy for decades, it was well known in Latin America as the "School of the Assassins." The objective of the work was clear: to break down the wall of silence and expose the implications of this military training school on the poor of Latin America to the general public, the media, and to congress.
The U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) was established in Panama in 1946, ostensibly "to bring stability to Latin America." Ironically, many SOA graduates have been responsible for overthrowing democratic governments. For example, in Chile, 10 of General Augusto Pinochet's top staff members, who were trained at the SOA, were also responsible for overthrowing the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. Pinochet-s ceremonial sword has been on display in the Commandant's office at the SOA even as he awaits trial for his crimes against humanity.
Former Panamanian president, Jorge Illueca, stated that the SOA was the "biggest base for destabilization in Latin America." It was eventually forced out of Panama under the Panama Canal Treaty in 1984. Despite its infamous history, that same year the Pentagon quietly resettled the SOA at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Today it operates in full force, training between 1,000-2,000 Latin American soldiers annually, at a cost of approximately $20 million a year to U.S. taxpayers.
Over its 50 plus years, more than 50,000 soldiers from Latin America have trained at the SOA. Graduates include numerous dictators, such as General Manuel Noriega of Panama, General Hugo Banzer of Bolivia, as well as death squad leaders Roberto D-Aubuisson from El Salvador, and Col. Julio Alpirez of Guatemala.
The appalling reputation of the SOA reflects its curriculum: counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. In fact, in 1996, the Defense department announced that for years training manuals used at the School of the Americas had advocated executions, torture, blackmail, and the use of truth serum. The New York Times reported, "America can now read for themselves some of the noxious lessons the United States Army taught thousands of Latin Americans."
Documentation of human rights abuses in Latin America has been extremely difficult, with the military using threats and reprisals to silence witnesses and human rights workers. Despite this, human rights groups have been able to cite more than 600 SOA graduates as some of the worst human rights abusers in our hemisphere; these graduates have left a trail of blood and suffering everywhere they have returned.
For example, during the heavy repression in Nicaragua in the 1970's, Somoza's ruthless National Guard made up the bulk of soldiers trained at the SOA. Many of these soldiers went on to become part of the terrorist "Contra" forces--armed and financed through the CIA and other covert means.
The pattern continued in El Salvador, which was a top client at the SOA during that country's heaviest repression. In fact, a 1993 United Nations Truth Commission report cites over 60 Salvadoran officers for the worst atrocities during the country-s civil war; two-thirds of those named were soldiers trained at the SOA. The list includes:
2 of 3 cited for the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
3 of 5 cited for the rape and murder of 4 U.S. church women.
19 of 26 cited for the massacre of the six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter.
3 of 3 cited for the murder of 3 union leaders.
10 of 12 cited for the massacre of over 900 men, women and children at El Mozote.
Following the Truth Commission Report on El Salvador, Congress voted on a bill introduced by representative Joseph Kennedy (D-MA), which called for the closure of the SOA. It lost by a vote of 174-256. During this same time, protestors, gathering on the steps of the US Capitol, participated in a 40-day juice only fast, and held vigils at the Pentagon to continue applying pressure on Congress.
Meanwhile, editorials began to appear in major newspapers calling for the closure of the SOA, including the Boston Globe, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and many others.
Additional incriminating reports began to emerge from Central America: In 1998 the Guatemalan Archdiocese Human Rights Office published a report naming some of the worst human rights abusers in Guatemala during its 36-year internal war. Many of those listed were SOA graduates who included top leaders in the fearsome military intelligence agency (G-2).
Then, earlier this year, the United Nations Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) released its comprehensive report on the war in Guatemala. It charged the Guatemalan government with waging a campaign of "genocide" against the indigenous population and cites the Guatemalan army as being responsible for over 93 percent of the 200,000 killed and disappeared during the war. The CEH report also singles out the SOA as having "a significant bearing on human rights violations during the armed conflict."
The aggressive, racist plot of the Guatemalan security forces against the indigenous population included the massacre of entire communities, and resulted in the elimination of at least 626 villages. The vast majority of those tortured and killed were Mayan.
Torture, assassinations, and genocidal tactics were not aberrations or the work of rogue sadists in remote places. They were committed as a specific strategy, as part of a counterinsurgency campaign in which such acts of savagery were used systematically by the armed forces to incite terror, humiliation, and suffering.
In fact, such terrorism as described in the report is consistent with the doctrine and tactics of counterinsurgency as it has been taught for decades at the SOA, a strategy which relies heavily on creating a "culture of fear in the populace."
Colombia, a country where drug trafficking and human rights abuses are rampant, has sent approximately 10,000 soldiers to be trained at the SOA -- more than any other country in Latin America. In 1993, "State Terrorism in Colombia" was released. Of the 247 Colombian military officials cited for gross human rights violations in this definitive report, 124 were SOA graduates. Furthermore, the 1998 U.S. State Department Report on Human Rights in Colombia confirms that ongoing human right abuses by SOA graduates are flourishing. It cited the 1997 massacre of more than 30 civilians in Mapiripan, and an illegal raid on a human rights office in 1998.
Beginning in 1994, Mexico dramatically increased the number of its soldiers being trained at the SOA in response to the demands of the largely nonviolent indigenous uprising in Chiapas. Currently, 1/3 of all soldiers trained at the SOA are from Mexico. Already, at least 13 SOA graduates, who are top military officials in the counterinsurgency campaign in Southern Mexico, have been implicated in human rights abuses.
Ironically, the SOA asserts that its new mission is to "fight the war on drugs," yet former SOA instructor, Major Joseph Blair, states that "the SOA was the best place a Latin American officer could go to launder his drug money." As word about the SOA spread, people began o respond. Resolutions were passed by State Assemblies, national churches, unions, and organizations, such as Amnesty International, Veterans for Peace, and the NAACP. Recently, more than 180 Catholic bishops, including 15 Archbishops, have also called for the closure of the SOA.
Human rights reports have detailed the role of the Pentagon, the SOA, and U.S. corporations in propping up an unjust socioeconomic structure in Latin America. College students have responded through the anti-sweatshop movement with sit-ins and other protests calling for just contracts, and demanding accountability for clothing sold in campus stores and uniforms made for athletic teams. Labor unions also continue to speak out against the SOA; this effort culminated in a 1999 resolution by the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO--representing 13 million members.
The focal point of this grassroots movement is the gathering at the main gate of Fort Benning. Every November people join together to commemorate the massacre of the 6 Jesuit priests, their two co-workers, and all of the victims of SOA graduates, with a silent funeral procession onto the base.
The first few years the numbers were small, then in 1995, 13 protestors were arrested and sent to prison simply for marching on an open base. The following year, 400 people gathered and 60 were banned from the base for "crossing the line." In 1997 the numbers jumped to over 2,000, with 601 participating in the civil disobedience.
Twenty-five of the 601 "line crossers" were repeat offenders and were singled out for prosecution. In this group were three Catholic nuns (one who had just turned 70 years old), 2 college students, several clergy, Vietnam veterans and retired college professors. The judge was Robert Elliot, a well-known segregationist who issued injunctions against Martin Luther King Jr. preventing him from marching in his District. Known as "Maximum Bob" he attempted to kill the movement by handing down maximum sentences of 6 months in federal prison. But he did not silence their voices, as they spoke boldly from prison!
The 25 were released just in time for last years protest. It was obvious that the prosecutions tactic had backfired when more than 7,000 came to say, "Not in my name will this school continue." The diverse crowd included indigenous from North and South, and people of all ages, races and faiths, as well as thousand of college and high school students who were there to speak for those silenced in Latin America. That afternoon over 2,300 "crossed the line" in the largest showing of mass civil disobedience since the Vietnam war era. So many crossed that the military could only bus them off the post.
On November 21, 1999, which marked the 10 year anniversary of the murder of the 6 Jesuits and their two co-workers, over 12,000 gathered, including the sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre, Rufina Amaya, actor Martin Sheen, and long-time peace activist Fr. Daniel Berrigan. Nearly 5,000 of those present risked arrest by crossing the line onto the Ft. Benning base.
The procession was led by people donned in black mourning shrouds and white "death masks," who carried coffins, and crosses inscribed with the names of victims of SOA graduates. Once again, the military was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the people putting their bodies on line in order that the truth be revealed. As the federal officers approached the head of the procession and attempted to heard the protesters onto the busses, the thousands, in the tradition of the civil rights movement of passive resistence, chose to hold their ground and in unison--all sat down. Sixty-five "high riskers" were processed of those, 23 face prosecution for criminal trespass, while the remainder were led off the base without being processed.
On July 30, 1999, the House of Representatives voted 230-197 to cut approximately $2 million from the SOA budget. Weeks after this historic vote, a House/Senate Conference Committee overturned the vote of the full House by a vote of 8 to 7 to retain funding for the SOA. This outrageous tactic has only served to galvanize the movement.
Archbishop Oscar Romero, before he was killed by graduates of the School of the Americas stated, "Let those who have a voice speak for the voiceless." We have a voice.
Two bills are currently pending in Congress which would effectively close the SOA: HR 732 in the House, and S 873 in the Senate. It is crucial that people contact their members of Congress and urge them to support these bills.
When Evil Thrives
...
Published in the Arizona
Daily Star by Linda Panetta & Randy Serraglio
On July 30 the House voted by a solid margin (230-197) in support of Rep. Joseph Moakley's (D-MA) amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill (HR 2606) to cut all funds in the bill designated for the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA).
The SOA, located in Columbus, Georgia, and often coined the "School of Assassins" has been funded annually by millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. But this year, after years of educating Congressional members about the countless atrocities committed by graduates of this infamous school, the House took a strong stance to end funding for the training of despots, assassins, drug traffickers, and death squad leaders.
In fact, just two years ago only 4 New Jersey Representatives were supportive of such measures, this year there were ten (out of 13) who voted to cut funding, and four Pennsylvania Reps changed their 1998 "no" votes to 1999 "yeas."
In 1996, the State Department announced that the SOA had used training manuals that advocated the use of torture, false imprisonment, and executions. The result: the SOA has produced some of the most notorious human rights abusers in our hemisphere. Among their ranks include those responsible for the rape and murder of 4 U.S. Church women; the assassination of Archbishop Romero; the execution of 6 Jesuit priests, a co-worker and her daughter; and the massacre of more than 900 civilians at El Mozote, El Salvador.
Earlier this year, the United Nations Commission for Historical Clarification released its report documenting human rights violations during Guatemala's 36-year internal war. This report charges the Guatemalan government with waging a campaign of "genocide" against the indigenous population, and it cites the Guatemalan army as being responsible for at least 93 percent of the 200,000 killed and disappeared during the war.
The UN commission's report also singles out the U.S. Army School of the Americas, stating it "had a significant bearing on human rights violations during the armed conflict."
Many were shocked by the detailed descriptions of the military barbaric repression of its own people. The report confirms that it was common practice to rape and torture women before killing them; to open the wombs of pregnant women; to take defenseless children and beat them to death or throw them alive into mass graves; to sever the limbs of victims before killing them; to disembowel and burn people alive; and to force others to observe such savagery, many being family members and friends.
The aggressive, racist plot of the Guatemalan security forces against the indigenous population included the massacre of entire communities, resulting in the elimination of at least 626 villages. The vast majority of those tortured and killed were Mayan.
To the two of us, the report sounded hauntingly familiar. In the late 1980's we heard such stories directly from the people who had lived them. I (Linda) was working in Guatemala, doing outreach in El Pavon prison and researching human rights abuses; listening to tales of horror from survivors. I (Randy) was working in the Central American solidarity movement in Seattle, Washington, listening to the stories of refugees who had fled the violence and persecution in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Sometimes their stories were hard to believe, if it weren't for the unmistakable evidence they carried with them. Some bore the scars of torture on their faces and bodies. All of them bore the fear and pain of their memories in their eyes, the look of a person who has been targeted-- hunted.
To the victims, the UN commission's report is a tremendous vindication, after their stories were ignored and disbelieved by so many, for so long. But the definitive report goes beyond a simple documentation of abuse. In the process, it proves that historical clarification often translates easily into current controversy.
The report confirms that these stories of torture, assassination of family members, and decimation of entire communities were not aberrations or the work of rogue sadists in remote places. They were committed as a specific strategy, as part of a counterinsurgency campaign in which such acts of savagery were used systematically by the armed forces to incite terror, humiliation, and suffering.
Moreover, the report clearly establishes United States complicity in these crimes against humanity by examining the systemic relationship between U.S. cold war policy and the oppression in Guatemala. It details the roles of the Pentagon, CIA and U.S. corporations in organizing, training and funding the ruthless Guatemalan security forces and propping up the archaic and unjust socioeconomic structure.
In fact, such terrorism as described in the report is consistent with the doctrine and tactics of counterinsurgency as it has been taught for decades at the SOA, a strategy which relies heavily on creating a "culture of fear in the populace."
Controversial history, no doubt. But the real problem is that the SOA still exists. It swallows almost $20 million tax dollars a year. And continues to teach counterinsurgency, now primarily to Colombian, Mexican, and Peruvian soldiers--three countries with horrendous records of ongoing human rights abuses.
Following the release of the riveting report, the coordinator of the U.N. commission, Christian Tomuschat, who is German, compared the brutality which occurred in Guatemala to that of the holocaust.
Indeed, a document has come to light that would fit well as an exhibit in the Holocaust Museum. The current issue of Harper magazine analyzes pages from a log kept by the Guatemalan security forces on people that it had disappeared--abducted, tortured, and murdered.
At a recent press conference researchers described how the 53-page document was smuggled out of the Guatemalan military's own archives just days before the U.N. report was released.
The entire document is now posted on the Internet. It shows how the military, in addition to its scorched earth tactics in the countryside, also operated selectively to crush dissent in the cities by targeting members of opposition political parties, labor activists, religious leaders, lawyers, educators, students. All were conveniently categorized by the government as subversives, or communists, and therefore enemies of the state to be eliminated.
Such dehumanization of the enemy is a fundamental part of counterinsurgency, another SOA trademark. It leads to such crimes as the murder of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi last year. Two days after he released a similar human rights report, he was brutally murdered outside his home, his face smashed beyond recognition. To date, 120 U.S Catholic bishops have signed resolutions calling on the closure of the SOA, and more than 20 Latin American bishops have called for its closure.
During a recent visit to Central America, President Clinton surprised many observers when he responded to the commission report. He said, "It is important that I state clearly that support for military forces intelligence units which engaged in violent and widespread repression was wrong. The United States must not repeat that mistake."
The President's acknowledgment of our complicity in the brutality that occurred in Guatemala is an important and welcome first step toward recovering our own clouded historical memory. But as long as the SOA remains open, and we continue to train despots, we will continue to repeat our mistakes. And despite the Presidents decry of U.S. -- sponsored repression, he lobbied the House to continue the funding for the SOA.
A peace accord has been signed in Guatemala, but as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."
Ideally, justice would mean reparations to the people of Guatemala for the damage inflicted by U.S. arms, military training, and policy. Congress could even reallocate the more than 20 million dollars it spends annual at the SOA, to aid the victims of torture who have endured the schools wrath. At the least, Guatemalan war criminals should be brought to trial.
The SOA is not the only place where counterinsurgency is taught. But closing it down would be a major step toward repudiation of an inherently repressive policy.
Passage of the Moakley Amendment was the first step, but the amendment must still be approved in the House-Senate conference committee in order to be included in the final version of the Foreign Operations Bill.
Two key Congressmen on this committee are Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). Please contact them (capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121) and urge them to support the amendment. In addition, two bills in Congress--HR 732 in the House, and S 873 in the Senate--would summarily close the SOA. Contact your Congressman/woman today, and demand that the School of the Americas, the "School of Assassins" be shut down immediately!
Linda Panetta, is the producer of the award-winning film "School of the Americas: An Insider Speaks Out!" and is the director of SOA Watch Northeast (215-473-2162). Randy Serraglio is director of SOA Watch Southwest.