New Report Shows Dramatic SOA Ties to Extrajudicial Killings in Colombia

[IndianaGreen]

The November Vigil to Close the School of the Americas at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia will be held from November 18-21, 2010. The annual vigil is always held close to the anniversary of the 1989 murders of Celina Ramos, her mother Elba and six Jesuit priests at a the University of Central America in El Salvador

http://www.soaw.org/take-action/november-vigil

Research connects SOA/ WHINSEC with human rights abuses

New Report Shows Dramatic SOA Ties to Extrajudicial Killings in Colombia

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the U.S. Office on Colombia (USOC) just released their groundbreaking report, Military Assistance and Human Rights: Colombia, U.S. Accountability, and Global Implications, which exposes serious problems with the implementation of U.S. foreign military training. Once again, detailed research continues to connect SOA/ WHINSEC graduates and instructors with extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations.

According to the report, 30 of 33 Colombian brigade and division commanders who could be identified attended one or more courses at the SOA/ WHINSEC, and this visual representation of the brigade divisions shows the direct connection these SOA-trained officers had with the high levels of extrajudicial executions for the past seven years.



This summary of the connections to the SOA/ WHINSEC from the FOR/ USOC report demonstrates a clear pattern of the school's involvement in the escalating violence in Colombia.

And this is likely the tip of the iceberg.

In July 2010, the Obama Administration made a decision to cement the secrecy around the multi-million dollar, U.S. taxpayer-funded SOA/ WHINSEC program and deny human rights organizations like SOA Watch access to who trains and teaches at the school. This means the staggering volume of human rights violations cited in the FOR/ USOC report linked to SOA/ WHINSEC graduates could be much higher given the thousands of Colombian soldiers who have passed through the school in the last few years.

SOA Watch compiled the names, course, rank, country of origin, and dates attended for every soldier and instructor at the SOA/ WHINSEC from 1946 to 2003. After researchers exposed several cases of known human rights abusers attending the WHINSEC (despite claims that the "new" school was committed to human rights), and shared this research with Congressional decision-makers, the Department of Defense (DOD) refused to disclose any future information about who was training and teaching at the WHINSEC.

The human rights community and the U.S. Congress did not agree with the decision. In 2008 and again in 2009, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill demanding that the DOD release this information to the public. Last year, this measure was signed into law by President Obama, However, SOA/ WHINSEC supporters in Congress managed to slip in the caveat that Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense could issue a waiver to ignore the public's right to know and refuse to release the information, if he "determines it to be in the national interest."

Predictably, Obama's Secretary of Defense used the waiver to deny human rights organizations and the public access to any more information.

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Thanks for posting this material. Going to study it immediately.

Recommending.

:kick: