A few months ago the Pentagon released previously classified information that confirmed what numerous activists across the country had suspected: U.S. taxpayers are presently funding a military school that has trained and continues to train some of the worst human rights abusers on the continent.

The School of the Americas (SOA) was created to educate Latin American militaries on the virtues of democracy and human rights.

However, graduates of the SOA are famous in Latin America for the crimes they commit. Prominent graduates of the SOA include the following:

* Two of the three Salvadorans cited by the United Nations truth commission for the assassination of archbishop Oscar Romero graduated from the SOA.

* Three out of the five officers cited in 1980 for the murder of four American nuns attended the SOA.

* Ten out of 12 officers cited for the 1981 El Mozote massacre, and 19 of the 26 officers cited for the murders of six Jesuits were trained at the SOA.

* Gen. Manuel Noriega, dictator in Panama, attended the school.

* Many of the military personnel who torture and kill hundreds of thousands of people in Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and other countries are graduates of the school.

In Congress, two bills were introduced to close the SOA and both attempts failed (256-174 in Oct ’93 and 217-157 in May ’94).

Since then, the situation has changed.

Last September, the Pentagon was forced to release manuals used at the SOA.

These manuals show how the SOA instructs students to use torture, murder and blackmail against people who are fighting for government reform in Latin America.

When the SOA’s true mission could no longer be hidden, people across the U.S. joined the movement to push for the closing of the school. Representative Dan Hamburg (D-CA) said: “There can be no mistake that the School of the Americas has trained some of the most despised and corrupt military officers in Latin America.”

Representative Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) added: “This institution costs us millions of dollars a year and identifies us with tyranny and oppression.”

We as citizens and taxpayers should tell our government that we cannot support the education of terrorists, murderers and torturers.

The material taught in the SOA is clearly against the values that we, as a nation, stand for.

Close the School of the Americas!

Manuel Martinez-Lavin

Senior

Electrical and Aerospace

Engineering