MIM Notes 228                   February 15, 2001

Cruel Intentions: U.$. School of Assassins
by a Massachusetts prisoner


Dubbed the "U.$. School of Assassins" because of its infamous reputation of 
producing murderers who graduated the School of the Americas, at the end of last 
year the SOA decided to change its name. After training Panama's Manuel Noriega, 
El-Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson and Leopold Galtieri of Argentina, to name 
only a few drones who have been shipped off to Latin American countries so as to 
reign terror and to aid u.$. capitalist control over the region, the SOA claims 
to be changing its "name and mission."

Protestors have rallied by the thousands calling for the closing of the SOA and 
the u.s. congress came within a handful of votes for eliminating the school's 
funding. This pressure forced the Army to pretend to change the SOA. The Army 
announced that they would close the school but reopen it one month later keeping 
the same instructors and "some of the same curriculum." This goes to show that 
it is important to learn how to combat imperialism in its entirety rather than 
just specific individual institutes. Otherwise, as this proves, they will only 
change their disguise. 

Originally founded in 1946, named the Latin American Center - Ground Division, 
located in the Panama Canal Zone, the institute's primary objective was to 
instruct u.$. personnel in garrison technical skills such as food preparation, 
maintenance, and "other support functions" with training for Spanish speaking 
Latin Americans limited.

The institute was renamed the u.$. Army Caribbean School - Spanish Institution 
in 1949, with a secondary mission of teaching Latin American personnel. But the 
true mission, the primary goal of the institute, was to perpetuate u.$. 
imperialist forces in central and South America and in the Caribbean Islands as 
well, using puppets to do their u.$. criminal activities. To make it convenient 
for the non-English speaking students in 1963 English was eliminated making 
Spanish the official language. The name was again changed to the u.$. Army 
School of the Americas (SOA). 

Eventually Panamanian and u.$. officials started to dispute over who was to 
control the "school". In 1984 a clash between the two reactionary regimes 
ultimately resulted in the relocation of the institute at Fort Benning, GA. The 
institute again changed its mission when, in 1987, congress authorized the 
secretary of the army to operate and control the "school" with the sole purpose 
of providing "military education and training" to military personnel of Central 
and South America and the Caribbean Islands as well.

Between 1946 and 1996, the reactionary governments of more than 22 Caribbean and 
Latin American countries sent over 60,000 students to the SOA to be trained in 
torture, psychological warfare, etc. Half of these students came from just five 
countries: 17% from Columbia, 12% from El Salvador, 8% from Nicaragua, 7% from 
Peru, and 6% from Panama.

In 1996 the pentagon released a training manual, used by the SOA in the 1980s, 
that advocated torture, kidnapping, and blackmailing as a way of fighting 
insurgents. But the pentagon now claims that the manuals are no longer in use -- 
thus admitting that once they were in use.

A spokesman for the army, major Thomas W. Couins said, " The new institute will 
have new classes to 'better address the current kind of missions and operations 
in the region.'" Collins also stated "The new school is going to continue the 
same vital functions the SOA did. We see a great need to continue the same 
military-to-military, country-to-country contact. It's an opportunity to see 
American democracy and live in it." In other words they are going to continue 
creating their drones to exploit and oppress the already oppressed peoples of 
Latin America and elsewhere.

One of the leaders of the protest, a Maryknoll priest, Reverend Roy Bourgeois, 
stated "we do not see this as really shutting down the SOA, it's business as 
usual. A new name, same shame." He also assured reporters that this "change" in 
the school's name doesn't fool the people and demonstrations will continue. His 
organization, The SOA Watch, will continue in it's protests.

MIM see all of the organizations which have exposed and opposed the SOA as 
allies of the international proletariat, and we seek to unite with them on such 
campaigns. Such protests make the u.$. military's job tougher and lay the 
groundwork for understanding imperialism for Amerikans. MIM seeks to build on 
this awareness, to create and nurture a movement truly committed to the 
interests of the world's oppressed majority, and the overthrow of rapacious 
Amerikan imperialism.


Source:
The Boston Globe, Dec 13, 2000.