Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean, North America

RIGHTS-U.S.: 27 Sentenced for Protesting Army ‘Torture’ Training

Marty Logan

MONTREAL, Jan 29 2004 (IPS) - A nun, six clergy, a former New York City firefighter and several human rights activists were among 27 people sentenced to jail or probation this week for protesting a U.S. military training school whose students included Latin American soldiers who later violated human rights.

Twenty-two of the demonstrators will serve from three to six months in federal prison after last November’s protest at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly called the School of the Americas (SOA).

"People in the government of the United States are saying that they’re fighting a war on terrorism and at the exact same time, as far as I’m concerned, they’re running a terrorist training camp in Columbus, Georgia with U.S. tax dollars," said Josh Raisler Cohn, a volunteer with an organisation called School of the Americas Watch.

"People there have been trained in torture techniques, counter-insurgency warfare techniques", he added in an interview.

In the 1980s the SOA became infamous for providing training to thousands of Latin American military officers, including dozens of notorious human rights abusers.

Congress shut it down in December 2000, but it reopened under the new name in January 2001 – with the same curriculum and instructors, according to Raisler Cohn.

A Nov. 16 annual protest in Columbus near the army’s Fort Benning was organised to coincide with the anniversary of the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests and two women.

The assassins were Salvadoran officers trained at the school, according to a 1990 congressional task force and a 1995 United Nations truth commission report.

One expert says he is sure the school no longer teaches its more notorious combat courses but that it remains a symbol of U.S. cooperation with notorious institutions in Latin America.

"What’s happened is they’ve moved a lot of that really objectionable training overseas", said Adam Isacson, director of programmes at the Centre for International Policy in Washington.

Last year the centre and three other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) released a report that said military aid to Latin America has more than tripled over the last five years.

Total U.S. military aid to Latin America now almost equals the amount of money Washington devotes to social or economic development in the region, it added.

It also charged the administration of President George W. Bush with trying systematically to repeal a number of congressional mandates to report on military training, joint exercises and equipment Washington provides to Latin American countries, calling such requirements ”overly burdensome” or of ”minimal utility”.

Isacson says the former SOA receives only five to 10 percent of the money the military spends to train Latin American armies. Its officials, he adds, incorrectly still view that region’s fighting forces as smaller versions of themselves.

"The armies in that region have always played an incredibly different role than they do in our part of the world – basically to provide muscle for a small part of society. Their doctrine and mission have always been internal, against the local population, and the SOA – even today – doesn’t really take that into account."

"We train people who are part of institutions that are killing, torturing and stealing", he added.

The army did not respond to requests for an interview Thursday.

In a 1990 press release announcing the institute, the army said its courses would include disaster relief, transnational security threats and advanced anti-drug operations.

"The institute will foster mutual respect, confidence, and cooperation among the participating nations and will promote democratic values, respect for human rights, and knowledge and understanding of U.S. customs and traditions among the students", it said.

Isacson told IPS the SOA provided some training in human rights, such as international human rights law. "Whether that has any real impact when the soldier goes back is an open question. There’s no real tracking of how the trainees turn out".

According to School of Americas Watch, nearly 175 people have served a total of over 75 years in prison, and 17 people have served a total of 22 years of probation for non-violent resistance against the school.

Sentences handed down this week ranged from 12 months probation to six months in federal prison, with fines from 500 to 1,500 dollars.

Raisler Cohn says the 10,000 protesters who gathered at Fort Benning last November was the highest number to date. Most of those arrested entered military property to pray against the school. All, he said, were reacting to a "culture of fear" that has enshrouded the United States since the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001.

"The president has said, ‘if you don’t support the government, then you support terrorism’. That’s a scary threat at a time when people are being detained without lawyers, when people are being tried without any public review," said Raisler Cohn.

"The School of the Americas is a symbol of U.S. militarism around the world; it’s a symbol of U.S. foreign policy. It’s a symbol of the things that are wrong with that policy à people understand that the School of the Americas, as a flagship, is a real important focus".