June 5, House to consider amendment to close School of Americas

Cut Funding to WHINSEC; Vote YES on McGovern Amendment

I am writing to urge you to support human rights in Latin America. Please vote YES on the McGovern amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill to cut funding for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the United States Army School of the Americas (SOA).

From the atrocities in El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1980's to recent violations in Colombia, SOA/ WHINSEC graduates consistently appear in reports on human rights abuses in Latin America. After decades of neglect in development assistance and social programs, as well as graduates from the SOA committing some of the worst human rights abuses in their histories, Latin America is turning their backs on a legacy of torture and terror. In 2004, the government of Venezuela publicly announced that they will no longer send soldiers to the SOA/ WHINSEC and in March of this year, Uruguay and Argentina followed suit.


As your constituent, I urge you to vote YES on McGovern's WHINSEC amendment and to support HR 1217, the bill to investigate and suspend training at SOA/WHINSEC. Currently, there are over 130 bi-partisan co-sponsors of HR 1217. Please contact Cindy Buhl in Representative McGovern's office to include yourself in this legislation or to find out more about the amendment to cut funding to WHINSEC.

Please send me a letter with your position on this issue. Thank you for your time and commitment to this important matter.

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96