from Sojourners

The U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers located at Fort Benning, Georgia. SOA graduates have been responsible for some of the worst human rights atrocities in Latin American history. Notorious graduates include:

3 of the 5 officers responsible for the rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen in 1980

2 of the 3 officers responsible for the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero that same year

19 of 26 responsible for the massacre of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in 1989
the man convicted in Guatemalan courts for the assassination of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi in 1998

the man arrested for the murder of Colombian Bishop Isaias Duarte in 2002

Originally set up as a counterinsurgency training school in 1946, the SOA has claimed numerous reforms in the way it selects and trains its students over the years, culminating in its name change to the "Western Hemishphere Institute for Security Cooperation" (WHISC) in 2001. Each of these changes came only after grassroots and congressional activism - and not one has closed the school or allowed for a full accounting of its tragic legacy. As U.S. tax dollars continue to train soldiers from countries with the worst human rights records in the region, a bill has been introduced that would close, investigate, and prevent another cosmetic remake of the SOA. It is vital that co-sponsors be added before Congress adjourns on November 21.

Contact your congressperson today and tell them to close this "School of Assassins" for good!

Take action today at: http://go.sojo.net/campaign/close_the_SOA/8usuki4yjn56dk