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We've got an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill which will make known the names students and instructors, country of origin, at the SOA (renamed WHISC).
This amendment is significant because it allows us to track human rights abusesto certain individuals and to inform the public of those abuses. Our governmentdoes not want to release those names, increasingly refusing to do so since 2001. Over the last several years, it has been increasingly difficult to obtaininformation from the school even after filing FOIA's (Freedom of InformationAct) requests.
Last year, we had a vote to cut funding to the school which we lost by only 6votes. Those Congresspersons who voted against the bill said that they would vote for a bill that ensured increased accountability and transparency. Thus, our amendment today should succeed-- but it will be close. It's an exciting day for us!
If you would, please consider a call or a quick email to support human rights. Here's a link.
In addition, you can follow up with a phone call to your Congressional representative. Here's a sample call script:
Hello my name is ____________ and I'm a constituent living in _______________. I'm calling to urge a YES vote on Thursday on the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop amendment to HR 5658, the Defense Authorization bill. The amendment would release the names, country of origin, rank and dates of attendance at WHINSEC for graduates and instructors. Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Ike Skelton supports this amendment.
As you may know the School of the Americas, renamed WHINSEC, is a military training facility for Latin American personnel that has a notorious history linked to serious crimes and human rights abuses throughout Latin America. In the past few years at WHINSEC, known human rights abusers have attended the school and WHINSEC instructors have been arrested in Colombia for returning home and aiding the drug cartels. None of this information would be known if the basic information about enrollment at WHINSEC were not disclosed. This information is vital to the work of Congress and human rights organizations who seek protection of human rights and promoting transparency...however all FOIA requests for this information are now being denied.
What is WHINSEC hiding?! Voting YES on the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop amendment is a vote FOR human rights and FOR transparency. I urge the Congressman/Congresswoman to vote YES."
