Virtual Truth Commission
Telling the Truth for a Better America
U. S. Army School of the Americas, Fort Benning, Georgia
Summary Page


The United States Army School of the Americas, located at Fort Benning, adjacent to Columbus, Georgia, trains commissioned and non-commissioned officers from Latin American militaries. Many of its graduates have returned to their home countries and committed such atrocities as rapes, disappearances, torture, and assassination; they have organized death squads and paramilitaries to counter insurgencies and maintain power. The SOA is accused of including torture in its curriculum, an accusation its defenders deny, although such a torture manual released to the public in 1991. The "Hall of Fame" at the SOA includes dictators and human rights abusers, and a number of guest instructors were invited to the school's faculty after they had committed atrocities.

As a result, there has been an effort, led by Father Roy Bourgeois since 1986 to close the SOA. Concurrently, military leaders say that the school is vital to U. S. foreign policy, any past abuses have been cured, and the school is now a vital source of education in human rights and democracy as a result of which these values of become more widespread in Latin America.

Background
  • ** Background on the SOA provides background from supporters and opponents of the school on the mission, history,

    Close the School of the Americas
  • ** Seven Reasons to Close the School of the Americas expands upon major arguments for closing the school. These reasons are: