Over its 50 year history, the U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, has trained 60,000 Latin American military officers. Since the Defense Department last year was forced to release training manuals used at SOA, public outcry has been mounting to close the school. A bill to do so, H.R. 611, has been introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), with 101 co-sponsors, and a companion bill is in the Senate.

The manuals recommended bribery, blackmail, threats and torture against insurgents. A 1992 secret Pentagon report said tactics included "motivation by fear, payment of bounties for enemy dead, false imprisonment, executions and use of truth serum."

Cardinal Godfried Danneels, primate of Belgium and international president of Pax Christi, has written President Clinton urging closure of the SOA. He said Pax Christi members in Latin American countries have themselves witnessed atrocities committed by SOA graduates.

SOA Watch, headed by Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, is gathering signatures on petitions, and plans for 1,000 people bearing 1,000 signatures each to participate in a vigil and actions at the main gate of Fort Benning Nov. 13-16, the eighth anniversary of the assassination of six Jesuits and two women co-workers in El Salvador. Of 26 Salvadoran army officers cited by the U.N. Truth Commission for these murders, 19 were trained at the SOA. Many CTA members will participate at Fort Benning, while many more will participate in solidarity actions that weekend at the CTA Conference in Detroit.

To get involved, contact SOA Watch, P.O. Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903. 706 682-5369. Or, SOA Watch, 1719 Irving St., NW, Washington DC 20010. 202 234-3440.