Rene — VENEZUELA PULLS OUT OF SOA
Topic(s): Latin America | Comments Off on Rene — VENEZUELA PULLS OUT OF SOAhttp://ww3report.com/97.html#andean13
VENEZUELA PULLS OUT OF SOA
The Venezuelan government announced Feb. 26 that it will cease all
training of soldiers at the US Army’s School of the Americas (now
known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation),
the controversial military training school for Latin American
soldiers, based in Fort Benning, GA.
The announcement was made by Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente
Rangel in an address to the Venezuelan National Assembly. In an
earlier meeting with a delegation of U.S. human rights activists,
Rangel stated that the SOA is a training school for dictators,
torturers and terrorists. During a visit of religious leaders from the
United States in Venezuela in January, President Hugo Chavez also
spoke out against the SOA, saying: “This school deformed the minds of
many Latin American soldiers, who from there went on to become
dictators.” (El Nacional, Jan. 19)
The SOA graduates Efrain Vasquez Velasco, ex-army commander, and
Gen. Ramirez Poveda, were key players in the coup attempt against
Chavez in April 2002. Another SOA graduate, Lt. German Rudolfo Varela,
who is currently in INS detention in Miami, is wanted in Venezuela for
his involvement in embassy bombings in Caracas in February 2003.
Over its 58 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American
soldiers in counter-insurgency techniques, sniper skills, commando and
psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation
tactics. Colombia, with over 10,000 troops trained at the school, is
the SOA’s largest customer. Colombia currently has the worst human
rights record in Latin America. (SOA Watch press release, March 8)
Fore more on the SOA, see WW3 REPORT #95
For more on the attempted Venezuelan coup, see WW3 REPORT #30:
http://www.ww3report.com/30.html#andean1
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