LRB-1992/2
PJD:jld:pg
2001 - 2002 LEGISLATURE
February 13, 2001 - Introduced by Representatives Pocan, Berceau, Black, Bock,
Boyle, Colon, Krug, La Fave, J. Lehman, Miller, Plouff, Ryba, Sinicki
and
Young, cosponsored by Senators Burke, Plache and Risser. Referred to
Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs.
AJR28,1,3 1Relating to: memorializing Congress to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for
2Security Cooperation, formerly known as the United States Army School of the
3Americas.
AJR28,1,64 Whereas, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly
5known as the United States Army School of the Americas, was established in
6Panama in 1946 and is presently located in Fort Benning, Georgia; and
AJR28,1,107 Whereas, the School of the Americas has trained over 60,000 troops from Latin
8America and the Caribbean since its inception in 1946 and currently trains 900 to
92,000 such soldiers per year at Fort Benning, Georgia, at an annual cost to the
10American taxpayers of nearly $20,000,000; and
AJR28,1,1311 Whereas, it has been admitted that training manuals used for years by the
12School of the Americas have advocated execution, false imprisonment, physical
13abuse, and other forms of torture; and
AJR28,1,1514 Whereas, many School of the Americas graduates have been involved in a wide
15range of human rights abuses; and
AJR28,2,3
1Whereas, 2 of the 3 Salvadoran officers cited as being responsible for the 1980
2assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero were School of the Americas graduates,
3including death squad founder and leader Robert D'Aubuisson; and
AJR28,2,54 Whereas, 10 of the 12 officers cited as being involved in the massacre of 900
5civilians at El Mozote in El Salvador graduated from the School of the Americas; and
AJR28,2,86 Whereas, 19 of the 26 officers cited in the November 1989 murder of 6 Jesuit
7priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in San Salvador, El Salvador, were
8School of the Americas graduates; and
AJR28,2,119 Whereas, over one-half of the human rights violations and torture that
10occurred in Colombia by military officials in the past decade were performed by
11officials trained by the School of the Americas; and
AJR28,2,1412 Whereas, Guatemalan Colonel Julio Roberto Alpirez, a CIA agent who was
13implicated in the killings of U.S. citizens Michael Devine and Efraim Bamaca,
14husband of U.S. lawyer Jennifer Harbury, is a School of the Americas graduate; and
AJR28,2,1815 Whereas, the editorial boards of the Atlanta Constitution, Bangor Daily News,
16Boston Globe, Capital Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Des Moines Register, New
17York Times, San Antonio Express-News, and Syracuse Post-Standard, among
18others, have called for the closure of the School of the Americas; and
AJR28,2,2119 Whereas, the Washington Post, in its November 26, 1997, edition, stated, "over
20these years [the School of the Americas] is a school of horrors, a school of assassins,
21operating in our back yard with U.S. taxpayer money"; and
AJR28,2,2422 Whereas, the California chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has passed a
23resolution urging the closure of the School of the Americas, and the national
24organization is deliberating the same resolution; and
AJR28,3,2
1Whereas, there is growing opposition to the School of the Americas in the U.S.
2house of representatives; and
AJR28,3,63 Whereas, in May 2000 the U.S. house of representatives came within 10 votes
4(204-214) of passing an amendment to the 2001 Defense Authorization Bill that
5would have closed the School of Americas and halt the opening of the Western
6Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation; and
AJR28,3,107 Whereas, among Wisconsin's 2000 delegation to Congress there was near
8unanimous support of an amendment to the 2001 Defense Authorization Bill that
9would have closed the School of Americas, with 3 Republicans and 5 Democrats
10voting in favor of the amendment; now, therefore, be it
AJR28,3,14 11Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the Wisconsin
12Legislature urges the President and the Congress of the United States to support the
13closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly
14known as the School of the Americas; and, be it further
AJR28,3,17 15Resolved, That the assembly chief clerk shall provide copies of this joint
16resolution to President Bush and to each member of this state's congressional
17delegation.
AJR28,3,1818 (End)
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