The annual protest of the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia grows each year, hitting nearly 20,000 last year.  This year simultaneous protests will take place in Santiago, Bogota, San Slavador and several other Latin American cities.

Since 1946, the SOA has trained more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers.  The Pentagon has acknowledged that in the past the SOA used training manuals advocating coercive interrogation methods and extra-judicial executions. Many SOA graduates have subsequently been linked to many of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America.

In recent years, reformist governments have brought to power many people who were at one time thrown in prison and tortured.  These governments are cutting their ties to the SOA and rethinking their relation to the US military.  Roy Bourgeois, the Catholic priest who founded SOA Watch has met with government officials in Caracas, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, encourging these countries to abandon ties with the SOA, and plans to visit five more countries next year.

Although the Bush administration has made public plans to further militarize Latin America, Democrats in Congress hope to cut funding for the SOA.   Increasing public awareness will be an important factor determining whether they succeed or not.