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School of the Americas Watch/Northeast (SOA Watch/NE) is a grassroots organization committed to walking in solidarity with our sisters and brothers throughout Latin America. It seeks to educate, mobilize and empower individuals to challenge and change corrupt and oppressive US foreign policy, and to close the School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINSEC).
Through educational workshops, lectures, vigils, fasts, retreats, delegations to Latin America and lobbying, SOA Watch/NE seeks to advance social and economic justice, greater equality, and political stability in Latin America.
SOAW/NE also sponsors a women-run cooperative in Northern Guatemala (Copala). It also
supports the initiatives of other national offices, such as the Network in Solidarity with Guatemala (NISGUA), and the Mexico Solidarity Network (MSN), by coordinating regional tours for delegates that come to the US for speaking engagements and lobbying. In this way, SOA Watch/NE and the delegates collaborate together to bring the issues of the SOA/militarism, human rights and socio-economic oppression to the American public, members of Congress and the media.
The School of the Americas (renamed in 1999: Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)) - often dubbed the 'School of Assassins' - is a US military training school established in Panama in 1946, ostensibly 'to bring stability to Latin America.' Now located at Fort Benning, GA, the SOA/WHINSEC trains hundreds of soldiers each year at a cost to US tax payers of millions of dollars annually. Hundreds of graduates of the SOA have been responsible for the rape, 'disappearance,' torture, and massacre of thousands of Latin Americans. Their primary targets have included educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, indigenous communities and those who speak out on behalf of the poor.
Through our educational and media outreach, lobbying, and school presentations, SOAW/NE is able to connect with hundreds of other organizations and grassroots movements to affect change systemically. Across the U.S. people are mobilizing to end socioeconomic oppression and exploitation, and to speak out for the rights of those who are the victims of economic exploitation. It is a crucial time for organizing and training others in nonviolence and leadership skills to work for systemic social change.
This email Newsletter will provide you with the latest information regarding the struggle to close the SOA/WHINSEC, it will offer information on upcoming exhibits, school presentation and other events and ways you can get involved.
Contact info for SOA Watch/NE:
215.473.2162
soawnortheast@aol.com
www.soawne.org
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