[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 CONGRATULATING THE UNITED STATES ARMY SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS FOR ITS 
           ROLE IN ACHIEVING PEACE ON THE ECUADOR/PERU BORDER

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                            HON. MAC COLLINS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 20, 1999

  Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the nations of 
Ecuador and Peru for ending their half-century-long border dispute. I 
also rise to offer congratulations to the United States Army School of 
the Americas (USARSA) for its important role in resolving this 
conflict.
  Col. Glenn Weidner, the current commandant of the school and a 
graduate of and former instructor at the USARSA, guided the operation 
that supervised the cease fire, separated the combatants, demobilized 
over 140,000 troops, established the demilitarized zone, and negotiated 
the continuation of the mission, incorporating observers of the two 
parties. That trajectory laid the basis for the three-year diplomatic 
effort to settle the underlying border issue. Assistant Secretary of 
State Alex Watson presented Colonel Weidner special recognition for his 
``contributions to diplomacy''. Colonel Weidner credits the success of 
his mission in large part to the skills he learned at USARSA in 1986-
1987 and the enhanced credibility he enjoyed because of his link to the 
school.
  Of the six officers key to the success of the Peru/Ecuador mission, 
three were former USARSA students/instructors. The ``school tie'' 
provided a higher degree of common understanding and increased 
confidence upon which to proceed. There were also USARSA grads among 
the observers and the officers of the two parties with whom they dealt 
on a daily basis to verify the peace.
  Finally, Ambassador Luigi Einaudi, the U.S. diplomat recognized and 
decorated by Presidents Fujimori and Mahuad as playing a key role in 
the final settlement, is a strong supporter of the school, and has 
agreed to serve on the new Board of Visitors.
  I find it ironic that this very week, even as we congratulate Peru 
and Ecuador on their newfound peace, a small but vocal group of 
extremists continues to mislead the American people and members of this 
body about the role the USARSA plays in the post-Cold War era. 
Graduates of the U.S. Army School of the Americas are working daily to 
enhance peace and security in Latin America and to solidify the 
democratic transformation that has occurred there. I congratulate the 
USARSA for its important role in bringing peace to the Ecuador/Peru 
border and urge my colleagues to recognize the school for what it 
really is--a meaningful tool for establishing peace and democracy in 
our own back yard.

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