[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 112 (Tuesday, August 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1727-E1728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT, FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. PATSY T. MINK

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 1999

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2606) making 
     appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and 
     related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2000, and for other purposes:

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Chairman, I rise to express my support for 
the Moakley amendment to H.R. 2606, Foreign Operations Appropriations 
for FY2000.
  The Moakley amendment would prohibit funding for the United States 
Army School of the Americas (SOA) located in Fort Benning, GA--a school 
which has produced some of the most notorious human rights violators in 
Latin America. Currently $20 million of the U.S. taxpayers money goes 
to train approximately 2,000 Latin American soldiers in military 
techniques, ostensibly to advance respect for civil authority and human 
rights.
  Supporters of the SOA claim this school is a key foreign policy tool 
for the U.S. in Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to shape the 
region's leadership in ways favorable to American interests. They 
assert that the school has played a constructive role in promoting 
democracy in Latin America over the last decade; in reducing the flow 
of illicit drugs to the United States; and in emphasizing respect for 
human rights and civilian control of the military through their 
academic curriculum.
  In fact, the SOA has repeatedly proven its disregard for human rights 
and democratic values.
  In a school professing to advance democratic values and human rights, 
only 15 percent of the courses offered relate to these subjects. Less 
than 10 percent of the student body enroll in these courses. Only 8 
percent of students enroll in the counter-narcotics course in any given 
year. Dozens of those who have taken this course have been tied to drug 
trafficking.
  With the help of courses such as ``Methods of Torture'' and ``Murder 
101,'' the SOA has produced apt pupils. When six Jesuit priests, their 
housekeeper, and her daughter were murdered on November 16, 1989 in El 
Salvador, 19 of the 26 implicated in the murders were graduates of the 
SOA. Two of the three officers responsible for the assassination of 
pacifist Archbishop Romero went to the SOA. The officer who commanded 
the massacre of 30 defenseless peasants in the Colombian village of 
Mapiripan graduated from the SOA.
  Panamanian dictator and drug kingpin Manuel Antonio Noriega is one of 
the SOA's distinguished alumni.
  These atrocious examples of terror and violence exhibit the extent to 
which the SOA has violated human rights and undermined democratic 
values throughout the Western hemisphere. Clearly, officers who 
attended SOA

[[Page E1728]]

are not spreading American values of peace and democracy throughout 
Latin America.
  It is not in American interests to continue support for the U.S. Army 
School of the Americas. For the sake of human rights and democracy, I 
urge my colleagues to support the Moakley amendment to end funding for 
the SOA.

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