Pubdate: Thu, 11 Jan 2001
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2001 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  901 Mission St., San Francisco CA 94103
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Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
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Author: Dolores Perez Priem
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n043/a09.html

TRAINING KILLERS

Editor -- Thank you for the excellent Open Forum article by Elias Castillo. 
The Clinton-backed "Plan Colombia" anti-drug war is doomed to failure 
precisely because it is a military-based strategy. As Castillo points out, 
a more reasonable solution would be economic and governmental restructuring 
by educated civilians, not combat-trained military personnel.

American tax dollars are currently being spent to train Colombian soldiers 
at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., who have already been 
involved in the massacre of innocent civilians in Colombia. This "school" 
has such a horrendous reputation that its name is being changed to the 
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, at the same U.S. 
Army location. Under the new name, it will reopen Jan. 17 to continue its 
mission of providing Latin American military personnel for undertakings 
such as the current drug war.

We applaud the Castillo analysis.

Dolores Perez Priem, Co-Chair, SOA Watch West, Unitarian Universalist 
Social Justice Ministries, San Francisco
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D