[Cispes-update] ILEA and SOA Funding Approved by U.S. Congress

[CISPES National Office]

ILEA and SOA Funding Approved by U.S. Congress 

CISPES update

June 28, 2007 

On Friday, June 22 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve
"foreign operations" funding for 2008, including the funds for International
Law Enforcement Academies (ILEAs), the School of the Americas, and a number
of other U.S. projects abroad.  Although the vote means there will be the
funds for another year of operation of these two insidious training
programs, last week's vote is just one mile marker in a growing campaign to
stop the U.S.'s work of undermining democracy and social justice movements
in El Salvador and the Americas.  And we are clearly making important
headway.  

First, the vote to take away funding from the School of the Americas came
closer than ever to winning.  Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts introduced
an amendment to the appropriations bill to cut the funding for School of the
Americas (or "WHINSEC" as it has been renamed).  It was only after the
Pentagon and Defense Department convinced some pro-military Democrats to
argue strongly in support of the SOA that the right was able to stop the
amendment from going through - the final vote was 203 in favor of cutting
SOA funding to 214 against.  Also, twelve Democrats and seven Republicans
abstained from voting.  (see http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll536.xml to
see how your Rep voted.)

The final version of the appropriations bill includes $15 million for the
functioning of the ILEAs, including the "ILEA-South" in El Salvador.
Congress approved spending taxpayer money on a second year of ILEA-South
despite the opposition in the U.S. and El Salvador and even though most
Representatives have little or no information about the ILEA.  The State
Department has been incredibly quiet about what takes places behind the
closed doors of the ILEA, going so far as to claim that they do not have
syllabi for their classes to share with CISPES or other human rights
organizations.  Yet by continuing to fund and run the academy, the U.S.
government shows its de facto support for the repression carried out by the
Salvadoran national police.

Despite the disappointing vote, the grassroots work to slow the machine of
U.S. intervention by shutting down the ILEA has had some great successes
this year.  Nationally and at the community level, CISPES committees are
building coalitions that will increase our impact both on the ILEA and on
other elements of U.S. militarism in the Americas.  The campaign to cut
funding through Congress has also led to an effective grassroots
congressional pressure campaign through which activists have built a number
of positive relationships with Representatives who have expressed interest
and commitment to continued strategizing on the issue of the ILEA.  Finally
and most importantly, hundreds of people have taken the issue of the ILEA
and repression to the streets.  Activists have gone out with petitions,
postcards to Reps, letters to Salvadoran officials, canvasses, and posters
to get word out about the issue of the ILEA, and this week CISPES sent 6
organizers to the U.S. Social Forum to raise awareness about U.S. support
for increasing repression in El Salvador, making the links between
international solidarity and community organizing in the U.S. 

The fact that both the ILEA and the SOA move forward in a Democratic-led
Congress - elected by a population demanding an end to war - is worrisome
and disappointing for many.  However, the grassroots commitment to
reorienting U.S. foreign policy continues to grow, and with increased
education and mobilization we will stop training programs aimed to repress
organizing counter to U.S. corporate interests and continue to build social
justice movements in the Americas and in 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-update/attachments/20070628/80b3afd7/attachment.htm