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Bolivia: Bye, Bye, SOA
Bolivia, joining Venezuela,
Uruguay and Argentina, will
gradually pull out its military
personnel from the old School of
the Americas, an infamous US
training facility, it was
announced here.
Minister of the Presidency Ramon
Quintana made the announcement
while replying to a question by
Prensa Latina on the recent
visit of a US religious
delegation who requested Bolivia
to withdraw from what has been
described as "a school of
dictators", where people are
trained in repression and
killing.
The center was established by
the US Armed Forces in the
Panama Canal Zone in 1946 with
the name of "School of the
Americas", and in 2001 it was
rechristened as "Western
Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation."
According to Quintana, the
presence of Bolivian soldiers
will be gradually reduced "in
the shortest time possible"
until total withdrawal.
He indicated that later in the
year Bolivia will also step up
cooperation mechanisms to allow
for the training of its soldiers
in South American countries,
under a new doctrine of
"regional security" to be agreed
upon by Evo Morales and
ministers of Defense of the
area.
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