Close the SOA - U.S. Out of Colombia!

It is time to take action and put an end to U.S. support of the state-terrorism in Colombia.

CLOSE THE SOA! U.S. OUT OF COLOMBIA!
National Mobilization to Washington DC - April 19 - 22, 2002.

Colombia, with over 10,000 troops trained at the SOA, is the school's largest customer. Not surprisingly, Colombia currently has the worst human rights record in all of Latin America, averaging one massacre per day. 2,000,000 people have been killed or displaced by civilian-targeted warfare carried out by graduates of the SOA. Unprecedented U.S. military aid to Colombia is greatly exacerbating a brutal civil war that has been raging in Colombia for decades.

Sold to the U.S. public as part of the war on drugs, the aid is actually being used in the same old counterinsurgency warfare SOA graduates have waged across Latin America. Human rights reports clearly document the collaboration between the Colombian military and the right-wing paramilitary forces responsible for an increasing share of the atrocities committed against civilians. As usual, SOA graduates head the lists of perpetrators. Among many others, SOA-trained Gen. Mario Montoya Uribe, identified by Colombian newspapers as "the military official responsible for Plan Colombia" has documented ties to paramilitary atrocities dating back to the 1970's.

It is time to take action and put an end to U.S. support of the state-terrorism in Colombia. CLOSE THE SOA! U.S. OUT OF COLOMBIA! Working in coalition with over 60 solidarity, labor, student, environmental and human rights groups, SOA Watch calls for a National Mobilization to close the SOA and end U.S. support of the war in Colombia. Mobilize your community to come to Washington, DC this spring. Contact SOA Watch for an organizing packet.