ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION No. 175

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED NOVEMBER 6, 1997

By Assemblymen KELLY, DORIA, Azzolina, Gregg, Garrett, Wolfe, Rooney, Corodemus, Felice, DiGaetano, Zecker, Geist, Assemblywoman Farragher, Assemblymen Collins, Gibson, Malone, Augustine, Bateman, Holzapfel, Kramer, Weingarten, Bagger, Stuhltrager, Bodine, Chatzidakis, Assemblywomen Heck, Crecco, Assemblymen Blee, Charles and Impreveduto

An Assembly Resolution urging the President and Congress of the United States to support the closure of the United States Army School of the Americas.

Whereas, The School of the Americas was established in Panama in 1946 and is presently located in Fort Benning, Georgia; and

Whereas, The School of the Americas has trained over 59,000 troops from Latin America and the Caribbean since its inception and currently trains 900 to 2,000 such soldiers per year at an annual cost to the American taxpayers of nearly $20 million; and

Whereas, Training manuals used by the School of the Americas have advocated execution, false imprisonment, physical abuse, and other forms of torture; and

Whereas, Many School of the Americas graduates have been involved in a wide range of human rights abuses; and

Whereas, Two of the three Salvadoran officers cited as being responsible for the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero were School of the Americas graduates, including death squad founder and leader Robert D'Aubuisson; and

Whereas, Ten of the 12 officers cited as being involved in the massacre of 900 civilians at El Mozote in El Salvador graduated from the School of the Americas; and

Whereas, Nineteen of the 26 officers cited in the November, 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in San Salvador, El Salvador, were School of the Americas graduates; and

Whereas, Guatemalan Colonel Julio Roberto Alpirez, who was implicated in the killing of U.S. citizen Michael Devine, and Efraim Bamaca, husband of U.S. lawyer, Jennifer Harbury, is a School of the Americas graduate; and

Whereas, The editorial boards of the Asbury Park Press, Atlanta Constitution, Bangor Daily News, Boston Globe, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Courier News, Des Moines Register, New York Times, San Antonio Express-News, and Syracuse Post-Standard have called for the closure of the School of the Americas; and

Whereas, The New York Times, in its September 28, 1996 edition stated, "An institution (the School of the Americas) so clearly out of tune with American values...should be shut down without delay"; and

Whereas, The California chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has passed a resolution to close the School of the Americas and the national organization is deliberating the same resolution; and

Whereas, There is growing opposition to the School of the Americas in the United States House of Representatives; and

Whereas, In September 1997 the House of Representatives came within seven votes (210-217) of passing an amendment to the 1998 Foreign Aid Appropriations Bill which would have cut $1.5 million from the School's funding; and

Whereas, The House of Representatives vote represents a sharp contrast to 1993 and 1994 when amendments to cut the School's funding were defeated by 82- and 42-vote margins; and

Whereas, Among the New Jersey delegation to Congress there was bipartisan support for cutting the School's funding, four Republicans and four Democrats having voted in favor of the amendment; now, therefore,

    Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. That the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey urges the President and Congress of the United States to support the closure of the United States Army School of the Americas.

    2. Copies of this resolution shall be transmitted to the President of the United States and to every member of Congress elected from this State.

STATEMENT

    This resolution urges the President and Congress of the United States to support the closure of the United States Army School of the Americas.

Urges the President and Congress of the United States to support the closure of the United States Army School of the Americas.