Dennis Jett and Rita Lucey presented two views of the School of the Americas at the last State convention. Dennis Jett, Ph.D. is Dean of the International Center at the University of Florida, a former ambassador to Peru and Mozambique and Chairman of the Advisory Committee to the School of the Americas. Rita Lucey, M.S., is a former president of the UNA Greater Orlando Chapter and served a six-month prison term for protesting at the School of the Americas.
Dennis Jett pointed out that people are often willing to sacrifice their human rights for security and frequently turn to the military to provide that security. Maintaining human rights depends on the ability of such other institutions as congress, the churches, human rights groups, etc., to protect them. The violence perpetrated by graduates of the School of the Americas (SAL), now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Co-operation (WHISC), grows out of their respective societies and should not be attributed solely to their training at WHISC. In fact WHISC provides both military and human rights training to its students.
Rita Lucey detailed some of the atrocities committed by graduates of WHISC, many of them against native peoples, educators and clergy. Students are trained in counterinsurgency and SAL manuals advocating execution, extortion and torture were discovered in 1991. She feels that WHISC has not taken responsibility for the actions of its graduates although the U.S. paid millions of dollars to victims of WHISC trained military.
Reforms have been made including the Leahy Law requiring screening for human rights violations of applicants who are funded by foreign governments and sending students to U.S. colleges for training in human rights. Dennis Jett indicated that his committee would continue to monitor the actions of WHISC graduates. This was a very provocative discussion.
Bob Hornberger (Gainesville)
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