Yes, i’m well aware that it is Wednesday. But Sunday was a very busy day for me and i am just now getting around to writing a letter (an email, actually, but who cares). This week’s letter comes to us via Father Roy Bourgeois and the School of the Americas (SOA) Watch. If you only write one letter this year, make it this one. Why? Because the SOA has been used as a training tool for terrorist governments and paramilitaries for far too long. For years, people throughout Latin America have been tortured and murdered by graduates of the US Military’s School of the Americas. But now there is a real possibility of actually putting an end to it. How many times do we get burnt out getting involved in so many campaigns that seem to have no end? Well, this one has an end… if you are willing to take a very simple action. Imagine. We wouldn’t have to send 19- and 79-year-olds to prison for three months every year just for speaking out. We could put that energy into creating something far more beautiful and powerful.

Shutting down the SOA would probably be the greatest act of solidarity that those fighting for justice in Latin America have ever seen from folks in the US. Or at least the greatest show of solidarity in the last 25 years. And what does it cost you? Five minutes of your life? Slightly lower taxes? A clearer conscience? Not much at all.

Congress is set to vote this week, so read the statement from Fr. Roy and then take action!

Dear Friends in the Struggle,

This week marks a major milestone in the campaign to close the School of the Americas and a major victory for all of you who have contributed so much to this work. This is the time when we really need to keep the pressure on Congress.

Please take a few minutes today to call your Member of Congress and to ask them to support the McGovern Amendment to cut funding to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the place the world knows as the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC). You can reach Congress at 202-224-3121 or toll free at 888-355-3588.

You can also email and fax your Representative right from the SOA Watch website: http://www.soaw.org/legislative

Right now and all day today, many SOA Watch activists and our partner organizations are on Capitol Hill, talking with Legislative Aides and Members of Congress and distributing information about the McGovern Amendment that will be introduced this week with the Foreign Operations Bill. Some of the groups that are walking the halls of Congress today are my order, Maryknoll, the Torture Abolition Survivors and Support Coalition (TASSC), the staff of the Methodist Church, the SHARE Foundation, Voices on the Border, Sister Parish, Voices on the Border, Pax Christi USA, Sisters of the Precious Blood, the RFK Center for Human Rights and others.

Labor unions and members are mobilizing this week to continue to build support for the McGovern Amendment. The United Auto Workers and the Steelworkers are both faxing Members of Congress to let them know how important a vote to cut funding to the SOA/WHINSEC is to union members.

Yesterday, veterans from around the country were flooding the phone lines of Members of Congress asking for them to take a real stand for human rights and military accountability by voting to cut funding to the School of the Americas/WHINSEC.

Please join us this week and add your voice to the growing wave of people speaking up for a more just world. Thank you for giving me hope.

For a victory,

Fr. Roy Bourgeois
School of the Americas Watch