The U.S. Army’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), often known by its former name, the School of the Americas (SOA), is located in Ft. Benning, Georgia. WHINSEC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. Many graduates have been responsible for severe human rights violations in their home countries.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) issued a call for the closing of the SOA in 1994. PPF took the lead in putting the overture before the General Assembly that year, and we have continued to take action to close SOA/WHINSEC and change the oppressive foreign policy of the United States that WHINSEC has come to represent. Several members of PPF have served prison sentences as a result of “crossing the line” in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience at the annual event at Ft. Benning.
Click here for the latest news on WHINSEC, and plan to join us in November for the vigil.