See the detailed report by Lisa Sullivan

From http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=1523

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of our visit was the newlyestablished International Law Enforcement Academy, or ILEA, pluckeddown by the U.S. government on Salvadoran soil, and sealed in amidnight congressional deal.

Throughout our travels in Latin America, we had heard fears thatthis new institution which might be a new SOA. We were able to make athree-hour visit to the academy, holding extensive conversations withU.S. and Salvadoran directors. Afterwards, we were left with manyconcerns. This institute, a joint effort by the State Department,Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Treasury, is designed totrain police from all over Latin America, although in their own words,they are open to the possibility of also training military in thefuture. Given the history of U.S. training of Latin American military(and its flagship, the SOA), it is hard to imagine that the aims ofsuch a school would suddenly taken on a more noble goal, especially inlight of our current foreign policies.

(Photos - Delegates, and a human rights advocate who accompanied us, stand in one of ILEAs lecture rooms)

Among our concerns was the stated purpose of the academy. Accordingto the State Department representative, a major goal was the creationof a more favorable climate of security for U.S. business investment.No one mentioned better security for Latin American citizens. Anothermajor goal was interchange of information among police forces. It washard not to conjure up memories of Plan Condor, just as fresh news waspouring over the wire services about the complex intertwining of theSouthern Cone dictatorships. Another concern was the refusal of thedirectors to reveal the names of the graduates of the school. When weasked how we could monitor the human rights records without thisinformation, there was in effect no answer. They did promise to send usnumber of students from each country, but as of ten days later, we havenot received this information. While we cannot go on record as sayingthat ILEA is the new SOA, since it is still in its initial stages, wecan clearly state that we are concerned that the objectives of theschool and the lack of transparency.

(Photo - Torture survivor and now Congresswoman, Nidia Diaz (redpants),is one of the most highly regarded women leaders in the FMLN)

We left Central America concerned about this new school, but we felttentatively hopeful about a possible diminishing role for the SOA.While we didnt receive an out-and-out yes to our request to withdrawtheir troops, government officials did open their doors to listen. Thiscertainly wouldnt have happened even a few years ago. Our visitcaptured the attention of the media in ways we never imagined, and newscame back to us from allies from Panama to Chile that they had read ofour visit.