We were accompanied by Hebe de Bonafini - one of the founding leaders of the "Madres de la Plaza de Mayo- and whose husband was "disappeared" during the dictatorship.

The primary reason for this meeting was to discuss the history of involvement of School of the Americas (SOA) graduates during the dictatorship. It was also to request that Argentina stop sending soldiers to be trained at the SOA (renamed: the Western Hemishpere Institute for Security Cooperation- WHINSEC). Her comments follow:

"The SOA has done a lot of harm in terms of it's doctrine. It's makes me very happy to know that there is a movement to close it in the United States."

"Understanding that the SOA claims to focus on counter-narcotrafficking and terrorism, which have to do with the civil forces, not the military, we are not going to send more people to this school."

"It is absolutely counter to the law of Argentina (military involvement in internal security issues)... it would be a contradiction."

"There is Currently one soldier studying at SOA [/WHINSEC]. When he returns, it'll be a priority to not send any more soldiers to the SOA."

Because the Minister of the Interior makes the decisions regarding the training of the Argentinean police force, the Min of Defense put Hebe through to him to arrange a meeting the following day.

The meeting concluded with the Minister of Interior stating that there were currently no Argentinean police being trained at ILEA (in El Salvador) or at the SOA/WHINSEC and Argentina had no intention on sending any in the future.