On Dec. 11, 1981, one of the most egregious atrocities in recent history took place in El Salvador.

Just days earlier, the Atlacatl battalion, an elite Salvadoran military brigade, had stormed into the small peasant village of El Mozote. Having failed to uproot any of the "Communist guerrillas" they had come searching for, the battalion turned its fury on the local unarmed peasantry. According to eyewitnesses, infants were tossed in the air and impaled on bayonets, women and girls as young as 10 were savagely raped, while others were blindfolded, then executed. Human rights organizations claim that more than 900 people perished in the battalion's relentless carnage. Of all the acts of violence which claimed more than 75,000 civilians in El Salvador's decade-long civil war, the El Mozote Massacre was arguably the most horrendous.

In March 1993, the United Nations released its authoritative Truth Commission Report on El Salvador. In the report, the United Nations found the U.S.-allied Salvadoran military and death squads to have "committed the vast majority of the atrocities." Furthermore, the United Nations specifically cited dozens of Salvadoran officers for involvement in the more hideous offenses. Astoundingly, of the cited officers, more than two-thirds were found to have graduated from the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA). Many of the officers received training both before and after committing atrocities. Involvement of U.S.-trained Salvadoran soldiers in just some of the more notable war crimes are as follows:

The El Mozote Massacre: Of the 12 officers cited, 10 are SOA grads.

The assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero: Of three officers cited, two are SOA grads.

The 1980 rape and murder of four American nuns: Of five officers cited, three are SOA grads.

The 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter: Of 27 officers cited, 19 are SOA grads.

Just what does the U.S. Army School of Americas teach?

The School of Americas was established in Panama in 1946, ostensibly to promote stability and democracy in Latin America. Since then, the SOA has trained more than 56,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques. However, by the mid-80s, the school had trained so many (dictators, war criminals), and violators of human rights that the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa named it "the School of Assassins." Popular pressure forced the school out of Panama, and it moved to Fort Benning, Ga., where it remains to this day.

According to SOA Watch, a citizen watchdog group monitoring the school, Latin American nations with the worst human rights records have consistently sent the most soldiers for training at the school. Bolivia under Gen. Banzer's dictatorship, Nicaragua under the Somoza regime, and El Salvador during its notoriously bloody civil war were all regular clients of the SOA. Joseph Blair, a U.S. Army officer who taught at the school, claims "American faculty members readily accepted all forms of military dictatorship in Latin America and frequently conversed about future personal opportunities to visit their new 'friends' when they ascended to military or dictatorial power some day." A look at a list of some of the school's graduates gives a chilling indication of what kinds of "friends" the SOA regularly trains:

-- Manuel Noriega -- Former president of Panama, now serving 40 years for drug trafficking.

-- Hugo Banzer -- Brutal dictator of Bolivia during the 70s who ruthlessly suppressed his critics.

-- Leopoldo Galtiere -- Head of the Argentinian junta that conducted the country's "dirty war," when 30,000 citizens were tortured and murdered.

-- Michel Francois -- The feared Haitian police chief who played a crucial role in overthrowing President Aristide and butchering his supporters.

-- Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas -- chief of Guatemalan intelligence in the late 70s and early 80s when he oversaw thousands of political assassinations.

The school has not sought to distance itself from these despicable murderers. Rather, as Newsweek reports, SOA has inducted several of its more vicious graduates into its Hall of Fame, including the despot Banzer, Gen. Callejas, and former dictators of Honduras, Ecuador, and Argentina.

Regardless of the human rights record of its graduates, the school continues to get tens of millions annually in federal funding. In fact, more than $30 million of our tax dollars were recently spent solely for renovating the school: a school that continues to identify Americans with military violence and impunity.

The time has come for us to shut down the U.S. "School of Assassins." In the words of Rufina Amaya, one of the few survivors of the El Mozote Massacre: "The only thing the School of Americas has accomplished is the destruction of our countries in Latin America." Closing the school and ending its legacy of shame would save millions of dollars and perhaps thousands of lives.

Contact Amnesty International for more information.