Dear Eladio ,
Today, June 26 is the International Day of Support and Solidarity with Survivors of Torture.
My name is Pablo Ruiz, and I am one of Latin America's many torture survivors. Before continuing, I must acknowledge that thousands upon thousands of other Latin American brothers and sisters did not survive. Instead, after being brutally tortured, they were forcibly disappeared or executed during the years of State terrorism. In my heart, and at the heart of the SOA Watch movement's work, they are Presentes (Present) in this fight for truth, justice, and memory.
I want you to know that torture is the most inhumane experience. Survivors not only carry horrible memories but also physical consequences with them for their entire lives.
The cruel and cowardly blows, the application of electricity in the most sensitive areas of your body, the simulation of execution, the "waterboarding", the burns on your body, the "pau de arara", the human and animal rape, the solitary confinement, the death threats, and the torture of your children in front of you are some of the most cruel "techniques" used throughout Latin America and taught by military training facilities from the French School to the School of the Americas. At SOA Watch, we condemn the SOA's use of Torture Manuals to encourage and instruct state forces in the systematic torture of thousands under the National Security Doctrine implemented throughout Latin America.
Unfortunately, these practices have continued in the US and throughout Latin America.
I cannot stop thinking about the human beings who are still prisoners and who are being tortured at the US military base in Guantánamo.
I cannot stop thinking about the children who are separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border.
Just a few weeks ago, I heard the ACLU Director of the Border Rights Center, Astrid Domínguez, in an interview with Democracy Now. During the interview, Domínguez denounced the torture endured by the minors in the custody of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency:
These stories are truly devastating. They are horrible. They range from psychological abuse against children being called "dogs" and told they will be raped and left to die to sexual abuse, inappropriate touching, and the use of force against children with electric guns that should never be used against a minor.
Today we remember and express our solidarity with the survivors of torture. We must renew our commitment to active solidarity with the persecuted. We must continue to work together to end the US-supported training given to border patrol agents, military officials, and police officials at the SOA / WHINSEC, as well as other training facilities.
Torture, Never Again!
In solidarity,
Pablo RuizSOA Watch
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