International Law Enforcement Academy Sets up in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR (ACAN-EFE) –Professors of the U.S. International LawEnforcement Academy (ILEA) have startedteaching a course at the newSalvadoran campus to police from theDominican Republic, Colombia and ElSalvador, according to Salvadoran policeauthorities.The six-week course will focus on terrorism,organized crime, gangs, kidnappings,money laundering and humanrights, with the participation of 36 policeofficers and outside observers fromSalvadoran non-governmental organizations.The professors will be from ILEA’sboard of directors, as well as the UnitedStates Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI) and Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA), and the Central AmericanUniversity’s Institute on Human Rights.U.S. Secretary of State CondolezzaRice announced last month that ElSalvador would be the new site for theUnited States’ fourth ILEA academy, withthe others already existing in Hungary,Botswana and Thailand.The United States had originallyhoped to establish ILEA in Costa Rica,but later decided on El Salvador becauseof opposition to the presence of the U.S.law enforcement academy in that country.Critics of ILEA have argued that theacademy will become a school of humanrights abuse, similar to the infamous U.S.School of the Americas.