Victor Escobar was a Colombian-born graduate from the School of the Americas. At the age of twenty-four, he became the youngest student ever to be admitted to the training facilities in Fort Benning

Fort Benning

Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

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In July 1999, the circumstances surrounding his disappearance led to an investigation that concluded with the disclosure of torture manuals

Torture manuals

The U.S. Army and CIA interrogation manuals are seven controversial military training manuals which were declassified by the Pentagon in 1996. In 1997, two additional CIA manuals were declassified in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Baltimore Sun...

 being used as part of training at the School of the Americas. The exposure that came through the unsolved case of Victor Escobar was one of the many factors that led the U.S. House of Representatives to adopt a bill to reorganize the school to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation , formerly the United States Army School of the Americas is a United States Department of Defense educational and training facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia in the United States...

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Victor Escobar's case remains unsolved. His disappearance still has an impact, with a bill to abolish the school signed by 123 co-sponsors being introduced to the House Armed Services Committee in 2005.