ALBA DEFENCE SCHOOL WILL TRAIN FARMERS & INDIGENOUS PEOPLE http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=160105

The School of Defense and Sovereignty of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) here will also train indigenous people and farmers.Bolivia's Defense Minister Maria Cecilia Chaco said in addition to providing higher eduation, the center would provide farmers and indigenous people with comprehensive training.In contrast to the U.S. School of the Americas, a military institution that promotes divisions, the ALBA school seeks to foster peace and strengthen the independence of the people, she said.

During the opening of the school recently, President Evo Morales said the people's defense was a matter of life or death in facing "imperialist threats".Student at the new ALBA school will include soldiers from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.The decision to create the educational institution was made at an ALBA summit on Oct 17, 2009 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. -