Everything about School Of The Americas totally explained
The
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (
WHISC or
WHINSEC), formerly the
School of the Americas (
SOA;
Spanish:
Escuela de las Américas) is a
United States Department of Defense facility at
Fort Benning near
Columbus, Georgia.
Between
1946 and
2001, the SOA trained more than 61,000 Latin American soldiers and policemen. Some of them became famous for having been responsible of
human rights violations, such as generals
Leopoldo Galtieri or
Manuel Noriega, dictators such as
Bolivia's
Hugo Banzer as well as some of
Augusto Pinochet's officers. The terrorist
Luis Posada Carriles was educated here by
1961, although he never graduated.
Critics of the school argue that the education encouraged such practices and that this continues in the WHINSEC. This is denied by the WHINSEC and its supporters who argue that the alleged connection is at least sometimes weak, such as the case of
Roberto D'Aubuisson who took a single course on radio operations and then committed
human rights violations many years later. According to the WHINSEC the education now emphasizes
democracy and
human rights.
History
In
1946, in the early days of the
Cold War, the
Latin American Training Center – U.S. Ground Forces was established in
Panama Its motto is
Libertad, Paz y Fraternidad (Liberty, Peace and Brotherhood).
Currently all students are given a minimum of eight hours of instruction in "
human rights, the
rule of law,
due process, civilian control of the military, and the role of the military in a democratic society." Courses must focus on leadership development, counter-drug operations, peace support operations, disaster relief, or "any other matter the Secretary [ofDefense] deems appropriate."
According to the
Center for International Policy, a "Board of Visitors" is required to review and evaluate "curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, and academic methods." A federal committee, the board must include the chairmen and ranking minority members of both houses' Armed Services Committees (or surrogates), the senior Army officer responsible for training (or a surrogate), one person chosen by the Secretary of State, the head of the U.S. Southern command (or a surrogate), and six people chosen by the Secretary of Defense ("including, to the extent practicable, persons from academia and the religious and human rights communities"). The board reviews the institute's curriculum to determine whether it complies with U.S. laws and doctrine, and whether it's consistent with U.S. policy goals toward Latin America and the Caribbean. The manuals contain instructions in motivation by fear, bounties for enemy dead, false imprisonment, torture, execution, and kidnapping a target's family members.
Joseph Kennedy said "These manuals taught tactics that come right out of a Soviet gulag and have no place in civilized society." The Pentagon admitted that these manuals were a "mistake"
After this investigation in 1992, the
Department of Defense discontinued the use of the manuals, directed their recovery to the extent practicable, and destroyed the copies in the field. U.S. Southern Command advised governments in Latin America that the manuals contained passages that didn't represent U.S. government policy, and pursued recovery of the manuals from the governments and some individual students.
Participation
In 2004, Venezuela ceased all training of Venezuelan soldiers at WHINSEC. On
March 28,
2006, the
government of Argentina, headed by President
Nestor Kirchner, decided to stop sending soldiers to train at WHINSEC, and the government of
Uruguay affirmed that it'll continue its current policy of not sending soldiers to WHINSEC. In
2007,
Oscar Arias, president of
Costa Rica, decided to stop sending Costa Rican police to the WHINSEC. Costa Rica has no military, but had sent some 2,600 police officers to the school. In a letter to the Commandant of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), U.S. Army Col.
Gilberto Perez,
Bolivian President
Evo Morales formally announced on
February 18 2008 that he won't send Bolivian military or police officers to attend training programs at the institute formerly known as the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA).
Legislative action
A bill to abolish the school with 134 co-sponsors was introduced to the House Armed Services Committee in
2005.
In June 2007 the McGovern/Lewis Amendment to shut off funding for the Institute failed by 6 votes.
(External Link
) This effort to close the Institute was endorsed by the non-partisan
Council on Hemispheric Affairs who called the Institute a "black eye".
(External Link)
SOA Watch
Since 1990, Washington, D.C.-based non profit human rights organization
School of the Americas Watch has worked to monitor graduates of the institution and to close the former SOA, now WHINSEC through legislative action, grassroots organizing and nonviolent direct action. It maintains a database with graduates of both the SOA and WHINSEC who have been accused of human rights violations and other criminal activity. In regards to the re-naming of the institution, SOA Watch claims that the approach taken by the Department of Defense isn't grounded in any critical assessment of the training, procedures, performance, or results (consequences) of the training programs of the SOA. According to critics of the SOA, the name change ignores congressional concern and public outcry over the SOA’s past and present link to human rights atrocities.
SOA Watch has been criticized itself.
(External Link)
Public demonstrations
SOA Watch sponsors an annual (since 1990) public demonstration of protest at Ft. Benning. In
2005, the demonstration drew 19,000 people. The protests are timed to coincide with the anniversary of the November 1989 murders of six
Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in
El Salvador. A congressional panel concluded that 19 of the 27 killers were SOA graduates.
Notorious graduates of The School Of The Americas
According to SOA Watch
According to SOA Watch, some graduates of the SOA and WHINSEC are responsible for human rights violations and criminal activity in their home countries.
Critics of SOA Watch argue the connection is often misleading. For example,
Roberto D'Aubuisson's sole link to the SOA is that he'd taken a course in Radio Operations long before El Salvador's civil war began.
Educated according to other sources
The terrorist
Luis Posada Carriles was educated by
CIA in explosives and sabotage at
Fort Benning (the actual location of the academy) before the
Bay of Pigs invasion.
In
1992 the
OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recommended prosecution of Col.
Cid Diaz for murder in association with the
1983 Las Hojas massacre. His name is on a State Department list of gross human rights abusers. Diaz went to the Institute in
2003.
(External Link) (External Link)
Sources
Further Information
Get more info on 'School Of The Americas'.
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