The
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (
WHISC or
WHINSEC), formerly the
United States Army School of the Americas (
USARSA or
SOA; ) is a
United States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
educational and training facility at
Fort BenningFort 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...
near
ColumbusColumbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
, Georgia in the United States. Established by the US government for teaching law enforcement and military techniques to US allies in the rest of the Americas, it has been criticized for training Latin American dictators and their militaries in various techniques to quell dissidence in their countries.
History
In 1946, in the early days of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the
Latin American Training Center – U.S. Ground Forces was established in the Atlantic sector of the
Panama Canal ZoneThe Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
, in the US army base of
Fort AmadorFort Amador and Fort Grant were former United States Army bases protecting the Pacific end of the Panama Canal at the Panama Bay. Amador was the primary on-land site, lying below the Bridge of the Americas. Grant consisted of a series of islands lying just offshore, some connected to Amador via a...
.
During 1949 it was expanded and became the
U.S. Army Caribbean Training Center, seated into a former hospital building on the grounds of
Fort GulickFort Gulick was a U.S. Army base in the former Panama Canal Zone located on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal near Fort Davis, on Gatun Lake.-History:It was perhaps best known as the location of the School of the Americas...
(now housing the Melia Hotel).
It was once again expanded and renamed the
U.S. Army School of the Americas in 1963. It relocated to Fort Benning in 1984, following the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty. More than 61,000 military personnel attended these
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
schools.
According to WHINSEC's web page, "the School of the Americas taught military education courses as they were taught in U. S. Armed Forces institutions—the School translated the courses, lessons plans and all, into Spanish. Beginning in 1963, and evolving as the region changed, SOA taught, at various times, professional military education and training courses to officers and non-commissioned officers in the areas of:
- professional leadership (Command and General Staff course, Military Police courses, Infantry Officers Basic course, Artillery Officers course and a Cadet Orientation course);
- infantry weapons (Mortar Officer course);
- technical support (Engineer Basic and Officer courses, Radio Operators course, Small Caliber Repair course, Wheeled Vehicle Maintenance course and Medical Assistance courses);
- counter-insurgency (Internal Defense and Development course, Military Intelligence course, Military Police course), introduced during 1963; and
- specialized leadership and skills (Ranger course, Air Mobile course, Jungle Operations course, Patrolling course, Parachute Rigging course, Basic Airborne course, Pathfinder and Jumpmaster courses)."
The current WHINSEC, now part of the
United States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, was created as part of the
National Defense Authorization ActThe National Defense Authorization Act is the name of a United States federal law that has been enacted for each of the past 48 fiscal years to specify the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense.-See also:...
by
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 2001. The WHINSEC teaches its courses primarily in the
Spanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, especially for Latin American military, police and civilian personnel, as well as the Caribbean personnel in English, but is also open for persons from outside Latin America. Presently about 700 to 1,100 students attend WHINSEC courses per year.
According to official web site, the WHINSEC was established "to provide professional education and training to eligible persons of the nations of the Western Hemisphere within the context of the democratic principles set forth in the Charter of the
Organization of American StatesThe Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
." Its "mission also includes fostering mutual knowledge, transparency, confidence, and cooperation by promoting democratic values; respect for human rights; and an understanding of U.S. customs and traditions. Specific subjects set by Congress include leadership development; counterdrug; peacekeeping; democratic sustainment; resource management; and disaster preparedness and relief planning. In every course offered, eight hours of democracy and human rights instruction is mandatory." 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 rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, the
rule of lawThe rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
,
due processDue process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
,
civilian control of the militaryCivilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and political science that places ultimate responsibility for a country's strategic decision-making in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional military officers. One author, paraphrasing Samuel P...
, and the role of the military in a democratic society." Courses can focus on leadership development, counter-drug operations, peace support operations, disaster relief, or "any other matter the Secretary [of Defense] deems appropriate."
According to the
Center for International PolicyThe Center for International Policy is a non-profit public policy research and advocacy think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was founded in 1975 in response to the Vietnam War. The Center describes its mission as "promoting a U.S...
, 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 is consistent with U.S. policy goals toward Latin America and the Caribbean.
Human rights violations
The School of the Americas was criticized concerning the human rights violations performed by a number of its graduates, WHINSEC argues "that no school should be held accountable for the actions of its graduates."
According to the Center for International Policy, "The School of the Americas had been questioned for years, as it trained many military personnel before and during the years of the "national security doctrine" — the
dirty warThe Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
years in the Southern Cone and the civil war years in Central America — in which the armed forces within several Latin American countries ruled or had disproportionate government influence and committed serious human rights violations in those countries." SOA and WHINSEC graduates continue to surface in news reports regarding both current human rights cases and new reports.
Defenders argue that today the curriculum includes human rights, but according to
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, "training alone, even when it includes human rights instruction, does not prevent human rights abuses." U.S. Army Maj. Joe Blair, a former director of instruction at the school, said, "there are no substantive changes besides the name. [...] They teach the identical courses that I taught, and changed the course names and use the same manuals."
Intelligence training manuals
On June 28, 1996, a report issued by the Intelligence Oversight Board stated that "School of the Americas ... used improper instruction materials in training Latin American officers from 1982 to 1991. ... certain passages appeared to condone practices such as execution of guerrillas,
extortionExtortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
,
physical abusePhysical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...
,
coercionCoercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
, and
false imprisonmentFalse imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
." It was determined that the materials had never actually been used for instruction but were part of additional reading materials which had not been properly reviewed.
On September 20, 1996, the Pentagon released seven training manuals prepared by the U.S. military and used between 1987 and 1991 in Latin America and in
intelligenceIntelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
training courses at the U.S. School of the Americas (SOA). The manuals were based in part on lesson plans used by the school as far back as 1982 and, in turn, based in part on older material from
Project XThe US Army Foreign Intelligence Assistance Program, was a 1960s program. One part was "Project X", a military effort to create intelligence field manuals drawn from counterinsurgency experience in Vietnam. These manuals influenced the "KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation-July 1963", "Human...
.
http://www.lawg.org/misc/Publications-manuals.htm According to Lisa Haugaard of
School of the Americas WatchSchool of the Americas Watch is an advocacy organization founded by Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters in 1990 to protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the United States Department of Defense, at the School of the Americas...
, these manuals taught repressive techniques and promoted the violation of human rights throughout Latin America and around the globe. The manuals contain instructions in motivation by fear, bounties for enemy dead, false imprisonment, torture, execution, and kidnapping a target's family members. The Pentagon admitted that these manuals were a "mistake."
After this investigation the
Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
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 did not 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 after a long period of chilling relations between the United States and Venezuela. On March 28, 2006, the
government of ArgentinaThe government of Argentina, functioning within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential representative democratic republic. The President of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President. Legislative power is vested in both the...
, headed by President
Néstor KirchnerNéstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
, decided to stop sending soldiers to train at WHINSEC, and the government of
UruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
affirmed that it will continue its current policy of not sending soldiers to WHINSEC. In 2007,
Óscar AriasÓscar Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican politician who was President of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2010. He previously served as President from 1986 to 1990 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several other Central American countries.He is also a...
, president of
Costa RicaCosta Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, decided to stop sending Costa Rican police to the WHINSEC, although later reneged, saying the training would be beneficial for counter-narcotics operations. Costa Rica has no military, but has 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 PerezGilberto Perez is an American Professor of Film Studies.Perez studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. He is currently head of the film history department at Sarah Lawrence College.-Awards:...
,
BoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
n President
Evo MoralesJuan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , is a Bolivian politician and activist, currently serving as the 80th President of Bolivia, a position that he has held since 2006. He is also the leader of both the Movement for Socialism party and the cocalero trade union...
formally announced on February 18, 2008, that he will not 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. This effort to close the Institute was endorsed by the non-partisan
Council on Hemispheric AffairsThe Council on Hemispheric Affairs is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization founded in 1975. In its own words, it was established to "promote the common interests of the [Western] hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the...
who called the Institute a "black eye".
SOA Watch
Since 1990, Washington, D.C.-based non profit human rights organization
School of the Americas WatchSchool of the Americas Watch is an advocacy organization founded by Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters in 1990 to protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the United States Department of Defense, at the School of the Americas...
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 regard to the re-naming of the institution, SOA Watch claims that the approach taken by the Department of Defense is not 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.
Protests and public demonstrations
Since 1990, SOA Watch has sponsored an annual public demonstration of protest of SOA/WHISC at Ft. Benning. In 2005, the demonstration drew 19,000 people. The protests are timed to coincide with the anniversary of the assassination of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador, on November 1989, by graduates of the School of the Americas. On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests (
Ignacio EllacuriaIgnacio Ellacuría, S.J. was a Jesuit priest, philosopher, and theologian who did important work as a professor and rector at the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" , a Jesuit university in El Salvador founded in 1965...
,
Segundo MontesSegundo Montes, S.J. was a scholar, philosopher, educator, sociologist and Jesuit priest...
,
Ignacio Martin-BaroIgnacio Martín-Baró, S.J. was a scholar, social psychologist, philosopher and Jesuit priest...
, Joaquin López y López, Juan Ramon Moreno, and Amado López); their housekeeper, Elba Ramos; and her daughter, Celia Marisela Ramos, were murdered by the
Salvadoran MilitaryThe Atlacatl Battalion, a former Salvadoran Army unit, was a rapid-response, counter-insurgency battalion created in 1980 at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, then located in Panama. It was implicated in some of the most infamous incidents of the Salvadoran Civil War...
on the campus of the University of Central America in
San SalvadorThe city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
,
El SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, because they had been labeled as subversives by the government. A United Nations panel concluded that 19 of the 27 killers were SOA graduates.
Graduates of the School of the Americas
A number of graduates of the SOA and WHINSEC have been accused of human rights violations and criminal activity in their home countries.
In August 2007, according to an
Associated Press report, Colonel Alberto Quijano of the Colombian army's Special Forces was arrested for providing security and mobilizing troops for
Diego León Montoya SánchezDiego León Montoya Sánchez , also known as Don Diego, is a former Colombian crime boss leader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel...
(alias "Don Diego"), the leader of the
Norte del Valle CartelThe Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel, is a drug cartel that operates principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia...
and one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted criminals. School of the Americas Watch said in a statement that it matched the names of those in the scandal with its database of attendees at the institute. Alberto Quijano attended courses and was an instructor who taught classes on Peacekeeping Operations and Democratic Sustainment at the school from 2003 to 2004.
Others former students include members of the
Atlacatl BattalionThe Atlacatl Battalion, a former Salvadoran Army unit, was a rapid-response, counter-insurgency battalion created in 1980 at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, then located in Panama. It was implicated in some of the most infamous incidents of the Salvadoran Civil War...
, responsible for the
El Mozote massacreThe El Mozote Massacre took place in and around the village of El Mozote, in Morazán department, El Salvador, on December 11, 1981, when Salvadoran armed forces trained by the United States military killed at least 200 and up to 1000 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran...
and Franck Romain, former leader of the
Tonton MacouteTonton Macoutes was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by President François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. In 1970, the militia was officially renamed the Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale .Haitians called this force the “Tonton Macoutes,” after the Haitian Creole mythological...
, responsible for the
St Jean Bosco massacreThe St Jean Bosco massacre took place in Haiti on 11 September 1988. At least 13 people were killed and around 80 wounded in a three-hour assault on the Saint-Jean Bosco church in Port-au-Prince, which saw the church burned down...
.
Critics of SOA Watch argue the connection is often misleading. According to Paul Mulshine,
Roberto D'AubuissonMajor Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta was the Salvadoran Army officer and political leader who founded the Nationalist Republican Alliance , which he led from 1980 to 1985...
's sole link to the SOA is that he had taken a course in Radio Operations long before El Salvador's civil war began.
Efrain Rios MonttJosé Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. In the 2003 presidential elections, he unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front .Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most...
Otto Pérez Molina
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Panama
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Manuel NoriegaManuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is a Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power; he was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on...
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Peru
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Vladimiro MontesinosVladimiro Ilyich Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional , under President Alberto Fujimori. In 2000, secret videos, which he had recorded, were televised that showed his bribing an elected congressman to leave the opposition...
,
Juan Velasco AlvaradoJuan Francisco Velasco Alvarado was a left-leaning Peruvian General who ruled Peru from 1968 to 1975 under the title of "President of the Revolutionary Government."- Early life :...
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(the current location of the academy) between March 1963 and March 1964, after his participation in the
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.