The
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (
WHISC or
WHINSEC), formerly the
School of the Americas (
SOA; ) is a
United States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military...
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
Columbus, GeorgiaColumbus is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia. The city is the county seat of Muscogee County. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2008, had an estimated population of 287,653...
in the United States.
Between 1946 and 2001, the SOA trained more than 61,000
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n soldiers and policemen. Some of them became notorious for
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
violations, including generals
Leopoldo GaltieriLeopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from 22 December 1981 to 18 June 1982, during the last military dictatorship. The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him...
,
Efraín Ríos 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...
and
Manuel NoriegaManuel Antonio Noriega is a former general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.He was never, contrary to popular belief, officially the president of Panama, but held the post of "chief executive officer" for a brief period in 1989...
,
dictatorA dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power with military control but, without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
s such as
BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
's
Hugo BanzerHugo Banzer Suárez was a politician, military general, dictator and President of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978, as a dictator; and then again from August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001, as constitutional President.-Military and ideological...
, some of
Augusto PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean army general and later head of state as president. He was the Commander in Chief of the Chilean army from 1973 to 1998, president of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981 and President of the Republic from 1974 until the return of...
's officers, and the founders of
Los ZetasLos Zetas was initially the criminal mercenary army for Mexico's Gulf Cartel. However, since the arrest of Osiel Cárdenas Guillen, as well as other events, the two entities are a combined trafficking force, with the Zetas now taking a more active role in drug trafficking. Their two organizations...
, a
mercenaryA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
army for one of Mexico's largest drug trafficking organizations, the
Gulf CartelThe Gulf Cartel is a Mexican drug trafficking cartel based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The cartel is present in 13 states with important areas of operation in the cities of Nuevo Laredo, Miguel Alemán, Reynosa and Matamoros in the northern state ofTamaulipas; it also has important operations in the...
. The terrorist
Luis Posada CarrilesLuis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles is a Cuban-born Venezuelan anti-Castro terrorist...
was educated there in 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 weak. According to the WHINSEC, the education now emphasizes
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
and
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
.
History
In 1946, in the early days of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, the
Latin American Training Center – U.S. Ground Forces was established in
PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
in the US army base 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 Sherman.It was perhaps best known as the location of the School of the Americas...
, now housing the Melia Hotel.
During 1949 it was expanded and became the
U.S. Army Caribbean Training Center. It was 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 branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
schools.
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 federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military...
, was created as part of the
National Defense Authorization ActThe National Defense Authorization Act is the name of a United States federal law that is enacted each fiscal year 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 of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
in 2001. The WHINSEC teaches its courses primarily in the
Spanish languageSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
, especially for
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n 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 an international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. Its members are the thirty-five independent states of the Americas with two countries suspended...
." 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 refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
, the
rule of lawThe rule of law, also called supremacy of law, means that the law is above everyone and it applies to everyone. Whether governor or governed, rulers or ruled, no one is above the law, no one is exempted from the law, and no one can grant exemption to the application of the law.Rule of law is a...
,
due processDue process alternatively due process of law or the process that is due, is the principle that the government must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person according to the law...
, 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 [of Defense] deems appropriate."
According to the
Center for International PolicyThe Center for International Policy , located in Washington DC, was founded in 1975 by diplomats and peace activists in the wake of the Vietnam War. The Center campaigned to ensure that governments' human rights records became a factor in the allocation of U.S. aid...
, 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. Currently, Bishop
Robert C. MorlinoRobert Charles Morlino is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the fourth and current Bishop of Madison, having previously served as Bishop of Helena.-Early life and education:...
of the Diocese of Madison, WI, fills the position of Chairman of the Board of Visitors.
Human rights violations
The former School of the Americas had been criticized for its role in the participation in human rights violations by some of its graduates, and although there is no direct evidence to prove their claims critics argue that the education received at the school encourages such practices.
source? In response to their critics WHINSEC developed a course on human rights protections as a mandatory portion of the curriculum.
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 refers to the state-sponsored violence against Argentine citizenry and left-wing guerrillas from roughly 1976 to 1983 carried out primarily by Jorge Rafael Videla's military government...
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 as described above. They also argue that no school should be held accountable for the actions of some of its graduates.
Intelligence training manuals
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 refers to discrete information with currency and relevance, and the abstraction, evaluation, and understanding of such information for its accuracy and value...
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 1960's program. One part was "Project X", a military effort to create Intelligence field manuals drawn from counterinsurgency experience in Vietnam. These manuals influenced the later "KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation-July 1963",...
.
http://www.lawg.org/misc/Publications-manuals.htm The manuals were not used for classroom instruction and were mistakenly allowed to be included in their additional reading materials. 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.
Joseph KennedyJoseph Patrick Kennedy II is an American businessman and Democratic politician.He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 8th congressional district of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999. In 1979 he had founded and led Citizens Energy Corporation, a non-profit energy company...
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 the
Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military...
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.
Notably,
David AddingtonDavid S. Addington , was legal counsel and chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney . During 21 years of federal service, Addington has worked at the CIA, the Reagan White House, the Department of Defense, four congressional committees, and the Cheney Office of the Vice President. He...
and
Dick CheneyRichard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush....
retained personal copies of the training manuals.
Participation
In 2004, Venezuela ceased all training of Venezuelan soldiers at WHINSEC. 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 government. Legislative power is vested in both the...
, headed by President
Nestor KirchnerNéstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić was the President of Argentina from May 25, 2003 until December 10, 2007. A Justicialist, Kirchner was previously governor of the province of Santa Cruz....
, decided to stop sending soldiers to train at WHINSEC, and the government of
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
affirmed that it will continue its current policy of not sending soldiers to WHINSEC. In 2007,
Oscar AriasÓscar Rafael de Jesús Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican politician who has been President of Costa Rica since 2006. 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...
, president of
Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
, 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:...
,
BolivianBolivian may refer to:* Something of, or related to Bolivia* A person from Bolivia, or of Bolivian descent. For information about the Bolivian people, see Demographics of Bolivia and Culture of Bolivia. For specific Bolivians, see List of Bolivians....
President
Evo MoralesJuan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , has been the President of Bolivia since 2006. He has been declared the country's first fully indigenous head of state in the 470 years since the Spanish Conquest....
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.
Public demonstrations
SOA Watch sponsors an annual (since 1990) public demonstration of protest at Ft. Benning. In 2005, the demonstration drew 19,000 people. More recently those numbers have increased significantly. 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 SalvadorEl Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. It lies on the Gulf of Fonseca, as does Nicaragua further south. It has a population of approximately 5.7 million people as of 2009 on...
. A United Nations panel concluded that 19 of the 27 killers were SOA graduates.
Graduates of the School Of The Americas
Some 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 among other aliases 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 students are 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 responsible for some of the most infamous incidents of the Salvadoran Civil War...
responsible for the
El Mozote massacreThe El Mozote Massacre took place in 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 1000 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign....
.
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...
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|Panama
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Manuel NoriegaManuel Antonio Noriega is a former general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.He was never, contrary to popular belief, officially the president of Panama, but held the post of "chief executive officer" for a brief period in 1989...
,
Omar TorrijosOmar Efraín Torrijos Herrera was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and the de facto leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981. Torrijos never held elected office in Panama, and was never president...
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|Peru
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Vladimiro MontesinosVladimiro Lenin Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional , under President Alberto Fujimori...
,
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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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.