Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

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 notorious for having been responsible for human rights violations, including generals Leopoldo Galtieri and Manuel Noriega, dictators such as Bolivia's Hugo Banzer as well as some of Augusto Pinochet's officers.cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = Notorious Graduates | url = http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=230&cat=63 | accessmonthday = November 16 | accessyear = 2005] Davies, George [http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=820 ‘I’ll take the CIA torture suite’] , "The First Post", dated August 16 2006, accessed August 14 2006.] The terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was educated here by 1961, although he never graduated.cite news
last = Candiotti
first = Susan
title = Alleged anti-Castro terrorist Posada arrested
work = CNN
date = 2005-05-18
url = http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/05/17/posada.arrest/
accessdate = 2008-05-22] [http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/LouisPosada2005.htm National Lawyers Guild Calls for Immediate Extradition of Luis Posada to Venezuela] , NLG press release, April 20, 2005. Accessed 24 February 2007.] cite web | author = National Security Archive | title = LUIS POSADA CARRILES, THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm] 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. According to the WHINSEC the education now emphasizes democracy and human rights. [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0713-03.htm Bay Area Protesters Sentenced in Georgia] CommonDreams.org.] cite web | publisher= Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation | title = FAQ | url = https://www.benning.army.mil/WHINSEC/about.asp?id=37 ]

History

In 1946, in the early days of the Cold War, the "Latin American Training Center – U.S. Ground Forces" was established in Panama in buildings that now house 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 Army 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 Defense, was created as part of the National Defense Authorization Act by Congress in 2001. The WHINSEC teaches primarily in the Spanish language, especially for Latin American military personnel, but is now also open for civilians and persons from outside Latin America. Presently roughly 700-1,000 students per year attend WHINSEC.

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 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." [cite web | publisher = Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation | title = History of the Institute | url = https://www.benning.army.mil/WHINSEC/about.asp?id=31 ] Its motto is "Libertad, Paz y Fraternidad" (Liberty, Peace and Brotherhood). [cite web | publisher = Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation | title = A Welcome from the Commandant | url = https://www.benning.army.mil/whinsec/about.asp?id=33 | accessmonthday = May 16 | accessyear = 2006 ]

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 [of Defense] deems appropriate." [cite web|url=https://www.benning.army.mil/WHINSEC/democracy.asp?id=95 |title=Democracy & Human Rights at WHINSEC |publisher=Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation |date= |accessdate=2008-10-12] cite web | publisher = Center for International Policy | title = Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation | url = http://www.ciponline.org/facts/soa.htm | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ]

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 is consistent with U.S. policy goals toward Latin America and the Caribbean.

Controversy

The School of the Americas has been criticized for the participation in human rights violations by some of its graduates. Critics argue that the education encouraged such practices and that this continues in the WHINSEC.

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 war years in the Southern Cone and the civil war years in Central America -- in which Latin American militaries ruled or had disproportionate government influence and committed serious human rights violations. Training manuals used at the SOA and elsewhere from the early 1980s through 1991 promoted techniques that violated human rights and democratic standards. 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 only some of its graduates.

=Intelligence training manuals= see also|U.S. Army and CIA interrogation 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 intelligence 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 X. [http://www.lawg.org/misc/Publications-manuals.htm] According to Lisa Haugaard of School of the Americas Watch, these manuals taught repressive techniques and promoted the violation of human rights throughout Latin America and around the globe. [cite web | author = Haugaard, Lisa | title = US Training Manuals Declassified | url = http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/SOA/SOA_TortureManuals.html | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ] 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" [cite web
author =
year =2002
url =http://www.amnestyusa.org/stoptorture/mspa.pdf
title =Unmatched Power, Unmet Principles: The Human Rights Dimensions of US Training of Foreign Military and Police Forces 2002 Report of Amnesty International USA (Amnesty International USA)
format =
work =
publisher =Amnesty International
accessmonthday =April 14
accessyear =2006
*cite web
author =
date =February 21, 1997
url =http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=269
title = Pentagon Investigation Concludes that Techniques in SOA manuals were ‘mistakes.’
format =
work =
publisher = School of the Americas Watch
accessmonthday =April 14
accessyear =2006

]

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 did not represent U.S. government policy, and pursued recovery of the manuals from the governments and some individual students. cite journal
first =
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1992
month =August 27
title =Fact Sheet Concerning Training Manuals Containing Materials Inconsistent With U.S. Policy
journal =From the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense/Public Affairs Office
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = ]

Participation

In 2004, Venezuela ceased all training of Venezuelan soldiers at WHINSEC. [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = National Venezuela Solidarity Conference | url = http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1259 | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ] 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 will continue its current policy of not sending soldiers to WHINSEC. [cite web | work= School of the Americas Watch | title = Argentina & Uruguay abandon SOA! | url = http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1290 | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ] [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = ¡No Más! No More! | url = http://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?id=1077 | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ] 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. [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = Costa Rica to Cease Police Training at the SOA/WHINSEC | url = http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=1540 | accessmonthday = May 31 | accessyear = 2007] 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 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). [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = Bolivian Military Withdraws from Controversial U.S. Army Training School | url = http://www.soaw.org/pressrelease.php?id=142 | accessmonthday = February 18 | accessyear = 2008]

Legislative action

A bill to abolish the school with 134 co-sponsors was introduced to the House Armed Services Committee in 2005. [cite web | publisher = The Library of Congress | title = H.R.1217 | url = http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.01217: | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ]

In June 2007 the McGovern/Lewis Amendment to shut off funding for the Institute failed by 6 votes. [cite web|url=http://www.coha.org/2007/07/06/whinsec-remains-open-congress-narrowly-fails-to-halt-funding-the-former-school-of-the-americas/ |title=WHINSEC Remains Open: Congress Narrowly Fails to Halt Funding the Former School of the Americas |work= Council on Hemispheric Affairs |date=2007-07-06 |accessdate=2008-10-12] This effort to close the Institute was endorsed by the non-partisan Council on Hemispheric Affairs who called the Institute a "black eye". [cite web|url=http://www.coha.org/?s=WHINSEC |work=Council on Hemispheric Affairs |title= Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation |date= |accessdate=2008-10-12]

OA 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. [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = About SOA Watch | url = http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=100 | accessmonthday = May 6 | accessyear = 2006 ] It maintains a database with graduates of both the SOA and WHINSEC who have been accused of human rights violations and other criminal activity. [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = SOA/WHINSEC Grads in the News| url = http://soaw.org/article.php?id=205 | accessmonthday = March 6 | accessyear = 2008] 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. [cite web | work = School of the Americas Watch | title = Critique of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation | url = http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=110 | accessmonthday = November 16 | accessyear = 2005]

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. [cite journal
first =Tony
last =Krickl
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2007
month = February 3
title =CGU Student Josh Harris to Spend Two Months in Federal Prison for Protesting
journal =Claremont Courier
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://www.claremont-courier.com/pages/Topstory020307.1.html]

Notorious graduates of The School Of The Americas

According to SOA Watch

According to SOA Watch, many graduates of the SOA and WHINSEC are responsible for 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 Sánchez (alias “Don Diego”), the leader of the Norte del Valle Cartel 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. [cite news| agency = Associated Press | work=School of the Americas Watch | title = US trained Colombian soldiers jailed for working with cartel, says human rights group | url = http://soaw.org/newswire_detail.php?id=1390 | accessmonthday = August 18 | accessyear = 2007] Others students are the Atlacatl Battalion responsible for the El Mozote massacre.Critics of SOA Watch argue the connection is often misleading. According to Paul Mulshine, Roberto D'Aubuisson's sole link to the SOA is that he had taken a course in Radio Operations long before El Salvador's civil war began. [cite web|author=Mulshine, Paul |title=The War in Central America Continues|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20021219221936/http:/216.247.220.66/archives/politics/watchwar.htm|accessdaymonth=6 November |accessyear=2007]

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. [Zalman, Amy. [http://terrorism.about.com/od/groupsleader1/p/LuisPosada.htm Luis Posada Carriles (anti-Castro Cuban terrorism)] ]

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. [cite web|url=http://mcgovern.house.gov/?sectionid=15&parentid=4&sectiontree=4,15&itemid=74 |title=Congressman James McGovern : Latest News : Congressman McGoverns statements on limiting funding for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation |publisher=Mcgovern.house.gov |date= |accessdate=2008-10-12] [cite news|url=http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/teaching-torture/1495/ |title=Teaching Torture |work=LA Weekly |date= |accessdate=2008-10-12]

ources

Further reading

*cite book
last = Danner
first = Mark
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2004
title = Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror
publisher = New York Review Books
location =
id = ISBN 1-59017-152-7
*cite book
last = Harbury
first = Jennifer K.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2005
title = Truth, Torture, and the American Way
publisher = Beacon Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-8070-0307-7 [http://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?id=1076 Review] , "Highlights parallels in the practices of U.S. government operatives and their local “assets” in the current conflict and in the civil wars that wracked Central America in the 1980s and early 1990s."
*cite journal
first = Doug
last = Ireland
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2004
month = July 22
title = Teaching Torture: Despite a lot of talk about torture being "un-American," Congress is quietly keeping alive the School of the Americas, our country's infamous torture-training school
journal = LA Weekly
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://www.alternet.org/rights/19313/
*cite journal
first = George
last = Monbiot
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2001
month = October 30
title = Backyard terrorism: The US has been training terrorists at a camp in Georgia for years - and it's still at it
journal = The Guardian
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,583254,00.html
*cite journal
first = Patrick
last = O'Neill
authorlink =
coauthors =
date = February 18
month = 2005
title = SOA protesters headed for prison: Sister, students among 14 charged with trespass at Army school
journal = National Catholic Reporter
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005a/021805/021805h.php
*cite journal
first = Dana
last = Priest
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1996
month = September 21
title = U.S. Instructed Latins On Executions, Torture; Manuals Used 1982-91, Pentagon Reveals
journal = The Washington Post
volume =
issue =
pages = Section: A Pg. A01
id =
url = http://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?id=851
*cite journal
first = Bill
last = Quigley
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =
month =
title = The Case for Closing the School of the Americas
journal = BYU Journal of Public Law (20 BYU J. Pub. L. 1)
volume = 20
issue = 1
pages =
id =
url = http://www.loyno.edu/~quigley/LReview-Quigley.pdf
*cite visual | crew= Richter, Robert | year= 1996 | title= Inside the School of the Assassins | medium= VHS
*imdb title|id=0144911|title=Inside the School of the Assassins
*cite visual | crew= Smihula, John | year= 2003 | url= http://www.hiddeninplainsight.org/ | title = Hidden in Plain Sight | Medium=DVD | location= | distributor= :*cite web
author = Leah Wells
year = 2003
url = http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1118-15.htm
title = "Hidden in Plain Sight" Review
format =
work =
publisher = Common Dreams NewsCenter
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006:*imdb title|id=0384994|title=Hidden in Plain Sight
*Gill, Lesley. "The School of the Americas - Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas." Durham: Duke University Press, 2004.

See also

*United States-Latin American relations

External links

Official government websites

*cite web
author = Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
year =
url = https://www.benning.army.mil/whinsec/index.asp
title = Official website
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = US Army War College
year =
url = http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/usarsa/main.htm
title = School of the Americas (defunct website)
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006

Other websites

*cite web
author = Center for International Policy
year =
url = http://www.ciponline.org/facts/soa.htm
title = Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = World History Archives
year =
url = http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/40/index-a.html
title = History of the School of the Americas
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = Info Anarchy Wiki
year =
url = http://www.infoanarchy.org/en/School_Of_The_Americas
title = School of the Americas
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = July 10
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = School of the Americas Watch
year =
url = http://www.soaw.org/
title = Updates & Actions
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = Axis of Logic
year =
url = http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=138&num=20097
title = 20,000 demonstrate against US military torture training center
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = Latin America Working Group
year =
url = http://www.lawg.org/misc/training_manuals.htm
title = Military Training Manuals
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = April 14
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
author = Council on Hemispheric Affairs
year =
url = http://www.coha.org/2006/06/08/torture-is-un-american-the-soa-and-its-devastating-legacy/
title = Torture is Un-American: The SOA and its Devastating Legacy
format =
work =
publisher =
accessmonthday = June 8
accessyear = 2006