School of Americas nka Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

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School of Americas n/k/a Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation

• Established in Panama in 1946
• Moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1984
• Renamed the name to Western Hemisphere Institute
  for Security Cooperation in 2001
• Provides military education and training to the
  nations of Latin America (Most of them are
  military personnel or police officers. Less than
  1 are civilians)
• Taught in Spanish

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History

• Monroe Doctrine (1823) Foundations of American
  foreign policy
• U.S. would not tolerate foreign intervention in
  the Western Hemisphere
• Necessity of stability in Caribbean and Central
  America for U.S. national security

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• Bidlack-Mallarino Treaty (U.S. Colombia)1846
• - U.S. rights in Panama in exchange for U.S.
  promises to protect
• Colombias sovereignty over Panama
• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (U.S. U.K.)1850
• - U.S. and British to control over any future
  canal in Central America
• Spanish-American War 1898
• - USS Oregon to go around Cape Horn to reach Cuba
  (3 months)
• - 3 weeks via Panama
• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (U.S. U.K.)1901
• - Giving U.S sole authority to proceed with a
  canal
• Hay-Bunan-Varilla Treaty (U.S. Panama)1903
• - Roosevelt arranged for the separation of Panama
  from Colombia
• - Republic of Panama is established
• - Defined the 75 years relationship between the
  U.S. and Panama.
• Panama Canal Treaties (U.S. Panama) 1977
• - In order to create better relationship with
  Panama
• - School moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1984

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Latin American and Caribbean Students at
SOA/WHISC (2001-presemt)
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Countries / Graduates (since 1946)Total about
60,000

• Colombia / 8,679
• El Salvador / 6,776
• Nicaragua / 4,693
• Panama / 4,235
• Bolivia / 4,049
• Peru / 3,997
• Honduras / 3,691
• Venezuela / 3,250
• Chile / 2,405
• Costa Rica / 2,376
• Dominican Republic / 2,330
• Ecuador / 2,356
• Guatemala / 1,676
• Paraguay / 1,084
• Uruguay / 931
• Argentina / 931
• Brazil / 355

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Powerful SOA Graduates

• General Manuel Antonio Noriega (Panama)
• General Omar Torrijos (Panama)
• Roberto Viola (Argentina) March 1981 to
  December 1981.
• Leopoldo Galtieri (Argentina) December 1981 to
  June 1982.
• General Hugo Banzer Suarez (Bolivia)
• Major General Guido Vildoso Calderon (Bolivia)
• Major General Guillermo Rodriguez (Ecuador)
  (1972-76)
• Peruvian Major General Juan Velasco Alvarado
  (Peru) (1968-1975)

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U.S. Invasion of Panama

• General Manuel Antonio Noriega ruled from 1983
  until 1989
• Create new government to renegotiate the 1977
  Panama Canal Treaties (Ensure U.S. military
  control over the Canal)
• CIA spend 10 millions to finance Guillermo
  Endara, who was elected in May 1989 against
  Noriega.
• Fourteen major interventions by U.S. forces from
  1856 to 1903. (1989 invasion was the most violent
  event in Panamas history)
• Over 27,000 U.S. troops invaded
• Panama Defense Force (PDF) 3,000 soldiers
• War against communists
• Cost 163 million in military operation
  expenditures
• 23 American died
• 300 Panamanian civilian died
• 3,000 Panamanian civilians received physical
  injuries
• 15,000 Panamanian lost homes

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El Salvador Civil War 1980 to 1992

• In 1980, Oscar Romero (Priest of the Roman
  Catholic Church)
• 2 out of 3 were SOA graduates
• In 1980, Four U.S. Churchwomen
• 3 out of 5 were SOA graduates
• In 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper,
  and her fifteen-year-old daughter
• 26 out of 19 were SOA graduates

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Massacres Done by Atlacatl Battalion
(U.S.-trained) in 1981

• El Mozote 393 people
• La Joya (Dec. 11) more than 20 people
• La Rancheria (Dec. 12) some 30 people
• Los toriles (Dec. 12)
• Jocote Amarillo (Dec. 13)
• Cerro Pando canton (Dec. 13)
• Total 794 victims

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Other Massacres

• Las Hojas Massacre (1983)16 killed
• Lake Suchitlan Massacre (1983)117 killed
• Los Llanitos Massacre (1984)68 killed
• San Sebastian Massacre (1988)10 killed
• University of Central America Massacre (1989)8
  killed
• Atlacatl Battalion hight rank officers are SOA
  graduates
• 85 of the human rights abuses committed by
  government forces
• 7 percent by the FMLN

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Honduras Battalion 316 (The intelligence unit
trained by CIA)

• Keeping Honduras secure from leftists
• United States secretly provided funds for
  Argentine counterinsurgency experts to train
  anti-Communist forces in Honduras
• At least 19 key members of Honduran Battalion 316
  graduated from the SOA.

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U.S supported Operation Condor (1975)

• Secret agreement established in Chile to murder
  their political opponents around the world
• Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,Chile, Paraguay and
  Uruguay
• Pinochets 1998 arrest also requested the
  indictment of 30 other high-ranking officials of
  the Chilean dictatorship. Ten of those are SOA
  graduates.

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School of America Watch

• Father Roy Bourgeois - SOA Watch Founder
• Four year in military (NATO station in Europe
  in Vietnam)
• Ordained a Catholic priest in 1972
• Worked with the poor of Bolivia for five years
  before being arrested and forced to leave the
  country, then under the rule of dictator and SOA
  grad General Hugo Banzer.
• In 1980, four US churchwomen were murdered--two
  of them friends of his
• Founded School of the Americas Watch in 1990
• Spent over four years in US federal prisons for
  nonviolent protests
• 7,000 people gathered at front of SOA to protest
  in 1998.

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Protests (November 17-19, 2006)

• Over 22,000 people came to protest
• 16 human rights activists were arrested
• 15 of the 16 arrested were released after bail
  money (500 - 1,000/per person) was posted.
• One person opted to remain in prison, awaiting
  trial
• The 16 will appear in federal court in Columbus
  on January 29, 2007 to put the SOA/WHICS itself
  on trial
• Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El
  Salvador, Paraguay and Peru
• Examples
• The Chilean human rights group Kamarikun
• The Movement of Christians for Peace with Justice
  and Dignity the US-leased air base in Manta,
  Ecuador

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Legislation Summary

• 1993 To eliminate funding to the SOA
• Lost by a vote of 174 256
• 1994 To prohibit any funds to be used to operate
  SOA
• Lost by a vote of 175-217.
• 1995 To close SOA and establish a different
  academy
• 1997 To close the SOA.
• 1997 To cut funding to SOA.
• Lost by a vote of 210-217.
• 1998 To cut funding to the SOA.
• Lost by a vote of 201-212.
• 1999 To call for a close to the SOA.
• 2000 To close the SOA.
• Defeated by a vote of 214 to 204.
• 2001 To close the WHISC

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SOA/WHISC Operating Budget

• 19953.8 million
• 1996 3.9 million
• 1999 4 million
• 2000 4.4 million
• 2002 5.6 million
• 2003 7.6 million
• 2004 7.5 million
• Current cost to keep the school open is 7.5
  million

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Founding sources

• Operations and Maintenance, Army (OMA)
• United States Foreign Military Sales (FMS)
• International Military Education and Training
  (IMET)
• International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL)

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International Military Education and Training
(IMET)

• Created in 1976
• Grew out of the Vietnamera Nixon Doctrine that
  aimed to avoid US casualties (Asian boys to fight
  Asian wars)
• Since the mid-1990s, funding levels have been
  rising steadily.
• In 1999, Congress provided 50 million for IMET,
  which trained nearly 9,000 students (usually
  officers) from 124 countries.
• For 2003, the Administration requested 80
  million to fund training for 133 countries
• Majority of the students at SOA/WHICS are funded
  by IMET

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Bureau for International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs (INL)

• to reduce the entry of illegal drugs into the
  United States
• to minimize the impact of international crime on
  the United States
• Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma,
  China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
  Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico,
  Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
  Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam

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Similar schools

• Inter-American Air Force Academy
• Like the SOA/WHISC, the IAAFA is a major U.S.
  destination for Latin American military
  trainees.
• Using Spanish language
• Command and General Staff College
• Trains over 22,000 US and foreign officers
  annually to lead combat units.
• 2000- 2001, 90 soldiers from 79 countries
  attended the school
• Teaches one of the main courses taught at the
  SOA, but in English rather than Spanish.

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Foreign Military Training Schools in USA

• Examples
• US Army Command and General Staff College, Kansas
• - 90 soldiers from 79 countries (2000-2001)
  attended the school
• - Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia, Colombia,
  Mali, Senegal, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, and
  Zimbabwe.
• US Army Intelligence Center and School, Arizona
• - 82 military students in 1998
• - Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and
  Mexico
• US Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School,
  North Calorina
• - Colombia, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Mexico,
  Philippines, Nepal, Thailand, Turkey

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Supporters of the School

• Over 60,000 graduates from 21 Latin American
  countries since 1946
• Less than 1 percent of those graduates have ever
  been linked to human rights abuses
• No link between graduates who committed human
  rights abuses and the School

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Critics of the School

• (During Cold War)
• To fight against Communists
• (After Cold War)
• To protect U.S. economic interests
• Citibank, IBM, Banana Republic, Gap, Guess,
  Liz Claiborne, Wal-Mart, etc