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{[Copied from Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation]}

History
(Kassie Hollabaugh)

SOA
(Kassie Hollabaugh) The U.S. government founded US Army School of the Americas (SOA) in 1946 and originally located at Fort Gulick in the Panama Canal Zone. From 1961 (during the Kennedy administration), the School was assigned the specific Cold War goal of teaching "anti-communist" counterinsurgency training to military personnel of Latin American countries. At the time and in those places, "communists" were, in the words of anthropologist Lesley Gill, "... an enormously elastic category that could accommodate almost any critic of the status quo."

During this period, Colombia supplied the largest number of students from any client country. As the Cold War drew to a close around 1990, United States foreign policy shifted focus from "anti-communism" to the War on Drugs, with narcoguerillas replacing "communists". This term was later replaced by "the more ominous sounding 'terrorist'".

Between 1978 and 1986, SOA trained soldiers held high ranking positions in Guatemala during three dictatorships, which lead to 200,000 individuals dead.

In Chile, 10 SOA trained soldiers were indicted with Augosto Pinchot for "crimes against humanity." In Nicaragua during Somoza's 45 year rule, 4,000 soldiers were trained at SOA to take part in his Guard death squads, which resulted in countless deaths throughout the country.

In December 1980, SOA-trained soldiers in El Salvador assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero, raped and murdered four U.S. churchwomen, sex Jesuit priests, and more than 900 people in a village called El Mozote. All of this les to the founding of the SOA watch by the Roman Catholic Priest, Father Roy Bourgeois, in attempt to close the school.

On September 21, 1984, the school was expelled from Panama under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. In December of that year, the school reopened at Fort Benning, Georgia, as part of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. All elements of the School of the Americas are located at Fort Benning with the exception of the Helicopter School Battalion which is located at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

In April of 2002, 100 people died when SOA graduates attempted to go against the democratically-elected Chavez government. Seven years later in Honduras, an SOA lead uprising resulted in the death of 83 people and hundreds were mistreated and tortured. A years later in Ecuador, a similar incident occurred. Manuel Rivadeneira Tello, an SOA graduate lead an uprising against the democratically elected president Rafael Correa. As a result of the uprising, eight Ecuadorians were killed and 274 were injured. 10,000 Colombian soldiers were sent to the SOA and since 2002, 35,000 Colombians were killed and 4.5 million have been internally displaced.

WHINSEC
(Kassie Hollabaugh)

By 2000 the School of the Americas was under increasing criticism in the United States for training students who later participated in undemocratic governments and committed human rights abuses. In 2000 Congress, through the FY01 National Defense Act, withdrew the Secretary of the Army's authority to operate USARSA.

Nevertheless, a few weeks later, SOA reopened as WHINSEC. WHINSEC is said to train around 800 soldiers per year. U.S. Army Maj. Joseph Blair, a former director of instruction at the school, said in 2002 that "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."

The reopening of WINSEC was an attempt to get the institute out of the media, so the corporation could restart without all the negative attention it was receiving. In 2013, researcher Ruth Blakeley concluded after interviews with WHINSEC personnel and anti-SOA/WHINSEC protesters that "there was considerable transparency [...] established after the transition from SOA to WHINSEC" and that "a much more rigorous human rights training program was in place than in any other US military institution". During November, 3600 people risked being arrested by crossing onto the grounds of the institute in order to protest the reopening; as a result, 2100 individuals were arrested.

Charter
Authorized by the United States Congress through in 2001, WHINSEC "provides professional education and training to eligible personnel of nations of the Western Hemisphere within the context of the democratic principles set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States (such charter being a treaty to which the United States is a party), while fostering mutual knowledge, transparency, confidence, and cooperation among the participating nations and promoting democratic values, respect for human rights, and knowledge and understanding of United States customs and traditions. WHINSEC has provided training for more than 10,000 individuals since its existence and over 60,000 US and international students since its original establishment in 1946. Its educational format incorporates guest lecturers and experts from sectors of US and international government, non-government, human rights, law enforcement, academic institutions, and interagency departments to share best practices in pursuit of improved security cooperation between all nations of the Western Hemisphere.

Background
The school originated in 1946 as the School of the America’s then in 1949, was renamed as the U.S. Army Caribbean School and then in 1963, John F. Kennedy renamed the school to the U.S. Army School of the Americas.1 In 1984, the school moved from Panama to Fort Benning, Georgia. In December of 2000, the school was closed for the use of torture, extortion, executions, and blackmail. The school reopened in January of 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). It promised to provide quality training and education to the security force personnel of the Western hemisphere.2 WHINSEC implements the most current in army training and has trained more than 23,000 men and women from 36 countries with over 150 master’s degrees.Some courses include: Human rights, ethics, leader development, civil affairs, peacekeeping, and combating transnational threats courses.

Independent Review Board
In 10 USC 2166, Congress establishes an independent review board (a federal advisory committee) to "inquire into the curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, and academic methods of the Institute, other matters relating to the Institute that the Board decides to consider, and any other matter that the Secretary of Defense determines appropriate". The "Board of Visitors" (BoV), as this committee is named, is responsible for reviewing the curriculum of WHINSEC to "determine whether the curriculum complies with applicable United States laws and regulations; is consistent with United States policy goals toward Latin America and the Caribbean; adheres to current United States doctrine; and appropriately emphasizes the matters specified in subsection (d)(1): "The curriculum of the Institute shall include mandatory instruction for each student, for at least 8 hours, on human rights, the rule of law, due process, civilian control of the military, and the role of the military in a democratic society." The Board must also submit an annual report to the Secretary of Defense on its findings and recommendations related to its review of the institute. From 1997 thru 2012, copies of their reports were posted on the Federal Advisory Committee website.

Board of Visitors
The fourteen-member BoV currently includes:

•	Dr. Johanna Mendelson Forman (Chair) •	Dr. Louis Goodman (Vice- Chair) •	P.K. (Ken) Keen (LTG(R)) •	Gen. Lori J. Robinson (CDR UNSNORTHCOM) •	John F. Maisto (Ambassador) •	Senator John McCain (R-AZ) •	Representative Austin Scott (R-GA 8th District) •	Administer Kurt Tidd (CDR, USSOUTHCOM) •	Dr. Joseph Palacios •	Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) •	Representative Adam Smith (D-WA 9th District) •      General David G. Perkins (CG, TRADOC) •	Honor Dan Trimble •	TBD (DAS WHA)
 * GEN Charles H. Jacoby Jr. (United States Northern Command)

It also has six members designated by the Secretary of Defense from the community at large. These six members include representatives from the human rights, religious, academic, and business communities. Members of the Board are not compensated for service on the Board. A full listing of the BoV members can be found on the Federal Advisory Committee website and the WHINSEC public website. The BoV annual meeting is open to the public, and meeting dates are posted in advance on the Federal Register.

Human rights violations by graduates[edit | edit source] (Thadeus Person)
WHINSEC has been criticized for human rights violations committed by former students.

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 the armed forces within several Latin American countries ruled or had disproportionate government influence and committed serious human rights violations in those countries."[citation needed] SOA and WHINSEC graduates continue to surface in news reports regarding both current human rights cases and new reports.

The institute itself explicitly denies accusations of teaching torture: in 1999 the School of the Americas FAQ had several answers denying accusations of torture, such as "Q: What about the accusations that the School teaches torture and murder? A: Absolutely false. The School teaches U.S. Army doctrine which is based on over 200 years of success, and includes a variety of military subjects, none of which include criminal misconduct." WHINSEC says that its curriculum includes human rights, and that "no school should be held accountable for the actions of its graduates."

'In 2002, Amnesty International USA protested that the WHINSEC should be closed for the graduates' abuse of human rights. The organization blames the school for the containment of violence within the United States and advocates that after the suspension of WHINSEC, the government should make amends to the countries affected by its graduates through reparations to the families of victims and a public apology .'

Human Rights Watch says that "training alone, even when it includes human rights instruction, does not prevent human rights abuses."

Colombian Trainee Atrocities[edit | edit source]
Colombian Alirio Urena was trained by WHINSEC, which at the time was still called SOA, before eventually being promoted to major in the Colombia army. In the late 1980's and early 90's, Urena's orders resulted in the murder of over 245 civilians. These murders were notorious as Urena and his soldiers used chainsaws to break down victim's bodies before being thrown into the nearby Cauca River. Urena's crimes are often used to as evidence to question the moral integrity of WHINSEC and it's training process.

Costa Rica
In 2007, Óscar Arias, president of Costa Rica, decided to stop sending Costa Rican police to the WHINSEC after Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Venezuela ended their relationships with the program over the previous 5 years. As a result, the United States government launched a campaign to pressure Costa Rica into changing it's mind, citing additional training would be beneficial for counter-narcotics operations. Costa Rica has no military but has sent some 2,600 police officers to the school. Bolivian President Evo Morales formally announced on February 18, 2008, that he would not send Bolivian military or police officers to WHINSEC. In 2012, President Rafael Correa announced that Ecuador would withdraw all their troops from the military school at Ft. Benning, citing links to human rights violations.

William J. Perry Center human rights controversy involving first WHINSEC Commandant[edit | edit source]
Beginning in late 2014 in response to a request by then Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin, SouthCom's William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS), located at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., was under investigation by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. The probe focused on the time (from March 2004-March, 2013) that the first WHINSEC Commandant, West Point graduate Richard D. Downie, headed the U.S. Southern Command training institution. (Downie had in 2012 given WHINSEC the CHDS Dr. William J. Perry Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education.)  Insider national security whistleblower complaints, some echoing those made about the School of the Americas, included that the Center knowingly protected a CHDS professor from Chile who belonged to the DINA state terrorist organization (whose terrorist attack against a former Chilean foreign minister in 1976 in Washington, D.C. resulted in two deaths, including that of an American); the potential clandestine involvement of Center officials in the 2009 Honduran coup, as well as gross mismanagement, corruption, homophobia, racism, and sexism. In 2015 the Center for Public Integrity quoted an internal Southern Command document that reported that CHDS "staff had exchanged 'racially charged emails' — including one directed at President Barack Obama; used offensive language such as 'faggot,' 'buttboy' and 'homo'; and that 'women employees feel that they are treated inappropriately.' Even senior leaders used 'inappropriate hand gestures,' it said, and mentioned simulations of masturbation." However, unlike the 2012 SouthCom prostitution scandal, there is no public information that suggests any wrongdoers were punished in any way, while those complaining about such malfeasance were harassed by senior officials. "Reports that NDU hired foreign military officers with histories of involvement in human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings of civilians, are stunning, and they are repulsive," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, the author of the "Leahy Law" prohibiting U.S. assistance to military units and members of foreign security forces that violate human rights.

Jesuit Priest Massacre[edit]
On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, Elba Ramos; and her daughter, Celia Marisela Ramos, were murdered by the Salvadoran Military on the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador, because they had been labeled as subversives by the government. A United Nations panel concluded that nineteen of the 27 members of the Salvadoran Military were SOA graduates. They were found guilty of murder.

SOA Watch[edit | edit source]
Main article: School of the Americas Watch

Since 1990, Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit 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 regard to the renaming 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. In 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union finds multiple documents that informs that FBI officials have been keeping a close surveillance upon the SOA Watch as a method of counter-terrorism ''. The actions made by the FBI were proved to have no basis in the spying of the SOA Watch officials ' ''. However, the records recovered by the American Civil Liberties Union also proved that the vigil was shown as peaceful and not hostile in any way. In 2007, the movement won the rights to the release of SOA./WHINSEC students and instructors names from the House of Representatives through a report that accompanied the FY 2008 Defense Appropriation bill and requests that their names will be released to the public in every fiscal year in the future .'

Protests and public demonstrations[edit | edit source]
Since 1990, SOA Watch has sponsored an annual public demonstration of protest of SOA/WHINSEC 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 Ellacuria, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martin-Baro, 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 Military on the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador, because they had been labeled as subversives by the government. A United Nations panel concluded that nineteen of the 27 killers were SOA graduates.'During the Dirty War in Argentina (1974-1983) the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo led marches at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires as a sign of protest to demand the whereabouts of their children, who were reported "disappeared"  and never seen again and their captors and murderers to be brought to justice. The protests were directed at the dictator of Argentina, Jorge Rafael Videlo, a former graduate of WHINSEC. In 2002, Amnesty International USA protested that the WHINSEC should be closed for the graduates' abuse of human rights. The organization blames the school for the containment of violence within the United States and advocates that after the suspension of WHINSEC, the government should make amends to the countries affected by its graduates through reparations to the families of victims and a public apology .'

WHINSEC Response to Criticism
Historically, WHINSEC has cooperated and even encouraged protests in order to deter greater conflict. Acknowledging the importance of human rights allows the school to stay open, and the institution's curriculum change reflects that:

For soldiers in the short, 4-week program, a minimum of 8 hours of human rights training is required. Those attending the program for up to 6 months receive 12 hours, while those more than 6 and up to 12 months receive 40 hours of training. These requirements exceed all required hours by the government, and are standards which no other military academy in the United States has set.

To further encourage institutional transparency, WHINSEC established a Public Relations Officer staff position to work with both individuals and opposition groups, such as SOA Watch and the Center for International Policy. Most notably, WHINSEC opened its doors to the public- a first for any military academy in the United States.