The School of the Americas - Essay Example

The schools presence in the region represented the United States growing role in Latin America. With the signing of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) in 1947 (Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Washington, DC) the United States involvement in the region grew even more. Yet another name change came in 1949. The U.S. Army Caribbean School continued to train both U.S. and Latin American soldiers. In 1963 the school got its most notable name: The School of the Americas (SOA).

The SOA began training using Spanish only and controversy surrounding the school began. With the handing over of the Panama Canal to the government of Panama the school needed a new home. After much politicking, the Spanish speaking school was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia rather than Texas that had a Spanish speaking population (where the school thought was the most logical choice). In an August 1996 report sent to the Honorable Ronald V. . The School of Americas thus played a part in this transition by providing Spanish language military training to Latin American countries that chose to send soldier-students.

The School of the Americas closed in December of 2000 after much controversy and reopened in January 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation as a result of the National Defense Authorization Act.2. Training Provided.As stated earlier, The School of the Americas functioned as a Spanish language military school and continues as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. It is interesting to note that the new school offers instruction (again in Spanish) in many of the same courses that the SOA did at the same location.

The current school offers training to Latin American military personnel in courses such as2:Civil-Military Operations CourseInformation Operations CourseDepartmental Resource ManagementHuman Rights Instructor CoursePeace Operations CourseThe schools website claims that all courses listed are accredited at at least the baccalaureate level, students can receive credit for courses taken,3 and that all students receive at least eight hours of human rights training. As the SOA the school offered courses using manuals with such titles as4:Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual-1983KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation-July 19633.

The Controversy.As the SOA, the school came under scrutiny by various human rights groups because of the type of training provided to the Latin American students and the resulting human rights violations by SOA graduates. The United States was accused of training these soldiers to protect its economic interests in the region. CIA manuals used by