SOA/WHINSEC

The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the School of the Americas (SOA), is a combat training school for Latin American Soldiers located at Fort Benning, Georgia. It is an institute of the US Department of Defense, which has trained over 64,000 Latin American soldiers since its establishment in 1946. The United States federal government funds WHINSEC, and soldiers are trained in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, psychological warfare, and interrogation tactics. WHINSEC has received harsh criticism from many Americans and Latin Americans since its establishment. Many feel that WHINSEC graduates use their skills to wage war against their own people. Educators, religious workers, student leaders, and hundreds of thousands of others who work for the rights of the poor have been tortured, raped or assassinated by WHINSEC graduates without consequences. In fact, three of the five El Salvadoran National Guardsmen who murdered Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford Maura Clarke, and Jean Donovan were trained at WHINSEC (then the SOA). WHINSEC is still in existence today because they claim to be carrying out their mission to provide professional education and training, respect human rights, and promote democratic values. Many organizations are working to have WHINSEC shut down, but efforts have not yet been successful.