WHINSEC: new breed of armed forces

Twenty years ago six Jesuit priests were murdered in El Salvador, along with their housekeeper and her daughter. It may sound tragic and out of date, but from Nov. 21 to 23, thousands gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, Ga., in a vigil at the site of the School of the Americas, since renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

Why would a vigil for Central American martyrs be held at a U.S. military installation on our own soil? Because WHINSEC is not a school for our soldiers, but for those who support democracies we favor in Latin America. 

The school was founded during the Cold War in Panama and was, by all accounts, extremely effective in forming leaders against the widespread guerilla warfare throughout the region. These battles were part of the American effort to keep communists off of our continent. 

It was extradited to America and referred to as the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America” by the former Panamanian president, Jorge Illueca.

In 1989, six priests were murdered by armed members of the Salvadoran army in their residence within the walls of the Jesuit University of Central America. While none of the perpetrators were brought to justice, the identity and background of the death squad is widely believed to be graduates of the School of the Americas.

Nine years before, a similar group murdered the archbishop of San Salvador, Óscar Romero. At the same time, in the same country, four Catholic nuns and one lay missionary were raped and murdered by yet another group of believed SOA graduates and those under their command, also in the standing Salvadoran army.

One begins to understand the opponents of the school’s title for the SOA: the School of Assassins.

Since then, the Department of Defense has advertised a number of reforms and curriculum revisions. Unfortunately, the violence has still not passed. Today other countries, particularly Honduras, are at risk from the action of graduates. WHINSEC continues to insist the school teaches methods to support democratic governments. It contests that the school itself, like the educators of any other criminals, cannot be held totally accountable for the abuses of power that its graduates commit.

This does not change the fact that the United States is condoning the education of foreign militants, perhaps even terrorists. This curriculum is not disclosed, but the leaders who have attended WHINSEC overwhelmingly use force.  Nations who send students are typically rich in oil or have United States agricultural interests, and are led by WHINSEC graduates kept in power by WHINSEC-trained and led militaries. The atrocities committed are kept quiet and the school continues, filling the dire need for security in Central America.

Unfortunately, the threat of violence from graduates is nearly the only unrest.  Because of the assassination of the most suspicious of characters: religious leaders, educators, union organizers, students, missionaries and those who work with the poor. Every citizen knows the consequences of being noticed. There is no heart for revolution. 

We have the power to make a difference in these countries. We are a democracy. Let us not stand by and allow the truth, the power and the rights we have to steer our country disappear in our negligence, like so many leaders in Central America.

Maria Bergh is a fourth-year architecture student.