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"What was the objective behind the torture and the disappearance? Where did the perpetrators of torture and genocide come from? Where did it all come from? It came from the world's so-called leader in democracy, the United States. The United States trained more than 80,000 personnel in the School of the Americas and [other] military academies."
---Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize winner who was imprisoned and tortured for 14 months in Argentina
From 1976 to 1983, Argentina suffered a period know as the Dirty War, a time characterized by military coups, torture and disappearances. Two of the most notorious dictators, Roberto Viola (March — December 1981) and Leopoldo Galtieri (December 1981 - June 1982) were School of the Americas (SOA) graduates.
A civilian court sentenced Viola to 17 years for his crimes in 1985, but he was released after serving only 4 years as a result of military pressure. Galtieri was acquitted in the trials on charges of committing crimes against the Argentine people, but convicted later in 1986 on charges of incompetence. He was set free after serving only a small portion of his sentence, again as a result of military pressure.
According to Argentina Nunca Mas, "a young woman testified that after she had been held blindfolded and tortured for months, she and others in her group were allowed to clean themselves, in preparation for a visit to the detention center by General Galtieri... Galtieri asked if she knew who he was, and if she understood his absolute power over her. 'If I say you live, you live, and if I say you die, you die. As it happens, you have the same Christian name as my daughter, and so you live.'"
Following the war, the National Commission of the Disappeared began to collect testimony about the atrocities that had occurred. Unfortunately, the complete text of the testimonies has been archived by the Argentine government and is not available to the public. However, a list gleaned from the testimonies names seven SOA graduates, including the head of a clandestine detention center.
Today, the SOA continues to train the military muscle to enforce oppressive economic policies. The purpose behind US foreign military training is to control Latin America and it's resources. By controlling the armies, the Pentagon controls the people. The military-to-military relationship between the United States and Argentina is very close, and has grown more cordial during the 1990s. Though in dollar terms Argentina is not a major aid recipient, cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Argentine defense establishments is frequent and takes place at all levels. Argentina's military is the hemisphere's third-largest recipient of International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding. Not only Argentines police and military gets trained at the School of the Americas but repressive forces from nearly every country in Latin America and the Caribbean:
Soldiers at the SOA are trained to protect the interests of U.S. corporations and maintain the economic status quo for the few rich and powerful in the U.S. and their cohorts in Latin America.
In official SOA publications economic development along free market principles is identified as the "primary foreign policy goal[s] of the U.S." in Latin America. The SOA strategy is "to prepare military and police forces to respond to current threats to the achievement of those goals."
For example, in Mexico, hours after NAFTA went into effect, indigenous communities rose up to say "No!" The Mexican military immediately moved in with troops, helicopters, and heavy artillery. At least 18 of the high-level officers involved in the civilian-targeted warfare campaign are SOA graduates.
In Colombia, the 2000 and 2001 Human Rights Watch reports and a recent U.S. State Department report link SOA-trained soldiers to numerous peasant massacres and the assassination of labor leaders and striking workers.
Last year the Bolivian government sold the public water system of Cochabamba to a private corporation. As a result, the water rates immediately doubled and at times tripled. As thousands took the streets, Bolivian President, former military dictator, and SOA graduate
Hugo Banzer sent out the armed forces to attack civilians.
Gen. Walter Cespedes Raallo, Military Governor of Cochabamba, is an SOA grad as well. In 1998, while he was Commander of the Joint Task Force in the Chapre coca region, the level of state sponsored violence escalated. Fifteen farmers were killed and others were brutally tortured. Cespedes was indicted for negligent homicide in three of these deaths. As a result of continual but the case is slow to move forward because of death threats against the prosecution and human rights workers, it is uncertain if this case will ever make it thorough the courts.
It is no surprise that as state sponsored violence is used to support economic injustices against the people in Latin America, graduates of the “School of Assassins” are consistently at the forefront.
What is the SOA?
The School of the Americas (SOA), renamed in 2001 the 'Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” (WHISC), is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers located at Fort Benning, GA.
Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the 'biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the 'School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.
Over its 55 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared”, massacred, and forced into refuge by those trained at the School of Assassins.
Background Information | Struggles in Argentina | www.agp.org
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