Inside Story Americas: Time to Close US 'School of the Assassins'?

September 20, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

Campaigners continue to risk jail trying to close one of the most notorious US institutions. Based in Fort Benning, Georgia, the United States Army School of the Americas, closed in 2000 and reopened in 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is blamed for helping sow regional strife across Latin America by training military personnel later implicated in torture and the violent overthrow of democratic governments. So it time for the School of the Americas to close? Inside Story Americas discusses with guests.

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In This Video

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the US Army School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense Institute located at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia, that provides military training to government personnel of Latin American ... Explore this topic

US-Latin America relations

During the Cold War era, the United States feared the spread of communism and, in some cases, overthrew democratically elected governments perceived at the time as becoming left-wing or unfriendly to U.S. interests. Examples include the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, the 1964 Br... Explore this topic

School of the Americas Watch

School of the Americas Watch is an advocacy organization founded by former Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters in 1990 to protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the United States Department of Defense, at the School of th... Explore this topic

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km², almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area.... Explore this topic

Fort Benning

Fort Benning is a United States Army post outside Columbus, Georgia. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees, and civilian employees on a daily basis. It is a power projection platform, and possesses th... Explore this topic

Roy Bourgeois

Roy Bourgeois is a laicized Roman Catholic priest; and an American activist and founder, in 1990, of the human rights group School of the Americas Watch. Ordained to the priesthood in 1972 in the Roman Catholic Church's Maryknoll society of apostolic life's Maryknoll Fathers a... Explore this topic

Efraín Ríos Montt

José Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. A General in the Guatemalan Army, Ríos Montt came to public office through a coup d'etat on March 23, 1982. In turn, he was overthrown by his Defense M... Explore this topic

Leopoldo Galtieri

Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from 22 December 1981 to 18 June 1982, during the last military dictatorship. The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him. He was removed from power soon after the ... Explore this topic

Roberto D'Aubuisson

Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta was a major in the Salvadoran Army and a political leader who founded the Nationalist Republican Alliance, which he led from 1980 to 1985. He was known as "Chele", or "light-skinned face", and was considered a leader of right-wing death squads who t... Explore this topic

Raoul Cedras

Joseph Raoul Cédras is a former military officer, and was de facto ruler of Haiti from 1991 to 1994. Explore this topic

Also See

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

US-Latin America relations

School of the Americas Watch