The School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is located at Fort Benning, Georgia. For decades it has operated as a combat training school for soldiers from Central & South America, training Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency 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 refugee by those trained at the SOA—often called the ‘School of Assassins’.
The best resource on the School of the Americas is SOA Watch.