Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)
The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) is a military educational institution located at Fort Benning, Georgia, which was established in 2001, evolving from the former School of the Americas. Its primary aim is to provide training and education to military personnel from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, with a focus on fostering democratic governance and civilian oversight of the military. Throughout its history, WHINSEC has graduated over 60,000 military personnel, with significant numbers coming from countries that receive substantial U.S. military aid, such as Colombia and El Salvador.
Originally founded in 1946, the institution has undergone several name changes and curriculum shifts in response to political developments and controversies, particularly during the Cold War. Criticism has persisted regarding its legacy, especially allegations that some graduates have engaged in human rights abuses and acts of violence. In response to these concerns, WHINSEC now mandates instruction on human rights and democratic principles, although skeptics argue that the limited hours allocated to such topics do not adequately address the school's contentious history. As Latin America continues to transition towards democratic governance, the participation of certain countries in WHINSEC has waned, reflecting broader changes in regional political dynamics.
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)
Territory: Fort Benning, Georgia (formerly Panama Canal Zone).
Founded: 1946 (renamed WHINSEC in 2001).
Stated goal: Provide military education and training to military personnel of Central American, South American, and Caribbean countries.
The Pentagon's center for training Latin American soldiers and officers was launched in 1946 at Fort Amador, in the Panama Canal Zone, under the official name US Army Caribbean School; in 1949, the Army renamed it the US Army Caribbean School-Spanish Instruction and took on the task of training Latin American military personnel. The next year, the school moved to Fort Gulick, also in the Panama Canal Zone, and Spanish became the school's official language.
In 1956, instruction in English was dropped as the school focused entirely on training military personnel from Latin America. The name US Army School of the Americas dates from 1963.
In 1984, under terms of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1997, the School of the Americas was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1991, a helicopter training institute was added at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Under intense pressure from Congress for allegedly teaching Latin American military officers techniques of torture and civil rights abuses, the School of the Americas officially closed and reopened under a new name, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), in 2001. Whereas the School of the Americas was run by the Department of the Army, WHINSEC opened under control of the Defense Department and under the supervision of a Board of Visitors.
Since its founding, the institution has graduated over 60,000 military personnel from Latin American countries. On average, there are about 1,000 students in the school each year. In 2021, just under 1,200 students were enrolled. Five countries account for about half of its graduates: Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Panama). Not coincidentally, these countries also receive a large percentage of US military aid. Since the school's reorganization in 2001, students have included civilians as well as military personnel.
Curriculum
The curriculum of the School of the Americas evolved over time, reflecting the shifting priorities of both the United States and the government sending officers to be trained.
In 1946, the school focused on military support functions, such as automotive repair, artillery mechanics, and cooking, as well as basic courses in infantry, artillery, and military policing.
By the 1970s, the emphasis had shifted to counter-insurgency techniques. Particularly in the 1980s, this aspect of the curriculum sparked criticism from civil liberties advocates who alleged that the School of the Americas was instructing Latin American military officers in torture and intimidation of civilians.
In the 1990s, the school shifted again, adding courses on how to help sustain democratic governments and military relations with civilian authorities. The Organization of American States asked the school to add instruction in clearing areas of minefields, a legacy of counter-insurgency campaigns during the previous decade.
Before its name change, US officials insisted that the curriculum taught at the School of the Americas was essentially the same as that taught to US soldiers, except that it was presented in Spanish.
In its new manifestation as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the school has been required to put each student through at least eight hours of instruction in "human rights, the rule of law, due process, civilian control of the military, and the role of the military in a democratic society." Some critics have seized on the requirement that such instruction takes only eight hours out of a period of study that may last forty-eight weeks.
Context and Controversy
The School of the Americas (SOA) was founded at the outset of the Cold War, and its activities during its first five decades grew increasingly controversial during a period when left-wing insurgents were increasingly active in Central and South America.
In several countries - El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and Chile - military establishments actively fought against left-wing insurgencies or democratically-elected governments. Military coups were repeatedly used to prevent leftists from gaining power.
In several cases, graduates of the SOA became notorious for using brutal methods, including political assassinations and torture, to achieve their ends. Because some graduates later emerged as members of military death squads, critics of the School of the Americas dubbed it the School of Assassins. Defenders insist that only a handful - around sixty - graduates have been associated with such practices out of tens of thousands of people who have taken courses at the school.
The entrance to Fort Benning has long been the site of an annual protest march marking the anniversary of a massacre on November 16, 1989, when soldiers in El Salvador killed six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter at the University of Central Americas. Of twenty-seven soldiers accused of participating in the massacre, nineteen had attended the School of the Americas.
The school also attracted significant criticism in Congress and, faced with a cutoff of funding, in 2001, it was officially closed. A new institution, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, operating under the auspices of the Defense Department (rather than the Department of the Army), opened at the same location in Fort Benning, GA.
Twenty-first Century Trends
As the political climate in Latin America has changed, with democratic governments replacing military dictatorships, some countries have ceased sending soldiers to the school, notably Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay. Watch groups now track graduates of the school with databases to determine if situations of criminal activity or human rights violations occur related to them or what they learned at the school.
Bibliography
About. (2022, Aug. 30). Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Retrieved Oct. 4, 2023, from https://armyuniversity.edu/whinsec/en/leaders
Grimmett, Richard F. and Mark P. Sullivan. "U.S. Army School of the Americas: Background and Congressional Concerns," Congressional Research Service, 4/16/2001.
Gambone, Michael D. and Bruce Vandervort. "The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas," Journal of Military History, Jan2005, Vol. 69 Issue 1, p. 284.
Demarest Geoffrey B. "Redefining the School of the Americas," Military Review, Oct. 1994, Vol. 74 Issue 10, p. 43.
Weeks, Gregory. "Fighting the Enemy Within: Terrorism, the School of the Americas, and the Military in Latin America," Human Rights Review, Oct-Dec. 2003, Vol. 5 Issue 1, p. 12.
Cassata Donna. "A Few Bad Apples?" Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 9/6/97, Vol. 55 Issue 35, p. 2090.
Bobic, Michael P. "The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas," Perspectives on Political Science, Spring 2005, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p. 107.
Waller, Douglas and d. Richard de Silva. "Running a 'School for Dictators,'" Newsweek, 8/9/93, Vol. 122 Issue 6, p. 34.
"The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas," Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2006, Vol. 23 Issue 1, p. 276.