What exactly is the School of the Americas?

In 1946, The School of the Americas was established in Panamá as the Latin American Training Center - Ground Division. It was renamed the US Army School of the Americas in 1963. The SOA relocated to Fort Benning, GA in 1984 following the signing of the Panamá Canal Treaty.

Run by the U.S. military, the school trained Latin American soldiers employed during multiple conflicts throughout the region, including in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Perú.

The School closed temporarily in 2000 in the wake of numerous accusations of human rights violations. In 2001 the school re-opened as "The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." Since then, the school has continued to instruct Latin American military in counterinsurgency techniques and warfare tactics.

Links

Wikipidia: The School of The Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Americas

Western Hemisphere Institute for security Cooperation
https://www.infantry.army.mil/WHINSEC/

Grass Roots Activist Anti-SOA Organization
SOA Watch
http://www.soaw.org/new/

Articles

Dismay Grows Over US Torture School
by Patrick Mulvaney
The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061127/school_of_the_americas

Torture’s Dirty Secret: It Works
by Naomi Klein
The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050530/klein