The Infamous School of Americas

Historias Unknown

The School of the Americas (SOA) was founded in 1946 in the Panama Canal Zone, and it's purpose was to be a training ground for Latin American military and police in U.S. service schools. By 1949, SOA produced 749 U.S. military personnel and 251 Latin American graduates, representing 10 different countries. Spanish became the official language of the school in 1956, and classes were no longer taught in English. The SOA was expelled from Panama in September 1984, due to the signing of the Panama canal zone treaty in 1977. It was then moved to Fort Benning in Georgia.

Since it opened, more than 80,000 Latin American military members have Been trained at the SOA.

In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about some of the Latin American graduates and the horrible crimes they are tied to.

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Books about the SOA mentioned:

The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas. By Lesley Gill. Published in 2004 by Duke University Press.

Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas. By Linda Cooper and James Hodge. Published in 2004 by Orbis Books.

From Warriors to Resisters: U.S. Veterans on Terrorism. Edited by Margaret Knapke. Third edition, published in 2019. Available to download and read at www.resistersbook.org

¡PRESENTE! Nonviolent Politics and the Resurrection of the Dead. By Kyle B. T. Lambelet. Published in 2020 by Georgetown University Press.

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero#Assassination

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/18/us-military-usa#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17183163011657&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fcifamerica%2F2010%2Fnov%2F18%2Fus-military-usa

https://irp.fas.org/crs/soa.htm

https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/history-soa

https://soaw.org/u-s-trained-ex-military-intelligence-officer-sentenced-to-22-years-for-murder-of-berta-caceres-2

https://soaw.salsalabs.org/2022castillowestpoint

https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/04/02/military-must-acknowledge-responsibility-for-false-positives-in-catatumbo/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/10/colombia-ex-soldiers-take-responsibility-for-killing-227

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/28/colombia-military-false-positives/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/world/americas/colombia-war-crimes.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_D%27Aubuisson

https://mklm.org/el-salvador/jean-donovan-lay-missioner-martyred-in-1980/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_murders_of_U.S._missionaries_in_El_Salvador#:~:text=The%20murdered%20missionaries%20were%20Maryknoll,U.S.%20missionaries%20in%20El%20Salvador.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Uribe#Internal_conflict

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19390164

https://soaw.org/notorious-soa-graduates

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