School of the Americas

The School of the Americas (SOA), officially renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001, is a U.S. Department of Defense training facility established in 1946 to provide military education to Latin American armed forces. Initially located in the Panama Canal Zone, it moved to Fort Benning, Georgia (briefly Fort Moore), in 1984 after Panama expelled it under the Panama Canal Treaty.

The SOA has been controversial due to its role in training officers implicated in human rights abuses, particularly during the Cold War, and its connections to Operation Condor, the CIA, Colonia Dignidad, and the use of Crypto AG encryption devices by Latin American regimes. Below is a detailed breakdown of the SOA’s history and its ties to these topics, grounded in available evidence, with a critical analysis of narratives and sources.

History of the School of the Americas

Founding and Purpose (1946): Established in 1946 as the Latin American Training Center–Ground Division at Fort Amador, Panama, the SOA aimed to strengthen U.S. military ties with Latin America amid post-World War II geopolitical shifts. Renamed the U.S. Army Caribbean School in 1949 and the School of the Americas in 1963, it trained Latin American military personnel in counterinsurgency, intelligence, and leadership to during the Cold War. By 2000, over 60,000 personnel from Latin America had graduated, including 743 U.S. and 251 Latin American students in 1949 alone.

Curriculum and Training: The SOA offered courses in Spanish (adopted as the official language in 1956) on topics like counterinsurgency, psychological warfare, interrogation techniques, and civic action. Training manuals, developed under Project X (1965–1966) and influenced by the CIA’s Phoenix Program in Vietnam, included controversial methods such as torture, assassination, and extortion, as noted by former instructor Major Joseph Blair. These manuals were suspended under President Jimmy Carter in 1976 due to human rights concerns but were later reinstated with revisions.

Relocation and Rebranding (1984–2001): Expelled from Panama in 1984, the SOA relocated to Fort Benning. Public outcry, led by groups like SOA Watch, highlighted graduates’ human rights abuses, prompting the 1993 release of a list confirming 60,000 graduates, including “dictators, death squad operatives, and assassins.” Bills to defund the school, introduced by Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II in 1993 and 1994, failed, but a 1996 House Appropriations Committee report criticized inadequate human rights screening. In 2001, the SOA was rebranded as WHINSEC to distance it from its controversial past, with a new curriculum emphasizing human rights and democracy, though critics argue it remains a continuation of the SOA.

Notable Graduates: The SOA’s “Hall of Fame” included figures like Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer Suárez, Panamanian drug lord Manuel Noriega, and Guatemalan General Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas, a fugitive wanted for war crimes. Other graduates, such as El Salvador’s Roberto D’Aubuisson (death squad leader) and Guatemala’s Julio Roberto Alpírez (implicated in assassinations), were linked to atrocities, fueling the “School of Assassins” moniker.

Connection to Operation Condor

Operation Condor (1975–1983) was a U.S.-backed campaign of political repression by Southern Cone dictatorships (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, later Peru and Ecuador) to eliminate leftists, resulting in 60,000–80,000 deaths and 400,000 political prisoners. The SOA’s connection is significant, as it trained many Condor operatives and fostered ideological and operational alignment.

Training of Condor Operatives: Numerous Condor participants were SOA graduates, particularly from Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. A 2019 Italian court sentenced five SOA alumni—former Bolivian, Chilean, Peruvian, and Uruguayan officials—to life for kidnapping and murdering 23 Italian nationals during Condor, as reported by Common Dreams. Examples include:

Roberto D’Aubuisson (El Salvador, SOA 1972): Led death squads and was accused of orchestrating Archbishop Oscar Romero’s 1980 assassination.

Juan Rafael Bustillo (El Salvador, SOA): Planned the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, a housekeeper, and her daughter.

Julio Roberto Alpírez (Guatemala, SOA 1970, 1990): Linked to the 1990 murder of American innkeeper Michael Devine and guerrilla leader Efrain Bamaca Velasquez while on the CIA payroll.

These graduates applied SOA-taught counterinsurgency and interrogation techniques, including torture, in Condor operations, as noted by historian J. Patrice McSherry.

Ideological Alignment: The SOA’s curriculum, rooted in the U.S. National Security Doctrine, emphasized communism as a hemispheric threat, mirroring Condor’s anti-communist ideology. McSherry cites 1960s–1970s CIA documents showing SOA and Conference of American Armies (CAA) officials planning coordinated actions against dissidents, precursors to Condor’s 1974 Buenos Aires meeting. The SOA’s focus on “ideological frontiers” over territorial defense, per NACLA, supported Condor’s transnational repression.

Operational Support: The SOA’s training manuals, influenced by the CIA’s Phoenix Program, included methods like surveillance, infiltration, and torture, which Condor regimes applied. Paraguayan “Terror Archives” (1992) reveal U.S. Army manuals from the SOA’s predecessor, the U.S. Army Caribbean School, teaching similar tactics, used in Condor’s intelligence operations.

While the SOA trained Condor operatives, it was not a direct Condor command center. Its role was preparatory, shaping officers’ anti-communist mindset and skills, as confirmed by declassified CIA cables (e.g., June 1976).

Connection to the CIA

The CIA’s involvement with the SOA is well-documented, reflecting its broader Cold War strategy to counter communism in Latin America through training, intelligence, and covert operations.

Training and Curriculum Influence: The SOA’s counterinsurgency manuals, developed under Project X, drew on CIA Phoenix Program tactics, including assassination and torture, as admitted by Major Joseph Blair. A 1976 CIA report notes the agency’s role in shaping SOA curricula, with instructors like Blair citing CIA oversight. The CIA also funded SOA training, as seen in payments to Guatemalan officer Julio Roberto Alpírez ($44,000) despite his role in murders.

Operation Condor Support: The CIA supported Condor’s infrastructure, including the Condortel network and Crypto AG devices, and had close ties with Condor agencies like Chile’s DINA. A 1975 FBI search for DINA targets in the U.S. and a 1976 FBI report linking Condor to the Orlando Letelier assassination show CIA collaboration. SOA graduates, trained in CIA-influenced methods, executed these operations, with figures like DINA’s Manuel Contreras (a CIA contact until 1977) coordinating Condor.

Guatemalan Coup (1954): The CIA’s Operation PBSuccess, which overthrew Guatemala’s Jacobo Arbenz, involved SOA-trained officers, as noted in Nick Cullather’s Secret History. The SOA’s role in training Guatemalan forces post-coup aligned with CIA efforts to suppress reformist movements, setting a precedent for Condor.

Connection to Colonia Dignidad

Colonia Dignidad, a German cult in Chile led by Paul Schäfer, served as a DINA torture and extermination center during Pinochet’s regime, linked to Condor. The SOA’s connection is indirect, through its training of Chilean officers involved with DINA and the colony.

Chilean SOA Graduates: Officers like Manuel Contreras, DINA’s head and a key Condor figure, were SOA-trained, as were others who collaborated with Colonia Dignidad. The 1979 U.S. Senate report notes DINA’s “close liaison” with the colony, where SOA-taught torture techniques (e.g., electric shocks, sensory deprivation) were applied, per teleSUR.

Condor Operations: Colonia Dignidad’s role in Condor included detaining prisoners like Jorge Fuentes (1976) and producing toxins for assassinations (e.g., João Goulart, 1976), as alleged in Dossiê Jango. SOA graduates in DINA likely facilitated these operations, using skills from SOA’s counterinsurgency training.

CIA Knowledge: The CIA, aware of Colonia Dignidad’s role via Condortel and Michael Townley’s 2005 testimony, had ties to SOA-trained DINA officers. However, no documents link the SOA directly to the colony’s operations, only through its alumni’s involvement.

Connection to Crypto AG

Crypto AG, a Swiss encryption firm secretly owned by the CIA and BND (1970–2018), supplied rigged devices to Condor nations, enabling U.S. surveillance. The SOA’s connection is indirect, through its graduates’ use of these devices in Condor operations.

Condor’s Use of Crypto AG: Condor nations, including Brazil (CX-52 machines), Argentina (H-4605), and Chile, used Crypto AG equipment for Condortel, as detailed in a 1977 DIA report. The NSA decrypted these communications, monitoring Condor’s repression, including Argentina’s 1982 Falklands War plans and Chile’s 1976 Letelier assassination.

SOA Graduates’ Involvement: SOA-trained officers in Brazil’s SNIE, Chile’s DINA, and Argentina’s SIDE used Condortel for operations like the 1978 Habegger abduction, unaware of CIA decryption. The SOA’s counterinsurgency training included intelligence coordination, aligning with Condortel’s use, though no evidence shows SOA instruction on Crypto devices.

CIA Oversight: The CIA’s ownership of Crypto AG, per the 2020 Washington Post report, ensured U.S. access to Condor communications, with SOA graduates as unwitting users. The ESG’s role, training Brazil’s SNIE officers, is tangential, not directly tied to Crypto AG’s deployment.

Critical Perspective

Establishment Narrative: Sources like army.mil and Wikipedia portray the SOA/WHINSEC as a legitimate training institution, emphasizing its post-2001 human rights focus while downplaying Cold War abuses. Declassified CIA cables (e.g., June 1976) and the 1979 Senate report confirm U.S. knowledge of Condor but avoid implicating the SOA directly, possibly to shield U.S. military institutions.

Conclusion

The School of the Americas played a pivotal role in training Latin American officers who executed Operation Condor’s repression, using CIA-influenced counterinsurgency tactics learned at the school. Its graduates, including DINA’s Manuel Contreras and El Salvador’s Roberto D’Aubuisson, were linked to Colonia Dignidad’s torture operations and used Crypto AG devices via Condortel, enabling CIA surveillance. The Brazilian Advanced War College (ESG) similarly shaped Brazil’s Condor role.

Recommendation: Review the National Security Archive’s Condor collection, SOA training manuals (Pentagon releases, 1996–1997), and Chile’s Valech Report for Colonia Dignidad details. Cross-reference with The Condor Years by John Dinges (2004).