So I heard about this institute in a YouTube video where it was brought up to contextualize violence in Latin America. How many dictators and cartel members graduated from the school.
I’m wondering if anyone here knows more about countries that were directly affected by the School of the Americas, I’m thinking about using one of those countries in my research paper about “failed states” but I’m having trouble picking which one. I’ve chosen Libya as one state to write about but I just need one more.
You can basically throw a dart at a map of central and south America and it’ll hit a country which has been the target of SOA graduates. Noriega of Panama is one well known example. IIRC there’s a connection to Nicaraguan Contras as well. While Pinochet himself wasn’t a “graduate,” many of his top officials were. The organization is still active with regards to Honduras at the very least.
Maybe the bigger challenge is settling on a state which your liberal professor will agree is “failed.” In which case your options narrow significantly.
Yes that’s the most difficult part, picking what should be considered failed. I checked the Fragile State Index and the only country that seems dark enough is Venezuela which is telling…
The U.S. School That Trains Dictators & Death Squads
Resources on SOA/WHINSEC graduates
The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas
the Death Squads of El Salvador
Top 10 US-Backed Atrocities and Authoritarian Regimes (partly off‐topic; try youtube-dl if the video doesn’t work)
‘Many officers who passed through SOA were later involved in coups, military rebellion, and serious human rights violations. These included some who became dictators in Argentina (Leopoldo Galtieri), Bolivia (Hugo Banzer), Ecuador (Guillermo Rodríguez), Panama, (Manuel Noriega), Peru (Juan Velasco Alvarado), and others active in high-profile political murders, such as two of the three officers involved in assassinating Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador in 1979.’ (source)