WASHINGTON, DC – The Army school that taught generations of Latin American
soldiers to fight leftist insurgencies during the Cold War – and along the
way trained officers who went on to commit human-rights abuses – is changing
its name and its mission in hopes of improving its reputation.
Battered by years of protests and chastened when Congress nearly closed it
this fall, the Army plans to restructure the academy, known as the School of
the Americas, to make its focus less strictly military and more academic,
senior Army officials said Wednesday.
Under plans drawn up by Army Secretary Louis Caldera, the Army will rewrite
the school's charter and recruit civilian as well as military students. It
also plans to drop some strictly military courses, including one in commando
tactics, and shift final authority over the school's curriculum to the
Department of Defense, the officials said.
By next spring, pending approval from the Pentagon and legislative changes
from Congress, the Army hopes to "reopen" the school, at Fort Benning, Ga.,
as the Center for Inter-American Security Cooperation. The officials said
they wanted to transform it into a regional training institute similar to the
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany, created
in 1993 to foster democratic militaries in formerly Communist nations.
The Army's plans stop short of shutting down the School of the Americas or
ending all combat training, as many critics have demanded.
"The School of the Americas' reputation is so bad that, even if they put
these changes in place, I'm not sure it goes far enough," said Rep. Joe
Moakley, D-Mass., who joined in sponsoring the legislation that would have
cut the school's financing. "It's like putting perfume on a toxic dump."
But Army officials said the changes would significantly alter the school's
mission and curriculum.
"We are changing our focus from the Cold War, and the role the school played
in the past, to this mission of helping educate military and civilian leaders
within the context of democratic principles," a senior Army official said in
an interview.
First opened in Panama in 1946 and moved to its current home near Columbus,
Ga., in 1984, the school has served as the nation's principle training ground
for Central and South American military and police officers, playing host to
more than 60,000 soldiers and officers.
For years, it has been a magnet for controversy and protests, since some of
the school's graduates have been implicated in some of Latin America's most
notorious human-rights violations. Alumni include 19 of the 26 Salvadoran
soldiers who assassinated six Jesuit priests in 1989, a Guatemalan colonel
linked to the killing of an American innkeeper in 1990, and Gen. Manuel
Antonio Noriega, the former ruler of Panama now in prison in the United
States on drug charges.
Caldera and other Army leaders have strongly defended the school, saying the
Army has never abetted or condoned abuses and arguing that the school's
training has a legitimate role in Central and South America. But the
officials acknowledged that they were forced to consider changes because of
the school's lingering notoriety.
The House voted earlier this year effectively to shut the school by
eliminating the money for students' scholarships, but the funding narrowly
survived in September when the Senate sided with the Army. This weekend,
thousands of opponents are scheduled to gather at Fort Benning's gate,
marking the 10th anniversary of the Jesuit killings with protests to demand
the school's closing.
"We realize that we're going to keep fighting the same battles unless we
change," another Army official said.
The school's opponents reacted warily to the proposed changes, which the Army
expects to make public in the weeks ahead. Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., said
that if the Army was serious, the school could change to reflect the moves in
Latin America toward freer, more democratic societies. "I think there's a
great opportunity for the school to change," he said.
Like Central and South America, the school has already undergone a
transformation since the days when the United States eagerly trained
militaries struggling against insurgencies supported by the Soviet Union or
Cuba. Today young cadets or officers receive training in combating drug
traffickers and coping with natural disasters.
After the embarrassment the Pentagon suffered in 1991 after disclosing that
training manuals used at the school included references to torture, blackmail
and "neutralizing" insurgents, the school began emphasizing courses in human
rights and civilian control of the military.
Army officials argue that the school, with the relatively small budget of $4
million, gives the United States a chance to inculcate democratic values to
rising stars in Latin American militaries. While the Pentagon and other
services offer training to military officers from Latin America, the school
is the only one that offers training exclusively in Spanish.
Among other changes, the Army plans to ask the State Department to contribute
lecturers and include Latin American political and civilian leaders as
students. They also plan to expand its seven-member board of civilian
advisers.
The officials said that the Army would still provide combat training,
especially for commanders of small units, which, they say, are critical to
dealing with countries' security threats, especially from drug traffickers.
"It is clear the militaries are going to play an important role in the life
of the nations of Latin America, for historical reasons and because of the
legitimate security interests that they have," the senior Army official said.
"We can't wish them away, nor should we wish them away. What we need to do is
engage them."
But Moakley said the United States should be devoting its resources to
helping Latin American countries strengthen judicial systems or other
democratic institutions, rather than their militaries.
"You can't teach democracy," he said, "through the barrel of a gun."
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