Training Ground For Murderers Essay

Also, the growing presence of the Soviets and Cuba in Nicaragua escalated the cold war and in order to ‘draw the line” the Reagan administration “doubled economic aid for El Salvador to a hundred and forty four million dollars” (pg 40). According to Danner, “the priorities of American Policy in El Salvador had become unmistakable” (pg 41).Second, The American government was “opposed to dispatching American combat forces to Central America” (pg 22) and in order to prevent another Nicaragua, Congress agreed to “reform” the Salvadoran Army by financing, training and arming its troops to fight the FMLN. As Danner notes, “the Americans had stepped forward to fund the war, but were unwilling to fight it”. Third, the Monterrosa led Atlacatl led batallion through American funding descended in El Mozote with “the latest M-16’s, M-60 machines guns, 90 millimeter recoilless rifles, and 60- and 81 millimeter mortars”(pg 39) and with a list of names massacred an entire village because “communism was cancer”(pg 49). The U.S. government was clearly responsible for the Massacre at El Mozote because without the funding, supporting, and training of El Salvador troops the war would have been tilted in the guerillas favor as they had managed to hold the disorganized army in certain areas. In contrast to neighboring departments El Mozote and its inhabitants of born-again Christians did not fit in as guerilla sympathizers. In fact, the training at American hands

In 2011, 24-year-old Joe DeNenno traveled to Afghanistan with the intent to change the lives of the children in the Zhari District. He teamed up with the local security forces and government officials to build new schools throughout the district to improve the education for local children. One billion dollars went towards the funding of schools and rise of education in Afghanistan. But nearly four years later, one would not be able to see a difference between the schools and a town that's been hit by a category 3 hurricane. From leaky roofs to cut up doors, the schools were no longer a place for education but rather a place for warlords to inhabit. Over 50 American funded schools were now battlefield provinces. These runned down schools were

In Empire’s Workshop, Greg Grandin argues that the United States engineered a destructive domestic fusion of religious fundamentalism, hawkish neoconservatism, and nationalism - to justify it’s engagement in a jingoistic, self-serving foreign policy in Latin America. Furthermore, his work details the preemptive clash against perceived communist elements, and places the ideological disagreements regarding private-property, as the primary mover in US actions. By examining the Guatemalan coup of 1954, which Grandin describes as the Central Intelligence Agency’s “first full-scale covert operation” in Latin America, we can assess the prototypical reasoning behind US intervention. Moreover, the thorough assessment of the motivations of American

American attitudes towards Latin America can be summed up as an extension of larger global directives, and the exclusion of foreign powers in the region. This was highlighted especially during the Cold War as US involvement was essentially in competition with the USSR. Latin America was therefore a mere pawn in the larger context of US-Soviet competition for global dominance. The actions and methods used are also characterized by the lack of an international authority, or an atmosphere of inter-state anarchy, which shaped their calculations in the endeavor to increase their influence over Latin America. When one analyzes the situation, it seems only rational that the United States treated its southern neighbors so, due to the geographical

The United States involvement in Afghanistan has caused a great deal of money, debate, fear, death and so on. But even through this, we have not done what should be done. What the United States needs to do is build, protect and support schools and education in Afghanistan. The arguments against this are numerous, but the main two are: it would cost too much, and it would not be successful because the Taliban or al-Qaeda would burn or close the schools. Arguments supporting this plan are: “...the cost of a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there.” (Kristof. 1). As for the schools being closed or burned, there are currently 39 schools that were built in Afghanistan by Greg

The USA helped the El Salvadoran army by training some of the recruits. They trained the Atlacalta Battalian and, “sent Special Forces instructors in early 1981 to train the first recruits of the new Immediate Reaction Infantry Battalion (BIRI).” (49) One of the Special Forces officers that Danner interviewed explained the training the soldiers received, “They had basic individualized training—you know, basic shooting, marksmanship, squad tactics.” (49) Even though this war was not one that the United States military was fighting in, they had indirect involvement in the civil war between the Salvadoran Army and the Guerrillas. The Battalion was a part of the Salvadoran army that massacred El Salvador, if it wasn’t for the pressure put on the

The history was repeated eight decades later, also in 1904, the United States had concluded that the Panamanian army was a factor of socio-political disruption was necessary to eliminate.

The Latin American nations shared the hatred of colonialism and fear of nuclear warfare with their fellow Africans and Asians. The FO acknowledged that “the legacy of anti-colonialism, which they have inherited from their own past, influences Latin American thinking on [neutralism] as on so many other issues.” The Latin Americans differed in that they were decolonized a century earlier, and had “been spared close contact with major conflicts,” therefore having “little fear of war in the sense that you would find fear in South East Asia, India or the Middle East.” The motivation to join the NAM, therefore, might have been more politically motivated than morally.

Hidden in Plain Sight, discusses the School of the Americas and how graduates from that school have committed atrocities in Latin America. From what we can see in the video and the reading fro class, the United States did not care about the civilian population. All they cared for was if the people they liked stayed in power and whether those leaders would welcome American companies into their countries. I believe that the United States did not deliberately train soldiers in the School of the Americas to go on and kill people. Rather, they trained the soldiers knowing that they would go on and kidnap and torture people, of course, the Americans did not care. As long as those soldiers were also fighting “communist”

It is impossible to separate the history of military dictatorships in Latin America from the history of economic exploitation and of US intervention in the region. The history of slavery and other forced labor in the pursuit of large-scale agriculture and resource extraction in the time of the colonies has created a legacy of economic exploitation. This poverty and inequality has in many cases led to popular uprisings and calls for reform, which provided the reason (or the excuse, depending on your point of view) to use military force to restore discipline. The United States' willingness to support strong regimes capable of securing its interests in the region also has played a decisive role. These

The turn of the 21st century brought about significant changes in global interactions, policies, and strategies. When examined more closely, it is clear that very pressing and shaping issues face many Latin American countries. In particular, Colombia and Cuba have prominent policies and strategies that greatly effect relations on a global, not simply a regional scale. As each of these nations address the many challenges to executing their national strategies, the manner in which their plans are executed must account for the limitations faced by not being a global “superpower.” In Colombia, the insurgency within its borders threatens to destabilize the relationship with two of its bordering nations. In order to accomplish this, Colombia must continue the path towards eliminating the guerilla armies. Cuba faces changes in leadership that have forced the nation to reevaluate its stance on a global presence which includes relations with the United States. These strategies also reflect a growing desire to maintain its strong allies, like Russia. In order to continue to reshape the nation, Cuba must take its new direction and begin implementation sooner.

Once in power, Pinochet was assisted by the United States to remain in power. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger attempted to hide from Congress and the media the breaking of human rights acts that Pinochet was responsible for. Only a month after he came into power reports from the CIA came in stating that Pinochet planned “to destroy any and all resistance within two months” and “this will require more killing by the military.” With this knowledge Kissinger, rather than accusing Pinochet of breaking human rights laws, attempted to “outmaneuver the U.S. Congress to supply Pinochet with weapons that Congress had denied” (Landau 1999, pages 16-17). This support allowed Pinochet to gain a complete dictatorship. As ruler he “closed the Chilean Congress, banned political parties, censored the press and took over the universities.” Through the United Sates’ lack of action and assistance toward him, Pinochet used his ability to violate human rights standards and rule over the population with terror for seventeen years (Kornbluh 2003, pages 19-22).

Sara Koopman (2008: 828) notes much the same: “In the 1980s the line connecting death and torture in El Salvador to training at the School of the Americas was not hard to trace, as thousands of troops were being trained there. Over the years, countries with the worst human rights records have consistently been the ones sending high numbers of students to the school during peaks of repression. The SOA, in Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia, is a US Army school that trains Latin American military officers in counterinsurgency warfare. The SOA is the most elite and prestigious site of this training that happens widely throughout the Americas. It was founded in Panama in 1946 and moved to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia in 1984. The long string

The lectures in class this week and the article “10 of the Most Lethal CIA Interventions in Latin America” by Olivier Acuña has opened my eyes to the U.S.’s international political connections. The U.S. has proved throughout history to be self serving and has proven to intervene in nations that will lead to its own economic and political advantages. I find it unfortunate that the CIA and American government tries to pride itself on our democratic system, but will support corrupt dictators and absolute rulers

The USSR had recently funded a communications site on Nicaraguan soil to help them communicate with other socialist nations. With a rising fear of the USSR and other socialist nations, the US immediately accused it of being a spy base. Not shortly afterwards the US began to take action against Nicaragua by issuing an economic blockade. Because the Nicaraguan economy relied so heavily on imports, this had a profound effect and contributed to the collapse of the Nicaraguan economy. “It was impossible to spend even a day in Nicaragua without becoming aware of the huge and unrelenting pressure being exerted on the country by the giant standing on the northern front” (p.24).