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"The
School of Americas (SOA) is a US Army training school that trains soldiers
and military personnel from Latin American countries in subjects like
counter-insurgency, infantry tactics, military intelligence, anti-narcotics
operations, and commando operations. This training is funded by US taxpayers,
and all of the training is conducted in Spanish. Most of the classes
are taught by Latin American instructors. According to the SOA itself,
more than 56,000 members of Latin American militaries have attended
the SOA since its inception in 1946."
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Originally named "The U.S. Army Caribbean Training Center in Panama" when it was established in 1946, the school was intended to help professionalize Latin American and Caribbean militaries. It was renamed the School of the Americas and given a Cold War Focus under President John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress in 1963. Because of the statues of the Panama Canal Treaties, the next major change came in 1984, when the school moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.
In 1996, the Pentagon Released seven training manual used at the SOA. The New York Times commented on their release:
The US government knew of The SOA's inhumane practices much earlier, as this excerpt from a Department of Defense memorandum reveals:
SOA graduates have been responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in modern Latin America history, including the El Mozote Massacre, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and hundreds of other incidents.
This memorial to the victims of El Mozote now stands in the village.
Many
groups have been formed in attempt to shut down the SOA,
the most famous of which
is the School of the Americas
Watch. The SOA Watch, started by Jesuit priest Roy
Bourgeois, uses vigils and fasts, demonstrations, nonviolent
protests, and civil disobedience as well as media and legislative work in
their quest to close the SOA.One such protest is covered further in this site:
November
21, 1998. 
The SOA Watch's logo clearly shows it's
stance against the "School of Assasins".
Representative Joseph P. Kennedy (D. Mass, now retired) is a staunch opponent of the School of the Americas. He has called for legislation to close and dismantle the SOA. For several years, the efforts have failed. Last year, however, the bill only lost by 17 votes.
