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Latin American SOA Analysis

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As described by author Lesley Gill, The School of the Americas now the (Western Hemisphere instate for security cooperation) is a US military center utilized for the training and instruction of Latin American military officers in the realm of war combat skills, tactics, and counterinsurgency doctrine (6). Repressive tactics such as torture, psychological warfare, and varying methods of violence have contributed to the onslaught of violence within Latin America. Such violence is linked to many of the school’s graduates such as General Hugo Banzer of Bolivia, officers working with General Pinochet of Chile, and countless more officers and generals spanning across all Latin American nations. As asserted by author Gill, the SOAs purpose was never to help Latin American governments, but to utilize the school as a vehicle for US imperialism. …show more content…

The SOA recognized early on that that the imposition of shock and violence in a nation would allow for the fruition of an “imperial intrusion”; where the dominant groups (the military or police forces) trained by the US, could be utilized to suppress local populations. Once local populations were suppressed and in fear by US-trained state security forces, the neoliberal machine could then proceed to pursue exploitative practices and profit with little opposition. Initially, the SOA and its graduates utilized the context of the cold war to justify pervasive violent acts against Latin American citizens. Oppression was justified given the fact that opponents of militarism and neoliberalism could simply be labeled “communists” and hence a threat to the Western world which had to be contained. However, proceeding the collapse of the USSR in the early nineties, the ‘fight’ against communism evolved into the war on

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Wright continues the telling of this historical event, under the topic of Fidelismo and the radicalization of Latin American politics. The combination of Castro’s actions and Che Guevara’s calls for revolution in the western hemisphere had a direct and profound effect on Latin American politics. This powerful force came to be known as Fidelismo and broken down to its core “it was simply the attitude that revolution should be pursued immediately” (Wright p. 39). On of the most noticeable symptoms of Fidelismo was an intense growth of demands for change. Wright notes that during this time, the intensity of political activities in many other Latin American countries increased, especially after Castro’s victory.

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While claiming to bring civilization to the untamed wilds , conflict in the Americas didn’t end as the Europeans created their empires. With new and growing territories, came new and growing tensions between neighboring powers, and these tensions often ignited into international conflicts. In these conflicts the

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For hundreds of years, the people of Central and South America have been facing oppression. The oppression has been from both internal and external factors, including outside empires and internal authoritarian regimes. One central factor in response to such oppression has been the way in which the people resist. There are a countless number of examples in which the people took it upon themselves to resist the imposing power and restrictions that were put in place.

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1152 Words | 5 Pages

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1335 Words | 6 Pages

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1430 Words | 6 Pages

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1513 Words | 7 Pages

The Spanish exploration and colonisation made both a positive and negative impact on Latin America. The arrival of the Spanish explorers to the new world made a big change and they are the reason Latin America looks the way it does today. However these people were ruthless and were the tyrants of the new world. One of Spain’s major foreign policy objectives since the advent of democracy has been to increase its influence in Latin America. Spain has had interest in this area due to historical ties and a common linguistic, cultural and religious heritage (Countrystudies.us, 2017).

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