thefilmarchive.org The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC or WHINSEC), formerly the United States Army School of the Americas (USARSA or SOA; Spanish: Escuela de las Américas) is a United States Department of Defense educational and training facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia in the United States. Established by the US government for teaching law enforcement and military techniques to US allies in the rest of the Americas, it has been criticized for training Latin American dictators and their militaries in various techniques to quell dissidence in their countries. In 1946, in the early days of the Cold War, the Latin American Training Center -- US Ground Forces was established in the Atlantic sector of the Panama Canal Zone, in the US army base of Fort Amador. During 1949 it was expanded and became the US Army Caribbean Training Center, seated into a former hospital building on the grounds of Fort Gulick (now housing the Melia Hotel). It was once again expanded and renamed the US Army School of the Americas in 1963. It relocated to Fort Benning in 1984, following the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty. More than 61000 military personnel attended these United States Army schools. According to WHINSEC's web page, "the School of the Americas taught military education courses as they were taught in US Armed Forces institutions?the School translated the courses, lessons plans and all, into Spanish. Beginning in 1963, and evolving as the .... + Informações