U.S. Military Operations / Latin America
Klare, Mike
The Military Assistance Program (MAP) constitutes the most important U,S. program aimed at military operations in Latin America. As noted by Prof. Edwin Lieuwen of the University of Now Mexio in...
...7 These men provide training in varied military and technical skills, although since 1961 the emphasis has been on civic action, counterinsurgency- and other functions associated with "internal defense...
...31, 1966 Country Officers Enlisted Civilian Total Army mission Navy mission Air mission Argentina -------------- 33 26 2 61 Yes...
...Roy M. Jones, the School's commander, "there's not a jungle area in the world as close to Vietnam in topography and type of growth as right here in Panama...
...Finally, CINCSOUTH assumes command of any U.S...
...0 6.6 23.5 90.1 i Compiled from U.S...
...military assistance to Latin America in the period 1953-1966 amounted to $1.136 billion (see Table I...
...Yes ....- Yes...
...19.6 1.7 .1 1...
...25 Yes...
...These new activities culminated in 1964 with the commencement of Project Camelot, a multi-million dollar study of the "internal war potential" in Latin America...
...19 Yes...
...The B-52s are equipped with nuclear-tipped Hound Dog missiles, and possibly with more advanced airto-ground missiles...
...Other facilities: The huge Salinas Training Area, located in southern Puerto Rico, is regularly used for counterguerrilla training exercises involving thousands of Army, National Guard and Army Reserve troops...
...Admission requirements include the rank of lieutenant colonel or above, graduation from an advanced command and staff college and military experience at an advanced level...
...14The Center for Research in Social Systems (CRESS) of the American University in Washington, D.C...
...Recent projects have included tests of counterguerrilla surveillance systems using infrared sensors, counterinfiltration devices using acoustic detectors, and tactical communications systems utilizing stationary satellites...
...El Salvador...
...strategic planning for "police actions" of the Dominican type, and it is thus safe to assume that Ramey will play a major role in any future U.S...
...An element of CINCSCUTH, the School offers toweek intensive training programs on jungle survival and combat...
...It is also the only service school to teach in a foreign language...
...Nicaragua...
...Rmey was later used to ferry in U.S...
...Aid to Latin America is currently running at $98 million per year (of which $13.3 million represents training, $4.2 million for civic action projects, and the remaining $80.5 million for arms acquisition...
...No assistance since 1961...
...David Sanford, "U.S...
...Army troops engaged in combat or "stability operations" in Latin America, such as the 1965 intervention in the Dominican Republic, or as in the case of the team of 16 "green berets" sent to Bolivia in 1967 to assist in the Bolivian army's campaign against the guerrilla band of Ernesto Che Guevara . Ordinarily, the most important activities of CINCSOUTH involve direction of America's 4 3 military advisory missions located in 17 Latin countries (see Table II) and supervision of the Military Assistance Program...
...A country became eligible for these funds upon ratification of bilateral mutual defense assistance pacts with the United States...
...17, 1967), pp...
...This work is part of Project Agile, the counterinsurgency research program of the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA...
...Edwin Lieuwen of the University of Now Mexio in his excellent study, The Latin American Military, "The origins of U.S...
...Army Forces Southern Command, Fort Gulick has already trained over 20,000 Latin Americans in various military skills (an average graduating class includes some 400 officers and enlisted personnel...
...23 21 1 45 Yes...
...5.5 El Salvador...
...NACLA therefore urges all Newsletter subscribers who possess further information on this subject to forward it to us for future publication.-8U.S...
...Venezuela -.........--------- 36 40...
...Department of State, AID, Statistics and Reports Division...
...According to Col...
...12 10...
...5.3...
...Total U.S...
...42 Yes...
...National War College, the Imperial Defense College of Great Britain and the NATO Defense College...
...The Georgetown Research Project, an activity of the Atlantic Research Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia (a subsidiary of the Susquehanna Corporation), is concerned with the collection of intelligence on potential insurgent movements in Latin America and on the capability of indigenous Latin American armies to combat insurgencies...
...6.1 .7 .2 .9 Mexico...
...11.0...
...36.3 37.0 1.6 18.9 6.2 87.6 6.4 .3...
...1.6 4.4 .1 5.4 4.8 6.7 .2 ---- .2 Nicaragua...
...Navy for bases and training facilities...
...When the project was exposed in 1965, the resulting diplomatic furor forced the United States to cancel the project, and caused American University to change the name of SORO to CRESS to blunt further criticism...
...profits from this system as well: Army Digest writes that "training Latin Americans in U.S...
...668.1 202.5 162.5 170.6 67...
...Bolivia . - 26 22 2 50 Yes...
...9 University Prostitution . ...........................................12 Suggested Readings...
...Peru ...............--------------- 32 33 1 66 Yes...
...Yes...
...and "A Depth-Study of Communist Insurgency and Government Counteraction in Colombia...
...Army Tropic Test Center (USATTC), like the Jungle Warfare School, has only come into prominence since the outbreak of the Vietnam war...
...7. Lieuwen, p. 27...
...John M. Goshko, "Latins Blame the United States for Military Coups," The Washington Post (February 5, 1968...
...13.4 1.2 .1...
...as of December 31, 1966, there were a total of 737 officers and enlisted men assigned to the U.S...
...5. Lieuwen, p. 23...
...Army engineers teach water purification, well drilling, operation of heavy equipment and construction support quipment...
...Programs at Albrook include flight training with U.S...
...3. Lieuwen, p. 25...
...Chile...
...The purpose of the College is described in official publications as follows: "The Inter-American Defense College is a military institution of high-level studies, devoted to conducting courses on the Inter-American System and the political, social, economic, and military factors that constitute essential components of Inter-American defense, in order to enhance the education of selected armed forces personnel and civilian government officials of the American Republics for carrying out undertakings requiring international cooperation...
...Ideological Offensive, hearings before the Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, January 15-16, 1964, p. 1086...
...Air Force in Washington, D.C...
...8 Generals of the Americas, Unite...
...Each study further seeks to identify various groupings in the population-ethnic, geographic, economic, social, etc.-and their attitudes and probable behavior toward the U.S...
...9. "The Deadliest School in the World," Saga (January 1968), p. 15...
...Armed Services and like all American citizens are subject to the draft...
...military programs in Latin America...
...34.8 10.0 8.1 . . . 52.9 3.9 1.6...
...The unit consists of some 800 green berets who in turn constitute 17 mobile training teams that travel through Latin America, supplementing the work of resident U.S...
...37.3 .1 7.1 - - - 44...
...Agency for International Development (AID...
...2.0 .1...
...5 12.9 . . . 102.3 8.3 .8 9.1 Costa Rica...
...4. Mutual Security Appropriations for 1960, hearings before the House Committee on Appropriations, p. 736...
...An element of the U.S...
...NOTE: This article comprises a general overview of U.S...
...Although IPA teaches conventional police procedures in such things as laboratory techniques and the handling of tear gas, it is evident that the primary purpose of the Academy is to provide training in para-military operations for urban counterinsurgency...
...It is clear from this and other reports that these exercises are designed to prepare the Atlantic Fleet for any future crisis which would require an amphibious invasion of any country on the Atlantic coast of Latin America or in the Caribbean...
...military technical skills, leadership techniques and doctrine also paves the way for cooperation and support of U.S...
...8.6...
...8 17...
...however, the $80 million in arms assistance supplements the amount Latin armies spend on arms purchases by more than 50 percent, and by more than 90 percent in some of the smaller countries...
...3.2 1 1 .2 4. 5 (3) () Regional...
...MILITARY MISSIONS IN LATIN AMERICA, AS OF DEC...
...A large percentage of CRESS projects, however, continue to be concerned with U.S...
...During the Kennedy administration, SRO's activities were broadened to include research on internal security, remote area conflict and counterinsurgency...
...Gazette and Daily (February 14, 1967...
...The U.S...
...1 (The United States has maintained a monopoly on military missions in Latin America since 1941, when the European military missions were withdrawn, except of course in Cuba...
...The U.S...
...Of the island's 33,000 acres, some 26,000 have been appropriated by the U.S...
...According to the September 1968 issue of Army Digest magazine, the School's Irregular Warfare Committee "teaches various measures required to defeat an insurgent on the battlefield, as well as military civic action functions in an insurgent environment...
...The naval blockade of Cuba and the Navy's support functions during the 1965 intervention in the Dominican Republic were both directed from Puerto Rican bases...
...The U.S...
...Initially, the objectives of U.S...
...SSRI conducts intensive research studies in the areas of CRESS' responsibility...
...Roosevelt Roads is an all-purpose naval base located on the east coast of Puerto Rico...
...Army Forces Southern Command (CINCSOUTH), which directs all U.S...
...with Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay in 1953...
...The large rain forest in Puerto Rico, the Iuquillo, is also employed for anti-guerrilla and jungle warfare training exercises.-6TRAINING AND RESEARCH FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES The International Police Academy (IPA), located in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., is administered by the Office of Public Safety of the U.S...
...policy objective...
...The facilities at Roosevelt Roads can accommodate any warship in the world, including the aircraft carrier Enterprise, which trained here before going to Vietnam...
...The U.S...
...1 Dominican Republic .......- 16.1 1.0 2.5...
...5 Consequently, grants for counterinsurgency training and equipment were made available under the MAP program beginning in 1963...
...Internal Security Forces in Venezuela...
...Paraguay...
...Honduras ..........---------- 10 10...
...8 Ecuador...
...Army for social science research relevant to counterinsurgency, military civic action and psychological warfare...
...training institution catering exclusively to Latin Americans...
...205.6 57.1 75.7 35.9 .2 374.1 9.5 2.0 13.1 24.6 Chile...
...Yes...
...missions in Latin America...
...aid were "to enable the area to defend itself better against external aggression...
...It has three harbors, the largest of which can berth dozens of major ships at one time (thus performing for the South Atlantic the role played by Pearl Harbor in the Pacific...
...76 Yes.......- Yes...
...Winning the Cold War: The U.S...
...As part of the civic action instruction, U.S...
...1.9 .1...
...Since the onset of the Vietnam war, the School has stepped up its training program so that by 1967 some 8,000 soldiers were taking the course annually...
...According to a Nev York Times dispatch dated April 10, 1965, "about ,000 Marines and Army paratroopers fought a sham war today across the sunbaked brown hills of Vieques...
...Like the Fort Gulick facility, Albrook caters exclusively to Latin American personnel and teaches all courses in Spanish...
...Yes...
...as the Cold War intensified, however, the rearmament of Latin American armies once again became a U.S...
...10 At the end of September 1968, a team of 30 Special Forces advisers arrived in Buenos Aires to train Argentine soldiers in counterguerrilla operations...
...13 Source Material Received...
...military programs and facilities aimed at Latin America...
...Since the formation of the unit in 1962, such mobile teams have operated in every Latin American country except Mexico, Haiti and Cuba...
...About five years ago, the Academy moved into a former streetcar barn in Washington, which is rented from prominent Democratic Party supporter 0. Roy Chalk's D.C...
...U.S...
...Dominican Republic...
...As of June 1968, 227 students had graduated from the College...
...The Center is comprised of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) and the Cultural Information Analysis Center (CINFAC...
...Army Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for instruction in counterinsurgency techniques...
...Army missions, attaches, military assistance advisory groups and commissions opera ting in Latin America...
...Yes...
...State Department Trains Police of Many Countries," York (Pa...
...These latter two positions are rotated among representatives of the OAS member states...
...The Latin America studies are supervised by Hans Weigert of Atlantic Research...
...9.4 1.0 .2 1.2 Panama...
...368 349 20 737 17 10 16 -3-counterinsurgency...
...74.9 14...
...Most of the courses at the School deal with military civic action and U.S...
...3 As recently as 1960, the main objective of the Military Assistance Program in atin America was the development of a strong antisubmarine capability...
...15 Such propaganda handbooks have already been prepared for Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela...
...Overseas Loans and Grants" (special report prepared for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mar...
...aid represents about seven percent The NACLA NEWSLETTER is published ten times a year by the North American Congress on Latin America...
...8.8 .6...
...Undoubtedly, there are some gaps and inaccuracies in this presentation-although the very nature of the subject suggests that some operations have been kept secret or so camouflaged that little if anything of significance has evern been revealed...
...IPA officials claim that the Academy's program has influenced the behavior of hundreds of thousands of police around the world-and it is indeed easy to see their handiwork in the brutal suppression of the Mexican student movement by the para-military ranadero corps...
...military assistance to Latin America can be traced to the eye of World War II, when Washington, in order to counter the threat of Fascist and Nazi subversion, began to establish military missions...
...9 1,135.8 60...
...2 2...
...according to the then Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense, Charles H. Shuff, "the most positive threat to hemispheric security is submarine action in the Caribbean Sea and along the coast of Latin America...
...6. Foreign Assistance Act for 1967, hearings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, April 11, 1967 statement...
...The Inter-American Defense Board, composed of representatives of the 22 member nations of the GAS, supervises IADCts curriculum and approves all major appointments to the staff...
...Military Operations / Latin America...
...supported by a Navy amphibious force and Air Force, Marine and Navy planes continued Quick Kick VII, a combined airborne-amphibious assault...
...officers because of its similarity to the tropical jungles of Southeast Asia...
...5.5 ..........- - - 16.1 () () () ( ) Haiti...
...A Depth-Study of CastroCommunist Operations and Insurgency Potentials in Guatemala...
...22 Yes...
...12...
...Director of the IADC (always an American) is Major General John B. Henry, Jr., formerly a deputy inspector general at the headquarters, U.S...
...Students at the Academy regularly travel to the U.S...
...CINFAC is the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center responsible for collecting, storing and disseminating information produced nationwide at universities and other institutions on the characteristics of the peoples and societies of the underdeveloped world...
...This command, headed by General Robert W. Porter, also supervises U.S...
...The Test Center is used rimarily for field testing of new weapons and other military equipment...
...20 Yes...
...military training programs in South and Central America, including the counterinsurgency training provided by Special Forces units, are all responsible to CINCSOUTH...
...Panama...
...Army School of the Americas, located at Fort Gulick in the Panama Canal Zone, is the only U.S...
...with Haiti and Guatemala in 1955...
...military missions by offering special instruction in counterinsurgency...
...Senate, October 9, 1967, p. 21...
...13 12...
...27 15...
...5.3 .7 .. . . .7 Guatemala...
...In the past, each wing comprised 15 B-52 aircraft, but the number may have been reduced due to the Vietnam war...
...Multilingual instructors brought in from America's civilian, military and federal law enforcement agencies conduct courses at the Academy in police management, operations, and internal security...
...In April 1965, for instance, some 10,000 servicemen participated in exercises at Vieques which involved some 22 Naval warships and 160 Air Force, Marine and Navy aircraft...
...Military Assistance Program at a cost of $1 million...
...The troops...
...34 29 1 64 Yes...
...CRESS is the successor to the Special Operations Research Office (SORO), which had been founded in the mid-1950s to consolidate Army-financed research on psychological warfare...
...8 Albrook Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone is the Air Force equivalent of the Army's School of the Americas...
...Colombia...
...Emphasis at IADC is on quality, not quantity...
...20 Yes...
...65 Yes...
...2.3 .1 1...
...18.6 3.3 --- 3. 3 Total...
...military programs in Latin America...
...According to testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "Each handbook provides appeals and symbols of tested persuasiveness for communicating messages to specific audiences in a given country...
...Inter-American Defense College Educates Officers of 22 Nations," Army R&D Newsmagazine (March 1968...
...Yes...
...13 As part of the regular curriculum, students take part in complete strategic planning exercises involving principles of collective defense and counterinsurgency warfare...
...Vieques is an island located ust off the eastern tip of Puerto Rico which is used primarily for military functions...
...The IADC is located at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C., in a building that was refurbished for IADC use by the U.S...
...2 These objectives were largely realized following the entry of the United States in the war, when Latin America provided temporary bases, stepped up production of strategic materials, and collaborated in antisubmarine and other defense operations...
...Recognizing that the jungle environment poses unusual problems for military communication and logistics, the Army in 1962 established the Tropic Test Center as a component of the Test and Evaluation Command of the Army Material Command...
...Yes...
...Under the Mutual Security Act of 1951, funds were to be made available for the strengthening of Latin armies in the interests of Hemispheric defense...
...1 More on Government-Sponsored Foreign Affairs Research...
...26-52...
...Uruguay...
...The base also encompasses a large air base, which houses several squadrons of jet fighters and reconnaissance aircraft...
...4 Yes...
...During the Dominican crisis of 1965, Ramey provided logistical support to General Wessin y Wessin's blockaded troops at San Isidro airbase...
...12 IPA's students come from 4$6 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle Fast and Latin America (all Latin American countries are represented except Cuba and Haiti...
...Army Jungle Warfare School occupies some 55 square miles of tropical jungle near Fort Sherman in the Panama Canal Zone...
...is the Federal Contract Research Center responsible to the U.S...
...subscription: $5 In This Issue: U.S...
...5 2.5 .2...
...Ramey Air Force Base is a SAC nuclear base which houses two reconnaissance wings and one bombardment wing, with their accompanying jet tankers...
...agencies described below, began to emphasize anti-guerrilla warfare in all programs aimed at Latin America...
...Yes...
...4 20.1 18.5 134.3 7.3 .3 2.5 10.1 Uruguay...
...The Navy offices in San Juan and at the Roosevelt Roads base command all U.S.-5naval activity in the Atlantic Ocean south of the Tropic of Cancer and in the Caribbean, (Other Navy bases, in Trinidad and at Guantunamo Bay in Cuba, are also under the jurisdiction of these commands...
...Ecuador...
...Total...
...IADC promotional brochure...
...5...
...Using a large-scale model of a mythical city called Rio Bravos, IPA students practice such maneuvers as the suppression of "a communist-inspired riot at the city's university" (read: Mexico City), or the prevention of "a bombing attempt by communist subversives from the hostile neighboring country, Maoland" (read: Cuba...
...Vieques acquires special importance periodically during the year as the site of the Atlantic Fleet's training exercises...
...7 12...
...5.8 11.3 .3 86.8 37.4 66.8 1. 0 7.8 8.8 Cuba 10...
...Military aid to Latin America was suspended in the immediate postwar era...
...MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO LATIN AMERICA' [In millions of dollars] Cumulative, fiscal 1953-66 Fiscal 1966 Country MAP Naval Excess Credit Repay- MAP Excess Credit grants Vessels stocks assist- ments Total grants stocks assist- Total ance ance Argentina...
...31 34...
...counterinsurgency activities in Latin America (see NACLA Newsletter, September 1968, for a list of CRESS projects...
...4.8...
...Costa Rica...
...1.3 Honduras...
...military intervention in Latin America...
...The Fort Sherman location is especially attractive to U.S...
...2. 7 Venezuela...
...Puerto Rico is also the location of the only Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in Latin America...
...The advisory missions--separate from the military attaches on each embassy staff-range in size from five men in Panama to well over one hundred in Brazil...
...The eastern section of the island is occupied by a Marine unit engaged in field engineering and training, while the western section is used mainly as an ammunition depot comprising huge underground storage warehouses...
...These guides (originally called Psycholigical Operations Handbooks) have been prepared for many Latin American countries...
...Table I U.S...
...Air Force et fighters...
...Navy the same strategic role performedbr the Army by the Panama Canal Zone...
...with Nicaragua and Honduras in 1954...
...3 7...
...Puerto Ricans serve in the U.S...
...Ramey also has a full complement of heavy transport equipment capable of airlifting almost every type of military equipment, plus large numbers of troops, to airstrips in any Latin American country...
...5.8 1.4 .9 .2 8. 3' 1.0 ---- 1.0 Peru...
...8...
...b And, as can be sensed from General Westmoreland's September speech to the Eighth Conference of the American Armies (printed intact below), the development of a counterinsurgency capability by Latin armies to be the preeminent objective of U.S...
...At the same time, the U.S...
...Massive airlift operations of this sort are assuming an increasingly more important role in U.S...
...troops to the Dominican Republic, and for a crucial period provided the only air link to that country...
...Military Operations / Latin America FOOTNOTES 1. Edwin Lieuwen, Survey of the Alliance for Progress: The Latin American Military, a study prepared at the request of the Subcommittee on American Republics Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S...
...Brazil...
...and with Bolivia in 1958...
...10 Yes...
...82.5 32...
...and to gain military cooperation in the event the Western Hemisphere became involved in World War II...
...Available from the office of Student World Relations, Room 924, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10027...
...One of these units, consisting of 16 green berets, was sent to Bolivia in April 1967 to train the Bolivian Ranger batallion that eventually captured Ernesto Che Guevara...
...1l Puerto Rico is the headquarters of the Commander South Atlantic Force (CCMSOLANT), as well as of the 10th Naval District commanding the Caribbean Sea Frontier...
...11 9...
...8. "Bridge of the Americas," Army Digest (September 1968...
...The 8th Special Forces contingent, with headquarters at Fort Gulick, is designated the Special Action Force for Latin America...
...No ......- No...
...Southern Command in the Panama Canal Zone, and the other U.S...
...A major responsibility of CRESS is the preparation of the Army's Intercultural Communications Guides for underdeveloped societies...
...The Inter-American Defense College (IADC) was established in 1962 by the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) of the OAS as a senior service school similar to the U.S...
...15 13 1 29 Yes...
...2. Lieuwen, p. 21...
...United States Military Bases in Puerto Rico and Their Strategic Function," unpublished paper by Richard Krushnic...
...Such agreements were subsequently signed with Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, and Chile in 1952...
...4 However, after the Kennedy administration took office in 1961, "the basis for military aid to Latin America abruptly shifted from hemispheric defense to internal security, from the protection of coastlines and from antisubmarine warfare to internal defense against CastroCommunist guerrilla warfare...
...These reports include: "A Depth-Study of Contemporary Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Operations in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia...
...2.3 - - - - - 2.3 .4 ---- .4 Paraguay...
...The present Deputy Director of IADC is Brigadier General Martin Garcia Villasmil of the Venezuelan Army, and the Chief of Studies is Brigadier General Emilio Molino Pizarro of the Bolivian Army...
...Guatemala...
...87.8 29.9 23.3 3.2 .8 143.4 8.4 .5 .1 9.0 Colombia...
...6.7 Bolivia 5. 0 2.6...
...PUERTO RICO FACILITIES Puerto Rico performs for the U.S...
...Nearly 2,000 police officers have graduated from IPA, of which more than 60 percent came from Central and South America...
...Fort Gulick boasts that "alumni have risen to such key positions as Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff in Bolivia, Director of Mexico's War College, Minister of War and Chief of Staff in Colombia, Chief of Staff for Intelligence in Argentina and Undersecretary of War in Chile...
...3 No assistance since 1963.Table II CANAL ZONE FACILITIES The Panama Canal Zone is the site of the U.S...
...Transit Company for some $220,000 annually...
...17.6 2.4 .3 2.7 Brazil...
...18 Iof Latin America's total defense expenditures (which run at about $1.516 billion nnually...
...support of the civic action programs of Latin American armies...
...Minimum contribution for 1-yr...
...At the 1967 Congressional hearings on the Foreign Assistance Act, Defense Secretary McNamara asserted that "the primary objective of the MAP program] in Latin America is to aid, where necessary, in the continued development of indigenous military and paramilitary forces capable of providing, in conjunction with police and other security forces, the needed domestic security...
...IPA was originally known as the Inter-American Police Academy, and was first located in the Panama Canal Zone...
...53 54 12 119 Yes...
Vol. 2 • October 1968 • No. 6
