From: Featured Documentaries
Latin America: In the Shadow of the US | Ep 1 – Coups
US-backed coups reshape Latin America, toppling democracies and fuelling decades of dictatorship, secrecy, and revolt.
![A demonstration against the Contras, the US intervention in Nicaragua, Central America and Honduras [File: Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/GettyImages-1039970092-1764842063.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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Critics of the US military’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) often call it the ‘School of Assassins’. The facility trains Latin American forces, some known for human rights abuses, from places like El Salvador, home to the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
WHINSEC began as the School of the Americas (SOA), a Cold War institution created by the US in 1946, based in Panama. It trained Latin American military personnel to fight communists. In 1984, due in part to public anger in Panama, the SOA relocated to Fort Benning in the US state of Georgia.
Five years later, in 1989, the Salvadoran army’s Atlacatl Battalion killed six Jesuit priests, as well as their housekeeper and her daughter, under orders to ‘leave no witnesses’. Of the 26 officers implicated, 19 had been trained by the SOA at one time or another.
Under public and congressional pressure in 1996, the Pentagon was forced to release Spanish-language, SOA training manuals that advocated extrajudicial killing and torture.
In 2001, the SOA changed its name to WHINSEC, but critics accuse the US of making no substantive change to the curriculum. WHINSEC has denied responsibility for perpetrating abuses.
Over the years, El Salvador has been in the top five of Latin American states to train security personnel at the SOA/WHINSEC. Today, the country is led by President Nayib Bukele. In 2023, he opened CECOT, a widely condemned mega-prison. As such, some rights groups criticise the SOA/WHINSEC for training security forces from countries like El Salvador.
Since 2022, Bukele has used a ‘state of exception’ to suspend constitutional rights, allowing him to crack down on gang violence, but also public dissent. CECOT is his crown jewel.
In March 2025, US President Donald Trump deported more than 230 alleged Venezuelan gang members to CECOT, even though at least 197 reportedly had no US criminal records. In CECOT, the men reportedly received frequent and severe beatings before being sent back to Venezuela in July.
Rights groups accuse the Salvadoran penal system of torture, killings and disappearing people. In this climate of terror, the SOA/WHINSEC has trained personnel from El Salvador and other suspect Latin American states, like Argentina, Panama and Guatemala. Today, El Salvador has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world.
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A promise to ‘shut’ the Darien becomes a headline win. The lived reality is rerouted suffering and rights stripped bare.
Panama declares emergency in western province after deadly pension protests
Clashes with police have left at least one person dead and about 30 injured in a major banana-producing province.
US banana giant Chiquita fires thousands over Panama strike
President Jose Raul Mulino, whose changes to social security laws prompted the protest, called the strike ‘illegal’.
Villagers navigate the Indio River during a protest against the construction of a reservoir in the river basin in Rio Indio, Colon province, Panama. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Francisco Troya, a boatman who transports goods in his canoe along the Indio River, looks out at the jungle landscape in the small town of Boca de Uracillo. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Olegario Cedeno sits at his home in front of a sign that reads "Alternative for the Canal - Bayano Yes - Indio river No" in the small town of Limon, in Cocle province. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Agustina Delgado and her son Frederid Martinez stand inside their home in the village of Boca de Uracillo, along the banks of the Indio River. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Hector Martinez at his home in Boca de Uracillo. The Panama Canal authorities are pushing forward a controversial plan to build a reservoir in the Indio River basin, aimed at securing the country's water supply, both for canal operations and for human consumption. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
La Boca de Uracillo, a remote community of about 200 residents nestled along the Indio River in the mountainous region of Cocle province. The plan to build the reservoir faces strong opposition from local communities, who refuse to abandon their homes to make way for the construction. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Francisco Troya sails his small canoe along the Indio River. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Villagers took to the Indio River in motorised canoes to protest against the planned dam. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Work on the reservoir is expected to begin in 2027 and finish by 2032, with an estimated investment of $1.6bn. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
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‘Camouflaged invasion’: Panama opposition slams security pact with the US
Panama’s opposition speaks out against deal that allows the deployment of US troops in the Central American nation.
From: NewsFeed
Video: Panama-US sign understanding on US troop deployments
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