southcom and fiu team up on counterinsurgency

8/13/2019 Southcom and Fiu Team Up on Counterinsurgency

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Written by Adrienne Pine

Tuesday, 09 November 2010 20:48

As it has done with great success throughout the past century, the U.S. military continues to

find ways to use the academy and anthropological concepts

to

whitewash its imperialist actions in the service of U.S. corporate profits

. In Latin America from 1963-1965,

Project Camelot

set a dark precedent for the use of social science to abet and legitimate counterinsurgency

operations including psychological warfare. Now, the U.S. Military's Southern Command (

SOUTHCOM), the Pentagon's arm in Latin America and responsible for all U.S. bases the region, and

Florida International University (FIU) have partnered in the creation of a so-called

"Strategic Culture" Initiative

, a center that hosts workshops and issues reports on the "strategic culture" of different Latin

American countries. At present, reports have been issued from

Argentina

;

Bolivia

;

Brazil;

Chile

;

Colombia

;

Cuba

;

Ecuador

;

El Salvador;

Guatemala

;

Haiti

;

Nicaragua

;

Peru

; and

Venezuela.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/price02032009.htmlhttp://www.counterpunch.org/price02032009.htmlhttp://savageminds.org/2008/04/17/camelot-revisited-the-department-of-defenses-new-plan-for-academia/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Camelothttp://www.southcom.mil/appssc/index.phphttp://strategicculture.fiu.edu/http://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/4.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Argentina.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/3.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Bolivia.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/11.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Brasil.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/4.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Chile.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/10.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Colombia.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Cuba.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/1.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Ecuador.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_El_Salvador.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/6.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Guatemala.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Haiti.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/2.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Nicaragua.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Peru.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/7.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Venezuela.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/7.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Venezuela.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Peru.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/2.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Nicaragua.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Haiti.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/6.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Guatemala.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_El_Salvador.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/1.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Ecuador.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/9.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Cuba.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/10.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Colombia.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/4.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Chile.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/11.9.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Brasil.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/3.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Bolivia.pdfhttp://quotha.net/docs/FIU-SOUTHCOM/4.10.FIU-SOUTHCOM_Argentina.pdfhttp://strategicculture.fiu.edu/http://www.southcom.mil/appssc/index.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Camelothttp://savageminds.org/2008/04/17/camelot-revisited-the-department-of-defenses-new-plan-for-academia/http://www.counterpunch.org/price02032009.htmlhttp://www.counterpunch.org/price02032009.html


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On its website, the FIU-SOUTHCOM initiative defines strategic culture as "the combination of

internal and external influences and experiences - geographic, historical, cultural, economic,

political and military - that shape and influence the way a country understands its relationship to

the rest of the world, and how a state will behave in the international community." However,

from a look at their reports it is clear that a more accurate definition would be "strategicpropaganda for the creation of hegemonic political ideology favorable to U.S. economic and

military interests." Here is an excerpt from the Peru report:

The elements of the new strategic culture, if it continues to emerge, will be to end or reduce the

plaintive note of victim-hood in discussion of the nation's role in world affairs. Ironically, Chile

will become the model for the new Peruvian strategic culture - focused on the successes of

economic growth, political stability, and an honest effort to incorporate peripheral regions and

marginal groups into national life. Peru, more than Chile, can base its national pride on

multi-ethnic assimilation. This new national integration, along with the openness to trade andinvestment will be the principal components of Peru's new soft power...Peru will join Brazil and

Chile as bulwarks of democracy and open economies, set as an example against the archaic

rhetoric and self-defeating economic autarchy of the Bolivarian alliance.

Here, Peruvians are portrayed as whiny children who can be properly disciplined through

"multi-ethnic assimilation" to follow the correct path toward "democracy and open economies"

(ideal models that have proven to be mutually exclusive in the Latin American context) and

away from the dreaded ALBA, a regional economic agreement that foregrounds social welfare

over trade liberalization in the service of corporate profits.

The use of the term "culture" in "strategic culture" studies is key, as it is the central organizing

concept of anthropology. By reframing corporate-military strategy as "culture", FIU-SOUTHCOM

intentionally draws upon the legitimacy and integrity of anthropology and other social sciences

to depoliticize and bolster its case for military occupation of the Americas.

FIU-SOUTHCOM claims the partnership provides "the highest quality research-based

knowledge to further explicative understanding of the political, strategic, and socio-cultural

dimensions of state behavior." However, it is clear from a quick examination of the qualifications

of participants in FIU-SOUTHCOM's October 7th Honduras Strategic Culture Workshop that

high-quality research is far less important to the alliance than creating high-qualityanti-democratic propaganda to justify the support of the coup-installed government and

increased U.S. military presence and aid. Workshop Participants included:

Dr. Jose Rene Argueta, whose affiliation is listed as University of Pittsburgh. This is false.

Argueta holds a PhD from Pittsburgh ('07) in Political Science, but according to spokespeople

at the University of Pittsburgh has no current affiliation with the institution. Nonetheless, he has

been using the fraudulent affiliation to legitimize his representing Honduras all over the

anti-democratic non-profit-military-industrial-complex, from the FIU conference two weeks ago,

to the USAID-sponsored Americas Barometer

conference this November, to theComparative Study of Electoral Systems

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http://quotha.net/docs/honduras/10.7.10_Honduras_Strategic_Culture_Workshop.pdfhttp://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/alumni.phphttp://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&sqi=2&ved=0CC8QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsitemason.vanderbilt.edu%2Ffiles%2Flw8fUk%2FAmericasBarometer%25202010%2520Startup%2520Conference%2520Participant%2520List%2520v12.pdf&rct=j&q=Dr.%20Jose%20Rene%20Argueta%20pittsburgh&ei=OEe7TN3QHMHflgeKpYXbDQ&usg=AFQjCNGr75eWXJuXciHH3Esfpvissm-h_w&cad=rjahttp://www.cses.org/collabs/m3collab.htmhttp://www.cses.org/collabs/m3collab.htmhttp://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&sqi=2&ved=0CC8QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsitemason.vanderbilt.edu%2Ffiles%2Flw8fUk%2FAmericasBarometer%25202010%2520Startup%2520Conference%2520Participant%2520List%2520v12.pdf&rct=j&q=Dr.%20Jose%20Rene%20Argueta%20pittsburgh&ei=OEe7TN3QHMHflgeKpYXbDQ&usg=AFQjCNGr75eWXJuXciHH3Esfpvissm-h_w&cad=rjahttp://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/alumni.phphttp://quotha.net/docs/honduras/10.7.10_Honduras_Strategic_Culture_Workshop.pdf


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program.

Dr. Norman A. Bailey, President, Institute for Global Economic Growth, and"Adjunct Professor of Economic Statecraft"

at the Institute for World Politics, "a Graduate School of National Security and International

Affairs." Bailey, the

ideologue

author of gems like

Iranian Penetration into the Western Hemisphere Through Venezuela

,

lists "Economic Warfare" as his primary area of expertise at the IWP

. Bailey has a long career attacking Latin American right to self-determination, starting with his

army stint in strategic intelligence and joint operational planning; followed by his time as SpecialAssistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director of International

Economic Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Reagan White House; many

years in the shadier corners of the oil and investment banking industries; and later as Mission

Manager for Cuba and Venezuela, directly under Director of National Intelligence John D.

Negroponte. See

here

and

here

. At the conference, Bailey was promoting

Marco Cceres'sbook

The Good Coup

.

Coronel Jose Amilcar Hernandez Flores, Honduran Armed Forces (the same military that

carried out last year's coup). Hernndez Flores has graduated from School of the Americas

(SOA) three times, the first at the height of 1980s death squad activity when SOA was training

Battalion 3-16 in the torture techniques still in use today, the second for a course titled "Course

in the Maintenance of Democracy" (Source: SOA Watch ). In order of Name, Rank, Course,

Date, Country: Hernandez FloresJose A. Tte. Curso de Administracin de la Instruccin de Unidades Pequeas 0-2A 21 July- 2

September 1982 Honduras

Hernandez Flores Jose Amilcar Tte. Cnel. Curso De Sostenimiento Democratico 6 April- 15

May 1998 Honduras Hernandez Flores Jose Amilcar Tte. Cnel. Curso Basico De

Computadoras 18 May- 2 June 1998 Honduras Dr. Ernesto Galvez

Mejia, "Independent Scholar." Glvez was an aide in Maduro's government, and is an assistant

to the current ambassador in Washington representing the de facto administration of Pepe

Lobo. He stated in his workshop presentation that the armed forces of Honduras have the right

to attack and repress the resistance movement, because its members (he alleged) are violent

and provoke disorder, and that furthermore, the state must hold a monopoly over force, toprotect citizens against "extremists" (in this case people who actively oppose the military coup)

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http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/norman-bailey-2http://internationalrelations.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1127http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/bai102709.pdfhttp://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/norman-bailey-2http://www.igeg.org/Bailey.htmlhttp://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20061127_release.pdfhttp://voselsoberano.com/v1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7865:duros-suaves-e-inteligentes&catid=2:opinionhttp://www.ccbpublishing.com/mcdiiorio.htmlhttp://soaw.org/http://soaw.org/http://www.ccbpublishing.com/mcdiiorio.htmlhttp://voselsoberano.com/v1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7865:duros-suaves-e-inteligentes&catid=2:opinionhttp://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20061127_release.pdfhttp://www.igeg.org/Bailey.htmlhttp://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/norman-bailey-2http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/bai102709.pdfhttp://internationalrelations.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1127http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/norman-bailey-2


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whom he defined as criminals.

Guillermo Pena Panting, Consejo Hondurefio de la Empresa Privada (COHEP). COHEP was

one the the primary financiers of the coup, and one of its biggest proponents .

Marifeli Prez-Stable, until recently vice president for democratic governance and currently a

non-resident senior fellow at theInter-American Dialogue

(a Washington "liberal" think tank that played a key role in legitimizing the coup here) and

sociology professor at FIU.

Brian Fonseca, Florida International University, former U.S. Marine and a graduate of National

Defense University's Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies' Advanced Transnational

Security, Stability, and Democracy Program. As the ARC's About Us page notes, Fonseca

oversees the FIU-SOUTHCOM Academic Partnership and Strategic Culture Studies Program at

FIU's Applied Research Center.

Moiss Caballero, co-facilitator with Fonseca, is also former Marine Corps, and has taught

"Principles of Banking" at Volunteer State Community College as adjunct faculty. He is listed as

"Research Analyst" for his About Us page at the FIU Strategic Culture site, which also notes

he is currently working on his MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies (MALACS) at FIU

with a focus in Cuban and Cuban American Studies.

Dr. Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle. The only actual recognized intellectual in the bunch, Pastor

Fasquelle is a well-respected historian who has held appointments at Harvard and El Colegio

de Mxico and who served twice as Minister of Arts and Culture, most recently for President

Zelaya.

Dr. Pastor Fasquelle attended the event as a "member of the Resistance and as a man who

was faithful to President Zelaya." He decided to attend as a way to counteract the discourse of

the people who would be there "representing" Honduras, and, indeed, found himself surrounded

by persons who had been indirectly and directly responsible for the assassinations of many of

his friends, and for his being forced into exile following the coup.

Concerned by what he saw there, and by the fact that his presence was being used to give a

veneer of academic legitimacy to the ongoing U.S. militarization of Latin America in general,

and Honduras in particular, Dr. Pastor Fasquelle passed along the conference materials to me.

The concept of "culture" is being used to justify the violent actions of the U.S. military

throughout the hemisphere. Culture is also used to justify U.S. training of and funding for Latin

American military forces that engage in torture, targeted assassinations of dissidents, and carry

out coups d'etats. But the abuse of the culture concept in the service of empire is neither new,

nor unique to the militarized university. In the case of Honduras, groups like the Washington

Office on Latin America (WOLA) have promoted the idea that Honduras suffers from a culture of

violencerather than a neoliberal policy of state violence in which poverty is criminalized and

the victims of structural violence are blamed. This difference is crucial; if violence is cultural,

then "security"in the form of increased U.S. military aid and trainingis a logical solution fordisciplining an unruly, uncivilized population. However, if violence is the explicit policy of a

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http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=87992http://quotha.net/node/1316http://www.thedialogue.org/http://strategicculture.fiu.edu/AboutUs/StrategicCultureProgramLeads/BrianFonseca.aspxhttp://strategicculture.fiu.edu/AboutUs/StrategicCultureProgramLeads/MoisesCaballero.aspxhttp://strategicculture.fiu.edu/AboutUs/StrategicCultureProgramLeads/MoisesCaballero.aspxhttp://strategicculture.fiu.edu/AboutUs/StrategicCultureProgramLeads/BrianFonseca.aspxhttp://www.thedialogue.org/http://quotha.net/node/1316http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=87992


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militarized client state protecting corporate profits from falling into the hands of the Honduran

people, then democracyhowever the Honduran people should choose to approach itis the

solution. Not coincidentally, WOLA has consistently called for increased police and military aid

mutually exclusive with real democracyto Honduras.

As it turns out, WOLA has significant ties to FIU-SOUTHCOM. The vice-chair of WOLA's board,

Cristina Eguizbal (who also heads the FIU's Latin American and Caribbean Center) has

authored SOUTHCOM's country "strategic culture" reports for Nicaragua and El Salvador.

When anthropology's analysis and cultural capital are appropriated in order to facilitate and

legitimize military violence, anthropologists are obligated to strongly and forcefully denounce

such actions both in the academy and on the ground. And when WOLA, the nation's so-called

foremost voice for human rights in Latin America, is authoring reports to aid the Southern

Command in its bloody counterinsurgency campaigns to undermine democracy and whitewash

military coups, it becomes necessary for all U.S. citizens to evaluate the role we have played inallowing U.S. international policy to stray so far from our own democratic control.

Meanwhile, down the street from FIU in Doral, FL, SOUTHCOM is opening its new

headquarters at a cost to the U.S. taxpayer of 237 million dollars . FIU graduate Ileana

Ros-Lehtinen, the Honduran

coup's biggest fan

in Congress (representing Miami and the Keys), is poised to take over as chair of the Foreign

Affairs Committee, despite

having broken the law

in her zeal to legitimize the dictator Micheletti. And WOLA isreceiving its funding from contractors working for the Department of Defense

.

Further investigation of the interlocking actors in the non-profit-military-academic-industrial

complex is warranted, as is focused research on FIU-SOUTHCOM event participants and

"strategic culture" reports, in order to expose the ways that U.S. military pseudo-social science

is threatening democracy and self-determination throughout the hemisphere. And just as

members of the American Anthropological Association have come together as a discipline to

oppose the army's Human Terrain System in Iraq and Afghanistan, anthropologists and other

social scientists are beginning to mobilize to stand up to SOUTHCOM's latest use of theacademy and anthropological concepts in the service of remilitarization that threatens the lives

of people we live with, work with, and study throughout the hemisphere.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/pine04122010.htmlhttp://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/news.php?storyId=1206http://www.narconews.com/Issue60/article3858.htmlhttp://www.narconews.com/Issue60/article3858.htmlhttp://www.counterpunch.org/cooney10072009.htmlhttp://www.rightsaction.org/articles/WOLA_sponsors_letter_110110.htmlhttp://www.aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/Statement-on-HTS.cfmhttp://quotha.net/http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520255445/counterpunchmagahttp://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10769.phphttp://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10769.phphttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520255445/counterpunchmagahttp://quotha.net/http://www.aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/Statement-on-HTS.cfmhttp://www.rightsaction.org/articles/WOLA_sponsors_letter_110110.htmlhttp://www.counterpunch.org/cooney10072009.htmlhttp://www.narconews.com/Issue60/article3858.htmlhttp://www.narconews.com/Issue60/article3858.htmlhttp://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/news.php?storyId=1206http://www.counterpunch.org/pine04122010.html


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southcom and fiu team up on counterinsurgency

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