Training Ground For Murderers
Continued U.S. support for the School of the Americas, an institution that has trained dictators and political assassins, is completely unjustifiable.
At seven o’ clock in the morning on December 11, 1981 an evil force entered the small El Salvadorian village of El Mezote (School of Assasins). With painted faces and army fatigues, the guerillas carried machine guns and automatic rifles into the peaceful village. As survivor Rufina Amaya recounts, “At ten o’clock the soldiers began to kill the men who were in the church. First, they machine-gunned them and slit their throats” (“Country Sheets for Close it Down Fast!” 3). After the men, the women were placed face down in the dusty streets and shot to death. Amaya remembers listening as, “they killed four of my children; my nine-year-old, my six-year-old, my three-year-old, and my eight-month-old daughter. My husband was killed, too… I didn’t see them kill the children, but I heard the children’s screams” (3). After days of hiding in the tall grass that surrounded the village, Amaya emerged to find that over 900 of her neighbors had been brutally massacred. Out of the dead, one hundred and thirty children were massacred in the horrific event, including three infants that had been burned alive (School of Assassins; “Country Sheets for Close it Down Fast!” 3). Who was to blame for the El Mezote massacre? Surprisingly, ten out of twelve of the officers responsible for the massacre were American trained guerillas and attendees of a Latin American military school located in Fort Benning, Georgia; the School of the Americas (Barber 144). Since its creation in 1946, the American government has provided extensive training for over 58,000 soldiers from se...
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“School of the Americas: U.S. Military Training for Latin American Countries.”
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“Taking Stock: Plan Columbia’s First Year.” Columbia Monitor March 2002: 1.
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Before reading this, I, like I am sure so many others, had no idea of the magnitude of injustices that can occur during these conflicts. Also, this was not very long ago, nor far away, and it speaks volumes of the differences in government ideology and politics. El Salvador is an extreme case of how a government will treat its citizens. Massacre at El Mozote truly was an eye-opener and I doubt I will soon forget it.
Perhaps one of the most pressing concerns is health and the assumption that to a certain degree criminalization is justified by preserving health. Illicit drugs are, in reality, not as hazardous to public health as accustomed views present- particularly in relation to certain recreational activities that are legal. Of the 25,000 illegal drug use-induced fatalities the National Institute on Drug Abuse has brought to light, the majority is more correctly due to drug prohibition than consumption. Also, some 14,300 of the casualties are a result of diseases like AIDS, transferred (generally) because of contaminated drug injection needles. Needle exchange programs for sterile needles are encouraged by the World Health Organization, amongst many other international organizations, as it is considered as possibly the greatest innovation for the health improvement of users. However, the federal government disallows the appropriation of its funds to these programs because the possession and sale of syringes still remain largely illegal. Furthermore, - as I explain later on- between the sellers and producers, there is no real confidence in the contents and hence, dangerousness of a given street drug. Considering the already growing level of consumption, imagine the gains of, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supervising illicit drugs, parallel to their work on food and
Higgins' books begins with a brief review of the way the United States presidents dealt with Latin America in that era. It starts from President Franklin D, Roosevelt leasing Guantanamo Bay to President Dwight D. Eisenhower invading Guatemala Operations Fortune and Success which becomes the model for President John F. Kennedy's Bay of Pigs operation. It gives more in depth information of how Eisenhower's tactics and plans set up the invasion of Cuba which was later altered, modified and approved by President John F. Kennedy.
It is the intention of this essay to explain the United States foreign policy behind specific doctrines. In order to realize current objectives, this paper will proceed as follows: Part 1 will define the Monroe Doctrine, Sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 will concurrently explicate the Roosevelt Corollary, Good Neighbor Policy, and the Nixon Doctrine, discuss how each policy resulted in U.S. involvement in Latin American countries, describe how it was justified by the U.S. government, respectively, and finally, will bring this paper to a summation and conclusion.
The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, otherwise referred to as the “Dirty War” in Argentina, was instructed from 1976 to 1983, the military government to kidnapped, tortured, and murdered progressive militants, and any person who claimed were “collaborators,” including all political adversaries of the regime. Many of the rebels were young people, pupils and other adolescence struggling to convey their discontents with the regime. The abducted people became described as the “disappeared.” The government destroyed any documentations that would aid the families to discovery the bodies or regain their grandchildren. The regime similarly stole babies born to incarcerated pregnant prisoners.
Equine-assisted therapy, also known as equine therapy or equestrian therapy, is a type of animal-assisted therapy intended to teach, counsel, and/or rehabilitate people with disabilities. This type of experiential therapy includes activities such as: grooming and caring for, haltering and leading, tacking up, and riding horses. Each of those activities foster interactions between the rider or patient, and horse, building a bond between the human and horse. In a typical equestrian therapy setting, usually a dedicated therapeutic barn, a mental health professional and/or an “equine therapist can observe and interact with the patient in order to identify behavior patterns and process thoughts and emotions” (“What Is Equine Therapy?”). In some
Mingst, K. A. (2011). Essentials of international relations. (5th ed., p. 78). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech describes the past, present, and future lives of African-Americans. Racism of African-American was a huge issue of the time, which created kairotic moment for the speech and motivated Dr. King to demonstrate the racial problems of the time. The propose of Dr. King’s speech was to inform people about racial equality and fairness by providing hope and a vision of the future. Dr. King’s speech was intended for different types of audience especially for racial supremacists and African-Americans who were discriminated against.
On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous and powerful speech I Have a Dream, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The purpose of his speech was to fight for the civil rights, equality, and to stop the discrimination against African-American people. His use of imagery, repetition, and metaphor in his speech had created an impact with his audience. King used the three rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos and logos to help the audience understand the message of his speech.
The concept of moral distress can be defined in a number of different ways. Generally speaking, when individuals make moral decisions about the right course of action in a situation but are unable to carry it out, they will experience moral distress. A man by the name of Andrew Jameton defined moral distress in 1984 as “a phenomenon that arises when one knows the right thing to do, but institutional constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action” (Nursing Forum, 2007). Because of their particular position in the medical world and their conflicting responsibilities, nurses are especially prone to experiencing moral distress. Whether they are aware of it or not, nurses are becoming more and more involved in making ethical decisions regarding their patients. However, the doctor’s policy always rules over the nurse and the patient’s wishes must always be respected. The consequences of not being heard by fellow co-workers or having your plan of action overruled by other policies can often be frustrating and upsetting for a nurse. While there is no data that directly connects the effects of moral distress and the quality of care nurses give, it can be inferred that the feelings of moral outrage, frustration, and anger cause nurses to care for patients in a less effective way. A nurse who is at conflict with him/herself and those that surround him/her will experience difficulties in treating a patient with the best care.
Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 6th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2003.
An ethical dilemma is defined as a mental state when the nurse has to make a choice between the options and choices that he or she has at her disposal. The choice is a crucial task as the opting of the step will subsequently determine the health status of the concerned patient, hence it requires a great deal of wisdom along with proper medical and health training before any such step is opted as it is a matter of life and death. Strong emphasis should therefore be on the acquisition of proper knowledge and skills so that nurses do posses the autonomy to interact with patients regarding ethical issues involved in health care affairs and address them efficiently. It is normally argued that nurses are not provided sufficient authority to consult and address their patients on a more communicative or interactive level as a result of which they are often trapped in predicaments where their treatments of action and their personal beliefs create a conflict with the health interests of the patient. (Timby, 2008)
Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Eighth Edition, volume C. Ed. Mary Loeffelholz. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2012. 990-1006. Print
In conclusion, there are numerous legal and ethical issues apparent in the nursing practice. Nurses should study and be as informed as they can with ethics and legality within their field in order to ensure no mistakes occur. Ethical issues vary based on patient’s views, religion, and environment. Nurses are influenced by these same views, but most of the time they are not the same as the patients. As a nurse we must learn to put the care of our patients and their beliefs, rights, and wishes before our own personal
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) 2002, Globalization, Drugs and Criminalisation: Final Research Report on Brazil, China, India and Mexico, viewed 3 April 2014, http://www.unesco.org/most/globalisation/drugs_vol2.pdf