Worksheet: Sociology 2111--"Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins" VC3476

1. Who is Father Bourgeois, and how does he come to be involved in the effort to close the School for the Americas (now known as the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation)?

2. What is the perspective of this video on School for the Americas involvement in human rights violations and killings in Central and South America? What is the perspective of the U.S. military on this?

3. What were the findings of the United Nations Truth Commission on events in El Salvador?

Sociology 2111: Group Project--"Inside the School of the Americas"

1. How can you relate the U.S. military's School of the Americas to C. Wright Mills' perspective in The Power Elite? What interest, for example, could the United States have in maintaining a military dictatorship in El Salvador, or in supporting the Contras in Nicaragua?

2. Do you see the U.S. military as implicated in the activities of the death squads in El Salvador or the killing of university students in Peru? Why or why not?

3. How effective are the tactics of the group that is pushing for the closing of the School of the Americas? Had you heard of them before seeing this video? Are there other approaches they could be taking that might be more effective?