Editing Death squad (section)

==== Central America ====

===== El Salvador =====
{{main|Death squads in El Salvador}}
{{See also|1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador|Óscar Romero}}
[[File:Masakro-ĉe-Suchitoto-Salvadoro.jpg|thumb|A billboard serving as a reminder of one of many [[List of massacres in El Salvador|massacres]] that occurred during the civil war]]
During the [[El Salvador Civil War|Salvadoran civil war]], death squads (known in Spanish by the name of Escuadrón de la Muerte, "Squadron of Death") achieved notoriety when a [[sniper]] assassinated Archbishop [[Óscar Romero]] while he was performing [[Mass (Roman Rite)|Mass]] in March 1980. In December 1980, [[1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador|three American nuns and a lay worker]] were [[gangrape]]d and murdered by a military unit later found to have been acting on specific orders. Death squads were instrumental in killing thousands of peasants and activists. Funding for the squads came primarily from right-wing Salvadoran businessmen and landowners.<ref>Bonner, Raymond, Weakness and Deceit:: U.S. Policy and El Salvador, New York Times Books, 1984, p.330</ref> Because the death squads involved were found to have been soldiers of the [[Armed Forces of El Salvador|Salvadoran Armed Forces]], which were receiving U.S. arms, funding, training and advice during the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]], [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] and [[George H. W. Bush]] administrations, these events prompted some outrage in the U.S. Human rights activists criticized U.S. administrations for denying Salvadoran government links to the death squads. Veteran Human Rights Watch researcher Cynthia J. Arnson writes that "particularly during the years 1980–1983 when the killing was at its height (numbers of killings could reach as far as 35,000), assigning responsibility for the violence and human rights abuses was a product of the intense ideological polarization in the United States. The Reagan administration downplayed the scale of abuse as well as the involvement of state actors. Because of the level of denial, as well as the extent of U.S. involvement with the Salvadoran military and security forces, the U.S. role in El Salvador- what was known about death squads, when it was known, and what actions the United States did or did not take to curb their abuses- became an important part of El Salvador's death squad story."<ref>Arnson, Cynthia J. "Window on the Past: A Declassified History of Death Squads in El Salvador" in ''Death Squads in Global Perspective: Murder with Deniability'', Campbell and Brenner, eds, 88</ref> Some death squads, such as [[Sombra Negra]], are still operating in El Salvador.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://banderasnews.com/0709/nw-manoblanco.htm |title=El Salvador Death Squads Still Operating |publisher=Banderasnews.com |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-date=29 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929175128/http://banderasnews.com/0709/nw-manoblanco.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Salvadoran Army]]'s U.S.-trained [[Atlácatl Battalion]] was responsible for the [[El Mozote massacre]] where more than 800 civilians were murdered, over half of them children, the [[El Calabozo massacre]], and the [[1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador|murders of six Jesuits]] in 1989.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-09-mn-1714-story.html Notorious Salvadoran Battalion Is Disbanded : Military: U.S.-trained Atlacatl unit was famed for battle prowess but was also implicated in atrocities.]  ''Los Angeles Times.'' 9 December 1992.</ref>

===== Honduras =====
Honduras had death squads active through the 1980s, the most notorious of which was [[Battalion 3-16 (Honduras)|Battalion 3–16]]. Hundreds of people, teachers, politicians, and union bosses were assassinated by government-backed forces. Battalion 316 received substantial support and training from the United States [[Central Intelligence Agency]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte1a,0,1240201.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |title=When a wave of torture and murder staggered a small U.S. ally, truth was a casualty. – |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=11 June 1995 |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035142/http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte1a,0,1240201.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |url-status=dead }}</ref> At least 19 members were [[Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation|School of the Americas]] graduates.<ref name="republic_SOA_nonstop">{{cite web |url=http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=3299 |title=U.S. continues to train Honduran soldiers |publisher=Republic Broadcasting Network |date=21 July 2009 |access-date=3 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723181431/http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=3299 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name="derechos_316_soa">{{cite web|last=Imerman |first=Vicky |author2=Heather Dean |title=Notorious Honduran School of the Americas Graduates |publisher=Derechos Human Rights |year=2009 |url=http://www.derechos.org/soa/hond-not.html |access-date=3 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204195846/http://www.derechos.org/soa/hond-not.html |archive-date=4 December 2008 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref> Seven members, including [[Billy Joya]], later played important roles in the administration of President [[Manuel Zelaya]] as of mid-2006.<ref name="mesoamerica_200606">{{cite web|last=Holland |first=Clifton L. |title=Honduras – Human Rights Workers Denounce Battalion 3–16 Participation in Zelaya Government |publisher=Mesoamérica Institute for Central American Studies |date=June 2006 |url=http://www.mesoamericaonline.net/MES0_ARCHIVES/Countries/Hond/HOJUN06.pdf |access-date=3 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720160941/http://www.mesoamericaonline.net/MES0_ARCHIVES/Countries/Hond/HOJUN06.pdf |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy }}</ref> Following the [[2009 Honduran constitutional crisis|2009 coup d'état]], former Battalion 3–16 member [[Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía]] became Director-General of Immigration<ref name="NCR_NWMejiaMejia">{{cite news|last=Hodge |first=James |author2=Linda Cooper |title=U.S. continues to train Honduran soldiers |newspaper=[[National Catholic Reporter]] |date=14 July 2009 |url=http://ncronline.org/news/global/us-continues-train-honduran-soldiers |access-date=5 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801004820/http://ncronline.org/news/global/us-continues-train-honduran-soldiers |archive-date=1 August 2009 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name="cofadeh_NMWW">{{cite web| title =Comunicado| publisher =[[Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras|COFADEH]]| date =3 July 2009| url =http://www.cofadeh.org/html/noticias/golpe_estado_comunicado.html| access-date =5 August 2009| language =es| archive-date =27 February 2021| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210227065104/http://www.cofadeh.org/html/noticias/golpe_estado_comunicado.html| url-status =usurped}}</ref> and Billy Joya was ''de facto'' President [[Roberto Micheletti]]'s security advisor.<ref name="DemocNow_Zelaya">{{cite web |last=Goodman |first=Amy |title=Zelaya Speaks |publisher=[[Z Communications]] |date=31 July 2009 |url=http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22175 |access-date=1 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224112717/http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22175 |archive-date=24 December 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref> Another former Battalion 3–16 member, [[Napoleón Nassar Herrera]],<ref name="mesoamerica_200606"/><ref name="nizkor_nassar">{{cite web|last=Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras |author-link=Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras |title=Hnd – Solicitan al Presidente Zelaya la destitución de integrantes del Batallón 3–16 nombrados en el Ministerio del Interior |publisher=Nizkor |date=February 2007 |url=http://www.radionizkor.org/honduras/ |access-date=7 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924080706/http://www.radionizkor.org/honduras/ |archive-date=24 September 2009 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref> was high Commissioner of Police for the north-west region under Zelaya and under Micheletti, and also became a Secretary of Security spokesperson "for dialogue" under Micheletti.<ref name="elnuevo_nazar">{{cite web|last=Leiva |first=Noe |title=No se avizora el fin de la crisis hondureña |publisher=El Nuevo Herald/[[Agence France-Presse|AFP]] |date=2 August 2009 |url=http://www.elnuevoherald.com/ultimas-noticias/story/510138.html |access-date=7 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805142325/http://www.elnuevoherald.com/ultimas-noticias/story/510138.html |archive-date= 5 August 2009 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name="mines_nassar">{{cite web|last=Mejía |first=Lilian |author2=Mauricio Pérez |author3=Carlos Girón |title=Pobladores Exigen Nueva Ley De Minería: 71 Detenidos Y 12 Heridos En Batalla Campal |publisher=MAC: Mines and Communities |date=18 July 2009 |url=http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=2064 |access-date=7 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917130401/http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=2064 |archive-date=17 September 2009 |url-status=live |language=es |df=dmy }}</ref> Zelaya claimed that Joya had reactivated the death squad, with dozens of government opponents having been murdered since the ascent of the Michiletti and Lobo governments.<ref name="DemocNow_Zelaya" />

===== Guatemala =====
Throughout the [[Guatemalan Civil War]], both military and "civilian" governments utilized death squads as a counterinsurgency strategy. The use of "death squads" as a government tactic became particularly widespread after 1966. Throughout 1966 and the first three months of 1967, within the framework of what military commentators referred to as "el-contra terror", government forces killed an estimated 8,000 civilians accused of "subversive" activity.<ref>Michael MeClintock, The American Connection, vol. 2, State Terror and Popular Resistance in Guatemala (London: Zed, 1985), pp. 84–85.</ref> This marked a turning point in the history of the Guatemalan security apparatus and brought about a new era in which mass murder of both real and suspected subversives by government "death squads" became a common occurrence in the country. A noted Guatemalan sociologist estimated the number of government killings between 1966 and 1974 at approximately 5,250 a year (for a total death toll of approximately 42,000 during the presidencies of [[Julio César Méndez Montenegro]] and [[Carlos Arana Osorio]]).<ref>Gabriel Aguilera Peralta, "The Militarization of the State", in Guatemala in Rebellion: Unfinished History</ref> Killings by both official and unofficial security forces would climax in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the presidencies of [[Fernando Romeo Lucas García]] and [[Efraín Ríos Montt]], with over 18,000 documented killings in 1982 alone.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ciidh/qr/english/chap4.html |title=Chapter 4: The 1980s |publisher=Shr.aaas.org |date=31 January 1980 |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-date=5 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505224859/http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ciidh/qr/english/chap4.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Greg Grandin claims that "Washington, of course, publicly denied its support for paramilitarism, but the practice of political disappearances took a great leap forward in Guatemala in 1966 with the birth of a death squad created, and directly supervised, by U.S. security advisors."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/14/unholy_trinity/index1.html |title=America's trinity of terrorism |first=Greg |last=Grandin |work=salon.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013172719/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/14/unholy_trinity/index1.html |archive-date=13 October 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref> An upsurge in rebel activity in Guatemala convinced the US to provide increased counterinsurgency assistance to Guatemala's security apparatus in the mid to late 1960s. Documents released in 1999 details how United States military and police advisers had encouraged and assisted Guatemalan military officials in the use of repressive techniques, including helping establish a "safe house" from within the presidential palace as a location to coordinate counter insurgency activities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB11/docs/|title=U.S. POLICY IN GUATEMALA, 1966-1996|work=gwu.edu|access-date=5 November 2011|archive-date=9 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009173122/http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB11/docs/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1981, it was reported by Amnesty International that this same "safe house" was in use by Guatemalan security officials to coordinate counterinsurgency activities involving the use of the "death squads."<ref>AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 1981, Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder, in: The New York Review of Books, 19 March 1981</ref>

According to a victim's brother, Mirtala Linares "He wouldn't tell us anything; he claimed they hadn't captured [Sergio], that he knew nothing of his whereabouts – and that maybe my brother had gone as an illegal alien to the United States! That was how he answered us."<ref>{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Nate|title=Astonishing Discovery of Remains of Guatemalan Death Squad Diary Victims|url=http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/astonishing-discovery-of-remains-of-guatemalan-death-squad-diary-victims/|publisher=NSA Archive|access-date=4 May 2012|date=2011-12-04|archive-date=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519212451/http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/astonishing-discovery-of-remains-of-guatemalan-death-squad-diary-victims/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===== Nicaragua =====
Throughout the Ortega government, starting in 2006, but escalating with the [[2018–2020 Nicaraguan protests]], [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]] government has employed death squads also known as "''Turbas''" or militia groups armed and aided by the [[National Police of Nicaragua|National Police]] to attack pro-democracy protesters. The government's crackdown of lethal force was condemned by the international community, the Organization of American States, Human Rights Watch, and the local and international Catholic Church.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/facing-down-the-death-squads-of-nicaragua-33| title=Facing Down the Death Squads of Nicaragua| newspaper=The Daily Beast| date=2018-06-12| last1=Jagger| first1=Christopher Dickey&#124;Bianca| access-date=8 July 2018| archive-date=2 August 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802131407/https://www.thedailybeast.com/facing-down-the-death-squads-of-nicaragua-33| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://en.mercopress.com/2018/06/20/ortega-s-paramilitary-groups-on-shooting-spree-against-protestors-church-dialogue-backed-talks-collapse | title=Ortega's paramilitary groups on shooting spree against protestors; Church dialogue backed talks collapse | access-date=8 July 2018 | archive-date=22 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622165152/http://en.mercopress.com/2018/06/20/ortega-s-paramilitary-groups-on-shooting-spree-against-protestors-church-dialogue-backed-talks-collapse | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/22/oas-condemn-egregious-abuses-nicaragua| title=OAS: Condemn Egregious Abuses in Nicaragua| date=2018-06-22| access-date=8 July 2018| archive-date=22 June 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622151404/https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/22/oas-condemn-egregious-abuses-nicaragua| url-status=live}}</ref>