Editing Death squad (section)

=== South America ===

==== Argentina ====
{{Main|Argentine Dirty War}}
Amnesty International reports that "the [[Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic|security forces in Argentina]] first started using "death squads" in late 1973. One example was [[Alianza Anticomunista Argentina]], a far-right death squad mainly active during the "[[Dirty War]]". By the time military rule ended in 1983 some 1,500 people had been killed directly by "death squads", and over 9,000 named people and many more undocumented victims had been "disappeared"—kidnapped and murdered secretly—according to the officially appointed National Commission on Disappeared People (CONADEP).<ref name="autogenerated6">Amnesty International – Getting Away With Murder: Political Killings and Disappearances in the 1990s, 1993,36</ref>

==== Brazil ====
[[File:Esquadrão da Morte.jpg|thumb|Esquadrão da Morte]]
The ''Esquadrão da Morte'' ("Death Squad" in Portuguese) was a paramilitary organization that emerged in the late 1960s during the [[Military dictatorship in Brazil|Brazilian military dictatorship]]. It was the first group to have received the name "Death Squad" in Latin America, but its actions resembled traditional vigilantism as most executions were not exclusively politically related. The greater share of the political executions during the 21 years of military dictatorship (1964–1985) were carried out by the [[Brazilian Armed Forces]] itself. The purpose of the original "Death Squad" was, with the consent of the military government, to persecute, torture and kill suspected criminals (''marginais'') regarded as dangerous to society. It began in the former [[Guanabara State|state of Guanabara]] led by Detective Mariel Mariscot, one of the "Twelve Golden Men of Rio de Janeiro's Police", and from there it spread throughout Brazil in the 1970s. In general, its members were politicians, members of the judiciary, and police officials. As a rule, these groups were financed by members of the business community.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qSzkF0bosWQC ''Sociedade, cultura e política: ensaios críticos'']. Ana Amélia da Silva, Miguel Wady Chaia, Carmen Junqueira – 2004 – p. 625</ref>

In the 1970s and 1980s, several other organizations were modeled after the 1960s ''Esquadrão da Morte''. The most famous such organization is ''Scuderie Detetive Le Cocq'' (English: ''Shield of Detective Le Cocq''), named after deceased Detective Milton Le Cocq. The group was particularly active in the Brazilian southeastern states of Guanabara and [[Rio de Janeiro (state)|Rio de Janeiro]], and remains active in the state of [[Espírito Santo]]. In the [[São Paulo (state)|state of São Paulo]], death squads and individual gunmen called ''justiceiros'' were pervasive and executions almost were exclusively the work of off-duty policemen. In 1983, a police officer nicknamed "[[Florisvaldo de Oliveira|Cabo Bruno]]" was convicted of murdering more than 50 victims.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hp3pXKrcDqAC&pg=PA211 Vigilantism and the state in modern Latin America: essays on extralegal violence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108152915/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hp3pXKrcDqAC&pg=PA211 |date=8 November 2023 }} Martha Knisely Huggins (ed.) – 1991 – p. 211</ref>

The "Death Squads" active under the rule of the military dictatorship continue as a cultural legacy of the Brazilian police. In the 2000s, police officers remain linked with death squad-type executions. In 2003, roughly 2,000 extrajudicial murders occurred in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with Amnesty International claiming the numbers are likely far higher.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4463010.stm | work=BBC News | title=Brazilian police 'execute thousands' | date=23 November 2005 | access-date=1 May 2010 | first=Angus | last=Stickler | archive-date=9 June 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609145626/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4463010.stm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/amnesty-demands-crackdown-on-police-death-squads-in-brazil-517886.html |work=The Independent |location=London  | title=Amnesty demands crackdown on police death squads in Brazil | first=Karin | last=Goodwin | date=3 December 2005 | access-date=1 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522223304/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/amnesty-demands-crackdown-on-police-death-squads-in-brazil-517886.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 May 2009}}</ref> Brazilian politician [[Flávio Bolsonaro]], the son of Brazilian ex-President [[Jair Bolsonaro]], was accused of having ties to death squads.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jair Bolsonaro's son a growing risk to Brazil's government |url=https://www.dw.com/en/jair-bolsonaros-son-a-growing-risk-to-brazils-government/a-47223072 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=24 January 2019 |access-date=25 March 2019 |archive-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324165213/https://www.dw.com/en/jair-bolsonaros-son-a-growing-risk-to-brazils-government/a-47223072 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Video: As Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro Prepares to Meet Donald Trump, His Family's Close Ties to Notorious Paramilitary Gangs Draw Scrutiny and Outrage |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/03/18/jair-bolsonaro-family-militias-gangs-brazil/ |work=The Intercept |date=18 March 2019 |access-date=25 March 2019 |archive-date=15 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015154559/https://theintercept.com/2019/03/18/jair-bolsonaro-family-militias-gangs-brazil/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Chile ====
{{Further|Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|Chile under Pinochet|Operation Condor|Caravan of Death}}

One of the most notorious murder gangs operated by the [[Chilean Army]] was the '''Caravan of Death''', whose members travelled by helicopter throughout Chile between 30 September and 22 October 1973. During this foray, members of the squad ordered or personally carried out the execution of at least 75 individuals held in Army custody in these garrisons.<ref name=BBC07>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6973614.stm Chile priest charged over deaths] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006171558/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6973614.stm |date=6 October 2020 }}, [[BBC]], 1 September 2007</ref>  According to the NGO ''Memoria y Justicia'', the squad killed 26 in the South and 71 in the North, making a total of 97 victims.<ref name=Justicia>[http://www.memoriayjusticia.cl/english/en_focus-caravan.html Caravan of Death] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829012641/http://www.memoriayjusticia.cl/english/en_focus-caravan.html |date=29 August 2005 }}, ''Memoria y Justicia''</ref> [[Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial|Augusto Pinochet was indicted]] in December 2002 in this case, but he died four years later without having been convicted. The trial, however, is on-going {{as of|2007|September|lc=y}}, other militaries and a former military chaplain having been indicted in this case.
On 28 November 2006, Víctor Montiglio, charged of this case, ordered Pinochet's house arrest<ref>[http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/177449/0/pinochet/procesado/homicidios/ Procesan a Pinochet y ordenan su arresto por los secuestros y homicidios de la "Caravana de la Muerte"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905163627/https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/177449/0/pinochet/procesado/homicidios/ |date=5 September 2019 }}, ''[[20minutos]]'', 28 November 2006.</ref> According to the Chilean Government's own Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig) report, 2,279 people were killed in the operations of Pinochet's regime.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/collections/truth_commissions/Chile90-Report/Chile90-Report.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929123423/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/collections/truth_commissions/Chile90-Report/Chile90-Report.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-29 |url-status=dead|title=Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation|work=[[United States Institute of Peace]]}}</ref> In June 1999, judge [[Juan Guzmán Tapia]] ordered the arrest of five retired generals.

==== Colombia ====
{{See also|Right-wing paramilitarism in Colombia|Plan Colombia|Muerte a Secuestradores|Colombian parapolitics scandal}}

The [[United States]] supported death squads in Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala during the 1980s.<ref name=kovalik>{{Cite web| last = Kovalik| first = Dan| title = Death Squads Continue to Reign in Colombia| work = Huffington Post| access-date = 2018-11-28| date = 2014-03-24| url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/death-squads-colombia_b_5021244.html| archive-date = 21 August 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180821141440/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/death-squads-colombia_b_5021244.html| url-status = live}}</ref> In 1993, [[Amnesty International]] reported that clandestine military units began covertly operating as death squads in 1978. According to the report, throughout the 1980s political killings rose to a peak of 3,500 in 1988, averaging some 1,500 victims per year since then, and "over 1,500 civilians are also believed to have "disappeared" since 1978."<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/document/?indexNumber=amr29%2f015%2f1996&language=en|title=Document|website=www.amnesty.org|access-date=27 November 2020|archive-date=8 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108191708/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/document/?indexNumber=amr29/015/1996&language=en|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia|AUC]], formed in 1997, was the most prominent paramilitary group.

According to a 2014 report published by [[Human Rights Watch]] (HRW) on [[Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca|Buenaventura]], a port town in Colombia, "entire neighborhoods were dominated by powerful paramilitary successor groups" HRW reports that the groups "restrict residents' movements, recruit their children, extort businesses, and routinely engage in horrific acts of violence against anyone who defies their will." It is reported that scores of people have been "disappeared" from the town over the years. Bodies are dismembered before they are disposed of and residents have reported the existence of ''casas de pique'', "chop-up houses" where people are slaughtered. Many residents have fled and are considered to have been "forcibly displaced": 22,028 residents fled in 2011, 15,191 in 2012, and 13,468 between January and October 2013.<ref name=kovalik />

In Colombia, the terms "death squads", "[[paramilitary|paramilitaries]]" or "[[self-defense]] groups" have been used interchangeably and otherwise, referring to either a single phenomenon, also known as [[Paramilitarism in Colombia|paramilitarism]], or to different but related aspects of the same.<ref>Rangel, Alfredo (editor); William Ramírez Tobón, Juan Carlos Garzón, Stathis Kalyvas, Ana Arjona, Fidel Cuéllar Boada, Fernando Cubides Cipagauta (2005). El Poder Paramilitar. Bogotá: Editorial Planeta Colombiana S.A., 26.</ref> There are reports that [[Los Pepes]], the death squad led by brothers [[Carlos Castaño Gil|Fidel]] and [[Carlos Castaño Gil|Carlos Castaño]], had ties to some members of the [[Colombian National Police]], especially the [[Search Bloc]] (Bloque de Búsqueda) unit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hrw.org/spanish/informes/1998/guerra4A.html |title=human rights watch &#124; colombia ? guerra sin cuartel |publisher=Hrw.org |access-date=2011-03-15 |archive-date=9 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709100800/http://hrw.org/spanish/informes/1998/guerra4A.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A report from the country's public prosecutors office at the end of 2009 reported the number of 28,000 disappeared by paramilitary and guerrilla groups. {{As of|2008}} only 300 corpses were identified and 600 in 2009.

At least 40% of the national legislature are said to have ties to paramilitary groups.<ref name=kovalik /> In August 2018, prosecutors in Colombia charged 13 [[Chiquita]] brands with supporting the right wing death squad that killed hundreds in the [[Urabá Antioquia]] region between 1996 and 2004.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Piden investigar a exgobernadores de Antioquia en caso Chiquita Brands| work = [[El Tiempo (Colombia)|El Tiempo]]| access-date = 2018-11-28| date = 2018-08-31| url = https://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/investigacion/piden-investigar-a-tres-exgobernadores-de-antioquia-por-financiacion-de-paramilitares-262926| archive-date = 28 November 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181128122816/https://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/investigacion/piden-investigar-a-tres-exgobernadores-de-antioquia-por-financiacion-de-paramilitares-262926| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title = Chiquita Brands faces new death squad charges in Colombia| work = AP NEWS| access-date = 2018-11-28| date = 2018-08-31| url = https://apnews.com/8e01b036fd2b487d96ad79d65d442dad| archive-date = 28 November 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181128122720/https://apnews.com/8e01b036fd2b487d96ad79d65d442dad| url-status = live}}</ref> [[Salvatore Mancuso]], a jailed paramilitary leader, has accused [[Del Monte Foods|Del Monte]], [[Dole Food Company|Dole]] and Chiquita of funding right wing death squads. Chiquita was fined $25&nbsp;million after admitting they had paid $1.7&nbsp;million to paramilitaries over six years; the reason for the payments remains a matter of dispute, with Chiquita claiming the money was routine extortion money paid to paramilitary groups to protect workers. Activists, on the other hand, insist that a portion of the money paid by Chiquita was used to finance political assassinations.<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0261-3077| last1 = Carroll| first1 = Rory| title = Colombian warlord says US firms paid death squads for bananas| work = The Guardian| access-date = 2018-11-28| date = 2007-05-18| url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/may/19/colombia.foodanddrink| archive-date = 28 November 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181128164454/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/may/19/colombia.foodanddrink| url-status = live}}</ref>

==== Peru ====
{{Further|Grupo Colina|Rodrigo Franco Command}}
[[Peruvian government]] death squads carried out massacres against radicals and civilians in their fight against [[Shining Path]] and [[Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.juicioysancionafujimori.org/ingles/baltos.htm |title=Caso Barrios Altos |publisher=Juicioysancionafujimori.org |access-date=13 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219182340/http://www.juicioysancionafujimori.org/ingles/baltos.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=19 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.juicioysancionafujimori.org/ingles/sotanos.htm |title=Sótanos del SIE |publisher=Juicioysancionafujimori.org |access-date=13 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416050417/http://www.juicioysancionafujimori.org/ingles/sotanos.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=16 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.19.%20COMANDO%20RODRIGO%20FRANCO.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040401004412/http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.19.%20COMANDO%20RODRIGO%20FRANCO.pdf |archive-date=2004-04-01 |url-status=live|title=Comando Rodrigo Franco}}</ref>

==== Uruguay ====
{{Main|Death squads in Uruguay}}
In Uruguay, Death Squads were far-right paramilitary groups that were active in the early 1970s and carried out extrajudicial killings and other criminal actions.

==== Venezuela ====
{{Main|Extrajudicial killings in Venezuela|Colectivo (Venezuela)}}
In its 2002 and 2003 world reports, [[Human Rights Watch]] reported the existence of death squads in several [[Venezuela]]n states, involving members of the local police, the [[DISIP]] and the [[National Guard of Venezuela|National Guard]]. These groups were responsible for the extrajudicial killings of civilians and wanted or alleged criminals, including street criminals, looters and drug users.<ref name="World Report 2002: Venezuela">{{cite web |title=World Report 2002: Venezuela |url=http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas10.html |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=26 December 2006 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226044738/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k2/americas10.html%20 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="World Report 2003: Venezuela">{{cite web |title=World Report 2003: Venezuela |url=http://hrw.org/wr2k3/americas10.html |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=26 December 2006 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226044749/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k3/americas10.html%20 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2019, amid the [[Crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela]], the government of [[Nicolás Maduro]] was accused by a UN human rights report of using death squads to conduct thousands of extrajudicial executions. The report relayed a multitude of eyewitness accounts, describing the government's [[Special Action Forces]] (FAES) frequently arriving at homes in unmarked vehicles, executing male suspects on the spot, then planting drugs or weapons on the corpse to make it appear the victim died resisting arrest. According to the report, the executions were part of a campaign aimed at "neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing political opponents and people critical of the government".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-un-idUSKCN1TZ1PW|title=Venezuela death squads kill young men, stage scenes, U.N. report says|first=Tom|last=Miles|newspaper=Reuters|date=4 July 2019|via=www.reuters.com|access-date=27 November 2020|archive-date=10 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210225235/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-un-idUSKCN1TZ1PW|url-status=live}}</ref> The Maduro government condemned the report as "openly biased".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/venezuelas-army-death-squads-kill-thousands-un/a-49477147|title=Venezuela's army death squads kill thousands — UN &#124; DW &#124; 04.07.2019|website=DW.COM|access-date=14 December 2019|archive-date=19 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819084407/https://www.dw.com/en/venezuelas-army-death-squads-kill-thousands-un/a-49477147|url-status=live}}</ref>