Editing Death squad (section)

==== 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>