Editing Death squad (section)

==== 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>