Death squads in El Salvador (Spanish: escuadrones de la muerte) were far-right paramilitary groups acting in opposition to Marxist–Leninist guerrilla forces, most notably of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), and their allies among the civilian population before, during, and after the Salvadoran Civil War. The death squads committed the vast majority of the murders and massacres during the civil war from 1979 to 1992 and were heavily aligned with the United States-backed government.[1][2][3]
According to the Attorney for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH), death squads remain active in El Salvador. The PDDH registered 25 extrajudicial executions of gang members between May 2022 and May 2023 which it attributed to death squad activity during the country's gang crackdown.[4]
- ^ Beverley 1982, p. 67.
- ^ "La tormentosa fuga del juez Atilio". 15 September 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ Dutta, Sujit (1982). "El Salvador: Towards Another Vietnam". Social Scientist. 10 (2): 4–17. doi:10.2307/3516972. JSTOR 3516972.
- ^ Urbina (11 March 2024). "Grupos de Exterminio Continuarían Activos en El Salvador, Según Especialistas" [Extermination Groups Continue to be Active in El Salvador, According to Specialists]. La Prensa Gráficafirst1=Javier (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 March 2024.