Death squads in El Salvador

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.

[5] In order to combat the political and militant opposition to the government, President Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo established the Nationalist Democratic Organization (ORDEN).

ORDEN was a group of several government controlled death squads which were used to arrest and torture political opponents, intimidate voters, rig elections, and kill peasants.

[12] During the Salvadoran Civil War, the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador officially dissolved the Nationalist Democratic Organization, leaving its paramilitaries to break free and operate independently.

[20] During the civil war, the paramilitaries, often labeled as death squads, came to public attention when on March 24, 1980, Archbishop of San Salvador Óscar Romero was assassinated while giving Mass.