José Alberto Medrano (2 November 1917[1] – 23 March 1985[2]) was a Salvadoran general who, starting in the 1960s, headed the National Security Agency of El Salvador (ANSESAL) and the Nationalist Democratic Organization (ORDEN), a paramilitary group supported by the Green Berets.

ORDEN was later accused by Amnesty International of using "clandestine terror against government opponents."

On April 10, 1946, he married a woman named Marta Ruth Nuila.

[3] In El Salvador, he is sometimes considered the father of the country’s death squads.

[4] In 1969, he participated in the Football War with Honduras, crossing the border on a donkey disguised as a monk.