U.S. military support for death squads in El Salvador

U.S. Involvement in El Salvador with death squads

Involvement in El Salvador and death squads

The involvement of the government and military of the United States in the formation, training and even implementation of so called 'death - squads ' in El Salvador is a subject has been a much debated issue in recent years. The release of information and documentation that tends to confirm U.S. complicity in these death squads has also added fuel to conjecture and assumptions about such involvement.

For example, while some of the views are still in the realms of conjecture, there is a growing body of evidence concerning military involvement from the United States that certainly indicates U.S. policy as a form of complicity in these politically motivated deaths. As one commentator notes:

In December, of 1980, government-affiliated death squads in El Salvador were carrying out assassinations at the rate of 800 people per month; it was simply the policy of the Salvadoran regime -- backed up by U.S. aid that ran into the billions of dollars -- to kill dissidents and critics, from peasants to Archbishop Oscar Romero.

This view is substantiated by reports and document from a variety of sources "... that paint a vivid and disturbing picture of the roots of right-wing terrorism in El Salvador, of the role of ARENA in creating civilianparamilitary structures, and of the involvement of high-ranking members of the armed forces in death-squad activities." As will be discussed in more detail, ARENA was a paramilitary structure that is closely linked to the activities of 'death squads" in the region and is known or have worked in close coordination with the intelligence units of the security forces and the military.

It has also been noted from various sources that in the early 1980s the U.S. government, sent 10 Special Forces personnel to El Salvador to help General Jose Alberto Medrano set up the Organizacion Democratica Nacionalista (ORDEN)-the first paramilitary death squad in that country. These Green Berets assisted in the organization and indoctrination of rural "civic" squads which gathered intelligence and carried out political assassinations in coordination with the Salvadoran military.Now, there is compelling evidence to show that for over 30 years, members of the U.S. military and the CIA have helped organize, train, and fund death squad activity in El Salvador.

Statements such as the above tend to suggest that there was more than just tacit support of the 'death - squads' by the United States. Furthermore, these views are supported by a number of studies and research articles. The following discussion is intended to examine all sides of this issue.

2. Brief background overview

The use of so called 'death-squads' is not new in the history of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary conflict; for example, "... The "Red Hand" organization composed of "colons" (Europeans), murdered nationalists in Algeria. In Vietnam, key members and supporters of the Viet Cong were targets of "Operation Black Eye"..."

The term 'death squads' are usually referred to when discussing South American policies and revolutionary movements. In this regard there is a long history of relationships between the United States and governments supporting death squads in this region. "Many of the death squads operating today were inspired by the organization set up in Guatemala following the CIA-inspired overthrow of pro-Marxist president Jacobo Arbenz in 1954."

This and other relationships between the U.S. government and various organizations was essentially motivated by the Cold War and the perception that alignments with pro-western organizations were essential in order to stem the tide of Soviet and communist influence in these regions. There are many reports of the intersection between various American organizations and these right-wing oriented groups in areas like El Salvador.

Salvadoran death squads are reported to have close ties with the armed forces and various state security organs, especially the Treasury police. Roberto d'Aubuisson, leader of the right-wing ARENA party and former president of the constituent Assembly, has repeatedly been linked to El Salvador's death.

It has also been established that during the Cold War, interaction between the U.S. And El Salvador led to the formation of a rural paramilitary organization, ORDEN, which was to lead to the creation of "death squads" of the next two decades.

After many left - wing players in the country challenged the Salvadoran government in the 1970s, security and intelligence institutions in the United States were concerned that the country could easily move towards becoming a soviet proxy state. This was to result in the supplying of arms to military juntas by the Carter administration.

As one study states of the direction of U.S. policy during the Carter administration;

as the conflict intensified after the 1979 coup, Carter's greatest fear became another anti- U.S. revolution in the wake of Nicaragua's Sandinista victory in July 1979; he thus initiated the policy of arming the military. Among the more than 8,000 killings in 1980 attributed to the army and security forces 20 was that of Archbishop Oscar Romero."

This perception was to lead to subsequent emboldening of the movement and the increase of "death squad "killings. Consequently, "The Salvadoran military, delighted that a new, conservative U.S. president had made it clear that he would put anticommunism ahead of human rights considerations in foreign policy, went on a killing spree following President Reagan's electoral victory in November 1980."

At the same time the number of people whose deaths were attributed to death squads was estimated to be about 1000 each month. These squads were allegedly supported by U.S. counterinsurgency experts and aid.

3. Evidence of complicity

As one report clearly states; among the Salvadoran military deserters who publicly acknowledged their involvement in death squads, "... each one implicates U.S. personnel in death squad activity."

If one assimilates the evidence from various sources there seems to be little doubt that the United States was complicit and even functionally involved in the support and training of so-called death squads.

There are therefore accusations of a 'cover-up' which extended to the highest levels of the Reagan Administration and other administrations. For instance, there is the following evidence to consider - that the official of the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. armed forces "..."conceived and organized ORDEN, the rural paramilitary and intelligence network described by Amnesty International as a movement designed to use clandestine terror against government opponents."

Related to this is the view that ORDEN was the initiator of various terror groups such as was the Mano Blanco, or the White Hand, and has been referred to as "nothing less that the birth of the Death Squads." This in turn has been related to the creation of organizations such as ANSESAL, (Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Salvadorena), which was the "...elite presidential intelligence services that gathered files on Salvadoran dissidents and... relied on Death Squads as "the operative arm of intelligence gathering."

5. Summary and conclusion

There is a history of involvement by the United States in various groups in support of democracy and in opposition to communist forces. This has often been shown to extend to the support of various 'death squads' or assassination groups. One clearly documented example is the support of death squads in Vietnam by the CIA's "Phoenix Program." This program was "...designed to identify members of the VC and VCI, and capture or eliminate them."

The program, which came to an end in 1972, was "...accused of being an assassination bureau, used for reprisals against the VC, GVN critics and personal enemies. Torture was common, and "elimination" was the preferred method of dealing with Phoenix's suspects.

In a similar vein there have been accusations that the United States supported the 'death-squads' in countries like El Salvador during the Cold War period in order to bolster what they saw to be a threat to the democratic growth of the country. There is a large body of documentation and evidence to support this view. This view also suggests that the government and military of the United States not only aided the death squads through policy and advice, but also through training and financial support.

The issue of the involvement of the United States raises various crucial ethical and moral issues. Can supporting terror groups in the name of democracy be a legitimate reason for such support? Does this support not in fact undercut the very essence of a democratic idealism based on the importance and value of human rights? In other words, does such support not destroy the very essence of what democracy is all about? This can lead various levels of discussion and debate. However, what is relatively certain is that the United States, for whatever reason or rationale, was complicit in the creation and running of the Salvadorian death squads.