José Alberto Medrano
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José Alberto Medrano
José Alberto Medrano (2 November 1917 – 23 March 1985) 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." Early life Medrano was born on November 2, 1917 in San Salvador, El Salvador. On April 10, 1946, he married a woman named Marta Ruth Nuila. Career Medrano became Chief of the National Guard of El Salvador sometime prior to 1962, when he created the ORDEN death squad, in addition to the Salvadoran National Security Agency. In El Salvador, he is sometimes considered the father of the country’s death squads. In 1969, he participated in the Football War The Football War (), also known as the Soccer War or the 100 Hour War, was a brief military conflict fought between El Salvador and Hondu ...
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El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. The country's population in 2024 was estimated to be 6 million according to a government census. Among the Mesoamerican nations that historically controlled the region are the Maya peoples, Maya, and then the Cuzcatlan, Cuzcatlecs. Archaeological monuments also suggest an early Olmec presence around the first millennium BC. In the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish conquest of El Salvador, Spanish Empire conquered the Central American territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled from Mexico City. However, the Viceroyalty of New Spain had little to no influence in the daily affairs of the isthmus, which was colonized in 1524. In 1609, the area was declared the Captaincy General of Guatemala by the ...
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General Officer
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online. March 2021. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/77489?rskey=dCKrg4&result=1 (accessed May 11, 2021) The adjective ''general'' had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction. French Revolutionary system Arab system Other variations Other nomenclatures for general officers include the titles and ranks: * Adjutant general * Commandant-General, Commandant-general * Inspector general * General-in-chief * General of the Air Force (USAF only) * General of the Armies, General of the Armies of the United States (of America), a title created for General John J. Pershing, and subsequently grante ...
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National Guard (El Salvador)
The National Guard () was the national gendarmerie of El Salvador. The National Guard of El Salvador was founded in 1912 by President Dr. Manuel Enrique Araujo as a branch of the Salvadoran Army for policing rural areas. The National Guard was reorganized into a separate civilian force based on the Spanish Civil Guard, and served with distinction during the Football War. The National Guard developed a reputation for police brutality and human rights abuses in El Salvador, and was disbanded on 16 January 1992 as part of the Chapultepec Peace Accords to end the Salvadoran Civil War. History Owing to increased demands for higher wages by coffee pickers in rural areas, Salvadoran land owners in the countryside felt the need to create a special public security force to protect their interests. Previous law enforcement and task force efforts failed to yield satisfactory results. The task forces were patrolling soldiers, commanded by an army officer, scattered throughout the country. Th ...
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National Security Agency Of El Salvador
The National Security Agency of El Salvador (, abbreviated as ANSESAL) was the national intelligence agency of El Salvador during the History of El Salvador (1931–1979), military regime and the Salvadoran Civil War, civil war. The organization was known for using Right-wing paramilitarism in El Salvador, paramilitaries and death squads to carry out its activities. History The National Security Agency of El Salvador was established by President Julio Adalberto Rivera in 1962 or 1965 and was originally named the National Intelligence Service (SNI). Its original purpose was to oversee the operations of the Organización Democrática Nacionalista, National Democratic Organization, a group of paramilitaries and death squads used to combat political and militant opposition to the government.Stanley, William. The Protection Racket State Elite Politics, Military Extortion, and Civil War in El Salvador (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996) The organization maintained detaile ...
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Organización Democrática Nacionalista
The Nationalist Democratic Organization (, abbreviated ORDEN) was a Salvadoran paramilitary organization founded under the military rule of Julio Adalberto Rivera, headed by José Alberto Medrano. ORDEN helped control the 1972 elections, in which reform-minded José Napoleón Duarte lost to Arturo Armando Molina (of Rivera's party, the National Conciliation Party (PCN)) due to fraud. History ORDEN was originally established in 1961 as a civil defense apparatus, composed of army reserve units and commandeered peasants. According to the Human Rights Institute of the Central American University, one of ORDEN's principal functions initially was to identify and eliminate purported communists among the rural population. Under Colonel Jose Alberto Medrano's command, ORDEN was transformed into a highly organized militia force, with military officers in command at the department level, non-commissioned officers coordinating actions from municipal centers, and many members drawn from a ...
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Salvadoran Civil War
The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guerilla groups backed by Cuba, Cuba under Fidel Castro as well as the Soviet Union. A 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état, coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of civil war. The war did not formally end until after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapse of the Soviet Union, when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City. The United Nations (UN) reports that the war killed more than 75,000 people between 1979 and 1992, along with approximately 8,000 disappeared persons. Human rights violations, particularly the kidnapping, torture, and murder of suspected FMLN sympathizers by state security forces and paramilitary death squads – were per ...
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Football War
The Football War (), also known as the Soccer War or the 100 Hour War, was a brief military conflict fought between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Existing tensions between the two countries coincided with rioting during a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The war began on 14 July 1969 when the Salvadoran military launched an attack against Honduras. The Organization of American States (OAS) negotiated a cease-fire on the night of 18 July, hence its nickname. Salvadoran troops were withdrawn in early August. The war, while brief, had major consequences for both countries and was a major factor in starting the Salvadoran Civil War a decade later. Background Although the nickname "Football War" implies that the conflict was due to a football match, the causes of the war went much deeper. The roots were issues over land reform in Honduras and immigration and demographic problems in El Salvador. Honduras has more than five times the area of neighboring El Salvador, but in 19 ...
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Salvadorans
Salvadorans (), also known as Salvadorians, are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvadoran diaspora, particularly in the United States, with smaller communities in other countries around the world. El Salvador's population was 6,218,000 in 2010, compared to 2,200,000 in 1950. In 2010, the percentage of the population below the age of 15 was 32.1%, 61% were between 15 and 65 years of age, while 6.9% were 65 years or older. Demonym Although not the academic standard, ''Salvadorian'' and ''Salvadorean'' are widely-used English demonyms used by those living in the United States and other English-speaking countries. All three versions of the word can be seen in most Salvadoran business signs in the United States and elsewhere in the world. ''Centroamericano/a'' in Spanish and in English ''Central American'' is an alternative standard and widespread cultural identity term that Salvador ...
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United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, is a branch of the United States Army United States Army Special Operations Command, Special Operations Command (USASOC). The core missionset of Special Forces contains five doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare (United States), unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action (military), direct action, counterterrorism, and special reconnaissance. The unit emphasizes language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops; recruits are required to learn a foreign language as part of their training and must maintain knowledge of the political, economic, and cultural complexities of the regions in which they are deployed. Other Special Forces missions, known as secondary missions, include combat search and rescue (CSAR), War on Drugs, counter-narcotics, hostage rescue, humanitarian as ...
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Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members and supporters around the world. The stated mission of the organization is to campaign for "a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments". The organization has played a notable role on human rights issues due to its frequent citation in media and by world leaders. AI was founded in London in 1961 by the lawyer Peter Benenson. In what he called "The Forgotten Prisoners" and "An Appeal for Amnesty", which appeared on the front page of the British newspaper ''The Observer'', Benenson wrote about two students who toasted to freedom in Portugal and four other people who had been jailed in other nations because of their beliefs ...
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San Salvador
San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Municipalities of El Salvador, municipality of San Salvador has 525,990 inhabitants (2024). The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital itself and 13 of its municipalities, has a population of 2,404,097. The urban area of San Salvador has a population of 1,600,000 inhabitants. The city is home to the ''Consejo de Ministros de El Salvador'' (Council of Ministries of El Salvador), the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, the Supreme Court of El Salvador, and other governmental institutions, as well as the official residence of the president of El Salvador. San Salvador is located in the Salvadoran highlands, surrounded by volcanoes and prone to earthquakes. The city is also home to the Roman Catholic ...
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People Of The Salvadoran Civil War
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a people is any plurality of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term "a people" refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group or nation. Concepts Legal Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''), does not automatically provide for independent sovereignty and therefore secession. Indeed, judge Ivor Jennings identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as i ...
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