Atlácatl Battalion
Batallón Atlácatl
Active1981–1992
Country El Salvador
Branch Salvadoran Army
TypeBattalion
RoleCounter-insurgency
Size2,000
Part ofRapid Deployment Infantry Battalions
PatronAtlácatl
EngagementsSalvadoran Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Domingo Monterrosa Barrios
Insignia
Identification
symbol

The Atlácatl Battalion (Spanish: Batallón Atlácatl) was a rapid-response, counter-insurgency battalion of the Salvadoran Army created in 1981. It was implicated in some of the most infamous massacres of the Salvadoran Civil War.

History

The Salvadoran Civil War began on 15 October 1979 with the overthrow of President Carlos Humberto Romero.[1] The military established the Revolutionary Government Junta to govern the country in the wake of the coup and it established itself to be a "reformist" junta.[1][2][3] The United States was covertly involved in the coup and actively supported the junta.[3]

In January 1981, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a left-wing guerrilla group opposed to the junta, began an offensive against the junta and marched on military targets, most notably the Ilopango Airport.[4][5] In reaction, the United States increased military and economic assistance to the junta and helped establish the Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalions, a network of specialized counter-insurgent army units.[4] The first unit formed was the Atlácatl Battalion in March 1981, followed by the Atonal Battalion in January 1982 and the Belloso Battalion in May 1982.[4] The battalion was named after Atlácatl, a legendary indigenous figure from the Spanish conquest of El Salvador who fought against conquistador Pedro de Alvarado.[6]

The United States sent fifteen counter-insurgent specialists to El Salvador in March 1981 to train the newly formed battalion.[6] Weapons, ground vehicles, and helicopters were sent to the battalion which numbered around 2,000 soldiers.[6]

The battalion was disbanded in 1992 under the terms of the Chapultepec Peace Accords that ended the twelve-year civil war.[7]

Investigation by the Truth Commission for El Salvador

In the early 1990s, the Truth Commission for El Salvador was established by the United Nations to investigate war crimes committed during the civil war.[8] The report concluded that the battalion was responsible for the El Mozote massacre, the El Calabozo massacre, and the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests.[9][10][11][12] The Battalion was also implicated in the killing of around 50 civilians on the banks of the Guaslinga river.[13] Human Rights Watch independently linked the battalion to additional massacres not cited in the UNTC report including dozens of people killed in Tenancingo and Copapayo in 1983, sixty-eight people killed in Los Llanitos, and three separate killings of civilians in 1989.[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "El Salvador – The Reformist Coup of 1979". countrystudies.us. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Presidentes de El Salvador – Primera Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno" [Presidents of El Salvador – First Revolutionary Government Junta]. Presidente Elías Antonio Saca El Salvador (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 Beverley 1982, pp. 63–65
  4. 1 2 3 Betancur 1993, p. 29
  5. ↑ Betancur 1993, pp. 30–31
  6. 1 2 3 Goldston and Rone 1990, pp. 224–225
  7. ↑ Gaceta Militar (2002). "Cumplimiento AC-PAZ". Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  8. ↑ Betancur 1993, p. 11
  9. ↑ Betancur 1993, p. 30
  10. ↑ Betancur 1993, pp. 47–50
  11. ↑ Betancur 1993, pp. 114–120
  12. ↑ Betancur 1993, pp. 125–126
  13. ↑ Betancur 1993, p. 209
  14. ↑ Goldston and Rone 1990, pp. 225–227

Bibliography

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