Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

DEATH SQUADS • 137gust 1992, resulting in the death of his son and wife, and the siegeand burning of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, inApril 1993 that resulted in 84 deaths, including four agents of theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and 27 children inthe compound. The extreme cynicism and distrust that the last twoincidents provoked hampered passage of antiterrorism legislationproposed in 1995 following the Oklahoma City bombing intendedto allow federal agencies new authority for wiretapping, to expeditethe deportation of illegal aliens suspected of terrorism, and to limitdeath-row appeals of convicted terrorists. These cases of purportedabuse of deadly force led the Department of Justice and the FederalBureau of Investigation (FBI) to review and revise their rules of engagementin deadly force situations to avoid repeating such incidents.These reforms are credited with the more peaceful resolution of theFBI siege of the Freemen of Montana group in June 1996 and thelater siege of the Republic of Texas militants in 1997.DEATH SQUADS. Death squads are military, paramilitary, or irregularforces sponsored by a regime or political group to engage inviolent repression against a population to prevent it from supportingthe opponents of the regime or group. The term “death squad” isbelieved to have originated in the 1960s in Brazil, where off-dutypolicemen formed Esquadraos de Morte to kill off criminal elements.These spontaneously generated vigilantes were later co-opted by theBrazilian military regime to kill off dissidents.The most frequently cited instances of death squads have beenthose sponsored by right-wing regimes in Central and South Americato suppress leftists and suspected leftist sympathizers throughkidnapping, torture, and murder. Human rights organizations particularlyfaulted Guatemalan security forces for campaigns of stateterror in the 1970s and 1980s involving the use of death squads thatterrorized not only leftists but also many innocents, particularly Indians,in areas of rural insurgency. Among the more notorious of thesegroups were the White Hand group and the Anticommunist SecretArmy. By the conclusion of the 29 December 1996 peace settlementbetween the Guatemalan government and leftist insurgents, officialfigures stated that between 130,000 and 140,000 people had beenkilled, but Roman Catholic human rights groups put the figure ofdead closer to 150,000, while 50,000 who disappeared have not been