José Alberto Medrano was a Salvadoran

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

 general who, starting in the 1960s, headed ANSESAL (Agencia Nacional de Servicios Especiales, or Salvadoran National Security Agency) and ORDEN

Organización Democrática Nacionalista

ORDEN, or Organización Democrática Nacionalista was a Salvadoran paramilitary organization founded under the military rule of Julio Adalberto Rivera, headed by José Alberto Medrano, and supported initially by the Green Berets...

 (Organización Democrática Nacionalista, or the Democratic Nationalist Organization), a paramilitary group supported by the Green Berets

Green Berets

A green beret was the headgear of the British Commandos of World War II. Certain military organisations still wear green berets because they have regimental or unit histories that form a connection with the British Commandos of World War II....

. ORDEN was later accused by Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

of using "clandestine terror against government opponents."

External links

• History Commons "Profile: Jose Alberto “Chele” Medrano." Accessed November 25, 2008.