Roberto D'Aubuisson

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Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta was a Salvadoran politician and military figure who was accused of connections with death squad paramilitary murders during the country's civil war.

He founded the country's Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party and ran as its candidate in 1984, but was defeated by Christian Democratic Party candidate José Napoleón Duarte with the help of approximately $2 million in aid from the CIA. D'Aubuisson was described as a "pathological killer" by former U.S. Ambassdor Robert White, who was posted in El Salvador from 1980-81. His ARENA party was accused of having close connections with death squads.

D'Aubuisson is said to have ordered the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who sympathized with FMLN goals on behalf of the impoverished and had publicly urged the U.S. to end aid to the Salvadoran military.

He received some military education from the U.S.-operated School of the Americas, which specialized in training Latin American military officers during the Cold War. Because of this, some people, particularly members of the left-wing activist group SOA Watch, have accused the U.S. of supporting him and the death squad atrocities he is associated with during the civil war. It should be noted, however, that the U.S. supported President Duarte, whose Christian Democratic Party (PDC) was condemned by D'Aubuisson as in league with the Communists. Duarte's PDC government was extremely unstable during its 10-year rule, though, and many have accused him of turning a blind eye to human rights violations committed by the Salvadoran military and affiliated death squads. Another explanation could be the extreme difficulty of the situation, due to El Salvador's state of near-anarchy and potential death threats against Duarte had he strongly spoken out against extremist factions within the military.