Document #1017974
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
According to the office of the Military
Attaché of the Embassy of El Salvador in the United States,
as stated in a telephone communication with the IRBDC on 5 February
1991, the Bracamonte is an "Immediate Reaction" battalion located
at or around the San Salvador airport area. "Immediate Reaction" is
one of five or six types of battalion-sized units, other types
being, for example, "cazador" (hunter) and anti-terrorist. The
latter type normally are the smallest battalions. Although the
"immediate reaction" are normally the largest battalions, the
source explained that the Bracamonte had recently decreased in size
and become a "medium-size" battalion.
Transcripts of clandestine radio broadcasts
published in the Latin America Daily Report of 28 December
1988 (FBIS-LAT-88-249), p. 15, report two attacks on Bracamonte
Battalion units. One unit (no other details provided) was
reportedly ambushed by guerrillas on 20 December 1988 "as it was
passing on the road from Arambala to Conacaste, Moraz n department"
and hit by two mines. The document also reports:
"another ambush against a bus transporting
troops of the Bracamonte Battalion at 0700 on 22 December [1988] on
the road from Cicala to Gotera north of the Torola river, using
RPG-7 rocket launchers. According to preliminary reports, the Army
sustained more than 10 casualties. In addition, soldiers from the
same battalion who were on foot were attacked with rifle fire,
sustaining two more casualties."
Additional information on the requested
subject could not be found among the sources currently available to
the IRBDC.