What’s Are Kaibiles?

Here are some bits and pieces I found on Wikipedia:

The Kaibiles (singular: Kaibil) are a special operations force of the Military of Guatemala. They specialize in jungle warfare tactics and counter-insurgency operations.

Since 1975 there has been more than 1250 graduated kaibiles on the internacional training, with a duration of 8 weeks. There has been guatemalan soldiers (85%) and from other countries like: USA, Chile, China, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, within others.

The corps’ soldiers are distinguished from regular troops by maroon berets with patches bearing a blazing sword. Its motto, inspired by Henri de la Rochejaquelein, is: “If I advance, follow me. If I stop, urge me on. If I retreat, kill me.”

On 5 December 1974, Guatemala’s military government created its Commando School (Escuela de Comandos). Three months later, on 5 March 1975, it renamed it the Kaibil Special Operations Training Centre (Centro de Adiestramiento y Operaciones Especiales Kaibil). The name “Kaibil” is derived from Kayb’il B’alam (Kaibil Balam), a Mam indigenous leader who evaded capture by the Spanish conquistadors under Pedro de Alvarado.

Initially, the Kaibil Centre was located on two estates, El Infierno (“Hell”) and La Pólvora (“Gunpowder”) in the municipality of Melchor de Mencos, Petén department… continue reading at Wikiepedia.

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