Sigifredo Ochoa

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Sigifredo Ochoa Pérez, a lieutenant colonel in the Salvadoran army, became known during the Salvadoran Civil War as an effective commander, a mutineer, and later a politician and ambassador.

Ochoa became commander of Cabañas Department in 1981, at a time when the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrillas were on the march against the often corrupt, demoralized Salvadoran military. Ochoa's province was the site of heavy guerrilla activity, but he turned the situation around, adopting small-unit counterinsurgency tactics and instilling an aggressive spirit in his troops. His success, contrasted with general government reverses at the time, led to him being often showcased as an example of how proper leadership could rescue the Salvadoran military. He was not immune, however, from criticism of his human rights record, and he had ties to death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson's Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.

Defense Minister José Guillermo García was unhappy with Ochoa's criticisms that he was corrupt and incompetent. In early January 1983, he sought to effectively exile Ochoa by making him military attaché to Uruguay. Ochoa refused to leave, staging a six-day mutiny. Although it ended with Ochoa taking a diplomatic post in the United States, the standoff weakened García. By April, García himself was replaced by Carlos Eugenio Vides. From 1984 to 1986, Ochoa commanded the Fourth Brigade in Chalatenango Department.

After resigning from the military in June 1987, Ochoa became an ARENA legislative deputy. Ochoa served as ambassador to Argentina from 1992-1994, and ambassador to Peru in 2000-2001. Since June 2001, he has been ambassador to Honduras.