Gustavo Álvarez Martínez

Gustavo Adolfo Álvarez Martínez (12 December 1937 – 25 January 1989) was a Honduran military officer. He was head of the armed forces of Honduras from January 1982 until his ouster on 31 March 1984 by fellow officers when he sought to expand his control over the armed forces. The notorious Honduran Battalion 3-16 army unit, reporting directly to Álvarez Martínez, was active during this period, in which Honduras was a base for the Contras who opposed the Sandinistas in neighbouring Nicaragua. Álvarez Martínez was awarded the Legion of Merit by the US government in 1983 for "encouraging the success of democratic processes in Honduras."

Álvarez Martínez later became commander of the Fuerza de Seguridad Publica (FUSEP), the national police force (a branch of the military) under which Battalion 3–16 was initially created. The first trainers of the battalion came from Argentina, invited by Álvarez Martínez, In July 1983, he told NBC producer Maurie Moore and The Washington Post reporter Christopher Dickey that in his mind, "everything you do to destroy a Marxist regime is moral."

Álvarez Martínez was at one time president of the Asociación para el Progreso de Honduras (APROH), an organization linking business leaders and military personnel.