Former El Salvador general to be deported from US for human rights abuses
Former El Salvador general to be deported from US for human rights abuses
Friday 27 March 2015 at 3:26 PM ET
(JURIST) A former El Salvadoran Defense Minister accused of human rights abuses during the country's 1980s civil war is in US immigration custody to await deportation, immigration officials said Friday. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova was arrested in Florida (AP report) where he has been living since 1989. Earlier this month, the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld [decision, PDF] Vides' deportation order because they found (NYT report) he was responsible for the abuse and killings of civilians in his role as head of the National Guard. That decision discussed Vides' knowledge of torture committed by the National Guard, including beating several detainees and hanging them from the ceiling. The judge also said Vides was aware of and failed to investigate the kidnap, rape and murder of four American churchwomen in 1980 as well as the murder of a Salvadoran labor leader and two American labor advisers in 1981. Vides' lawyer plans to appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The Obama administration charged (JURIST report) Vides in April 2011 for human rights crimes committed while he served as the country's top military officer. The US brought this case as the first against a foreign military officer who faced immigration charges by a special humans rights office at the Department of Homeland Security (official site). In February 2012 a federal immigration judge in Florida decided (JURIST report) that Vides could be deported for the crimes. In April of the following year, the US Department of Justice released a revised ruling (JURIST report) ordering Vides' deportation.
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2015/03/former-el-salvador-general-ito-be-deported-from-us-for-human-rights-abuses.php
(Short article, no more at link.)
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U.S. Removal Proceedings: General Vides Casanova
The Removal Hearing of General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova
In 2006, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $54.6 million jury verdict against Generals José Guillermo García and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, two former Salvadoran Ministers of Defense who oversaw the worst period of human rights violations in El Salvador's history. CJA and pro bono co-counsel Morrison & Foerster represented the plaintiffs: Juan Romagoza Arce, Neris Gonzalez, and Carlos Mauricio. Click here to read more about that case.
Since the verdict, CJA has engaged in an extensive campaign, including testifying before Congress to convince the federal government to initiate removal proceedings against the Generals. In 2009, as a result of letters from Senators Durbin and Coburn and CJA's continued behind-the-scenes efforts to encourage criminal prosecution, DHS announced that it had initiated deportation proceedings against García and Vides Casanova for assisting in the torture of Salvadoran civilians.
On February 23, 2012, the immigration judge (IJ) ruled that Vides Casanova, the former defense minister of El Salvador, could be removed under U.S. immigration law for the torture of Salvadoran citizens, the 1980 killings of four American churchwomen, and the 1981 killings of two Americans and a Salvadoran land reformer. This historic decision marks the first time that federal immigration prosecutors have established that a top-ranking foreign military commander can be deported based on human rights violations under a law passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, intended to bar human rights violators from coming to or living in the United States.
More:
http://www.cja.org/section.php?id=548
[center](Another fascist extradited to stand trial for his genocidal actions,
from the pile of Latin American fascists living in Florida.)[/center]
