Former Salvadoran Officer to Face Lawsuit:Torture Suit to Begin for Former

[Judi Lynn]

Former Salvadoran Officer to Face Lawsuit
Torture Suit to Begin for Former Salvadoran Army Colonel Nicolas Carranza
By WOODY BAIRD Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. Oct 31, 2005 — Former Salvadoran Army colonel Nicolas Carranza has lived a quiet life in the area since 1985. He's become an American citizen, and neighbors describe him and his wife as friendly.

Carranza, though, is accused of crimes against humanity by letting soldiers under his command torture and kill civilians regarded as enemies of El Salvador's military-dominated government in the 1980s.

On Monday, a trial was scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court on a lawsuit filed against Carranza.
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"Experts estimate that 10,000 to 12,000 unarmed civilians were assassinated in 1980 alone," when Carranza was in charge of his country's top security forces, the lawsuit says.

Eisenbrandt said he expects the trial to last up to three weeks and include testimony from torture victims and experts on El Salvador's 12-year civil war. One of the first witnesses, he said, is expected to be Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1265427

Colonel Nicolas Carranza, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Memphis, was Vice-Minister of Defense of El Salvador from late 1979 to early 1981. In that position, he exercised command and control over the three units of the Security Forces - the National Guard, National Police and Treasury Police - responsible for widespread attacks on civilians. Despite being removed from his position as Vice-Minister due to U.S. pressure over his human rights record, Colonel Carranza was later brought back in 1983 as head of the brutal Treasury Police, where he exercised command over the members of that group. After being forced out of the Treasury Police, Carranza came to the United States in 1985. He became a U.S. citizen in 1991. In 1984, the New York Times reported that Colonel Carranza had been a paid informant for the CIA.

There are five plaintiffs in the case:

Erlinda Franco is the widow of Manuel Franco, one of six pro-democracy opposition leaders of the Frente Democrático Revolucionario (Democratic Revolutionary Front, or FDR) who were abducted from a Jesuit school in San Salvador on November 27, 1980 by members of the Security Forces. They were later found murdered, and their bodies showed obvious signs of torture. The assassinations were among the most gruesome and shocking incidents carried out by the Security Forces during 1980, and led directly to the commencement of the full-scale civil war. The United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador found that the FDR murders “outraged national and international public opinion and closed the door to any possibility of a negotiated solution to the political crisis at the end of 1980.”

Ana Patricia Chavez is the daughter of Humberto and Guillermina Chavez, who were members of the teachers union ANDES 21 de Junio. They were murdered in cold blood by plainclothes gunmen in July 1980 in the family’s home in Ahuachapan, El Salvador. Ana Patricia was forced to watch the beating of her mother and listen to the shots that took her life. Ana Patricia now lives in California.

Francisco Calderon was a worker at a cigarette factory in September 1980 when, late one night, uniformed members of the National Police knocked on his door. As he opened the door, plainclothes gunmen grabbed him and forced him to the floor. Francisco’s father, Paco Calderon, a school principal and member of ANDES 21 de Junio, came to the door and told the men to let his son go. The men then tried to carry away Paco Calderon, and when they were unable to do so, they shot him directly in front of his son. Francisco now lives in California.

Cecilia Santos was a student at the National University and employee of the Salvadoran Ministry of Education when she was arrested in a shopping center in San Salvador in September 1980. Cecilia was held in the National Police headquarters for eight days and tortured repeatedly. She was never given adequate legal representation or a fair hearing, and remained in prison for three years. She fled to the U.S. in 1983 after being released under a general amnesty. Cecilia now lives in New York, where she is the director of the Centro Salvadoreño, an organization that encourages socioeconomic and cultural progress among Latino immigrant communities.

Daniel Alvarado was an engineering student in San Salvador in 1983. He was abducted by five men dressed in civilian clothes while he was watching a soccer game at a friend’s house. He was taken to the headquarters of the Treasury Police, where he was tortured severely. In order to stop the torture, Daniel confessed to being involved in the assassination of U.S. military advisor Albert Schaufelberger. After a polygraph examination, U.S. officials correctly concluded that Daniel was not responsible in any way for the assassination and that he had only admitted to the killing in order to stop the torture.
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http://www.cja.org/cases/carranza.shtml

[Mojorabbit]

1. The Irony.....eom