Omg. Gen. Vides Cassanova is being deported from Florida to El Salvador

[EFerrari]

to face charges over the killing of those four nuns. He was minister of Defense and this is the first time an immigration judge has deported a high ranking former military ally.

Stunnng. Amy had it this morning in her headlines:

Salvadoran General Cleared for Extradition over 1980 Murders of U.S. Nuns
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/24/headlines#10

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Had to rec this

[EFerrari]

3. It's hard to believe we've gotten this close to justice.

The world is also very small. A number of the people involved in the murder of Bishop Romero and other crimes of that time are in California. Some right in my old San Francisco neighborhood, some in the Central Valley. They've been out there for all this time, free as birds. This decision is encouraging.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. I know

My friend Epifania is now in her mid 50's - she came from El Salvador right around the time this occurred.

[EFerrari]

6. 20% of the population of El Salvador came up here fleeing the war

and our Iran/Contra death squads. Most of them to the SF Bay Area. It was unbelievable. The generation of right wingers that cooperated with all of that are in their 70s or so now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Is that good or bad for him?

Meaning, will El Salvador give him freedom...
or.....???

[EFerrari]

4. It's bad for him because it's harder for the Pentagon to protect him

over there. There is a relatively left leaning government in El Salvador now, too. We'll see.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. About time! Miami is FILLED with criminals

It's a safeharbor for criminals from Latin countries where dictatorships murdered widely with the blessing of the U.S.

There are few Latins in Miami who have not encountered a criminal or two there

[EFerrari]

8. All the BushCo felons who protected them must be getting too elderly

to keep it up.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

19. That must be it. nt

[flamingdem]

9. We can always hope

this is the start of a trend.

Finally!

[Ikonoklast]

10. Good Riddance To Bad Rubbish.

May he get a fair trial.

[EFerrari]

11. Also, in case you missed it, Mittens and the BushCo co-conspirators in El Salvador:

Last edited Fri Feb 24, 2012, 03:11 PM - Edit history (1)

The roots of Bain Capital in El Salvador’s civil war

Romney tapped El Salvador's wealthy families, including one linked to right-wing death squads
By Justin Elliott

*
*

A significant portion of the seed money that created Mitt Romney’s private equity firm, Bain Capital, was provided by wealthy oligarchs from El Salvador, including members of a family with a relative who allegedly financed rightist groups that used death squads during the country’s bloody civil war in the 1980s

Bain, the source of Romney’s fabulous personal wealth, has been the subject of recent attacks in the Republican primary over allegations that Romney and the firm behaved like, in Rick Perry’s words, “vulture capitalists.”One TV spot denounced Romney for relying on “foreign seed money from Latin America” but did not say where the money came from. In fact, Romney recruited as investors wealthy Central Americans who were seeking a safe haven for their capital during a tumultuous and violent period in the region.

Like so much about Bain, which is known for secrecy and has been dubbed a “black box,” all the names of the investors who put up the money for the initial fund in 1984 are not known. Much of what we do know was first reported by the Boston Globe in 1994 when Romney ran for U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy.

In 1984, Romney had been tapped by his boss at Bain & Co, a consulting firm, to create a spin-off venture capital fund, Bain Capital.



Continue Reading

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/20/the_roots_of_bain_capital_in_el_salvador/

I wouldn't be surprised if this connection isn't why the Republicans are saddled with Mitt today.

Edit to delete text inadvertantly posted exceeding 4 paragraph rule. Sorry.

[Judi Lynn]

23. Thanks for adding this Romney material. Would never have known about it otherwise. Creepy!

So he has already been connected to deadly, vicious people at a very deep level already.

That makes him even more loathesome, and his "Mr. Clean" act even more insulting.

[EFerrari]

25. It makes him potentionally another Nixon or Reagan.

Last edited Fri Feb 24, 2012, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Loathesome but powerfully connected.

[leveymg]

12. Finally, one of "the bastards won't get away with it."

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/RbtWhite.html
DEATH & LIES IN EL SALVADOR
The ambassador's tale

Reagan's election was greeted with noisy enthusiasm among Salvador's oligarchs; parties and gun bursts celebrated the man who would save them not only from revolution but from reform and from Robert White as well.


By Margaret O'Brien Steinfels

October 26, 2001 / Volume CXXVIII, Number 18
Commonweal Magazine

By the time Ambassador Robert White was posted to El Salvador in 1980, he knew full well that politics could be a deadly affair. At age seventeen, he had joined the World War II Navy, and then served in the Pacific. As ambassador to Paraguay in the late 1970s and, earlier, as a Foreign Service officer in several of Latin America's similarly unsavory dictatorships, he had confronted human-rights abuses, violence, even murder. In El Salvador itself, more than nine thousand people were killed in the year he arrived. But after December 4, when he witnessed the disinterment of four American women murdered by Salvadoran soldiers, his life would never be the same.

Two of the women, Jean Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel, had spent the night of December 1 as the guests of MaryAnn and Robert White at the embassy. White didn't necessarily agree with the criticism of U.S. policy that he heard that evening from Jean Donovan, but he was not going to stand by and let Salvador's brutal death squads and their American apologists get away with this atrocity. The experience of December 4 would lead him on an unexpected journey from successful American diplomat to candid critic of U.S. foreign policy.

That journey continues. Last October, White testified in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, about conditions in El Salvador during his time as ambassador. His testimony was part of the evidence brought against General Carlos Vides Casanova and General José Guillermo García, Salvadoran military officers now retired and living in Florida. Under the Torture Victim Protection Act, the two were charged in an unsuccessful civil suit with command responsibility for the abduction, rape, and murder of the four American churchwomen. The plaintiffs were the families of the victims, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan. Photos taken two days after the killings show White, fists clenched at his side, turning from the shallow grave; he is quoted in news accounts saying, "This time the bastards won't get away with it….The bastards won't get away with it."

[EFerrari]

13. We can hope.

This morning I had to tell my mom that her cousin Vides Cassanova was going home. She was ecstatic. At 81, she didn't think she'd live to see it.

[leveymg]

15. Sounds like the civil war split your family, too.

Did you ever meet the General, or any of his entourage? Having done hundreds of asylum applications for Salvadorans and Guatemalans, I got a chance to talk at length with people on both sides, and those caught in the cross-fire. That was an education that has stayed with me.

But, then again, there were all the people fleeing from Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia, Somalia, FSU, Romania, China and 20 or so other countries I got to interview and know. I feel like I've been inside half the political prisons in the world.

Amazing people, amazing stories.

[EFerrari]

17. I haven't. My uncle was there and in Miami

off and on during the war, probably laundering money in exchange for his help organizing ARENA at the level of recruiting support in the business community. He was here for medical care for a while and D'aubuisson's office used to call him. I know because I was answering the phone for him while he recovered from a heart attack.

In a way, my uncle was a hostage. He had moved all his assets to El Salvador just before it all went down. His choice was to lose everything or collaborate, I suppose.

Haven't spoken to him about El Salvador since then when I understood what he was doing. Yes, it split us right down the middle. I'll probably never be able to talk to him about it.

[leveymg]

18. That would explain your worldliness.

That's a very good thing to have, but a heavy burden.

I thank g-d I never had to make any really bad choices - avoided putting myself into the circumstances where I would have to - but I have human compassion for those who have had to make bad choices to step around what they view as worse ones.

I'm probably not alone in this sort of thing, but I was probably the only college Sophomore who turned down recruitment by the CIA and was the subject of a FBI Field Office investigation (Central America anti-intervention and anti-nuclear activism), and had an Op-Ed published in the Boston Globe about the power of non-violent protest at Seabrook Nuclear Station, the same school year. That was the year that Amb. White made his vow about your uncle.

It would be nice if I had a gov't pension now, but I'm glad I made the right choices and avoided signing my life away all those years ago.

[EFerrari]

20. It's not very far to San Salvador from any point on the West or East coast of the United States.

Frankly, I'm surprised that one of us cousins didn't wind up in "government service" because we're all bi-lingual and college educated. And yet another relative operated the first multi-lingual translation agency in San Francisco during those years, pretty much in the shadow of the Federal building. I helped open that office and the Feds were in and out of there all the time. Dodged that bullet.

Yes, a pension would have been nice, though.

[leveymg]

21. ES is really as much a part of the United States at this point as is Puerto Rico,

Panama, Nicaragua and some other countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Having worked mostly in Washington after a period in New York, I have to say most federal workers try to do the right thing. Some are lovely people and do good work. But, personally, I don't think I have the patience, discipline and ability to morally distance myself it takes to make a successful career working everyday inside one of the marble hives.

The institutions may be irredeemably corrupt, but it's easy to forgive the people - I count that as a blessing.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Cousin! Yikes! Scary to know someone who had a career like that!

I noted you mentioned he knew "Blowtorch Bob" D'Aubuisson, too. That man could not have been more feared, I'm sure. He certainly left his mark on people.

Very, very interesting.
[center][/center]

[Judi Lynn]

24. It's wonderful hearing of one outstanding ambassador who DIDN'T support evil US-supported crimes

[center][/center]
Thanks for posting this article.

[Judi Lynn]

14. It's a miracle! Efforts to extradite him under pResident Bush were thwarted.

Here's his Wiki:

Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova was head of the Salvadoran national guard and later defense minister. He was sued in the federal civil court of Miami, Florida in the United States in two precedent-setting cases. The cases are referred to by the surname of his co-defendant, José Guillermo García:

• Ford v. Garcia, a lawsuit by the families of four Catholic churchwomen who were murdered by a Salvadoran military death squad on December 2, 1980. The defense won the case, and the families appealed. Their appeal was denied, and in 2003, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear further proceedings.
  
  
• Ramagoza v. Garcia, a lawsuit by survivors of torture during the Salvadoran Civil War, including Carlos Mauricio and Neris Gonzalez. Garcia and Vides lost, and a judgment of over $54 million (U.S.) was entered against them, and upheld on appeal.[2]

After his first wife died, Vides married Lourdes Llach, daughter of coffee baron, amateur astronomer, and former Salvadoran ambassador to the Holy See[3] (1977–1991)[4] Prudencio Llach Schonenberg. On October 6, 2009 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it initiated deportation proceedings against General Vides Casanova for assisting in the torture of Salvadoran civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Eugenio_Vides_Casanova

[center]~~~~~[/center]
Concerning a different attempt to bring this monster to justice in 2005:

~snip~
Meanwhile, a major court ruling in another high-profile torture lawsuit was in the news this week. A 54.6 million dollar verdict against two retired Salvadoran generals accused of torture in their home country two decades ago was reversed this week by a federal appeals court.

It is the second time the two generals–who have been living in Florida since 1989–have prevailed in cases involving human rights violations.

In November 2000, a federal jury found that José Guillermo García and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova couldn’t be held responsible for the murders of four American churchwomen who were raped and executed by Salvadoran soldiers in 1980. Jurors concluded the two men didn’t have effective control over their own military at the time.

But less than two years later, another jury found the military commanders were civilly liable under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act in a lawsuit brought by a church worker, doctor and professor who fled to the United States after being brutalized by Salvadoran soldiers. That 54 million dollar verdict was reversed Monday when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that the victim’s claims failed to meet a 10-year statute-of-limitations rule.

http://www.democracynow.org/2005/3/2/u_s_court_reverses_54m_verdict

[center]~~~~~[/center]
Former Salvadoran Military Officer Is Determined to Have Assisted in Torture and Murder
February 24, 2012

This week a U.S. immigration judge in Orlando, Florida after trial found that former Salvadoran General and Minister of Defense Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova had assisted in acts of torture and murder committed by soldiers under his command. Now he is subject to further proceedings potentially leading to his deportation from the U.S. where he has lived for many years as a legal resident.

One of the cases which Vides Casanova was determined to have assisted was the December 1980 rape, torture and murder of four American churchwomen by five Salvadoran National Guardsmen. At the time Vides Casanova was the Commander of the Guard. (We already have examined the mission work of the churchwomen, the early investigations of this horrendous crime, the Salvadoran criminal prosecution of the Guardsmen and the Salvadoran Truth Commission’s investigation of the crime.)

The immigration judge also concluded that Vides Casanova had assisted in the torture of two Salvadorans, Juan Romagoza and Daniel Alvarado, who testified against him in hearings last spring in the immigration court in Orlando.

In 2005 Vides Casanova and his fellow former Salvadoran General and Minister of Defense Jose Guillermo Garcia were held liable in U.S. federal court for $54.6 million under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA). This civil case was brought by Romagoza and Alvarado and another Salvadoran refugee for their torture by Salvadoran military personnel during the period 1979 to 1983.

More:
http://dwkcommentaries.wordpress.com/

[center]~~~~~[/center]
The Miami Herald
October 21, 1998

Miami attractive to exiled rulers

Some were deposed, some others fled homeland under cloud

By JUAN O. TAMAYO
Herald Staff Writer

Human rights activists searching for more targets after Gen. Augusto Pinochet's
arrest in Britain need look no further than Miami, which has long harbored Latin
American leaders who fled their homelands.

~snip~
But the most notorious residents have been politicians, military leaders and their
henchmen, virtually all right-wingers whose governments stand accused of human
rights violations.

Former Gen. Jose Guillermo Garcia, head of El Salvador's armed forces in the
1980s, when military-linked death squads killed thousands of people suspected of
being leftists, has lived in South Florida since the early 1990s.

Garcia's successor, Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, who also served as the
head of the much feared national guard, now lives in northern Florida. Both men
have denied any role in human rights abuses.

More:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/caribbean/rulers.htm

[center]

Younger and older General Casanova

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Case of General Vides Casanova in the U.S.

“The law was literally written with this respondent in mind.”

U.S. government attorney in case against General Vides Casanova [/center]

General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova has been doggedly pursued in the U.S. by the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) for over a decade. Vides Casanova was in command of El Salvador’s National Guard from 1979 to 1983, during the most horrific period of human rights abuses, and was subsequently appointed Minister of Defense from 1983 to 1989. He retired peacefully to southern Florida in 1989, together with other Salvadoran war-time military commanders. El Salvador’s 1993 General Amnesty law assured these men of immunity from prosecution in their home country, but life, after all, was more comfortable in Florida. The general had been honored by President Reagan with the Legion of Merit for his faithful service in the battle against communism. His future seemed secure.

But a decade later, General Vides Casanova faced two trials in cases led by CJA. In 2000, he and General José Guillermo Garcia were acquitted of civil charges for the 1980 rape and murder of four North American religious workers. In 2002, in a case brought by CJA and three torture victims, the general was charged and convicted of responsibility for torture, a landmark command responsibility decision that was later upheld in 2006. He was ordered to pay damages, but his residency in Florida was not threatened.

No Safe Haven

In 2003, a human rights unit was established within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate, track and deport human rights violators, marking a significant shift in U.S. policy. Since 2004 over 400 violators from countries including Bosnia, Rwanda, Argentina and Guatemala have been deported under the policy of “no safe haven” for human rights violators. But Vides Casanova is the first senior officer to face possible deportation charged as a perpetrator of human rights violations “present in the U.S., irrespective of nationality and of where the violation occurred.” The case is also historic as it could represent the official condemnation and deportation of an officer once honored as an ally and staunch enforcer of U.S. policy.

~snip~
During the week of April 18th, the jury heard two victims testify about torture carried out under the command responsibility of General Vides Casanova. Former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Robert White (1980-81) also testified for the prosecution, verifying U.S. Embassy cable traffic that named the general as one of the torturers known to the U.S. in the early 1980s. However, Edwin Corr, who served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 1985-89 and was allegedly involved in the Iran-Contra scandal during his tenure, contradicted White, telling the court he “never heard criticism of the general for such abuses.”

More:
http://www.democracyinamericas.org/around-the-region-blog/el-salvador-update-april-2011-2/

[EFerrari]

16. What do you think, Judy Lynn?

Is BushCo losing its grip in Florida? Is Jeb slipping or maybe Poppy is losing his stuff? I wish I could talk to Greg Grandin right about now.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Either or both would be good for the human race! This sure wouldn't happen with their permission.

It was Jeb Bush's friend, Cuban "exile" Miguel Recarey (who pulled off the country's largest Medicare fraud in history at the time) who was aiding and abetting Iran/Contra criminals during Reagan's war on Central America, and the Bushes (dad, wife) who still have a compound on one of the Keys where police stop and search every car just passing through the island.

The elder has been active in anti-left activities since before the Bay of Pigs.

Oh, just remembered: Miami was also the largest CIA post in the world for years. I've even read about a bar they all infested there.

We do know the U.S. government is still up to its eyebrows in Latin America scheming, but it's so possible the Bush power is fading away the longer they are all out of office, and can't directly influence state and federal actions as well now.

I've been thinking recently that one of the reasons Jeb Bush didn't throw his chapeau into the ring might have been because of his own unsavory connections to some real right-wing Cuban criminals, too, which they might not be able to conceal as well as they did Dubya's long-term AWOL from the Champagne Brigade during the VietNam War.

Greg Grandin is outstanding. He'd be a great source to ask that question!

Do you think they're losing that Magic Bush Touch, or might they be lulling people into a false sense of security? The Dad was a powerful man in the CIA for a long time, while horrific things were happening.

[chaplainM]

26. What a shame Alexander Haig isn't alive to be a defense witness.

He could repeat what he said when the bodies were found: it was the nuns who shot at the death squads. Mr. Haig was silent about whether the nuns were also repsonsible for their own rapes.

[Mnemosyne]

27. K&R - Good news for a change! Thanks Beth? n/t