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April 18, 2014

Former Salvadoran General Faces Deportation from U.S. for Role in Killings 
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A former defense minister of El Salvador is facing deportation from the
United States for his role in atrocities during the 1980s, including the
murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the massacre of more than 1,000
people in El Mozote. Judge Michael Horn found General José Guillermo
García helped hide the involvement of soldiers in the 1980 killing of
four U.S. churchwomen in El Salvador. Judge Horn said García "fostered,
and allowed to thrive, an institutional atmosphere in which the
Salvadoran armed forces preyed upon defenseless civilians under the
guise of fighting a war against communist subsversives." At the time,
the United States was heavily backing the Salvadoran military. García
received political asylum in the United States in 1990. The judge's
decision was issued in February, but released to the New York Times last
week.

 

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