Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova
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Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova (29 November 1937 – 21 December 2023) was the head of the Salvadoran national guard between the years 1979 and 1983 and later served as the nation's Minister of Defense between 1983 and 1989.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1984, four national guardsmen who had once served under Vides Casanova's command – Daniel Canales Ramírez, Carlos Joaquín Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras Recinos and José Roberto Moreno Canjura – were convicted of murdering four American nuns and were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Their superior, sub-sergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Alemán, was also convicted of the murders.<ref name=casaguards/>
In 1998, the four murderers confessed to abducting, raping and murdering the four nuns and claimed that they did so because Alemán had informed them that they had to act on orders from high-level military officers.<ref name=casaguards/> Some were then released from prison after detailing how Vides and his cousin Col. Óscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, the local military commander in Zacatecoluca, had planned and orchestrated the executions of the nuns.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A 16-year legal battle to deport General Vides Casanova soon commenced.<ref name=videsdeported/>
Emigration to the United States
Following his retirement, General Vides left El Salvador and moved to Florida in 1989 as a legal permanent resident and lived in Palm Coast.<ref name=videsdeported>Template:Cite news</ref>
After his first wife died, Vides married Lourdes Llach, daughter of coffee baron, amateur astronomer, and former Salvadoran ambassador to the Holy See (1977–1991)<ref>List of Ambassadors, apostolische-nachfolge.de; accessed 14 April 2017.Template:In lang</ref> Prudencio Llach Schonenberg.
Lawsuit cases
Vides Casanova 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 nuns<ref name=casaguards>Template:Cite news</ref> who were abducted, raped and murdered by a Salvadoran military death squad on 2 December 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 González. Garcia and Vides lost, and a judgment of over $54 million (U.S.) was entered against them, and upheld on appeal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ironically On 8 January 2016, American immigration officials deported General García back to El Salvador
Deportation to El Salvador
On 6 October 2009 the United States Department of Homeland Security announced that it had initiated deportation proceedings against General Vides Casanova for assisting in the torture of Salvadoran civilians. On 24 February 2012, a Federal immigration judge cleared the way for his deportation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 11 March 2015, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed General Vides Casanova's appeal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 8 April 2015, U.S. immigration officials deported General Vides Casanova to El Salvador.<ref name=videsdeported/> The lawsuit filed against Vides Casanova and General García was featured in the 2018 film "The Path of the Shadows".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Death
Vides Casanova died in San Salvador on 21 December 2023, at the age of 86.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
- Juan Romagoza Arce
- José Guillermo García
- Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
- Salvadoran Civil War
References
External links
- [1] "The Path of The Shadows" Film
- Ford v. Garcia Trial Background. Legal history section of PBS website on "Justice and the Generals" presentation in 2002; accessed 7 October 2005; confirmed online 11 December 2006.
- Profile
Template:Ministers of Defense of El Salvador Template:Authority control
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- 1937 births
- 2023 deaths
- Salvadoran generals
- Salvadoran war criminals
- People from Santa Ana, El Salvador
- Salvadoran military personnel of the Salvadoran Civil War
- Government ministers of El Salvador
- People from Palm Coast, Florida
- 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador
- Defence ministers of El Salvador
- Torturers
- People deported from the United States