July 16th and 17th, 2002
Trial Update, Days 13 and 14 -- Testimony of Defendant General Vides Casanova, the response to a juror's question, and testimony of two rebuttal witnesses for the plaintiffs, Professor Jose Garcia and Professor Terry Karl.
Testimony of General Vides Casanova
Cross-Examination of General Vides Casanova by Plaintiffs' attorney,
Jim Green
Redirect Examination by Defendants' attorney, Kurt Klaus
Response to Juror's Question by Plaintiffs Juan Romagoza and Neris Gonzalez
Plaintiffs' Rebuttal Witnesses: Professor Jose Garcia and Terry Karl
Direct Examination of General Vides Casanova
The second defendant, General Eugenio Vides Casanova, testified on July 16 and 17. He was the final witness in the defense case. Defense attorney Kurt Klaus began by reviewing General Vides' resume and military experience. Responding to a question about the relationship of the two defendants, General Vides said that he had great respect for General Garcia, but was quick to add that he did not count Garcia among his close friends. Like General Garcia, Vides Casanova described threats to his safety and to that of his family. A niece had been killed and a brother kidnapped, all by unknown assailants. Vides also explained that he had no files to consult in order to answer many questions because the files of the National Guard had been destroyed, most recently in a fire.
After becoming Director-General of the National Guard in October 1979, Vides told the jury, he inspected National Guard premises in San Salvador, and he claimed that the secret cells described by plaintiffs' witness, Roberto Alvarez, had already been destroyed before he took his post. After taking the position, he directed that eight cells should be built, he explained, but those were only detention cells. When guardsmen detained suspects, he explained, they would decide if the people were guilty or not. If they were considered guilty, they were turned over to the courts; if considered not guilty, they were released to family members, to assure that later the families would not claim that they had "disappeared."
When asked if someone could have been tortured on the ten acres of land
occupied by the National Guard for its headquarters without his knowledge,
Vides Casanova answered, "It could have happened, but I never knew
of a single act of torture when I was Director-General of the National
Guard." Every year, he claimed, he would deliver a message to his
troops that they
should respect human rights. Furthermore, the Red Cross pamphlet shown
earlier to the jury during General Garcia's testimony was passed down
from one generation to the next in the garrisons, he said. Vides then
attempted to show another pamphlet as evidence of his efforts to promote
human rights. Plaintiffs' lawyer Jim Green asked the judge for an opportunity
to briefly question the witness about the pamphlet, which the judge permitted.
Green pointed out that the pamphlet was dated 1994. Vides attempted to
explain that the text had been used earlier, but Klaus withdrew the exhibit.
Vides then told the jury that, as Minister of Defense, he had received high-level delegations from the United States, including visits from former President Jimmy Carter and Vice-President Dan Quayle.
He asserted that persons from the general staff, whom he claimed were not under his command, conducted interrogations of prisoners. (During cross-examination, however, he admitted that the Intelligence Section of the National Guard was in charge of interrogations.) Klaus then asked Vides about "infiltrators," and Vides stated that Denis Moran, head of the Intelligence Section of the National Guard, and Lopez Sibrian, the second-in-command, both of whom were implicated in the Sheraton killings, may have been inflitrators, although he had no "indication that they were doing anything inappropriate."
Like General Garcia, General Vides was a recipient of the Legion of Merit Award which he received on two occasions. His awards, first from President Reagan and then from President Bush, presented to him by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted his "strategic vision" and the "high ethical and professional standards" that he had inspired in the officer corps as well as his leadership during the "Marxist insurgency." Klaus presented a photocopy of a letter he had received from former Secretary of State George Shultz as well.
Vides denied knowing anything about the torture of any of the three plaintiffs, and told the jury that he did not listen to Archbishop Romero's homilies. He did know, however, that the National Guard had a "bad reputation." He read general accusations about the National Guard in newspapers, but not specifics allegations, he said. When he saw a paid ad in the newspaper denouncing a detention, he stated that he wouldn't "do anything." When asked whether he ever visited a jail from 1979 until his retirement, other than his initial inspection as Director of the National Guard, Vides answered that he did not do so personally, as he "preferred to go and visit the wounded soldiers at the military hospital." Later, he said that the allegations against the military and security forces were "created to destroy the image of the armed forces." No one ever took the time, he said, to talk about the "damage that subversives were causing in the country." He did visit detention facilities a few times to accompany President Duarte, however. A juror later sent a question to the judge asking whether these visits were announced. Vides explained that he could not answer as "it is possible that it was announced as the corps had to be ready to receive the President, but I do not know whether general staff gave an order."
Soon after his retirement in May 1989, Vides Casanova moved to the United States permanently. He was reunited with his wife, whom he mentioned is the sister-in-law of former president of El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani.
Jim Green began by questioning General Vides Casanova about the National Guard post in San Vicente, one of the five major posts that the defendant had described during his direct examination. When queried whether this was the post where Neris Gonzalez was tortured, Vides answered, "She alleges so." Green further pressed, "Do you deny it?" Vides stated, "I can neither confirm nor deny it."
Vides Casanova confirmed that the San Vicente post was only about 35-40 minutes from the capital and that General Garcia had testified that he had commuted to San Vicente from San Salvador when he was head of the Army garrison there. Vides admitted that he did not need a helicopter to get to San Vicente. Green pressed him to explain why he did not inspect the National Guard post to ensure that no torture was occurring there and that it had not become "a human slaughterhouse." He said he had more important things to do as director of the National Guard, including fighting the war and arresting subversives. He testified that he had referred 1000 cases of military men to civilian courts, but upon further questioning he answered that he had not referred a single National Guardsman to a civilian court based on accusations of torture.
Green then asked Vides about the Sumpul River massacre, and the defendant conceded that, "according to reports," the National Guard carried out the massacre. Vides denied that two helicopters with artillery attacked the area since he said the National Guard had no helicopters or artillery but merely G-3 rifles. However, Green confronted him with the fact that the attack was a joint operation with the Army, and the Army possessed at least two helicopters when the massacre occurred in May 1980. Green then made the link to one of the plaintiffs by asking if Juan Romagoza was initially captured by a joint operation of the Army and the National Guard, reminding Vides that the Guard had access to an Army helicopter to transport him from the capture site to the National Guard Headquarters, where he was tortured. In an often heard refrain, Vides answered, "It is possible" although a moment later he tried to retreat from this position.
Noting that Vides had received the Legion of Merit award for his service as Minister of Defense from April 1983 to 1985, Green asked the general about his office's acknowledgment of plaintiff Mauricio's capture in 1983 in response to a public campaign for Mauricio's release. Vides was quick to reply that his office had acknowledged the capture but not the torture. Green pointed out that the office also said they were investigating the case.
Green then asked Vides about his military service. Vides stated that he had been a member of the Salvadoran Armed Forces for more than twenty years when he was appointed Director of the National Guard in October 1979. Vides had graduated from the military academy in the tanda (class) of 1957. He also taught and was an administrator at the military school and so was in contact with graduates of the 1960-1966 tandas as well as the members of tandas from 1970 forward. He advanced through all the ranks to Brigadier General and retired after a thirty-five year career. Green then asked if there had been a single act of insubordination to his command during his service. Vides replied, "Not that I know of."
In regards to Moran and Lopez Sibrian who ran the National Guard Intelligence Section, Vides admitted that,m as Minister of Defense, he promoted Moran to colonel two years after the Sheraton killings. Green pressed Vides with the question: "The killings were committed by assassination teams run out of the National Guard intelligence unit correct?" Vides replied: "That's what investigations say." Although Vides tried to analogize the situation to that of a CIA spy who goes undiscovered for twenty years, Green led him to admit that the killings were widely publicized. He also stated that "it was possible" that the direct perpetrators had confessed to the killings before he became Minister of Defense. But he candidly echoed the words of plaintiffs' expert, Margaret Popkin, when he said "Lopez Sibrian was released by order of the Supreme Court because the judge allowed him to dye his hair."
Green then pressed Vides Casanova: "Yesterday you testified that Major Denis Moran was the person from the intelligence unit who would conduct interrogations of prisoners?" Vides answered: "Yes, he and other technical personnel from that section." Green asked: "And he was under your command, correct?" Vides answered, "Yes, under my command." "So the interrogators who would interrogate prisoners in the National Guard headquarters were under your command, correct?" asked Green. Vides answered, "Yes, correct."
In pressing Vides further about the existence of torture cells and the use of torture by the National Guard, Green quoted from the transcript of the proceedings in the case of the murder of the four American churchwomen. Green quoted the question, "Mr. Vides, when you went to the National Guard Headquarters you found evidence of brutality, did you not, of torture, murder, kidnapping?" and the answer, "Only the cells." Vides then admitted that he did find evidence of one cell. Green pressed, "It says cells here. That was your answer under oath, sir, correct?" Vides answered: "Yes, yes, if it is written like that, then that is the way it must have been."
On redirect, Klaus went further into the transcript of the prior proceedings to try to show that Vides had only admitted that he was aware of brutality at the National Guard Headquarters because of the newspapers and the press. Vides again claimed that he had nothing to do with the secret cells discovered by Roberto Alvarez of the OAS because they already had been shut down by his predecessor.
Then, one of the most dramatic and emotional moments of the trial occurred. One of the jurors had requested the opportunity to see the scars on Juan Romagoza's and Neris Gonzalez's bodies. In response to this request, Romagoza removed his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeve, and approached the jury. His torture had included being shot in the left arm and suspended from his fingertips in a way calculated to prevent him from being able to practice surgery for the rest of his life.
At first, both Romagoza and the jury were tentative. But soon, members of the jury sitting in the back row were standing up and peering over the seats of their fellow jurors to examine more closely his extended arm. Romagoza patiently moved down the row of jurors and made sure that each was given an opportunity to look at the scars.
When he was finished, Gonzalez took off her suit jacket. She approached the jurors and moved from left to right so that all the jurors could see the round scars on her arms, which tended to corroborate her testimony that she had been subjected to cigarettes being burned on her arms. The jury later received additional photos of other scarred areas of Gonzalez's body.
The distance between the jury and these plaintiffs was erased in those minutes of proximity. Most members of the jury, in this personal and revealing moment, made eye contact with Romagoza and Gonzalez. Others in the courtroom sat subdued as the plaintiffs, by publicly displaying their scars, brought the focus of the case squarely back to their torture.
In the final phase of the case, which lasted only a few hours, the plaintiffs called two rebuttal witnesses, Jose Garcia, the plaintiffs' military command expert, and Terry Karl, a political science expert on the Salvadoran military and the political repression of the 1980s.
Professor Garcia testified that the Salvadoran military chain of command "functioned without interruption." He noted specific examples to support this point. First, he mentioned General Garcia's capacity to order the military to take over the banking system of El Salvador in a twenty-four hour period despite opposition to that move. Second, he mentioned that General Garcia had verified that troops had assisted in accomplishing some aspects of the initial land reform program. Third, he stressed that General Vides Casanova himself had testified that no subordination to his military command ever had occurred. Further, he explained that, as Director of the National Guard, Vides Casanova had command authority over the interrogators at the National Guard Headquarters and that there was no evidence that there was any interference in reporting to him up the chain of command.
Professor Garcia also illuminated the struggle in the Salvadoran military between those who wanted simply to maintain power and those who wanted to see the military institute democratic reforms. Professor Garcia testified that, as Minister of Defense, General Garcia made a choice to isolate Colonel Majano, the leader of the reformist group within the military, and his supporters. Ultimately, Majano was jailed and then expelled from the country. Professor Garcia further testified that no factionalism within the military prevented either of the defendants from ordering investigations into torture. He stated, "From the level of the Minister of Defense, all the way to the last soldier in the armed forces, there was no interference, and the gentleman general exercised his authority to the fullest."
The final rebuttal witness, and the last person to testify in the trial, was Professor Terry Karl of Stanford University. In intense testimony, Karl described the violence carried out by the Salvadoran military from 1979 to 1983 as "directed." "It was not amorphous," she said. "Mass terror is not an accident. This was not a small number of people… It was too pervasive, too systematic, and too widespread." It involved too many logistics and too much equipment to be simply chaotic, she urged. It was all over the country. An estimated 75,000 people were killed during the conflict. She reminded the jury that at least 30-40,000 of those deaths occurred during the period the defendants were Ministers of Defense. The military efforts to "drain the sea" in order to fight an insurgency, she explained, amounted to a "total war against unarmed civilians."
This violence against civilians was carried out by uniformed military and security officers. Every knowledgeable observer attributes 85 percent of the abuses to these forces, she explained. "That means people wearing uniforms, not death squads. It was the formal military apparatus of the country." Even the abuses committed by the death squads were linked to these forces because the "assassination teams," as she called them, operated out of the headquarters of the National Guard, the National Police and the Treasury Police. "Men in uniforms, holding command responsibility" ran these operations directly out of those headquarters, she repeated.
Responding to Ambassador Corr's testimony that those who had tortured others in El Salvador were rogue and "mentally ill soldiers," and Vides Casanova's reference to infiltrators that go undiscovered, like those who have been discovered in the CIA, Karl urged that the violence was not the work of isolated individuals. "They were not mentally ill moonlighting soldiers, or a single spy in the CIA." Rather, they were "organized groups of military officers operating out of the headquarters of the security forces, primarily the intelligence units of all three forces."
General Vides should have known that people under his command were committing abuses, she said, using the Sheraton murders as an example. "Envision the National Guard," she told the jury, "with Vides as the head, and an intelligence operation directly under him, in the same building." The intelligence officers who had carried out the murders were people he promoted, and people he knew well. So it is my opinion that he should have known." Both defendants, she said, were informed of the violence committed by their troops, and thousands of U.S. cables proved it. And when the U.S. urged a drop in the violence with the visit of Vice President Bush, the violence did drop. "To me that shows control," explained Karl. The violence against civilians began before there was a full-scale civil war in El Salvador, she said, and even when there was a full-scale war, after the period in question in this case, the war, in her view, did not affect the fact that officials and commanders could stop the torture going on in their own headquarters in El Salvador.
The situation was not one of chaos, she stated, it was one of repression. "Just because there are elections does not mean there is no repression." The banking and agrarian reforms that the military had carried out during the period, to which General Garcia had testified, reflected the "tremendous capacity of this military when it wanted to get something done." The proof of overall lack of reform in the military itself, she argued, was exemplified by the agreement in the Peace Accords to "dismantle the repressive apparatus in El Salvador" by disbanding the security forces and purging the military of human rights abusers.
After Professor Karl finished her testimony, Judge Hurley told all those
present in the courtroom: "We have reached a significant milestone
of the case." He explained the four phases of a trial: presentation
of evidence, closing arguments, instruction of the jury, and jury deliberations
and verdict. Phase one was now completed; and phases two and three would
both be concluded the next day, after which the case would be in the hands
of the jury.
This report was written by Patty Blum, Clinical Professor
of Law, and Mary Beth Kaufman, law student, Boalt Hall Law School, University
of California, Berkeley
