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1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

2 NORTHERN DIVISION

JUAN ROMAGOZA ARCE, JANE DOE, )

4 in her personal capacity as )

Personal Representative of the )

5 ESTATE OF BABY DOE, ) Docket No.

) 99-8364-Civ-HURLEY

6 Plaintiff, )

) West Palm Beach, Fl.

7 v. ) July 17, 2002

) 9:30 a.m.

8 JOSE GUILLERMO GARCIA, an )

individual, CARLOS EUGENIO VIDES CASANOVA,)

9 and DOES 1 through 50, inclusive )

)

10 Defendants. )

)

11 --------------------------------------x

VOLUME 13

13 TRANSCRIPT OF TRIAL

BEFORE THE HONORABLE DANIEL T.K. HURLEY

14 and a jury

16 APPEARANCES:

17 For the Plaintiffs: JAMES GREEN, ESQ.

PETER STERN, ESQ.

18 BETH VanSCHAACK, ESQ.

20 For the Defendant: KURT KLAUS, ESQ.

24 Court Reporter: Pauline A. Stipes, CSR, RPR, RMR

United States Courthouse

25 West Palm Beach, FL 33401

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1 THE COURT: Good morning. Everybody, are we ready and

2 set to proceed.

3 MR. KLAUS: Your Honor, I want to say something about

4 the notebooks, since everything for my trial notebook is with

5 the jury, I just ask that we give them a folder to put it in.

6 THE COURT all right. That is all right.

7 MR. STERN: That is fine.

8 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Marshal, would you bring in

9 the jury, please.

10 General Vides, would you take the stand, sir.

11 (Thereupon, the jury returned to the courtroom.)

12 THE COURT: Good morning, everybody, please be

13 seated. When we stopped last evening we were in direct

14 examination, I will turn back to Mr. Klaus and allow him to

15 proceed.

16 MR. KLAUS: Thank you, Your Honor.

17 BY MR. KLAUS:

18 Q. Good morning, General Vides?

19 A. Good morning.

20 Q. Now, during your tenure as Minister of Defense, did you

21 inform new recruits to the armed services, and I mean every

22 branch of the armed services, Treasury Police, National Police,

23 National Guard, Army, Navy, the Air Force, that they had a duty

24 to respect the human rights of the citizens of El Salvador?

25 MR. GREEN: Objection, time frame relevancy.

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1 THE COURT: I will overrule the objection, and you may

2 proceed.

3 BY MR. KLAUS:

4 Q. I asked you beginning, was it during your term as Minister

5 of Defense?

6 A. I did that from the very first day that I took charge of

7 the position and I repeated this at each speech given on the

8 7th of May of each year. Those speeches are here in this

9 binder.

10 Q. Were they broadcast to the entire nation?

11 A. They were transmitted or broadcast over a national chain of

12 radio and all television stations. Articles are complete in

13 the newspapers. My photograph is in there, too. I am standing

14 behind no masks.

15 Q. Okay.

16 A. And at those speeches, the following people were present:

17 The president of the Republic, the president of each one of the

18 three branches of Government and the members of the Supreme

19 Court.

20 Q. And why did you do that? Why did you mention human rights

21 in your speeches?

22 A. First, because it was one of the deficiencies that required

23 correcting, and it was also part of the proclamation. Second,

24 because it was something that the previous minister had started

25 and I in his relief, I had to continue doing this, and because

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1 of personal conviction.

2 Q. When you say deficiencies that needed correcting, what do

3 you mean?

4 A. I am referring to everything that could have taken place

5 during the period in which the country was fighting against

6 insurgency, any excess during combat or by the troops in

7 combat, abuses concerning people that were captured, and that

8 appears in each one of my speeches every year.

9 Q. Had you-- were you aware of the reports about people being

10 tortured while you were head of the National Guard and while

11 you were Minister of Defense?

12 A. As I tried to explain in other occasions, I never was able

13 to discover an event of torture being carried out, and, yes,

14 there were generalized accusations that that sort of thing was

15 taking place within the armed forces corps.

16 Q. So you were aware of torture, reports of torture?

17 A. Yes, but these were reports that with all due respect they

18 were created in order to destroy the image of the armed force

19 and they never took time to talk about the damage caused to the

20 country by subversion.

21 Q. Did you as a response to those reports, did you cause to be

22 distributed among the recruits manuals regarding human rights?

23 A. Yes, some were disseminated.

24 Q. I am going to ask you to look at what was previously marked

25 as composite, Defendants' composite 61, now marked 61-B. Is

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1 that one of the pamphlets that you had distributed to new

2 recruits in the armed services while you were Minister of

3 Defense?

4 A. Yes, this is also, this is also a piece of work that was

5 being carried out by the Government's Human Rights Commission,

6 and it had to be given out with that purpose. This is one of

7 them.

8 MR. KLAUS: I would ask to move 61-B into evidence,

9 Your Honor.

10 THE COURT: Is there any objection to the receipt of

11 what is now marked Defendants exhibit 61-B?

12 MR. GREEN: Foundation, exact time frame.

13 THE COURT: Let me stop for a minute. Wait a minute.

14 61, 61-A is in. Okay. I will overrule that objection -- this

15 is 61-B.

16 MR. KLAUS: Yes.

17 THE COURT: I will receive 61-B into evidence over

18 objection.

19 (Defendants' Ex. 61-B received into evidence.)

20 MR. KLAUS: I ask to publish it to the jury, Your

21 Honor.

22 THE COURT: You may.

23 BY MR. KLAUS:

24 Q. Now, the title on the front page says Department of a Los

25 Derechos Humanos, and underneath, Ministerio de la Defensa

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1 Nacional. Is the Departamento de Derechos Humanos, is that The

2 Department of Human Rights?

3 A. Yes, this is an organization that changed names as it

4 became more and more formalized, first it was under the general

5 staff, and then under the Ministry of Defense.

6 Q. Los Derechos Humanos, that is human rights?

7 A. Yes, that is what it means.

8 Q. And Desarrollo Historico de los Derechos Humanos, means

9 history of human rights?

10 A. Yes. It was to start giving teachings to the personnel so

11 they would start developing awareness for human rights.

12 Q. Now, new recruits already received the manual in evidence

13 as 61-A, correct?

14 MR. GREEN: Objection, leading.

15 THE COURT: Sustained.

16 BY MR. KLAUS:

17 Q. Prior to you being Minister of Defense, had new recruits

18 received the manual that is in evidence?

19 A. I don't think that this manual was received by the new

20 recruits, but they did receive talks that were carried out by

21 the first Commission on Human Rights under the direction of

22 Monsignor Freddy Delgado, going around the quarters, garrisons,

23 giving talks on human rights in the presence of officers,

24 soldiers, everyone.

25 Q. Well, let me ask you the question again, maybe something

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1 was lost.

2 Did you-- You were present when General Garcia

3 testified, correct?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. And General -- Do you remember General Garcia testifying

6 that the manual printed by the Red Cross was distributed to all

7 new recruits, correct?

8 MR. GREEN: Objection, leading.

9 THE COURT: Sustained.

10 BY MR. KLAUS:

11 Q. Do you remember General Garcia testifying that that manual

12 printed by the Red Cross was received by all recruits?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. Did recruits continue to receive that manual during your

15 tenure as Minister of Defense?

16 A. Yes. These manuals were already at the garrisons, and they

17 would be passed down or handed down from one generation to the

18 next.

19 Q. Do you know who this manual was distributed to?

20 A. Yes. This manual was distributed to all of the security

21 corps and the members of the Army.

22 Q. Now, can you turn to the second page. Can you read what

23 that says?

24 A. Everything on page two or some paragraph.

25 Q. Everything on page two.

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1 That is okay, let me interrupt you.

2 A. One, development of human rights, development of human

3 rights --

4 Q. That is okay, let me interrupt you.

5 THE COURT: We are having a problem, the jury is having

6 difficulty. Is there a page missing?

7 MR. KLAUS: I think that is part of the exhibit.

8 THE COURT: All right. Let me let you go back and ask

9 you to help us all and see where you are. Can you show the

10 jury what General Vides is looking at?

11 MR. KLAUS: Page 11, and page 10.

12 THE COURT: Can you show that to the jury so the jury

13 knows what you are looking at?

14 All right. Thank you very much.

15 BY MR. KLAUS:

16 Q. Can, there is an illustration of some parents with a child

17 and it says at the top let us respect human rights.

18 Q. Okay. And the page that is marked page 10, what does that

19 say?

20 A. There is a book of the political Constitution so that they

21 always are aware that the Constitution must be respected. And

22 a symbol of justice to indicate to them that good and bad

23 actions will be weighed.

24 Q. And what does it say on page 10? Can you show that to the

25 jury?

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