| HONDURAS: Juan Lopez Grijalba |
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COLONEL FOUND RESPONSIBLE FOR TORTURE AND DISAPPEARANCES, Miami: A federal judge in Miami has ordered Colonel Juan López Grijalba, a former military intelligence chief from Honduras, to pay $47 million to torture survivors and relatives of civilians murdered by Honduran military forces in the early 1980s. Judge Joan A. Lenard held López Grijalba legally responsible for torture, extrajudicial killings and disappearances in the Central American nation, stating that his conduct was “highly egregious.” In a written opinion, Judge Lenard ruled that López Grijalba had ordered the detention and murder of Manfredo Velásquez, a university student leader, in 1981. Manfredo’s sister, Zenaida Velásquez, was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. Judge Lenard awarded his son, Hector Ricardo Velásquez, $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. The judge also found that López Grijalba played a key role in a military operation in 1982 that led to the torture and murder of innocent civilians. On July 8, 1982, members of the Honduran Armed Forces abducted and tortured Oscar and Gloria Reyes during a raid of their Tegucigalpa neighborhood. Oscar and Gloria testified at trial that they were subjected to beatings, continuous electrical shocks and a mock execution. During the same operation, Honduran troops brutally abducted and murdered 24-year-old university student Hans Madisson, whose exhumation later showed that he had been mutilated and decapitated. The judge found that López Grijalba was present at the military raid and issued orders to soldiers. Judge Lenard ordered López Grijalba to pay Oscar and Gloria Reyes each $6 million in compensatory damages and $7 million in punitive damages. Two sisters of Hans Madisson were each awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. In the early 1980s, López Grijalba controlled the notorious intelligence police force DNI (Direción Nacional de Investigaciones, National Investigations Directorate), and the death squad known as Battalion 316. Both units were responsible for widespread human rights abuses in Honduras as part of a systematic program of disappearances and political murder. He moved to the Miami area in 1998. In October 2004, while the case was still pending, U.S. immigration authorities deported López Grijalba for his involvement in human rights abuses. The lawsuit was filed in 2002 on behalf of the plaintiffs by the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA), a San Francisco-based human rights organization that works to end impunity by bringing to justice perpetrators of human rights abuses, especially those who live in or visit the United States. CJA attorneys Matt Eisenbrandt and Almudena Bernabeu were joined on the pro bono legal team by Ben Reid and Gus Bravo of the Florida law firm Carlton Fields. After reviewing the written judgment, CJA Litigation Director Matt Eisenbrandt stated, “The court’s ruling provides a powerful condemnation of Colonel López Grijalba’s barbaric behavior and complete disregard for the lives of Honduran civilians. Our courageous clients are happy that he has finally been punished for his crimes. We again call on Honduran authorities to take this judgment and the evidence we have gathered and bring criminal charges against Colonel López Grijalba in Honduras.” Background Beginning in the late 1970's a special military intelligence unit within the Honduran security forces began carrying out a series of abductions, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings against suspected political "subversives." During the late 1970's through 1984, more than 150 persons were disappeared or extrajudicially killed, and many more were abducted and tortured. The unit with principal responsibility for carrying out these actions, initially known by various informal names, eventually was organized as "Battalion 3-16" in the early 1980's. Battalion 3-16 and its precursors operated under the direction of the Honduran Armed Forces General Staff, in particular its intelligence division known as G-2, or under the control of or in coordination with the intelligence police, DNI (Dirreción Nacional de Investigaciones, National Investigations Directorate), and its operational forces. As the chief of the DNI, and later of intelligence for the Armed Forces General and Joint Staffs, Juan López Grijalba had the legal authority and practical ability to exert control over subordinates, which included personnel of the DNI and Battalion 3-16 that participated in the abductions and torture of plaintiffs Oscar and Gloria Reyes and the disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Manfredo Velásquez and John Doe. Grijalba had a duty, under customary international law, multilateral treaties, and Honduran law, to ensure the protection of civilians and to prevent violations of international law by the military and security forces under his command. He failed or refused to take all necessary measures to investigate and prevent such abuses committed by or attributed to his subordinates, or to punish personnel under his command for committing such abuses. Today, despite the widespread attribution of responsibility to Battalion 3-16, the DNI and the Honduran Armed Forces for human rights abuses, charges have been filed against military officials in only a few cases, and none of these cases have even proceeded to trial. Witnesses in some proceedings have been killed or intimidated, and the perpetrators never identified. Reyes et al v. Juan Evangelista López Grijalba On July 15, 2002 CJA filed a civil lawsuit against former Honduran military intelligence chief Lt. Col. Juan López Grijalba, on behalf of six former Honduran citizens. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, five of whom are now U.S. citizens, include Oscar and Gloria Reyes, who were abducted by soldiers wearing black masks in 1982 and subjected to electric shock and beatings in a clandestine torture facility; Ricardo and Zenaida Velásquez, the son and sister of Manfredo Velásquez, who was abducted by Honduran soldiers in 1981 and has never been seen since; and two other anonymous plaintiffs who are suing Grijalba on behalf of their disappeared brother, John Doe. The plaintiffs allege that Grijalba permitted subordinates in the Honduran military and paramilitary forces to commit acts of torture, disappearance and extrajudicial killing, and exercised command responsibility over, conspired with, and aided and abetted such forces in their commission of, and in covering up, these abuses. Grijalba came to the U.S. in 1998. He was arrested by the INS in
April 2002, and was held for over 2 years at Krome Detention Center
in Miami. In June of 2004, the Immigration Court ordered that he be
deported for his participation in human rights abuses. Read the article
in the Miami
Herald. CJA worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security
in the immigration case. In finding that López Grijalba had
been a persecutor, the immigration judge cited the testimony of several
witnesses whose participation was facilitated by CJA.
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