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Carlos Mauricio was a professor at the
University of El Salvador when he was detained in June 1983 and tortured
for nearly two weeks at the National Police Headquarters. After coming
to the United States, he obtained two Master's degrees, in Molecular
Genetics and Adult Education, from San Francisco State University,
and a teaching credential. He teaches biology at Balboa High School
in San Francisco.
Carlos was born in the town of Ahuachapan, El Salvador and is 49 years
old. At the age of 13, he moved to San Salvador with his family, where
he soon found a construction job at the University of El Salvador.
This enabled him to work during the day and continue his studies at
night. After high school, he began to study agricultural engineering
at the university, supporting himself by teaching in local high schools
and working as an assistant professor at the university. He won a
scholarship to study in Mexico, where he received his Masters degree
at the University of Merida. He then returned to El Salvador to continue
teaching.
In June 1983 he was teaching a class on Agricultural Sciences when
individuals dressed in civilian clothing entered the classroom and
asked him to move his car. Once he was on the street, he was forced
into an unmarked car and beaten. He was then taken to the National
Police headquarters, where he was detained for nearly two weeks. During
that time, he was tortured and interrogated repeatedly. For more about
the methods of torture, you can read the legal
complaint in his case. Upon being released, Carlos fled El Salvador
for the United States, where he now resides.
Carlos has suffered permanent physical and emotional injuries as a
result of the abuse he underwent while detained. The physical wounds
remaining from his detention include broken ribs, an injured eye and
persistent pain in his shoulders, joints and chest.
Carlos' interest in bringing Generals Garcia and Vides Casanova to
trial stemmed from his firm belief that seeking justice for what was
done helps to heal the emotional wounds caused by torture. Since the
verdict
in his case in July 2002, he has spoken extensively to the press
in the United States and El Salvador and to numerous community groups
and churches about the experience of confronting human rights abusers
in a U.S. courtroom.
"One of the facts from torture is that they make you not want
to talk about it," Carlos said to a Bay Area audience recently.
"It took me 15 years to be able to tell my story. I realized
that telling my story to others is important, not only because it's
important to know what happened in El Salvador, but also because in
that way you are really out of prison."
Carlos is dedicated to helping other survivors, especially those from
El Salvador, tell their stories and deal with their own past trauma.
To this end, he has begun work on a new organization, the Stop Impunity
Coalition, that seeks to connect Salvadoran torture survivors to needed
psycho-social and medical services and to disseminate the lessons
he learned from his case.
The Lawsuit
Together with two other torture survivors, and with CJA’s assistance,
Carlos sued two of the generals who were in charge of the security
forces at the time and who now live in retirement in West Palm Beach,
Florida: José Guillermo Garcia, Minister of Defense from 1979-1983,
and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the Director-General of the Salvadoran
National Guard from 1979-1983 who then became Minister of Defense.
Our two clients, in addition to Carlos, are a doctor who was abducted,
detained, and brutally tortured by the Salvadoran National Guard in
late 1980 in the Guard’s National Headquarters; and a Church
layworker who was abducted, detained, tortured and raped by National
Guardsmen in late 1979.
On July 23, 2002, following a four-week trial, a 10-person jury determined
that the two generals were liable for torture under the doctrine of
“command responsibility”, and awarded our clients a total
of $54.6 million ($14.6 million in compensatory and $40 million in
punitive damages). In holding the generals liable, the jury concluded
that (a) the plaintiffs were tortured by subordinates of the generals,
(b) the generals knew or reasonably should have known that their subordinates
were committing such acts, and (c) they failed to take necessary and
reasonable steps within their power to prevent or punish the acts.
In preparing this case, the legal team worked with the Lawyers Committee
for Human Rights in New York, which had brought a similar case against
the same two generals on behalf of four U.S. churchwomen who were
tortured and murdered by the Salvadoran National Guard in 1980. A
jury rendered a verdict in November 2000 that the generals could not
be held liable for the crimes, apparently on the ground that they
did not have “effective control” over their subordinates.
The plaintiffs appealed, urging that the jury instructions improperly
placed the burden on them to prove that the generals had de facto
control over their subordinates. On April 30, the 11th Circuit Court
of Appeals upheld the district court’s jury instructions. The
instructions given to the jury in the Romagoza case followed the Circuit
Court’s ruling, and defined “effective control”
in greater detail than provided in the churchwomen’s case.
Carlos’ Reasons for Bringing the Lawsuit
I decided to participate in the case against the two generals for
several reasons:
First, I am participating in order to seek justice, and to help put
an end to the culture of impunity that exists in El Salvador.
Second, I want to be the voice for people who were never able to
speak out, for those who do not want, or are unable, to take their
cases to court. Not only those who have been tortured and never want
to talk about it, but also those who were killed during torture.
Third, I am looking for a psychological healing of the wounds that
torture left on me. I need an explanation and that is why I need a
day in court. I believe that General Vides Casanova had the power
to stop his police from committing the atrocities that they committed,
and that he is, therefore, responsible. I want to know why he did
nothing to stop his police from torturing me and thousands of others.
Fourth, I am participating in this case in order to help send a message
to military leaders around the world that, if they commit atrocities,
they will not be able to visit or live in the U.S. with impunity.
They will always have to fear that someone someday may recognize them
and bring them to justice. I am involved in this case to try to deter
people, especially military people in El Salvador and elsewhere, from
committing atrocities in the future. Let me tell you, many military
officers in Salvador dream of living in the United States after they
retire. My case and other cases are sending a powerful message to
them. Resolutions passed by the U.N. General Assembly and reports
by human rights organizations are effective in publicizing what happened,
but they do not send a strong message to military leaders, who think
they are above the law. They may be above the law in their home countries,
but these lawsuits tell them that they are NOT above the law in this
country.
Whatever the outcome of my case, just bringing the lawsuit has been
a victory. Ten years ago, no one would have dared to do that. The
generals remain very powerful people in Salvador, and many refugees
here, including me, have family back in Salvador who could be harmed
by people who are violently opposed to holding the generals accountable.
To see press articles written on Carlos and his case, click
here.
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