May 13, 1999
May 13, 1999
Contact HRF Communications (212) 845 5245 media@humanrightsfirst.orgFormer Salvadoran Officials Face U.S. Law Suit For Role
In American Churchwomen MurdersRelatives of Victims Tap Federal Statute Called Torture Victims Protection Act
New York, May 13, 1999—The families of four American churchwomen who were murdered in El Salvador filed a law suit this week naming two former Salvadoran officials, who currently reside in Florida, for the deaths of their relatives. The complaint, filed under the Torture Victims Protection Act, alleges that Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova and Jose Guillermo Garcia were ultimately responsible for the 1980 murders. They were, respectively, Director of the National Guard and Minister of Defense at the time the crimes were committed, but never had to face a court or their accusers to answer for their role in the institutional violence that led to the churchwomen’s deaths.
"People who do these things should know that maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day somebody is going to catch up with them," said William Ford, brother of Ita Ford, one of the Maryknoll sisters who was killed.
The Torture Victims Protection Act is a federal statute that was designed to give victims of the worst crimes—or their surviving kin—the chance to confront not only the crimes’ direct perpetrators, but also those officials who had the authority and responsibility to ensure that such acts did not take place. Vides Casanova and Garcia clearly ignored that responsibility. During their respective tenures, both men presided over widespread abuses and near absolute impunity.
"The purpose of this action is to establish ultimate responsibility for the murders of the four churchwomen, which both the Salvadoran and United states government have failed to do for over 18 years," said Scott Greathead, a Board member of Human Rights First, which has represented the churchwomen’s families prior to this litigation. Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan were murdered in El Salvador on Dec. 2, 1980.
A press conference announcing the litigation will be held on Capitol Hill this morning at 11:30 am. Featured speakers will include Massachusetts’ Members of Congress Jim McGovern and Joe Moakley, William Ford, and Robert O. Weiner, Director of Protection, Human Rights First .