U.S. jury holds ex-colonel responsible for torture in El Salvador's civil war | CP

U.S. jury holds ex-colonel responsible for torture in El Salvador's civil war | CP: "U.S. jury holds ex-colonel responsible for torture in El Salvador's civil war

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A jury held a former Salvadoran Army colonel responsible for murder and torture during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s and ordered him to pay $2 million US in damages.
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The lawsuit accused Carranza, who has lived in Memphis since 1985, of failing to stop crimes against humanity when he was a top commander of El Salvador's security forces.
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More than 75,000 Salvadorans died during the 12-year civil war as El Salvador's military dictators sought to crush anti-government forces led by labour unions, student groups and land reform advocates.

An amnesty that helped end the fighting prevents criminal charges against accused war criminals in El Salvador. Carranza was sued under U.S. laws giving federal courts jurisdiction over civil claims of human rights abuses abroad.

Trial witnesses for the accusers included Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, who described Carranza as 'the man who made things happen' for the military rulers.

White said he observed Salvadoran soldiers in the field, and 'it was clear they looked to colonel Carranza as their chief.'

During the early days of the civil war, Carranza was El Salvador's deputy minister of defence. He later commanded the Treasury Police, which was described in news reports at the time as one of the country's most brutal military units.

Daniel Alvarado, one of the four accusers awarded damages, testified he was kidnapped by government agents in 1983 when he was a college student and tortured into confessing to the murder of a U.S. military adviser.

Carranza worked as a museum security guard after coming to the United States and is now retired."