José Guillermo García (born 25 June 1933) is a former general of the military of El Salvador and was minister of defense of the

Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador , national_anthem = '' Himno Nacional de El Salvador'' , image_map = LocationElSalvador.svg , capital = San Salvador , common_languages = Spanish , religion = , demonym = Sal ...

between the years 1979 and 1983.

Emigration to United States

He emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1989, were lived until January 2016 when was deported to El Salvador.

Lawsuit cases

He was sued, along with

Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova (born 1937) is the former head of the Salvadoran national guard between the years 1979 and 1983 and later served as the nation's Minister of Defense between 1983 and 1989. In 1984, four national guardsmen who had o ...

, in the

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in two precedent-setting legal actions: * ''

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

v. Garcia'', a lawsuit by the families of four Catholic churchwomen, including two

Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic __NOTOC__ The Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, or simply Maryknoll Sisters, are a group of Roman Catholic religious women founded in the village of Ossining, Westchester County, New York, in 1912, six months after the 1911 creation of the Mar ...

, who were murdered by a Salvadoran military death squad on 2 December 1980. Garcia's defense won the case, and the families appealed. Their appeal was denied, and in 2003, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

refused to hear further proceedings. * ''Ramagoza v. Garcia'', a lawsuit filed by the

Center for Justice and Accountability The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) is a US non-profit international human rights organization based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1998, CJA represents survivors of torture and other grave human rights abuses in cases agains ...

on behalf of survivors of torture during the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War ( es, guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front The Farabundo Ma ...

. Garcia lost, and a judgment of over $54 million (U.S.) was entered against him and his co-defendant, and upheld on appeal.

Deportation to El Salvador

Guillermo Garcia and General Vides Casanova had been undergoing a deportation process since 1999. The Department of Homeland Security later charged Garcia in 2009 with participating or assisting in torture and extrajudicial killings during his tenure as Minister of Defense. His attorne
Alina Cruz
argued that he could not be deported on those grounds because he was already exonerated of those charges in the landmark case Ford vs. Garcia when a jury found that he was not in control of his troops. It was determined in 1998 that Garcia's co-defendant General Vides Casanova and Casanova's cousin Col. Oscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, the local military commander in Zacatecoluca, had planned and orchestrated the executions of the four North American churchwomen. On 12 April 2014, an immigration court judge ruled against Garcia and called for his deportation. On 16 December 2015, it was announced that an immigration appeals court upheld the decision to deport Garcia. Garcia's attorney afterwards said they both plan to appeal the decision to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia. On 8 January 2016, American immigration officials deported General Garcia back to El Salvador.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Jose Guillermo 1933 births Living people People from San Vicente, El Salvador Defence ministers of El Salvador Salvadoran military personnel People of the Salvadoran Civil War 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador

Emigration to United States

Lawsuit cases

Deportation to El Salvador

See also

References