Ex-Salvadoran general appeals deportation order

Ex-Salvadoran general appeals deportation order
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press | February 6, 2014 | Updated: February 6, 2014 3:26pm

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — In the 1980s, the U.S. government considered Salvadoran Gen. Eugenio Vides Casanova a hero, twice awarding him the Legion of Merit for leading a battle against left-wing rebels in his country. Now, the U.S. government considers him a pariah, and wants him deported for his role in a series of human rights abuses.

Vides Casanova on Thursday appealed his deportation order to the nation's highest immigration court, arguing that his removal would be unfair because the aggressive tactics of the Salvadoran military were tacitly supported by the U.S.

"El Salvador was at the forefront of the battle against communism in our hemisphere," his lawyer, Diego Handel, said during arguments. "The things that happened far from our country during a civil war in which our government was an active participant on the side of the Salvadoran government. ... Any war, there's going to be a lot of deaths, a lot of unfortunate things that happen."

Vides Casanova, who was his country's defense minister, has been living in Florida since immigrating in 1989. In 2012, an immigration judge ruled that he could be deported for his role in multiple acts of killings and torture committed by the Salvadoran military, including the slayings of three American nuns and a lay churchwoman in 1980.

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http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Ex-Salvadoran-general-appeals-deportation-order-5209649.php?cmpid=usw