Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty Wars, interviewed by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman & Juan González

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Salvadoran General Cleared for Deportation over 1980 Murders of U.S. Nuns

A former El Salvador defense minister accused of murder and torture has been cleared for deportation from the United States. In a landmark decision, a Florida immigration judge ruled Thursday that General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova can be sent back to El Salvador for his role in the notorious killings of four U.S. churchwomen in 1980. It is the first time an immigration judge has ruled a top-ranking foreign military leader can be deported for committing abuses under a 2004 law intended to bar human rights violators from U.S. soil. It is also the first time General Vides has been held responsible for the churchwomen’s deaths in a court of law. General Vides was a close U.S. government ally during his stint as defense minister for the Salvadoran junta between 1983 and 1989. The churchwomen’s families have fought for years to hold him and other U.S.-backed Salvadoran officials responsible for the deaths. Among them was Bill Ford, who waged a long-term battle for justice in the murder of his sister, Ita Ford, before his death in 2008. In response to the ruling, Bill Ford’s son, Bill Ford, Jr., said, "Since the women were killed, my father made this the single purpose of his life. I’m sure he knows and is well pleased that [General Vides] may no longer be able to live in this country to enjoy the fruits of his brutality."

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