José Guillermo García

José Guillermo García (born 1933) is former general of the military of El Salvador and was minister of defense during the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador. He emigrated to the United States in 1989. He was sued, along with Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, in the United States district court in West Palm Beach^[1] in two precedent-setting legal actions:

Ford v. Garcia, a lawsuit by the families of four Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, who were murdered by a Salvadoran military death squad on December 2, 1980. Garcia's defense won the case, and the families appealed. Their appeal was denied, and in 2003, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear further proceedings.
Ramagoza v. Garcia, a lawsuit filed by the Center for Justice and Accountability on behalf survivors of torture during the Salvadoran Civil War. Garcia lost, and a judgment of over $54 million (U.S.) was entered against him and his co-defendant, and upheld on appeal.^[2]^[3]

References

^ Washington Post August 17, 2003 The Case Against the Generals[1]
^ Gonzales, David. Torture Victims in El Salvador Are Awarded $54 Million New York Times. [2]
^ "El Salvador Generals Guilty of Torture". BBC News. 2002-07-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2147506.stm. Retrieved 2008-05-27.