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April 11, 2023

U.S. Arrests Salvadoran Ex-Colonel over 1981 Massacre by U.S.-Trained Forces in El Mozote
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U.S. authorities have arrested Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia, a retired
army colonel from El Salvador's army, over his role in the 1981 El
Mozote massacre, where U.S.-trained Salvadoran military officers killed
nearly 1,000 civilians across seven villages. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement claims Garay hid his involvement in the massacre in his
application to become a legal U.S. resident in 2014. Garay, who received
combat training at Fort Benning's School of the Americas in Georgia, is
also linked to three other massacres from 1981 to '84 during El
Salvador's war. He's currently held in an immigration jail in
Pennsylvania. If deported, Garay would likely walk free in El Salvador,
as Salvadoran authorities have never issued arrest warrants against any
military officers involved in El Mozote. The Reagan administration and
the Salvadoran military junta covered up the massacre for years.


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