Salvadoran Kidnap Victim Wins Suit

Former El Salvador Colonel Who Oversaw 1980s Torture To Pay Damages

(AP) 
Carranza, who has lived in Memphis since 1985, showed no emotion when the verdict was delivered and declined comment. He is a retired security guard for an art museum and has no way to pay the judgment, said his lawyer, Robert Fargarson. An appeal was likely, he said.

Human rights activists hailed the verdict as long-overdue justice.

"It's wonderful and gratifying that they are condemning people responsible for crimes against humanity," said Miguel Montenegro, an activist with El Salvador's non-governmental Human Rights Commission.

"Justice is being done by ordering (Carranza) to pay victims or their relatives," he told The Associated Press.

More than 75,000 Salvadorans died during the 12-year civil war as El Salvador's military dictators sought to crush anti-government forces led by unions, student groups and land reform advocates.

An amnesty that helped end the fighting prevents criminal charges against alleged war criminals in El Salvador. Carranza was sued under U.S. laws giving federal courts jurisdiction over civil claims of human rights abuses abroad.

Witnesses for the accusers included Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, who described Carranza as "the man who made things happen" for the military rulers.

In 2002, a federal jury in Florida found two retired Salvadoran generals responsible for the torture of three victims, a church worker, doctor and professor who later fled to the United States. In March, a federal appeals court reversed the US$54.6 million verdict, saying the statute of limitations had expired.

Carranza's whereabouts were discovered during the Florida litigation.