Jaime Ramirez Raudales

As a former member of Battalion 316 he was accused of having killed Miguel Angel Pavon Salazar and Moises Landaverde, human right activists, in 1988.

Pavon, a commissioner of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras, was the first witness in the Inter-American Court on Human Rights trial against the government of Honduras when Manfredo Velasquez and three other people were declared as missing persons.

In July 2002, a judge from Honduras signed an arrest warrant against Ramirez while the suspect was living safe and sound in Miami. Nonetheless, on March 4, 2003, thanks to a warning by the International Educational Missions, the agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in his house.

Ramirez was the first suspect of human rights violations arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) –which was assuming the responsibilities of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). An immigration judge ordered Ramirez’s deportation to Honduras under charges of murder. In August 2003 immigration officers took him back to his country where he was arrested by local authorities. However, in March 2004, a local court rejected the charges against Ramirez, citing that he was not «materially responsible» for such crimes.