Nicolas Carranza

A U.S. court declared that Colonel Carranza, resident of Memphis and former sub director of the Salvadoran Defense, was guilty of torture, extrajudicial assassination and crimes against humanity.

The charges were filed by five people who were tortured or who had family members who were assassinated in the early 1980s by government forces. During the trial, the plaintiffs testified about the torture suffered by them or their relatives at the hands of the security forces.

As vice-minister of Defense, Carranza had authority over the security forces that committed these abuses during 1980.

The former US ambassador in El Salvador, Robert White, declared that Colonel Carranza was a paid informant of the CIA while he was employed as vice-minister of Defense and member of the high military command in 1980.

During this time, White asked the head of the CIA division in El Salvador to throw Carranza out of the CIA given his deplorable reputation in matters of human rights, nonetheless, his request was never granted. Carranza admitted to having received money from the U.S. government from 1965 onwards.