D'Haeseleer: Deportation of Apalachicola man points to larger tragedy

Brian D'Haeseleer | My View

The recent arrest and deportation of José Francisco “Pancho” Grijalva Monroy in Apalachicola offers a tragic vignette of the brutal Salvadoran Civil War of 1979 to 1992.

The former soldier, who served in the Salvadoran military during the conflict, immigrated to the United States after the peace accords and led a mostly quiet life running a grocery store. Members of the community were shocked to discover the crimes he confessed to committing.

As a young solider he tortured anti-government insurgents, some by dragging behind his jeep until their skin peeled off. Although he admitted to the crimes, he also believed he had no choice. To refuse would have meant death. His actions echo the philosopher Hannah Arendt’s remarks about Adolf Eichmann and other perpetrators of the Holocaust: In spite of their atrocities, they are rather normal people who seem well-adjusted to society.

Approximately 70,000 people lost their lives during the civil war and the conflict produced a massive exodus of Salvadorans, including to the United States. One of its enduring legacies is the mental and emotional trauma inflicted upon a generation of Salvadorans. Although one could fault Grijalva for following his superior’s orders rather than obeying his moral conscience, it is also entirely appropriate to raise an even larger point: the role of the United States during the war.

Soldiers such as Grijavla were led by officers who received training at U.S. military service academies, including the notorious School of the Americas. Many Salvadoran officers who attended these schools have been implicated in human rights abuses committed during the conflict, including Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, who was also recently deported from the U.S. Casanova was, for many in Washington, the ideal prototype of a military officer.

Over the course of 12 years Washington spent approximately $6 billion to prevent the Salvadoran government’s overthrow and further human rights abuses. As president Ronald Reagan routinely argued, U.S. aid cleaned up its client’s human rights record. The administration, however, in some cases lied about the improvements to justify continued funding.

As the United Nations Truth Commission on El Salvador has noted, approximately 85 percent of all the abuses committed occurred at the hands of the Salvadoran military and security forces.

Grijalvas’ unfortunate story offers several lessons. Beyond demonstrating the horrors of war, his case also offers an example of how U.S. aid has failed to produce professionalized militaries that respect the rights of its citizens, even when Washington spends considerable political capital and funds. Afghanistan and Iraq are only two of the more recent examples.

Unfortunately, the Salvadoran war also serves as a sobering reminder of the limits of U.S. aid and how those living on the ground suffer the consequences.

Brian D'Haeseleer, a longtime resident of Tallahassee, teaches U.S. history at Lyon College.