Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia was arrested Tuesday in New Jersey on accusations of being involved in the 1981 El Mozote Massacre, during which some 1,000 people were killed. Photo courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
April 7 (UPI) — U.S. authorities have arrested a Salvadoran man accusing of being involved in the massacre of hundreds of people in the Central American country during its civil war.
Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia was arrested Tuesday in New Jersey by Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, ICE announced Thursday.
Authorities said the retired military officer of the Salvadoran Armed Forces has been charged with assisting or otherwise participating in extrajudicial killings and for willfully misrepresenting hit fact in his immigration application.
“Individuals who have committed atrocities overseas will not find safe haven in the United States,” Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John Tien said in a statement.
El Salvador was submerged in civil conflict during the 1980s until the early 1990s with its army fighting leftist insurgents. Garay Saravia is accused of being a section commander of the brutal Atlacatl Battalion of the El Salvadorian army from 1981 to 1985.
The U.S.-trained Atlacatl Battalion was a rapid response counter insurgency unit that has been implicated in several atrocities, including the December 1981 El Mozote Massacre, which, according to the Center for Justice and International Law, is “the largest massacre to occur in Latin America.”
In December of 1981, the Atlacatl Battalion and other infantry descended upon the town of El Mozote, burning houses and executing villagers. The CJIL states that some 1,000 people, half of whom were minors, were killed between Dec. 10-13 throughout the region.
U.S. authorities said Garay Saravia was also deployed in his position with the Atlacatl Battalion in three other operations that massacred hundreds of civilians.
Garay Saravia’s arrest was the product of an investigation spearheaded by the Homeland Securities’ Human Rights Violations and War Crimes Center. Specifics of the investigation, including when it began, were not released.
The case is being prosecuted by ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor Newark and OPLA Philadelphia, officials said.
“Individuals involved in heinous actions such as extrajudicial killings will not be permitted to remain in the United States,” ERO Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris said. “We will maintain the integrity of our immigration laws and hold accountable those who violate them.”
According to The Center for Justice and Accountability, more than 75,000 civilians were killed by government forces during the 12-year civil war.