Perpetrators

Colonel Nicolás Carranza

Now a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Memphis, Carranza was Vice-Minister of Defense of El Salvador from late 1979 to early 1981.  In that position, he exercised command and control over the three units of the Security Forces – the National Guard, National Police and Treasury Police – responsible for widespread attacks on civilians.

Although Carranza was removed from his position as Vice-Minister due to U.S. pressure over his human rights record, he returned to office in 1983 as head of the brutal Treasury Police, where he exercised command over the members of that group.  After being forced out of the Treasury Police, Carranza came to the United States in 1985.  He became a U.S. citizen in 1991.  In 1984, the New York Times reported that Colonel Carranza had been a paid informant for the CIA.  During the trial, Carranza admitted that he had received payments from the U.S. government since the 1960s.

As of early 2009, Nicolas Carranza still resided in the United States.