Winter Quarter 2005-06 News
Director Herb Klein quoted in New York Times article on remains of African slaves found in Mexico
At Burial Site Teeth Tell Tale of Slavery
Archaeologists believe that bodies unearthed in Mexico are the earliest remains of African slaves brought to the New World.
"Crude Reflections" Photo Exhibit on Display at Bolivar House
Photographers Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak and journalist Joan Kruckewitt introduced "Crude Reflections: ChevronTexaco’s Rainforest Legacy" in the first Wednesday noon lecture of the quarter. The exhibit chronicles the human and environmental impact of ChevronTexaco's oil pollution in the Ecuadoran Amazon and efforts by local communities to seek justice. The exhibit is on display at Bolívar House through the end of March. For information on the international campaign and history of the exhibit, please visit ChevronToxico.
Former Director's Work Contributes to Guilty Verdict in Crimes Against Humanity Case
Below is a letter from former Director Terry Karl reporting on a recent ruling of a case she's involved in.
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Today, in a wonderful way to celebrate the New Year (and in a very rare event), the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its earlier ruling and upheld our victory against two Salvadoran generals, holding them responsible for murder, rape and torture under the Nuremberg doctrine known as command responsibility. Their ruling is a strong affirmation of human rights trials held in the U.S., and it establishes new flexibility in assessing the statute of limitations in human rights cases tried in the U.S. Most important, this is the first command responsiblity victory in a contested jury trial in our history. It says strongly and firmly that commanders are responsible if their troops commit human rights abuses, they knew about these abuses or should have known about them, and these commanders failed to prevent them or punish them.
Over the past five years, two other cases have helped to establish accountability for the 75,000-85,000 murders and the uncounted rapes and torture in El Salvador between 1979-1992. Working with the Center for Justice and Accountability, we were able to locate in Fresno, California, identify and then find liable one of the assassins of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was killed while he was saying mass. The day after this verdict in Fresno, thousands gathered at Romero's tomb in El Salvador, demanding a functioning justice system and the end to impunity in that country.
And this past November, in Memphis, Tennessee where he had settled, another Salvadoran colonel, the former Vice Minister of Defense and principal CIA asset during the civil war, was found liable for "crimes against humanity" -- establishing the first jury trial precedent for crimes against humanity in a command responsibility case. He had been one of the chief organizers of military-led death squads in that country.
When added to our other victories, especially the Cabello trial about the Caravan of Death in Chile, we are making very important law in the U.S. -- law that will be able to hold our own authorities responsible for their conduct one of these years.
These trials were made possible through the efforts of extraordinary individuals and human rights organizations. My own role was to serve as the expert witness in these trials -- an effort that I have worked on continuously over the last seven years. We have established a new and different role for social scientists in the pursuit of justice after human rights violations, and we have expanded the concept of "expert" in the process. In preparing the evidence for these trials and for my own testimony, I was helped by wonderful Stanford students who helped to read thousands of barely legible declassified documents. We are grateful to Stanford and most to two generous donors who believed in us and helped to make this work possible.
Having worked for almost seven years on these trials, the recent Memphis trial closes a long chapter in my involvement in El Salvador (well, except for the writing that will come!). In addition to setting important precedents and establishing strong case law on command responsibility for murder and torture, we have also started to make it clear that the U.S. is no longer a safe haven for murderers, torturers, or genocidaires who believe they can retire with impunity in the U.S.
I would like to share with you the closing words of the last trial, our plea to the jury for punitive damages, which I helped to write.
"By the amount of punitive damages you award in this case, we are asking you to send a message – to all those who abuse power, to all those who believe they are above the law -- to declare loudly and clearly that: torture is not permissible; rape is not permissible; extrajudicial killing is not permissible; massacres are not permissible; killing teachers is not permissible; killing parents in front of their children is not permissible.
Commanders have a duty, a sacred duty, an affirmative duty, to protect civilians.
You can send a signal, a new signal, a different signal, a powerful signal, which in the future will help to deter military commanders, no matter where they are, from abusing the dignity of human beings."
And they did.
Happy New Year, thanks to all of you who have lent support, and may we have more peace and more justice in 2006.
Terry Karl