Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Vides and the second or maternal family name is Casanova.

Brigadier General
Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova
Vides in 2015
Minister of National Defense
In office
April 1983 – May 1989
PresidentÁlvaro Magaña (until 1984)
José Napoleón Duarte (from 1984)
Preceded byJosé Guillermo García
Succeeded byRafael Humberto Larios López
Personal details
Born(1937-11-29)29 November 1937
Santa Ana, El Salvador
Died21 December 2023(2023-12-21) (aged 86)
San Salvador, El Salvador
SpouseLourdes Llach
ChildrenMaría Gema Vides Meléndez, Marta Del Carmen Vides Demmer, Geraldo Vides Meléndez[1]
OccupationMilitary
Known forHuman rights violations (torture)
Military service
Allegiance El Salvador
Branch/serviceSalvadoran Army
RankBrigadier General El Salvador Brigadier General
Battles/wars1979 Salvadoran coup d'état
Salvadoran Civil War

Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova (29 November 1937 – 21 December 2023) was the head of the Salvadoran national guard between the years 1979 and 1983 and later served as the nation's Minister of Defense between 1983 and 1989.[2]

In 1984, four national guardsmen who had once served under Vides Casanova's command – Daniel Canales Ramírez, Carlos Joaquín Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras Recinos and José Roberto Moreno Canjura – were convicted of murdering four American nuns and were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Their superior, sub-sergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Alemán, was also convicted of the murders.[3]

In 1998, the four murderers confessed to abducting, raping and murdering the four nuns and claimed that they did so because Alemán had informed them that they had to act on orders from high-level military officers.[3] Some were then released from prison after detailing how Vides and his cousin Col. Óscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, the local military commander in Zacatecoluca, had planned and orchestrated the executions of the nuns.[4] A 16-year legal battle to deport General Vides Casanova soon commenced.[5]

  1. ^ Romagoza V. Casanova Archived 22 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (8 April 2015). "ICE removes former El Salvador defense minister". Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference casaguards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Larry Rother (3 April 1998). "4 Salvadorans Say They Killed U.S. Nuns on Orders of Military". New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference videsdeported was invoked but never defined (see the help page).