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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.. . . . we hear lots in the news about Mcy-D's being
sued for $1M for spilled hot coffee. . . . but ya gotta look hard for news
of $50M lawsuits against US-trained torturers:

(from www.soaw.org)

5 EL SALVADORAN GENERALS CONNECTED TO THE SOA FOUND LIABLE FOR TORTURE

On Tuesday, July 23rd , a Florida federal jury awarded $54.6 million to
three Salvadorans who proved they were tortured by
Salvadoran security forces.   Juan Romagoza, Neriz Gonzalez and Carlos
Mauricio sued two Salvadoran generals who retired to
Florida in 1989. The suit is based on two federal laws that allow torture
victims to seek redress in U.S. courts, even if the
offenses occurred elsewhere.

The two retired generals are José Guillermo Garcia, Salvadoran Minister of
Defense and Public Security from 1979-1983, and Carlos
Eugenio Vides Casanova, the Director-General of the Salvadoran National
Guard from 1979-1983, and subsequently Minister of Defense
and Public Security.  Both men are connected to the School of the Americas
(SOA).

General José Guillermo García received counterinsurgency training at the
SOA in 1962.  As defense minister García refused to
investigate reports that approximately 900 hundred unarmed civilians were
brutally murdered by the U.S.-trained Atlacatl battalion
in 1981.  A 1993 UN Truth Commission on El Salvador verified the reports.
García also failed to launch a serious investigation of
the murder of four U.S. church women by members of the Salvadoran National
Guard in December 1980. García was granted residency in
the U.S. in 1989.

General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova was a Guest Speaker at the SOA in
1985.  A UN Truth Commission Report cited him for ordering
the assassination of four U.S. church women in 1980.  Vides Casanova was
granted residency in the U.S. in 1989.

During a four-week trial that began on June 24 the plaintiffs told of
being detained and brutally tortured by Salvadoran national
guardsmen and police under the command of the two generals. The jury began
deliberations on Thursday afternoon, and deliberated
for 20 hours.

For more information, contact the Center for Justice and Accountability,
www.cja.org