Nicolas Carranza led a very different life.

“Nicolas Carranza led a very different life.” – David Esquivel (lead attorney for the plaintiffs). I met David Esquivel in Nashville a few months ago when my fellow film producer and I went up to spend the day in his office reading Discovery Documents. There was binder after binder of old newspaper articles, declassified documents, and any other relevant printed material you could think of. I read and copied and read and copied till I felt like I was going to bleed to death if I didn’t close my eyes. Before that I spent some time with Esquivel’s deposition of Carranza, which represents several hundred pages of very detailed questions that encompass Carranza’s entire life. Esquivel is pretty sharp. He’s probably a pretty good guy to have on your side and not such a great guy to have against you. The funny thing about Carranza’s deposition is that somehow he manages to know everything and virtually nothing all in one. His answers to particularly obscure questions frequently have the most incredible detail to them. While his answers to questions on events in his life that in passing would seem to have a substantial impact on him go completely forgotten. It’s quite an unusual contrast. I can tell you Esquivel never misses a beat along the way. And certainly today in court during his opening statement Esquivel left no stone unturned. Esquivel, began by introducing each of his five plaintiffs at the trial. Cecilia Santos was arrested in San Salvador in 1980. She was repeatedly tortured and interrogated in the back of a moving car. She was held for a number of days at the headquarters of the National Police and imprisoned for three years before fleeing the country. She now lives in NYC. Erlinda Franco is the widow of Manuel Franco who was abducted from a school in 1980. He was a leader of the FDR or Democratic Revolutionary Front as well as a teacher. Manuel and a number of other leaders of the FDR were all found murdered on the side of the road. Their bodies showed signs of torture. Francisco Calderon was watching television with his family when a number of uniformed National Police broke his door down. His father was a teacher and member of ANDES (a group trying to secure better wages and working conditions for teachers). After the police officers entered the house they forced both men on the floor and shot Francisco's father to death right in front of him. Francisco lives in California. Ana Patricia Chavez is the daughter of Humberto and Guillermina Chavez both of whom were killed after being tortured in front of their daughter. Plainclothes gunmen came into their house looking for propaganda of ANDES (the teacher's union). Ana lives in California. Daniel Alvarado was a student who was wrongly accused of murdering a United States Military adviser, Albert Schaufelberger. He was taken to the Treasury Police headquarters and tortured using a method referred to as the "little airplane with a pilot". Daniel was hog tied, stood on top of, and had his neck pulled backwards until he passed out. The torturer would then allow Daniel to regain consciousness and he would repeat continuously. Daniel was forced to sign a confession for the murder of Schaufelberger and later was presented to the media by Col. Carranza.

Esquivel tells the jury that the plaintiffs are going to prove Carranza committed crimes against humanity, failed in his command to stop atrocities that were being committed, and finally that the plaintiffs were seeking damages but more than that seeking justice.

Fargarson’s opening statement was quite different as you might imagine. Fargarson stated that Carranza “lead an exemplary life” that included military service in El Salvador and model citizenship here in the United States. Carranza was simply following orders in the chain of command while he served in the military. When Carranza was asked to lead the Treasury Police he was brought in to change the way they conducted their affairs. Additionally, Carranza was a paid informant of the United States government. The plaintiff’s want Carranza to take the blame for everything that happened in El Salvador at that time. Fargarson sounds a little rough. This to the jury this morning that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

The plaintiff’s call their first witness – former Ambassador to El Salvador Robert White. More on that later…