A former Guatemalan army commander accused of war crimes has been extradited from Canada to the United States to face immigration charges.
54-year-old Jorge Sosa is accused of leading a counter-insurgency force of the Guatemalan military in 1982 known as the “Kabiles”. He is alleged to have overseen a massacre of over 200 civilians whilst leading a patrol in 1982, with member of the patrol also raping women and girls before killing them.
However, Sosa will only face immigration charges, linked with lying to US authorities over his time in the military as he sought to become a naturalized US citizen. He is currently wanted in Guatemala over the massacre.
Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's homeland security investigations in Los Angeles told the Associated Press,
"Although he's not being charged with any war crimes here in the United States, our investigation is a very thorough investigation and we do gather evidence on his actual foreign crimes and it's our endeavor to share that with any foreign entity charging him."
See our earlier post: Guatemalan war crimes suspect appeal deemed 'hopeless' (10 August 2012)
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