Can El Salvador continue to resist calls to investigate war time atrocities?

General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova was deported from the United States back to his native El Salvador on Wednesday. Vides Casanova oversaw grave human rights violations committed by the Salvadoran military in the early 1980s and then lied about his role while interacting with immigration authorities in the US. Here's Nina Lakhani speaking with Terry Karl in Al Jazeera

"General Vides was not a puppet … there was no US commander above him, giving orders that he had to obey or fear for his own life. Judicial processes seek individual accountability for crimes, and this is what happened in his case," Terry Karl, professor of Political Science at Stanford University and an expert trial witness, told Al Jazeera.

"Where the US once clandestinely offered safe haven [not to mention social security payments] to former Nazis and other war criminals, it will now be easier to deport foreigners who were once top commanders, based on violations committed by [their] soldiers," she added.

Vides' deportation is a huge victory for victims and human rights campaigners, and is evidence of a striking shift in US policy.

There are also updates on Garcia and Nicolas Carranza.

The US government also asked a North Carolina court to clear the way for former vice minister of public security Inocente Montano's extradition to Spain where he is wanted on charges related to the murders of the Jesuits in 1989. (See here and here.)

In February 2013, I asked Can El Salvador continue to resist calls to investigate war time atrocities?

While much of Latin America has made significant progress in the fight against impunity for crimes committed by their country’s armed forces during the Cold War (Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Guatemala, etc.), El Salvador has so far been able to withstand domestic and international pressure to pursue justice for victims of the armed conflict. However, its “successful” resistance to such pressure might not last for much longer.

I don't imagine that transitional justice is at the top of Salvador Sanchez Ceren's agenda, but it might not be up to him.