THE REACH OF JUSTICE – ROMAGOZA V. GARCIA

Dr. Juan Romagoza Arce was treating poor villagers affected by El Salvador's civil war when he was captured by the National Guard and tortured for twenty-four days. His captors hung him by his hands, shocked him, broke bones in his hands, and shot him in the arm. They used methods calculated to rob Dr. Romagoza of his ability to perform surgery. Today, though he is director of a medical clinic in Washington, D.C., his injuries prevent him not just from performing surgery but also from practicing medicine. He has attributed his inability to the deep, long-term effects of torture. “I think that my limitation is more emotional, psychological,” Dr. Romagoza observed. He stated, “It is more related to…Fear. Stress. They stripped me of my gift.”

Years after Dr. Romagoza's release, when commanders of El Salvador's security forces were discovered in the United States, he joined a lawsuit organized by the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA). CJA filed the case under an obscure provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789, now referred to as the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which gives federal courts jurisdiction over civil actions brought by aliens for violations of international law. Dr. Romagoza struggled with the decision to join the suit. He began receiving calls and letters threatening him, his mother, and other family members still living in El Salvador.