Apalachicola grocer deported amid torture revelations

A man who fled El Salvador more than 20 years ago and resided for years in Apalachicola, where he raised a family and managed a local Piggly Wiggly store, was deported Friday amid shocking revelations he tortured guerrillas during his time in the Salvadoran Army.

Jose Francisco Grijalva Monroy, known to his friends as “Pancho,” was removed from the United States and turned over to authorities in his homeland, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in a news release.

“As this removal makes clear, ICE is working diligently to ensure our nation does not become a safe haven for human rights violators,” said Marc J. Moore, director for the Miami Field Office of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.

ICE officials said Monroy, 49, testified he tortured suspected guerrillas by hanging them by their hands from trees and slapping their chests with his bare hands. He also admitted he tied guerrillas to the back of an Army Jeep and dragged them along the road until their skin came off.

Attorney:Army forced Monroy to torture when he was a young man

More:Friends rallying for man facing deportation

More:ICE arrest of Apalachicola man fuels fears

Franklin County Sheriff A.J. “Tony” Smith said news of Monroy’s deportation and his involvement in torture stunned people in the coastal town southwest of Tallahassee.

“I am shocked,” Smith said. “And I think the entire community is going to be shocked by it just because he was someone who was highly thought of in the community, worked hard and was raising a family.

"We’re a small, close-knit community. He worked at a small grocery store four blocks from my house. It’s tragic.”

Tamara Suarez, owner of Cafe Con Leche in Apalachicola, where Monroy’s wife works, said her heart aches for the family, including the couple’s two sons. Suarez, who fled Venezuela in 1987, said Monroy must have acted under duress during his time in the army.

“If he was a soldier, he was doing whatever they told him to do,” she said. “He was very young and doing what he had to do. I don’t approve of that. I guess he never told me those things. I knew he had fought.”

But Suarez called Monroy a “good person” who was always eager to help.

"I'm terribly, terribly sad for him," she said.

El Salvador was engulfed in a civil war throughout the 1980s between its right-wing, government-backed military and leftist guerrillas. Salvadoran Army soldiers raped, tortured and murdered people during the 12-year conflict, which ended in 1992 after the deaths of 75,000 people and the disappearances of thousands more.

Monroy’s attorney, Gisela Rodriguez of Tallahassee, said his story is similar to other men from El Salvador, who were forced to join the Army as kids. She said he deserted the army more than 30 years ago and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in El Salvador but served only 11 months. After his release, he fled the country in 1995.

She said he never wanted to do any of the things he admitted to doing but was told if didn't follow orders he would pay with his life.

“I feel for all the victims of the horrible conflict that took place in El Salvador, those forced to participate in it and those who lost their lives as a result," she said. "But, before one labels Mr. Monroy a war criminal, one must fully evaluate and understand all the facts and not be so quick to judge.”

Beth Wright, an Apalachicola resident who set up a GoFundMe page for Monroy after his arrest, said he was a soldier following commands in a conflict worsened by the U.S. government’s support of the Salvadoran military and Nicaraguan contras.

“If he indeed did the things ICE says he did, he did them as a soldier in an army, and soldiers have to follow orders,” she said in an email. “And it's my belief he redeemed himself fully after coming to the United States and making a new life. Pancho has always been kind to people here in Apalachicola. Everyone loves him.”

But Linda Miklowitz, a Tallahassee attorney, suggested Monroy didn't deserve sympathy.

"To those who excuse a torturer for 'just following orders,' have you heard of the Nuremberg war crimes trials and how the panel of judges ruled on that defense?" she asked in a comment posted on Tallahassee.com. "Get smart."

A federal immigration judge ordered Monroy deported in 2011, though he was allowed to remain in the country. He was picked up by ICE officials in February and held in the Wakulla County Jail, which houses federal immigration detainees.

His arrest came days after President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to prioritize the removal of immigrants who have criminal charges or convictions or who pose a risk to public safety or national security. 

He was charged in 1997 with aggravated assault in Franklin County, but the case was dismissed after he completed a deferred prosecution agreement. It was not clear whether the old arrest played any role in his deportation.

ICE said his immigration case was litigated by its Orlando Office of Chief Counsel, with support from the agency’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. The center was created in 2009 to find, track and prosecute human-rights abusers using the expertise of agents, lawyers, intelligence specialists and others.

Monroy faces an uncertain future in his homeland. Last year, the El Salvadoran Supreme Court struck down a longstanding amnesty law, a move that allowed prosecutors to go after soldiers who participated in war-time atrocities.

"I know the guy,” Suarez said. “He wanted a new life with his wife and kids. Now he has nothing.”

ICE targets war criminals

The federal agency said that since 2003, it has arrested more than 380 people on human-rights violations and physically removed 785 people known or suspected to have violated human rights. The agency also facilitated the departure of more than 100 other such individuals from the U.S., it said.

ICE said it has more than 160 investigations into suspected human-rights violators and more than 1,750 leads and removal cases into people suspected of committing human-rights violations in nearly 100 countries.

The agency said that since 2003, it has issued more than 70,400 lookouts for suspects from more than 110 countries and stopped 213 human-rights violators and suspected war criminals from entering the country.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.