US deports Salvadoran former general linked to 1980s killings, torture during civil war

Police escort former General Eugenio Vides Casanova to a car outside the airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The ex-general linked to human rights abuses during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980's was deported by the U.S. on Wednesday. He had been living in Florida since he retired in 1989, but was taken into custody by U.S. immigration authorities in late March after the United States' top immigration court ruled that he should be deported. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez) (The Associated Press)

Police escort former General Eugenio Vides Casanova to a car outside the airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The ex-general linked to human rights abuses during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980's was deported by the U.S. and flown to his home country, where officials said he faces no charges or restrictions on his movements. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez) (The Associated Press)

Nerys Gonzalez, who said she had been kidnapped by soldiers in the 1980's, holds pictures of people who disappeared during El Salvador's civil war as she joins protesters outside the airport before former General Eugenio Vides Casanova arrives from the U.S. in San Salvador, El Salvador, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The ex-general linked to human rights abuses during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980's was deported by the U.S. and flown to his home country, where officials said he faces no charges or restrictions on his movements. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez) (The Associated Press)

A former Salvadoran general linked to human rights abuses in the 1980s is back in his home country after being deported from the United States.

El Salvador immigration spokesman Mauricio Silva says ex-Gen. Eugenio Vides Casanova arrived in the Central American nation Wednesday on a plane with 133 other deportees.

Vides Casanova has been tied to killings and torture by Salvadoran soldiers under his command, including the deaths of three U.S. nuns in 1980.

El Salvador has an amnesty law covering crimes committed during its bloody civil war, and officials say Vides Casanova does not face any charges.la

He had been living in Florida since 1989, but was taken into custody by U.S. immigration authorities in late March to await deportation.