Foreign suspects seized in Florida

Federal immigration agents in Florida have arrested two former foreign military officers who are wanted in their home countries for committing atrocities against civilians.

Arrested earlier this week and slated for deportation were Hebert Valmond and Juan Lopez Grijalba.

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Valmond, a former Haitian army officer who became the pastor of a Florida church several years ago, was arrested in Temple Terrace, a small community outside Tampa. Grijalba, a former Honduran army colonel, was arrested in Sweetwater, Fla. Both men were taken to the Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County for deportation processing.

Valmond, 52, is a prime suspect in the infamous Raboteau Massacre. According to Michelle Karshan, press liaison for the government of Haiti, on April 22, 1994, Valmond helped lead "a group of soldiers and paramilitaries" in a brutal attack against an impoverished civilian area known as Raboteau, Gonaives. The attackers broke into the homes of dozens of families and murdered at least 20 people. Karshan said, "others, including women, children and the elderly, were tortured." In 1999, Amnesty International reported that "between 20 and 50 people were killed in Raboteau."

Grijalba has been wanted for murder in Honduras since 1996. Honduran police officials report that he was head of a "secret intelligence group" and "leader of a death squad" that may have been responsible for the murder of many civilians. Immigration officials said that Grijalba came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 1998 and later was granted "temporary protected refugee status."

It is not clear why Valmond was allowed to live and work in the Tampa area for so long after his 1995 arrival. Immigration records reveal that he entered the U.S. on a six-month visa.

One INS criminal investigations agent, who declined to speak on the record, said, "Frequently when we try to move against one of these guys we run into their ties with the [U.S.] intelligence community. It can take time to cut through that. ... People would be amazed at the number of human rights violators that live in Florida."

H.P. Albarelli Jr. is an investigative journalist and writer who lives in Florida.