JOSE GUILLERMO GARCIA MERINO - EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06708836
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 8, 2019
• Case Number: F-2017-01057
• Publication Date: June 23, 1981

.:Approved for Release: 2019/08/07 C06708836--
3os6 Guillermo GARCIA Merino
(Phonetic: garSEEah)
Minister of Defense and
Public Security (since
October 1979)
Addressed as:
Mr. Minister
�Col. Jos6 9ArCla is
One of the mOsOpopular
and intelligent officers
in the Salvadoran Army.
Conservative in:orienta-
tion, he was considered
by the military as a pos-
sible choice for pres-
ident during the mid-
1970s. During 1979 he may have been involved in
several plots to overthrow President Carlos Humberto
Romero
totosucap
EL SALVADOR
At that time he was commander ot the
Department of San Vicente, a position he had held
since' July 1978.
Garcia is anti-Communist and friendly toward
the United States. He is the strongman in the gov-
ernment, and its members, including President 3os6
Napoleon Duarte, defer to him on crucial issues.
Except in certain ,visible and publicized cases,
Garcia!has'not'ued his influence to address the
question oftheltexcesses committed by the extreme
rightAn'SrSalvador. In this regard he is repre-
sentative of the mainstream of the officer corps,
whose primary concern is the destruction of the
insurgency. He accepts the grim reality that some
innocent people will be harmed in the attempt to
attain that goal.
After enlisting in 1956, Garcia rose rapidly
through the Army ranks. He attended the War College
in Mexico during 1966-70 and took an orientation
tour of the Panama Canal Zone in 1963. Garcia is
married and has four daughters. He will be 48 on 25
June.
CR M 81-12946
23 June 1981
5' 249248
Approved for Release: 2019/08/07 C06708836�_ ' �
VAC