Accused Guatemalan war criminal Juan Alecio Samayoa Cabrera has been denied bail by an immigration judge in Boston.

Department of Homeland Security attorney Jennifer Mulcahy argued Judge Jose Sanchez did not have the jurisdiction to release Samayoa, citing a law that strips judges of the power to grant bond if the detainee is accused of committing certain war crimes, like torture.

The accusations against the 67-year-old stem from the Guatemalan Civil War, which ran from 1960 to 1996.

“The documentary evidence," Mulcahy said, "shows [Samayoa] did in fact participate himself, order others, and incited extrajudicial killings, as well as acts that would satisfy the definition of torture.”

Authorities in Guatemala say Samayoa is wanted in connection with scores of murders, rapes and kidnappings in 1982 and 1983.

By his own admission, Samayoa led a paramilitary squad of 500 men, siding with the government in a war against guerrilla revolutionaries. He fled Guatemala a decade after taking up arms, entered the U.S. illegally and was denied asylum during the early 2000s.

Samayoa has lived in Providence since the early 1990s, and he was arrested for immigration violations in October. He has refused to comment on the case to WBUR.

On Thursday morning in immigration court, Samayoa’s attorney, Hans Bremer, painted his client as a reasonable actor during a horrible war.

The paramilitary unit "was basically a self-defense group that the neighborhood formed to avoid being slaughtered during the civil war,” Bremer said. “And they protected one another. It was a horrible time, we all know it was a horrible time, your honor."

Bremer claimed it's hard to imagine someone who has led a "wonderful life" absent of violent crime in the U.S., could be capable of the allegations Samayoa faces.

Though Samayoa has been in and out of immigration court since the 1990s, Bremer said this is the first mention of war crimes.

"At no point ... until very recently, did the government ever even insinuate that he had been involved in anything that they're now insinuating," he said.

Judge Sanchez, however, agreed with the prosecution, ruling on Thursday that, due to the nature of the alleged crimes, he lacked the authority to grant Samayoa bond.

Sanchez will later decide whether Samayoa stays in the U.S., or if he leaves to face justice in Guatemala, where authorities say they await his arrival with an arrest warrant.

The next hearing in Samayoa's deportation proceedings is set for Jan. 9.</s>An immigration judge in Boston has ordered the deportation of a Guatemalan immigrant accused of atrocities during the country's civil war.

Five months after Juan Samayoa was arrested by immigration authorities, Judge Jose Sanchez ordered him deported to Guatemala.

Members of Samayoa's family declined to comment to WBUR after Thursday's hearing.

But members of the Guatemalan community in New Bedford and Providence — many of whom originate from the same area in Guatemala where Samayoa is from — were celebrating the judge's decision.

"This is a small spark of justice, for us," said Adrian Ventura, a Mayan community leader in New Bedford, speaking in Spanish in a telephone interview. "I'm usually not in favor of deportations ... but in this case it's good that they have made the decision to deport [Samayoa]. It poses a danger for us in Massachusetts for this man to be here."

Samayoa has been living in Providence since he entered the United States illegally in 1992. He is accused by the Guatemalan government of involvement in an array of murders, rapes and kidnappings committed while he was the head of a 500-man paramilitary unit. Samayoa acknowledges his role in the paramilitary group, but he denies involvement in any atrocities.

Guatemalan prosecutors say they are waiting for Samayoa with an arrest warrant.

One of the eight friends and family members with Samayoa at immigration court Thursday was Wolfgang Knoess of Warren, Rhode Island. Knoess said he's known Samayoa for 13 years, employing him as a landscaper — even setting aside land for Samayoa and his family to raise a garden. Knoess said he can't fathom how the hard-working, friendly man he knows could be responsible for the crimes the government claims he committed.

"The allegations don't match up, and for him to do it himself, it's just beyond belief," Knoess said. "He's just been the most honorable person I've ever met. ... He would work for you no matter what the weather."

Samayoa had petitioned to stay in the country on the grounds that he would be tortured upon returning to Guatemala. Judge Sanchez denied this petition.

Samayoa has until late next month to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. For the time being, Samayoa's attorney said he will remain in custody at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth.</s>PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A judge has ordered a man accused of war crimes and human rights violations while serving as a paramilitary commander during Guatemala’s civil war to return to his native country.

The Providence Journal reports that a judge in Boston on Thursday rejected Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera’s request to remain in the United States. The 67-year-old has lived in Providence, Rhode Island, for 25 years.

He’s accused by the Guatemalan government of being involved in murders and other crimes against indigenous Mayans in the 1980s.

Samayoa’s lawyer argues he’ll be tortured if he returns to Guatemala. Several supporters had sent letters to the judge urging him to allow Samayoa to stay in the U.S.

He has 30 days to decide whether he’ll appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.</s>In the summer of 1991, I was a reporter on the features desk of the Baton Rouge Advocate. My editor told me that she had a tip that an elderly Catholic priest in Baton Rouge had been a notable artistic figure before he entered the priesthood. She thought it might make an interesting art feature. I found the old priest, Monsignor Carlos Sanchez, then 93 years old, in an assisted living facility in town, and made an appointment to see him.

The man who welcomed me into his modest, tidy apartment was small and frail, but his face was curiously unlined. You know how every now and then you’ll meet somebody who seems luminous, as if they were glowing from within? That was Monsignor Sanchez. He offered me tea, and we sat down to do our interview.

He told me his life story. He had been born in 1898 in Guatemala, the son of a rich Guatemalan planter and an English mother. His folks sent him to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he studied art. He had been raised a devout Catholic, but as he told me at the time, “Those brilliant minds made a lot of boys lose their faith. They made me lose mine. Everything became so uncertain.”

After graduating in 1923, Sanchez headed to Germany to study medicine, in part because he wanted to help in relief efforts there. His interest in art grew. The painting at the top of this post was a self-portrait he created during the depths of his crisis of faith.

“I don’t think I have ever suffered as much as during that struggle for my faith,” he said. “That goes deep, you know. I hated God.”

That was the spiritual state of the man in the image above.

Eventually he returned to the US, and entered the architecture program at Yale, graduating in 1928. I can’t find a copy of my 1991 story about him, but a report from a few years ago, published by the Hood Museum at Dartmouth, tells what happened next:

After a brief stint as a junior draftsman on the Empire State Building, he moved to Mexico to work with Diego Rivera on two murals, one in the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca and the other at the National Palace in Mexico City. Dartmouth recognized Sanchez as a promising artist with great technical proficiency and in 1931 invited him back to campus as part of the new “Fellow in Art” program that was supported by President Ernest Hopkins. During his time as the first artist-in-residence, Sanchez helped found the Arts Department at Dartmouth, and at the end of his yearlong residency, he stayed at the College to assist Orozco in painting the famous mural in Baker Library. His fluency in English and Spanish and his knowledge of Dartmouth and its history were invaluable to Orozco as he worked on his ambitious project.

These deeds were what brought me to Monsignor Sanchez’s door that day. “So why did you leave that behind to become a priest?” I asked.

He told me that he received an invitation to return to Guatemala for a mass involving his father. The old man had been estranged from the Church for some time, and as he neared death, wanted to be reconciled to God. All of his ten children were invited to the mass at the cathedral in Guatemala City.

Sanchez decided to conceal his unbelief from his family, so as not to upset them. He went forward to receive the Eucharist at the communion rail. As he knelt, the priest held out the wafer to him. Suddenly, a burst of light came out of the Host, and Sanchez heard an audible voice. Here’s how I relate that story in How Dante Can Save Your Life:

More, from How Dante:

You know the rest of my story. To this day, I remain a Christian (though not a Catholic) in part because of the way the divine light shone through that elderly priest on that summer afternoon in Baton Rouge. I’ve been thinking a lot about Monsignor Sanchez lately, because the book I want to write next is going to be about learning to see signs of the divine in beauty (including art and architecture) and in the witness of faithful people. There was something about Monsignor Sanchez, about the purity of his testimony, and the piercing light in his face, that said to me, in the voice of God, “I have always loved you. Why don’t you do as I ask?”

Here is a canvas that young Carlos Sanchez painted after he regained his faith:

I love that saintly old monsignor, revere his memory, and thank God for the gift of Carlos Sanchez, who was a sign to this reluctant pilgrim. I will write more about him in my next book. What I say to you, reader, is this: keep your eyes open. You never know when you are going to walk into a cathedral — or a little old man’s apartment — and have a theophany, a showing forth of God. Good Friday is a day of darkness … but after the darkness, there will be light, for those with eyes to see.</s>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A judge has ordered a man accused of war crimes and human rights violations while serving as a paramilitary commander during Guatemala’s civil war to return to his native country.

The Providence Journal reports that a judge in Boston on Thursday rejected Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera’s request to remain in the United States. The 67-year-old has lived in Providence, Rhode Island, for 25 years.

He’s accused by the Guatemalan government of being involved in murders and other crimes against indigenous Mayans in the 1980s.

Samayoa’s lawyer argues he’ll be tortured if he returns to Guatemala. Several supporters had sent letters to the judge urging him to allow Samayoa to stay in the U.S.

He has 30 days to decide whether he’ll appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

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U.S. Department of Justice immigration Judge Jose A. Sanchez in Boston, Massachusetts, approves an extradition request from the government of Guatemala for Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera, who is wanted for trial for war crimes.