Around the time that Juan arrived in Mexico, a series of meetings was taking place in El Salvador. An FBI recruit named Frank Varelli, a naturalized Salvadoran living in Dallas, traveled to San Salvador to meet with General Vides Casanova. Their relationship was personal. Varelli’s father, a former colonel in the Salvadoran army, was a close friend and admirer of Vides Casanova; now, with the White House’s blessing, Vides Casanova was on the verge of becoming the country’s next defense minister.
