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Buscando a scar

Los rostros de las Dos Erres

por Sebastian Rotella y Krista Kjellman Schmidt
ProPublica, May 25, 2012, 5 a.m.
La masacre de 250 civiles en diciembre de 1982 en la aldea Las Dos Erres constituye una de las peores atrocidades de la guerra civil del pas. Ha sido en los ltimo
aos que se han iniciado la presentacin de pruebas para procesos a las fuerzas especiales Kaibil que perpetraron los asesinatos. Aqu estn los principales
sobrevivientes, soldados e investigadores involucrados.

LOS SOBREVIVIENTES
OSCAR ALFREDO RAMREZ CASTAEDA

RAMIRO CRISTALES

Con tres aos de edad al momento de la masacre Las Dos Erres,

scar sobrevivi, siendo aprehendido por el Teniente Oscar
Ovidio Ramrez Ramos, uno de los oficiales que condujeron el
ataque. El teniente muri meses ms tarde en un accidente
automovilstico y el nio de ojos verdes, debi crearse con la
familia de Ramrez . Investigadores y defensores de derechos
humanos ayudaron a determinar la verdadera identidad de scar
el ao pasado(2011). l vive ahora en Framingham,
Massachusetts, con su mujer y cuatro nios. Oscar ha postulado
para asilo poltico en los Estados Unidos.

A la edad de 5, Ramiro fue el otro nio de ojos verdes secuestrado

por soldados en la aldea Las Dos Erres. l fue criado por Santos
Lpez Alonzo, cocinero al servicio de la tropa de ataque. Ramiro
sirvi en las Fuerzas Armadas guatemaltecas antes de emigrar y
vivir en Canad bajo asilo poltico. l ha sido testigo de cargo en
contra de elementos de tropa Kaibiles, brindando testimonio
acerca de sus memorias de la masacre.

TRANQUILINO CASTAEDA
Castaeda, un agricultor, estuvo ausente el da de la masacre en
Las Dos Erres. Por casi 30 aos, l vivi con la creencia que sus
nueve hijos, y su esposa embarazada, estaban muertos. Castaeda
supo este ao que scar, cuyo nombre de nacimiento es Alfredo,
sigue vivo. Tranquilino, ahora con 70 aos, y scar han
programado reunirse en Estados Unidos.

SALOME ARMANDO HERNNDEZ

Hernndez tena 11 aos al momento del ataque a la aldea Las
Dos Erres. Su hermano y su to fueron asesinados por tropas del
Ejrcito. l presenci parte del asesinato escapando de los
Kaibiles que tomaron a otros nios y otras mujeres de la aldea
que fueron ajusticiados en los cerros cercanos. Su testimonio
ayud a condenar a varios perpetradores en casos recientes.

LOS MILITARES
GEN. JOSE EFRAN ROS MONTT

TTE. CARLOS ANTONIO CARIAS

Dictador guatemalteco Marzo 1982 - Agosto 1983

Comandante del destacamento militar Las Cruces

Despus de llegar al poder a travs de un golpe de estado, Ros

Montt orden una campaa de bsqueda y destruccin de
poblaciones del rea rural pensado que en ellas se refugiaba la
guerrilla. Actualmente existe un proceso judicial por genocidio y
crmenes contra la humanidad y autor intelectual de la masacre
en Las Dos Erres.

Carias fue el comandante del destacamento cercano a Las Dos

Erres. l ayud a planificar el asalto y ocult las pruebas luego
que la tropa saqueara y devastara la aldea. Carias amenaz de
muerte a la poblacin civil si hacan preguntas sobre lo sucedido.
l fue encontrado culpable de asesinato, de violaciones de
derechos humanos y robo agravado, dictndose sentencia, en
agosto del 2011, por 6,066 aos.

TTE. OSCAR OVIDIO RAMREZ RAMOS

Oficial Kaibil
Ramrez fue el oficial responsable de la tropa Kaibil y de dirigir
el ataque a la aldea Las Dos Erres. l fue el soldado ms
experimentado de la tropa, con una reputacin comprobada en
sus proezas en el campo de batalla, su lealtad y brutalidad. La
madre de Ramrez quiso un nieto, pero estando soltero decidi
llevar a scar a su hogar despus de la masacre, acogindole
como su hijo, falleciendo ocho meses ms tarde en un accidente.

FAVIO PINZN
Cocinero de la tropa Kaibil
Obsesionado por el asesinato en Las Dos Erres, Pinzn se
convirti en el primer soldado arrepentido que provey de
informacin de una de los muchas masacres cometidas durante
el conflicto guatemalteco. A causa de no haber recibido recibido
entrenamiento de Kaibil, fue maltratado por otros de la unidad
militar. Por su cooperacin, Pinzn se le concedi inmunidad y
fue reubicado como testigo protegido.

SGT. CSAR IBAEZ

CSAR ADN ROSALES BATRES

Kaibil

Kaibil

After being introduced to human rights activists by fellow soldier

Favio Pinzn, Ibaez recounted the Dos Erres raid to prosecutors
and was granted immunity and relocated as a protected witness.
Unlike Pinzn, he was a full-fledged commando. He provided a
detailed account of the massacre and confessed to dragging
residents to a dry well, where they were bludgeoned and dumped.

One of the senior officers in the Dos Erres raid, Batres is accused
of raping a young girl in front of her family, an event that
triggered other soldiers to engage in rape, according to testimony
and prosecutors. Batres remains at large.

SGT. MANUEL POP SUN

REYES COLIN GUALIP

Kaibil

Kaibil

One of three former commandos found guilty of murder and

human rights violations in an August 2011 trial in Guatemala. All
three were sentenced to 6,060 years in prison, or 30 years for
each of 201 identified Dos Erres victims plus 30 years for crimes
against humanity. Pop Sun was described by witnesses as one of
the most vicious commandos.

One of three former commandos found guilty of murder and

human rights violations in an August 2011 trial in Guatemala. All
three were sentenced to 6,060 years in prison, or 30 years for
each of 201 identified Dos Erres victims plus 30 years for crimes
against humanity.

DAVID MARTNEZ MNDEZ

SGT. GILBERTO JORDN

Kaibil

Kaibil

One of three former commandos found guilty of murder and

human rights violations in an August 2011 trial in Guatemala. All
three were sentenced to 6,060 years in prison, or 30 years for
each of 201 identified Dos Erres victims plus 30 years for crimes
against humanity. After his arrest in 2011, Mndez's description
of the abduction of the boys caused a judge to order prosecutors
to renew the hunt for Oscar.

U.S. immigration authorities caught up with Jordn in Florida.

He had become a U.S. citizen. "I knew this day would come,"
Jordn told agents. He confessed to throwing a baby into the dry
well at Dos Erres. He was arrested by federal agents and pleaded
guilty to concealing facts and willful misrepresentation on his U.S.
immigration application. He is serving a 10-year sentence in a
U.S. prison.

SUB-LT. JORGE VINICIO SOSA ORANTES

SANTOS LOPEZ ALONZO

Kaibil

Kaibil squad's baker

Sosa allegedly threw a grenade into the dry well after a wounded
man in the well cursed him, according to testimony. He emigrated
to the U.S. and became a prominent martial arts instructor in
California. He was arrested in Canada and awaits extradition for
trial on charges of falsifying his U.S. immigration application.

Alonzo took Ramiro Cristales, then 5, from Dos Erres to live with
his family. In a 1999 meeting with prosecutor Sara Romero, he
confessed to the abduction and participation in the massacre.
Alonzo had moved to the U.S. and was deported once. He was
later arrested in Houston, charged with re-entering the U.S. after
being deported and pleaded guilty. He agreed to testify against
Sub-Lt. Sosa.

SGT. PEDRO PIMENTEL RIOS

Kaibil
Pimentel was picked up by helicopter the day after the Dos Erres
massacre and taken to Panama to serve as an instructor at the
School of the Americas. In 1985, the Guatemalan Army awarded
him a commendation medal. U.S. agents arrested Pimentel in
California in May 2010 and deported him to Guatemala in July
2011. He was tried, found guilty of atrocities at Dos Erres and
sentenced to 6,060 years in prison in March 2012.

LOS INVESTIGADORES
SARA ROMERO

AURA ELENA FARFN

Special Human Rights Prosecutor, Guatemala

Human Rights Activist, Guatemala

Romero was assigned to the case after the 1996 peace treaty that
ended Guatemala's 36-year civil war. In the years after, Romero
tracked down and took statements from former Kaibiles Favio
Pinzn and Csar Ibaez that opened the door to the first trials of
Dos Erres perpetrators in August 2011 and March 2012. She also
tracked down the abducted boys, Ramiro and Oscar. She
continues to pursue the investigation.

Farfn leads an association of relatives of victims of the

Guatemalan civil war called FAMDEGUA. She was the first to
interview Favio Pinzn and Cesar Ibaez about Dos Erres. She
filed a criminal complaint accusing the army of mass murder
there and brought in a team of forensic anthropologists from
Argentina to exhume remains in 1994.

JON LONGO

CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent

Attorney General, Guatemala

Longo, a former prison therapist who joined Immigration and

Customs Enforcement, tracked down and built a case against

Since her appointment in 2010, Paz has reinvigorated efforts to

prosecute civil war atrocities and has pushed to try former

former Kaibil Sgt. Gilberto Jordn, who had become a U.S.

citizen. Longo worked with Homeland Security Investigations
agents hunting other Kaibiles in the United States. He managed
to elicit a confession from Jordn in a dramatic encounter at the
former commando's Florida home. Jordn was sentenced to 10
years in prison for covering up his commando past on
immigration forms. The unusually tough sentence reflected the
judge's anger at the evidence of Jordn's role in the massacre.

FREDY PECCERELLI
Human Rights Investigator
Peccerelli founded the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology
Foundation, which supports state investigations of atrocities,
exhumes remains at massacre sites and performs DNA tests. In
2010, his organization analyzed the Dos Erres remains recovered
years earlier by the team from Argentina. Results helped establish
that Oscar Alfredo Ramrez Castaeda, abducted from Dos Erres
at age 3 by commandos, was a survivor and that his real father is
Tranquilino Castaeda.

dictator Jose Efran Ros Montt with human rights violations and
genocide for a policy of razing villages. She has also played a
leading role in pursuing investigations of corruption and criminal
mafias, which are often linked to former and active military
officers.