by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Four soldiers, who committed a massacre in 1982 in the town of Las Dos Erres, have recently been sentenced. A Guatemalan court found all four guilty and each man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for each victim murdered. The court placed the number of victims at 201 and additionally sentenced each of the four men to 30 years in prison, for crimes against humanity, sending each man to jail for 6,060 years.
![The four soldiers at the sentencing. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54392000/jpg/_54392284_guatemalaafp.jpg)
The four ex-soldiers, Manuel Pop Sun, Reyes Collin Gualip, Daniel Martínez Hernandez and Carlos Carías, were all members of an elite military force named the Kaibiles. The men entered the town of Las Dos Erres in December of 1982 and over three days they questioned and killed men, women, children and the elderly of the village. Victim’s bodies show evidence of torture and many of the women were raped. Bodies of some victims were tossed down a village well.
The Kaibiles forces at the time were working to maintain the military rule of General Efraín Ríos Montt, in the face of many insurgent factions. The village of Los Dos Erres was suspected of supporting and harboring left-wing guerillas. Despite the court placing the number of victims at 201, local survivors and family members of victims claim that the true number killed is over 250.
Back in 2001, then-President Alfonso Portillo acknowledged the government’s role in the massacre and awarded the families of victims a fund of $1.8 million. Then in 2003, the Guatemalan government created the National Compensation Program (PNR) as a response to the 200,000 civilian deaths that occurred during the 36 year internal conflict. Budget for the PNR stands at $40 million and the administration is working to resolve more than 98,000 complaints that have been filed.
The sentencing handed down on 3 August was the first effort by Guatemalan authorities to do more than set up monetary funding and to actually hold those responsible accountable for their actions. Human rights groups applaud the effort as a solid first step but indicate that further action is needed.
Sebastian Elgueta, a researcher for Amnesty International’s Central America division stated, “Although this ruling is a step forward in the fight against impunity in Guatemala, soldiers did not commit these crimes on their own initiative, and the authorities must bring to justice those all the way up the chain of command who planned and ordered the crimes.”
For more information, please see;
The Guatemala Times – Amnesty International: Guatemalan Former Soldiers Sentenced to 6,060 Years for Massacre – 4 August 2011
Jurist Legal News and Research – Guatemala Court Sentences Ex-Soldiers to Over 6,000 Years in Prison – 3 August 2011
Los Angeles Times – Human Rights Advocates Applaud Sentences in Guatemala Massacre – 3 August 2011
BBC News – Guatemala Dos Erres Massacre Soldiers Sentenced – 2 August 2011
Reuters News – Guatemala Sentences Four in Landmark Civil War Trial – 2 August 2011