The trial of four men accused of having participated in the massacre at Dos Erres in December 1982 began Monday in Guatemala City. Daniel Martinez, Carlos Carias, Manuel Pop and Reyes Collin are accused of having killed 201 people from the village of Dos Erres in the Peten department. Over the years, authorities have recovered 171 victims, including at least 67 children under the age of 12.
While the four men claim that they were not in Dos Erres on the day of the massacre, two fellow soldiers testified via satellite from Mexico that at least two of the four were indeed present and had participated in that day's brutality.
Regardless of how the trial ends, there will be other trials related to the Dos Erres massacre. Seven of the 18 alleged perpetrators are in custody (these four men plus three others arrested in the United States). This trial has been delayed since 2000. It is the second "massacre trial" related to the civil war. The first one in 2004 resulted in convictions but was later overturned on appeal.
I am hoping for justice to be done, but I am not optimistic.
(Al Jazeera, Miami Herald, and Yahoo)
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