Guatemalan
courts have sentenced four retired army officers to 6,060 years in
prison for their roles in the 1982 Las Dos Erres massacre, in which
201 civilians were killed. This is the first time members of the
military have been sentenced for crimes committed during the 36-year
counterinsurgency war.
Manuel
Pop, Daniel Martinez Hernandez, Carlos Carias, and Reyes Collin
Gualip were each sentenced to 30 years in prison for each person they
killed in the massacre, as well as 30 years for violating human
rights. The three-day massacre began when their unit raided a Mayan
village and accused the villagers of collaborating with leftist
guerrillas. Civilians, including 67 children, were shot, strangled
and beaten to death with sledgehammers.
Guatemalala’s
civil war began in 1954 with the U.S.-orchestrated coup against
President Jacobo Árbenz, for attempting to nationalize land owned by
United Fruit Company. Waged by subsequent U.S.-backed military
dictatorships, the prolonged class conflict cost an estimated 200,000
lives.
