Louisa Reynolds /

Pz

P

26

A few hours later, Salomé Armando Gómez, an 11 year-old 
boy who used to play with Cecilio, known affectionately as 
Chilito, knocked on her door and said: “They killed Chilito”. 
The boy’s face was covered in scratches and insect bites.

XI

“Doña Esperanza, have you heard what’s going on in Dos 
Erres? The army went into the village and started to kill 
people”. María Esperanza Arreaga found it hard to believe 
what her neighbor had just said.

Her brothers, Estanislao and Josefino, lived in Dos Erres and 
had invited her daughters, Elida, 5, and Ana, 6, to spend 
the night with them and celebrate their cousin’s birthday on 
Sunday, December 6th.

But by Monday night, María Esperanza felt deeply anxious 
after the girls failed to return home.

Her husband, Catalino González, tried to calm her down, 
telling her that it was nothing more than some absurd rumor, 
but she was unable to shake off the terrible certainty that 
something awful had happened to her daughters.

On Tuesday, she took her nine-year-old son Joaquín, and 
walked to Dos Erres. When she reached the entrance 
to the village she saw a group of people who were crying 
because they didn’t know what had happened to their family 
members. Some said that they had heard stories about how 
the army had forced people out of their homes while others 
said that the guerrillas had attacked the village.

A helicopter was flying low over the area, making a noise that 
reminded María Esperanza of a boiling pot full of tamales, a