29

 / The long road to justice

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categorically denied that could be possible. María Esperanza 
went home and told the family what had happened. Her 
father in law listened to her stern-faced, went outside and sat 
under a mango tree without saying a word.  

On Thursday morning, María Esperanza returned to Dos 
Erres, accompanied by her husband Catalino, determined 
to learn the truth, once and for all. On her way, she met 
a group of people who were also searching for their family 
members and were following the sub-lieutenant.

After much insistence, Carías had agreed to enter the village 
in order to establish what had happened. 

Dos Erres was deserted and the only sound that could be 
heard was the barking of a few stray dogs that wandered 
around the empty houses. María Esperanza entered her 
brother’s house and found clothes and other items strewn 
across the floor. She knelt down and looked under the bed 
in a vain hope of finding the two little girls huddled together 
in the darkness but all she found was two tiny pairs of shoes 
with the children’s socks stuffed inside. She pulled out the 
shoes, hugged them, and burst into tears.

Catalino walked over to his brother’s house. On the wall, 
next to the door, someone had written “I’ve gone to the 
mountains to work” with mud. His personal documents had 
been torn up and strewn across the yard.

Meanwhile, Carías and his men loaded as many carts as 
they could with any items they could lay their hands on: 
bicycles, pigs, pots of honey, the guitars from the church. 
The sub-lieutenant told Catalino to take anything he wanted 
from his brother’s home before he set fire to the village, but 
Catalino replied that he had gone to Dos Erres to search for