51

 / The long road to justice

Pz

P

Pimentel Ríos was tried, and took the stand, not to debate an 
academic thesis but to contribute a crucial piece of evidence 
in the case.

After the Pimentel Ríos trial, I asked Vela – a softly spoken 
man who considers his answers carefully before speaking 
– whether the FAR guerrillas could be blamed for leaving 
Dos Erres so vulnerable and exposed after the San Diego 
ambush, in which they had stolen the 21 rifles that the army 
unsuccessfully sought in the village. 

But Vela explained that guerrilla warfare means attacking 
and then going into hiding, as insurgents are fighting against 
the army in an uneven playing field in terms of numbers 
and firepower. Precisely then, in 1982, the army was focusing 
on fighting the EGP guerrillas in the highlands using the 
“fuerzas de tarea” or taskforces, it was the perfect moment 
for the FAR to stage the San Diego ambush in Petén. From 
a strategic point of view, it made no sense for the FAR not to 
take advantage of that moment. 

Until then, the army had selectively repressed communities 
but had never wiped out an entire village as it did in Dos 
Erres. “No army in the context of the Cold War had done 
what the Guatemalan army did. The guerrillas never thought 
that the army would do that”, says Vela. 

XXI

While Pedro Pimentel Ríos faced trial for his participation 
in the Dos Erres massacre, in the adjacent courtroom, Judge 
Miguel Ángel Gálvez denied Ríos Montt the right to amnesty 
and concluded that his trial for genocide against the Mayan 
Ixil population must continue.