69

 / The long road to justice

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In 1982, as Christmas approached, Lesbia decided that Elvia 
Luz Granados Rodríguez, a hard-working fourteen-year-
old girl, had earned herself a vacation. At first, her parents 
refused to let her go as she was their eldest daughter and was 
needed at home to help out with domestic chores.  But for 
Elvia, who was born in Dos Erres and had never travelled 
beyond Las Cruces, Flores seemed as remote as the Moon 
and going there would be the adventure of a lifetime. As she 
already got her hopes up, she pleaded and pleaded until her 
parents agreed to let her go.

Lesbia will never forget the day that Noé Arévalo, one of 
the sons of Juan Pablo Arévalo, the man who built the well 
where the victims’ bodies were thrown into, knocked on her 
door and gave her the news. They had all been slain: the 
schoolchildren, Don Lalo and Doña Fina, the preacher and his 
wife, who had given her board and lodging in their home, 
and Elvia’s family.

The young schoolteacher had to find the words to explain to a 
fourteen-year-old girl that her parents and seven siblings had 
been murdered by the army. As Elvia insisted on returning 
home, Lesbia took her to Las Cruces but the soldiers from 
the military detachment prevented them from entering Dos 
Erres. Elvia had no choice but to accept what everyone told 
her: they were all dead.

“Since they all died I’ve never returned because it brings 
back very painful memories”, says Elvia with a shaky voice. 
Until the age of eighteen, she continued to live with Doña 
Lesbia and today she works as a secretary for the Governor 
of Petén’s office in Flores.

Elvia got married and had two children but her husband was 
murdered in an incident that she prefers not to talk about.