The Dos Erres massacre of 6 December 1982 took place in Dos Erres, a small village in the municipality of La Libertad, in the northern Petén department of Guatemala. The name of the village, occasionally given as "Las Dos Erres", literally means "two Rs", originating from two brothers called Ruano who received the original land grant.
In December 2011, President Álvaro Colom made a formal apology for the massacre on behalf of the Guatemalan government. Months later, four soldiers were sentenced to 6,060 years prison for their part in the massacre. In March 2012, a fifth soldier, Pedro Pimentel Ríos, was sentenced to 6,060 years in prison for his participation in the events. In fall 2013, Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes, "one of the lieutenants" of the commandos, was found guilty of immigration fraud in a court in California and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Another soldier who later became a naturalized American, Gilberto Jordan, had been found guilty of naturalization fraud in September 2010. He also received a 10-year sentence, and has since been deported to Guatemala. The coup d'état would see a revolving door of military governments, who were backed by the United States, that would undo much of the agricultural reforms achieved from the revolution of 1944. Military leaders from Guatemala received advice and attended the United States’ School of the Americas to make the country's armed forces a stronger combatant against any guerilla insurgencies. On October 10, 1982, FAR guerrillas ambushed an army convoy near Palestina, in the vicinity of Dos Erres, about 18 miles from the village.
In 2000, President Alfonso Portillo admitted government responsibility for the massacre. He acknowledged the deaths of 226 victims at the hands of state agents, asked for forgiveness on behalf of the state, and presented survivors' groups with a cheque totaling US$1.82 million.
In 2009, the IACHR held that the amnesty law of 1996 did not apply to the most serious crimes committed during the civil war. This was followed by investigations in the United States against people suspected of involvement in the massacre. On 16 September 2010, after his role in the massacre was established in a Miami court, Jordan was convicted for naturalization fraud and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In January 2011, Jorge Vinicio Orantes Sosa, another former Kaibil member suspected to be involved in the massacre, was arrested in Alberta on charges of lying to immigration authorities. In September 2011, US authorities formally requested Sosa's extradition from Canada to the United States to face charges of making a false statement and unlawful procurement of citizenship, with regards to his arrival from Guatemala to the United States a few years after the massacre. Sosa, who holds both Canadian and American citizenship is also wanted by Guatemalan authorities. On 21 September 2012, Canada extradited Sosa to the United States, where he stood trial for immigration fraud. He was found guilty and received a 10-year sentence. Sosa also had his US citizenship revoked. He was released from prison on 26 July 2019. Sosa is now residing in Canada, and has yet to be deported.
On 25 July 2011, the office of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz began a trial in Guatemala City against four former soldiers of the Kaibiles special forces accused of participating in the massacre. On 2 August 2011, a court found the four soldiers, Manuel Pop, Reyes Collin Gualip, Daniel Martínez Hernández and Lieutenant Carlos Carías guilty of the massacre. They were each sentenced to over 6,000 years in prison.
On 12 March 2012, Pedro Pimentel Rios was sentenced to a symbolic 6,060 years in prison for his part in the massacre.
On 25 May 2012, the American public radio show This American Life aired an episode entitled "What Happened at Dos Erres" which covered the story of a survivor of the massacre, Oscar Ramirez. It was based on a series of articles by ProPublica, which later served as the basis for a 2016 documentary called Finding Oscar.
A sixth former soldier, Santos Lopez, was convicted of killing 171 people during the massacre. He was sentenced in November 2018 to a symbolic 5,160 years in prison. Among those who testified against him was Ramiro Osorio Cristales, who was 5 years old when his family was murdered during the massacre. Lopez subsequently kidnapped and raised Cristales in an abusive household for the next 13 years. Cristales eventually escaped and sought asylum in Canada, where he currently resides.
On 3 March 2020, Gilberto Jordan, 64, was removed by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Miami. Gilberto Jordan, arrived in Guatemala escorted by ERO officers. Upon arrival, Jordan was immediately turned over to Guatemalan law enforcement officials.<!-- The following sentence needs more details and more references. As it is, its too general a statement: The U.S. is alleged to have been involved in support for the Guatemalan government perpetrators.