The Federal Court of Canada is currently considering a case like no other. It must rule on the revocation of the Canadian nationality of Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes. He is accused of being one of the war criminals responsible for the Las Dos Erres massacre, committed in 1982 in Guatemala. At the Witness Stand, one of the only three survivors of this tragedy, Ramiro Osorio Cristales, tells his story. He too found refuge in Canada. Report.
“When I woke up, there were two other kids with me. We got up and saw the bodies, bodies everywhere. We left the church, and I saw other bodies hanging from the trees.” In front of Judge Roger R. Lafrenière, of the Federal Court of Canada, his voice quivering, Ramiro Osorio Cristales held his head high. For more than two hours, the man recounted the night of December 7, 1982, during which more than 200 inhabitants of his native village, Las Dos Erres, were murdered by the Guatemalan army, during the course of a bloody civil war. He was five years old and was one of only three survivors.
Orphaned, Ramiro Osorio Cristales had no choice but to grow up in the family of one of the soldiers accused of being responsible for the massacre. It was only at the age of 18 that he managed to flee his country and find refuge in Canada, where he was granted political asylum in 2005.
In 2011, the man who had just become a father for the first time discovered that another man suspected of having participated in the massacre had taken refuge in Canada: Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes. A former second lieutenant in the Guatemalan army, the latter is accused of leading the Kaibiles special unit that tortured, raped and executed the villagers.
From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala experienced a civil war that involved military and Guerrilleros. In the spring of 1982, General Efrain Rios Montt took power in a coup and began a violent campaign of repression against the guerrillas. A special forces unit known as “Kaibiles” is deployed to fight the rebels.
More than 42 years after the day that made Ramiro Osorio Cristales an orphan, the Federal Court is considering the procedure for the revocation of Mr. Sosa Orantes's citizenship, launched by the Canadian government in 2017. It is in this context that Mr. Cristales was heard by the Canadian justice system as a witness on November 15. If Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes is not tried for the crimes he is accused of having committed in Guatemala, the federal judge collects testimonies and evidence that would show his involvement and justify the revocation of his nationality. The former soldier was not present at the hearing.
For over a decade, he has been fighting with the help of Lawyers Without Borders Canada (ASFC) to demand that Mr. Sosa Orantes be brought to justice for the war crimes he is accused of having committed in Guatemala.
“I Thought I Was Safe in My Adopted Country”
How can a man accused of war crimes live peacefully into his old age in Canada? To understand, we have to go back a few decades, when Mr. Sosa Orantes left Guatemala for the United States. Arriving in San Francisco in May 1985, he requested, in vain, political asylum for himself and his family.
Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes continues his journey further north, to Canada. Here, his asylum application was accepted and he obtained nationality in 1992. He also managed to obtain American citizenship in 2008, according to Lawyers Without Borders. For two decades, he lived like any Canadian citizen. According to Surveys by Propublica, the man who is accused of being a war criminal bought a house, ran karate schools and traveled around the world.
“When I discovered, thanks to Lawyers Without Borders, that he was living in Canada — even before I arrived as a refugee — it was a shock. I was very surprised and a bit scared as well, because I thought I was safe in my adopted country. But that was not the case,” confides Mr. Cristales. Supported by the association of lawyers, which offers him legal support Pro Bono, he has been asking the Canadian courts to arrest Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes and to file a lawsuit against him since 2010.
It was not until January 18, 2011 that the former officer was arrested by Canadian authorities. The decision followed an extradition request from the United States, where he is accused of lying in his citizenship application. Mr. Sosa Orantes was extradited on September 21, 2012 following a decision by the Court of Appeal of Alberta, the province where he lived.
“I know he must be quite old by now, but he was trained to kill people.” - Ramiro Osorio Cristales, Las Dos Erres Massacre Survivor
Disappointed, but determined to do everything possible to make the person he considers the tormentor of his family pay for his crimes, Ramiro Osorio Cristales went to the United States. “I testified during his trial, and the judge decided to strip him of his American citizenship and send him to prison. But it's only for lying in his administrative procedures with Immigration, not for what he did in Guatemala,” explains the 40-year-old. Indeed, in the United States, “the law does not provide for extra-territorial jurisdiction for crimes against humanity”, indicates Lawyers Without Borders.
He was therefore sentenced to 10 years in prison for making false statements in immigration proceedings and obtaining American citizenship.
According to US court records, he was granted early release in July 2019, but was kept in custody by immigration authorities until early 2021.
For Mr. Cristales, the nightmare is starting again. He knows that Mr. Sosa Orantes is back in Canada and that he is free. “It is very difficult for me and for my family. We can't help but be worried because we don't know where he is now or what he plans to do. I know he must be quite old by now, but he was trained to kill people,” he said, his throat clenching. To protect him, this article therefore does not contain any details about his current life.
“I Have a Duty to Testify for All Those Who Died That Day”
Behind the tender blue eyes of Ramiro Osorio Cristales, one can guess the determination and fighting spirit, despite the fear, despite the trauma of having to talk about the day that marked him forever. He is one of the main witnesses heard in this exceptional trial at the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa. “I feel the fear of speaking, but also the freedom to be a survivor who saw what happened. I have a duty to bear witness for all those who died that day, I am their voice,” he confides.
In the courtroom, which is entirely covered with wood paneling, a few rays of winter sun make their way through narrow windows that stretch in height. Faced with the imposing office of the federal judge overlooking the room, Ramiro Osorio Cristales has difficulty hiding his anxiety. Sitting in the seat reserved for witnesses and victims, he faces a microphone off while waiting to be given the floor.
The magistrate succinctly recalled the context of this hearing on November 15, 2024, more than 13 years after the first requests of the survivor and 7 years after the steps launched against the accused by the government. In the room, not a single noise was heard. A dozen people listened attentively on the benches reserved for the audience. “We are friends of Ramiro, who are also from Guatemala. I came with my brothers to support him, because what he is doing is very courageous and very difficult,” said a Gatineau resident, during a short suspension of the hearing at the request of the judge.
Upon his return, the magistrate began his questioning: first some general questions, then he asked Ramiro Osorio Cristales where he was when the soldiers arrived in his village on December 7, 1982. Mr. Cristales sits up, approaches the microphone and starts a terrible story.
“Men came in at night and knocked on our door. They started knocking down the door and that woke us up. They yelled that we had to open right away, otherwise they would force it down. My dad opened it and they hit him,” he describes calmly. The family is then escorted by armed men to the centre of the small village, located in Peten, the northernmost department of Guatemala. There, his family is divided in two: his father and elder brother are taken to school, while his mother and the rest of the siblings meet up at church with other villagers.
“One of them caught my mother,” he goes on. "I held on to her, I cried, I begged them not to hurt her, but another one knocked her down and dragged her out by the hair while another separated me from her.” - Ramiro Osorio Cristales, Las Dos Erres massacre survivor
In reality, the military was looking for weapons stolen by rebels. “On December 7, 1982, the special patrol (Kaibiles, editor's note) entered Dos Erres with the support of about 40 additional soldiers, who formed a security perimeter around the village so that no one could enter or escape”, describes the United States Attorney General in his conclusions during the trial of Mr. Sosa Orantes in 2014.
“I didn't understand what was going on. People were injured, and screams were heard from the school," he recalls. "A soldier told us: “If you know how to pray, do it, because no one will come to save you.”” In a few seconds, the place of worship turned into hell. The soldiers snatch children from their mothers, beat women, screams of pain abound, tears flow. “One of them caught my mother,” he goes on. "I held on to her, I cried, I begged them not to hurt her, but another one knocked her down and dragged her out by the hair while another separated me from her."
Outside, “women and girls were raped,” while “children were thrown alive into the village well.” “The members of the special patrol searched all the houses for weapons, forced the villagers out of their homes, and separated the women and children from the men. No weapons were found, and the villagers put up no resistance,” said the American Attorney General in 2014.
Ramiro Osorio Cristales, who was only a five-year-old boy, hid under a church bench for hours. Despite the screams of horror that came to him from outside and the fear that gripped his stomach, he finally fell asleep there, exhausted from crying.
Adopted by One of the Soldiers Accused of Participating in the Massacre
“When I woke up, there were two other kids with me. We got up and we saw the bodies, bodies everywhere. We went out of the church, and I saw more bodies hanging from the trees. Everyone was dead...” whispered Ramiro Osario Cristales, his glasses fogged up by the tears rolling down his cheeks. The judge offered him to take the time to recover from his emotions, while his lawyer handed him a box of tissues. He quickly wiped his cheeks, took a breath and continued: “The soldiers saw us, they told us to follow them. We ended up in the jungle. We walked for two days and a military helicopter picked us up.”
Without knowing it, he found himself in the heart of a Kaibiles training centre. This is a special operations unit of the Guatemalan Army, known for its jungle combat tactics. “We didn't know where we were. The Soldiers Called This Place Infierno, which means hell in Spanish. We were shaved and given uniforms. I didn't know where I was at all,” he said.
The child becomes a “kind of mascot” for the military. One of them, the one who separated him from his mother, decided to take him home. “He adopted me and I grew up in his house, with his family. For years, I had to live with one of the men responsible for the death of my entire family — it was horrible... I often cried saying that I missed my mom, but I wasn't allowed to talk about it. He was a very violent man...” He said, a knot in his throat.
It was only at the age of 18 that he managed to flee this family by joining the army. But some people discovered that he is one of the survivors of the Las Dos Erres massacre and feared that he will speak. He was therefore in danger of death. “I applied for asylum in the United States and another in Canada. Canada said yes to me first,” he recalls.
Alone, he left everything behind and landed in the middle of winter in a country where he does not speak any of the languages. “Today, I can say that my life is easier, not the same as before. Before I had no family, I didn't really care about my life, but now I do. I care because I have a supportive family, wife and children,” he said on a hopeful note.
After a long journey, Ramiro Osorio Cristales seems to have managed to restore “meaning to his life”, despite the fear he has felt since he knew that one of the men accused of being responsible for being responsible for his traumas lives in Canada.
The Fight Goes On
“What I want is for Canadian justice to judge him for the crimes he committed in Guatemala. Taking away his citizenship is good, but it's not enough,” says Mr. Cristales between two of the marble columns in the Federal Court's main hall. This is the request he has been making for over 13 years with the help of Lawyers Without Borders Canada.
In 2012, when Canada made the decision to extradite Mr. Sosa Orantes to the United States, it had the opportunity to return the criminal to his country of origin. At that time, Guatemala had in fact requested his extradition for acts constituting crimes against humanity, without success. So the quest for justice for the survivors of the massacre has not yet been heard.
In May 2022, Lawyers Without Borders Canada and Ramiro Osorio Cristales went to Ottawa in the hope of meeting David Lametti, then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. “The door was closed,” insure the non-profit organization. Today, Mr. Cristales hopes that Canadian citizenship will be taken away from Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes. However, he hopes that this will only be Canada's first step against this man, and not the end of his efforts.
“Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act gives the Canadian government the power to initiate criminal proceedings against Mr. Sosa Orantes,” notes Lawyers Without Borders Canada. “Universal jurisdiction can be used for the most serious crimes committed in another country, such as the Las Dos Erres massacre. The person suspected of the crime must be present in Canada,” continues the organization, which is dealing with this case in collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CCIJ).
If Canada has the legal tools to bring this man to justice, an entirely different obstacle could stand in the way of this process, according to Fannie Lafontaine, a law professor at Laval University.
“Prosecutions in Canada are only possible with the consent of the Attorney General of Canada, a global trend that serves to limit the negative diplomatic consequences of universal jurisdiction.” - Fannie Lafontaine, law professor
“The success of the War Crimes Act may depend not so much on the strength of its provisions or on judicial interpretations, but on the political will to use its full potential against international criminals who are in Canada's territory,” she notes in a scientific article entitled War Criminals in Canada? The Historical Waltz Hesitation Between Prosecutions and Deportations. In the International Criminal Court (ICC) system, states indeed have the responsibility to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“Prosecutions in Canada are only possible with the consent of the Attorney General of Canada, a global trend that serves to limit the negative diplomatic consequences of universal jurisdiction, but which presents the risk of sacrificing justice and the rule of law at the altar of political and economic considerations,” she explains. The expert stresses that, while Canadian political power does indeed have the capacity to judge Mr. Sosa Orantes, it must also have the will to do so.
However, we know that there is a fairly significant gap between the promise of international justice based on the rules of the ICC, as is the case for the principle of universal jurisdiction enshrined in Canadian law, and the reality of its implementation. “Lawyers Without Borders Canada, with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice, has repeatedly demonstrated the Canadian government of the powers it has at its disposal over the past two years. These calls have gone unanswered,” deplores the organization, which continues to call for legal proceedings in Canada, for the war crimes that Mr. Sosa Orantes is accused of having committed in Guatemala.
The recent issuance of an international arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu is a more recent example of the issues surrounding the application of international law. Since its announcement by the ICC, some countries have been hesitant to declare that they will arrest the Israeli prime minister if he visits their territory.
For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted that he would execute this international arrest warrant. “Canada is one of the founders of our systems of international law, and we will always follow the decisions and regulations of these bodies,” he said on November 21 at a press conference in Toronto.
Ramiro Osorio Cristales and the people who support him hope that this reaffirmation of Canada's commitment to international law will advance their cause. “This commitment, which is welcome, should also result in an unequivocal refusal to allow Canadian territory to harbor individuals suspected of the most serious crimes,” they insist.
The date of delivery of the judgment has not yet been announced by the Federal Court. The defense is due to deliver its findings this week.