What Happened at Dos Erres

In 1982, the Guatemalan military massacred the villagers of Dos Erres, killing more than 200 people.

Best Documentary: Silver2012 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition

2012 / Brian Reed / Habiba Nosheen / This American Life, USA

Tranquilino Castaneda

In 1982, the Guatemalan military massacred the villagers of Dos Erres, killing more than 200 people.

Thirty years later, a Guatemalan living in the US got a phone call from a woman who told him that two boys had been abducted during the massacre - and he was one of them.

What Happened at Dos Erres won the Best Documentary: Silver Award in the 2012 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. The story was produced by Brian Reed and Habiba Nosheen, co-reported by Sebastian Rotella (ProPublica), Ana Arana (Fundacion MEPI), and edited by Julie Snyder, Nancy Updike and Ira Glass for This American Life from WBEZ Chicago.

This is an excerpt from the hour-long program. Hear the entirety of What Happened at Dos Erres, and check out ProPublica's reporting on this story in the print story Finding Oscar.

produced by

Brian Reed

Brian Reed is the host and co-creator of S-Town , as well as the senior producer of This American Life .

Habiba Nosheen

Habiba (she/her) is a Peabody and three-time Emmy-Award-Winning journalist and filmmaker.

Featured in

May we recommend…

  • The Deacons

    2017 / 32:11

    Bogalusa, Louisiana is home to a forgotten chapter of civil-rights history that is still very much alive.

  • 695BGK

    2015 / 19:14

    Police officer John Edwards was patrolling a quiet neighborhood in Bellaire, Texas, when he saw an SUV driven by two young African-American men.

  • It Started With Oscar Grant

    2019 / 24:15

    A decade ago, a 22-year-old black man was killed by a white police officer at Oakland's Fruitvale BART station.