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Finding Oscar: Massacre, Memory, and Justice in Guatemala
The harrowing and heartrending story of Guatemala’s Dos Erres massacre, and the survivors whose lives were forever changed by it In 1982, at the height of Guatemala’s civil war, twenty soldiers from the army’s commando unit, called the Kaibiles, invaded the farming village of Dos Erres. Masquerading as leftist guerillas, the squad members cut their way through the small town, killing more than 250 men, women, and children. Only a handful of people survived. One of them, a young boy, was adopted by Kaibil lieutenant Ramírez and raised by Ramírez’s family, who named him Oscar. Just three years old at the time of the massacre, Oscar grew up unaware of his true origins. It wasn’t until almost thirty years later, living in the suburbs of Boston with a family of his own, that Oscar would learn the truth. Drawn from interviews with massacre survivors, commandos-turned-protected witnesses, lawyers, and forensic anthropologists, Finding Oscar is a powerful, groundbreaking investigation into the Dos Erres massacre and its aftermath. It is an unforgettable account of the secret abductions of Dos Erres survivors, the mission to bring the perpetrators to justice, and the courage of the Guatemalan people. This ebook contains content not available anywhere else. Additional features preface by Sebastian Rotella An afterword by acclaimed author Francisco GoldmanOscar’s story is also featured on the May 25, 2012, episode of This American Life, available for download at www.thisamericanlife.org. A slide show, timeline, and details about how this story was reported can be found at www.propublica.org.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
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First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 17, 2012
This is an excellent journalist report as well as a very interesting story from a sad chapter in Guatemalan history. The story is told by itself once you read about it in the publisher's website www.propublica.org, but when I saw the pictures and the timeline of the story I started to have many questions and engaged in reading it with great interest.
It saddens me the way things are dealt here so violently in my country, and it angers me how the entire country was repeatedly and savagely abused by the North American government for many years.
The website has plenty of resources and pictures, including copies from the documents that provide proof, such as the declassified cables from which the US Embassy had knowledge of the massacre and practically did nothing.
Amidst the sadness and anger I feel pride and glad of the work of plenty of individuals from Guatemala and those in the US who worked hard (and even dangerously) to bring to justice the people who perpetrated these atrocities.
It saddens me the way things are dealt here so violently in my country, and it angers me how the entire country was repeatedly and savagely abused by the North American government for many years.
The website has plenty of resources and pictures, including copies from the documents that provide proof, such as the declassified cables from which the US Embassy had knowledge of the massacre and practically did nothing.
Amidst the sadness and anger I feel pride and glad of the work of plenty of individuals from Guatemala and those in the US who worked hard (and even dangerously) to bring to justice the people who perpetrated these atrocities.
June 6, 2012
The accompanying episode of This American Life imho does a much better job on telling the story.
July 15, 2014
Interesting story - even more so now with the crisis going on at the border. An important insight into why parents are willing to send their children unaccompanied on such a harrowing journey.
March 24, 2014
[I read this book at the same time I read Caminar, and the review deals with both. Apologies if that's confusing.]
Both Finding Oscar and Caminar focus on the decades-long genocide in Guatemala, purportedly anti-Communist and strongly supported by the U.S. government. Both are set in the early 1980s. Both are novella-length. Each centers around a boy who survives the massacre of his village.
Finding Oscar is non-fiction, an extension of what originated as a journalistic investigation of a massacre in the Guatemalan village of Dos Erres. Caminar is a prose poem relating the story of a boy who survives a similar massacre in his own village; while based on history in a broad sense, it is a work of fiction. Finding Oscar is directed toward an adult audience, offering the sort of details and documentation one expects from good journalism. Caminar is directed toward children and young adults, relating its account short bursts of narrative presented in a first-person voice.
I’m not writing this review to compare the two pieces or to argue that one is better than the other. They were written to accomplish different tasks, and each does its task well. Instead, I’m writing because both works deserve attention for pricking historical memory, for making vivid events that might seem distant to some readers.
I teach at a university and attended college and graduate school in the 1980s. The U.S. role in Central America was one of the burning political issues of that time. The money and lives the U.S. invested in upholding military strongmen and murdering peasants in the name of preventing communism was both criticized and mourned in the circles I ran in. Most of us were cynical enough that we didn’t expect much different from our government during this cold-war era. Those of us not given over completely to cynicism were also broken-hearted at the betrayal of democratic principles we’d been raised to honor and view as a global model.
Most of my students (who were born in the mid-90s) know nothing about this period unless they are the children of refugees or refugees themselves. This is what makes both Finding Oscar and Caminar so very necessary. Their two very different voices struggle against the failure of historical memory, demand that we remember the past so as not to repeat it.
We meet the Oscar of Finding Oscar as an adult, living in the U.S., who is unaware of his connection to Dos Erres. We meet Carlos, the protagonist of Caminar, shortly before his village is massacred, and we share his journey up the mountain to the village where his grandmother still lives. Both works highlight the role of forensic anthropologists in documenting the genocide. Read Finding Oscar for the historical context it provides and for the way it documents the parallel strands of violence and tenderness that run in all of us. Read Caminar to become acquainted with its protagonist. Make friends with him, travel with him, wrestle as he does with trying to find a way to name the horrors he’s survived.
Both Finding Oscar and Caminar focus on the decades-long genocide in Guatemala, purportedly anti-Communist and strongly supported by the U.S. government. Both are set in the early 1980s. Both are novella-length. Each centers around a boy who survives the massacre of his village.
Finding Oscar is non-fiction, an extension of what originated as a journalistic investigation of a massacre in the Guatemalan village of Dos Erres. Caminar is a prose poem relating the story of a boy who survives a similar massacre in his own village; while based on history in a broad sense, it is a work of fiction. Finding Oscar is directed toward an adult audience, offering the sort of details and documentation one expects from good journalism. Caminar is directed toward children and young adults, relating its account short bursts of narrative presented in a first-person voice.
I’m not writing this review to compare the two pieces or to argue that one is better than the other. They were written to accomplish different tasks, and each does its task well. Instead, I’m writing because both works deserve attention for pricking historical memory, for making vivid events that might seem distant to some readers.
I teach at a university and attended college and graduate school in the 1980s. The U.S. role in Central America was one of the burning political issues of that time. The money and lives the U.S. invested in upholding military strongmen and murdering peasants in the name of preventing communism was both criticized and mourned in the circles I ran in. Most of us were cynical enough that we didn’t expect much different from our government during this cold-war era. Those of us not given over completely to cynicism were also broken-hearted at the betrayal of democratic principles we’d been raised to honor and view as a global model.
Most of my students (who were born in the mid-90s) know nothing about this period unless they are the children of refugees or refugees themselves. This is what makes both Finding Oscar and Caminar so very necessary. Their two very different voices struggle against the failure of historical memory, demand that we remember the past so as not to repeat it.
We meet the Oscar of Finding Oscar as an adult, living in the U.S., who is unaware of his connection to Dos Erres. We meet Carlos, the protagonist of Caminar, shortly before his village is massacred, and we share his journey up the mountain to the village where his grandmother still lives. Both works highlight the role of forensic anthropologists in documenting the genocide. Read Finding Oscar for the historical context it provides and for the way it documents the parallel strands of violence and tenderness that run in all of us. Read Caminar to become acquainted with its protagonist. Make friends with him, travel with him, wrestle as he does with trying to find a way to name the horrors he’s survived.
February 1, 2014
I was attracted to this book because of my own experience. Like all the others, the story is a tragic one, laden with sorrow, harrowing with with life's injustices and cruelty. No matter what country, (in this case Guatemala) in whatever continent--Asia, Africa, Latin America, stories like this are the same and while sometimes they may prove tiresome for some readers, these are stories so necessary to tell. These are necessary not only because the whole world has to know that injustice, misery and tragedy always solidify as one massive lump, so inexorably difficult to extricate, leaving its victim un-whole, messed up and picking up the pieces of one's life taking another lifetime to perfectly heal. The story is told simply enough, as it should be, since the complications from it are more than enough for complexity's sake.
June 2, 2012
I downloaded this thinking that it was about the Cardinal Oscar Romero, but it was another story entirely out of Latin America. This Oscar was stolen from his village, one of two survivors of a rampaging band of Kaibiles that the government sponsored. He was adopted and didn't realize it as he was only three. This American Life did a story on him, as Oscar was living illegally in the United States at the time. It's an utterly fascinating tale. Highly recommended.
July 28, 2012
An amazing story only known due to the people and dedication for justice. Oscar an adult, never realized that his life had such tragedy at such a young age. he never knew who he really was only what they told him he was until 30 years later. this true story gives us hope, angers us but most of all opens our eyes to the history, the massacres, and the fight for justice that is still being fought till this day.
September 7, 2014
Amazing story of horrific crimes brought to justice and a father and son reunited not even knowing they were related. I am so relieved that the truth is being talked about and investigated in Guatemala.
June 9, 2012
This is really more of an extended journalistic piece than a book, per se.
It didn't add much to the This American Life episode covering Dos Erres, and it is not as effective.
It didn't add much to the This American Life episode covering Dos Erres, and it is not as effective.
January 25, 2013
Compelling This American Life episode and a good read.
June 24, 2014
Harrowing, sickening, and fascinating. A quick read that made me want to find out more.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews