Canada arrests Guatemalan wanted in 1982 massacre

TORONTO – Canadian authorities arrested Guatemalan citizen Jorge Vinicio Orantes Sosa in a small western town on charges of participating in one of the worst atrocities of the Central American country’s 1960-1996 civil war.

Just one of the 252 residents of the northern Guatemalan town of Las Dos Erres survived the Dec. 6-8, 1982, massacre perpetrated by the army.

A police spokesman in Lethbridge, Alberta, where the arrest was made, confirmed to EFE that the 52-year-old Sosa had been taken into custody, but he could not provide any further details.

Media accounts said Sosa also holds Canadian and U.S. citizenship.

Sosa’s arrest had been requested by U.S. authorities, who accuse him of lying in his application for citizenship.