General Benedicto Lucas García And Colonel Byron Lima Estrada Prepare To Board A Military Helicopter In Santa Cruz Del Quiché
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General Benedicto Lucas García, left, prepares to board a Bell helicopter with Colonel Byron Lima Estrada, right, on the tarmac of the military base in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala, January 21, 1982. During the flight, General Benedicto Lucas García ordered his two door gunners to shoot at local campesinos on the ground below. Lucas García claimed that since the civilians ran from the approaching military helicopter, they must be guilty of being guerrillas. He later denied that he ordered the gunners to fire. In 1981 the military regime and the Guatemalan army initiated a brutal counterinsurgency program of scorched earth tactics to consolidate control over civilians and counteract the influence of the guerrilla insurgency. The genocidal policies enacted by Lucas García and later by Ríos Montt were also intended to eradicate the culture and identity of the indigenous population.
