GUATEMALA CITY — A former Guatemalan soldier accused of taking part in the massacre of more than 200 people in 1982 during the country’s civil war stepped onto Central American soil Wednesday after failing to persuade the United States not to deport him because he fears for his life.

Santos Lopez Alonzo, 64, was sent to Guatemala City on a charter flight and Guatemalan authorities took him into custody, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

Upon his arrival, Lopez insisted to reporters that he was innocent.

Lopez served with an elite unit of the Guatemalan army and is among four former soldiers arrested after coming to the United States years after the slaughter of villagers in Las Dos Erres. Two are serving time in American prisons for immigration crimes and one was deported and sentenced to more than 6,000 years in prison.

In an interview last week at the California immigration detention facility where he was held, Lopez said he guarded women and children during the slayings but killed no one. He said he fears retribution from Guatemalan authorities or other inmates for helping US investigators prosecute a former comrade.

‘‘I’m afraid I’m going to be tortured and they’re going to kill me in my country, because I gave testimony to a grand jury,’’ Lopez said. ‘‘Because I talked about them and everything they did.’’

More than a dozen former soldiers have faced arrest warrants in Guatemala on allegations of participating in the massacre that wiped out the village.

Associated Press