Victims of Colombia's armed conflict identified through forensic investigation at cemetery

Record ID: 1968560

  • Title: Victims of Colombia's armed conflict identified through forensic investigation at cemetery
  • Date: 28th March 2025
  • Summary: Victims of Colombia's armed conflict identified through forensic investigation at cemetery SHOTLIST: FUNDACION, MAGDALENA, COLOMBIA (MAR. 25, 2025) (ANADOLU – ACCESS ALL) 1. ENTRANCE OF SAN RAFAEL CEMETERY 2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WEARING BIOHAZARD PROTECTIVE SUITS AND OPENING BAGS CONTAINING REMAINS OF DEAD PEOPLE IN CEMETERY DECORATED WITH RELIGIOUS FIGURES IN HOPES OF FINDING MISSING PEOPLE 3. GENERAL DIRECTOR OF THE MISSING PERSONS SEARCH UNIT LUZ JANETH FORERO MARTINEZ SPEAKING TO REPORTER (Spanish), SAYING: "Humanitarian and extrajudicial search that the unit of search develops is a complex process that goes through four very important moments. The first moment is related to a large collection of information from many, many structured sources, non-structured, documentaries, journalistic, and judicial files, in short, that information ends up guiding us to what we call a site of forensic interest. A site of forensic interest where we can find, or we hope to find the missing person. We go to that place, we do the recovery process. It is an exhumation, and technically (it is called a prospection. After that recovery, we contrast with the information we have collected in the humanitarian research. We take that body to an identification process. Most of the time, the identification process is accompanied by the Institute of Legal Medicine, which helps us with genetic dictation, the genetic test to determine the identity of the person, added to other lines of evidence. And after that, we make the proper delivery culturally pertinent to the families. That is, it is a process that has like four moments, four times. However, that process is always accompanied by the families, by the searchers who participate actively and are protagonists in the search process. The disappearance in Colombia significantly affected all people, and all social strata, but it also had a certain concentration in vulnerable groups. For example, there were disappearances of people with disabilities. There were disappearances of people LGTBIQ+, in the efforts of the armed actors to control the territory and even to generate homogenization of the territories. But, for example, we are looking for disappearances in kidnapping contexts. We cannot forget how kidnapping was one of the great financiers of the war in Colombia, and in that order of ideas this disappearance in kidnapping contexts ends up affecting people with a slightly higher unless it was a kidnapping with a much more political or much more extorsive character. Also, for example, we are looking for disappearances in contexts of forced recruitment. There, the concentration of disappearances are people who at the time of the disappearance were more of minors. That is the complexity of the disappearance in Colombia. Understanding that complexity, those contexts, those dynamics are what allow us, the researchers, to generate the hypotheses, to generate the mechanisms to arm or activate the instruments needed to advance in the search.""We talk about five great challenges for the search. The first is to have that great universe of search. About 125,000 people we are looking for disappeared from the context of the armed conflict. Secondly, we continue to search in the midst of the conflict, because we are humanitarians, we enter the territories through humanitarian corridors or preparations that communities make for us to be able to get even to places where there are confrontations. Thirdly, the dynamics of disappearance in Colombia, which is absolutely different and variable depending on the historical moment, depending on the region, depending on the actors, and another number of variables of context. Fourthly, the forensic capacity to meet such a demand, because we can have a lot of capacity for such a demand, we would have to have much more capacity. And fifthly, the geography, the climates and the acidity of the terrain in Colombia. That is, having a climate and such an exotic and exuberant geography ends up being contrary to the search, because the humid climates, for example, make the bodies degrade very quickly. The acidic climates make it very difficult sometimes to isolate genetic material that allows us, through the genetic crosses with the genetic profiles banks and the relatives, to find more genetics. Many of our missing people did not even have a photo. And you have to have a photo it is better or easier to be able to build a photograph or at least a spoken portrait or something of that missing person to also proceed not only to the dissemination about whether someone saw him at some point in history but also to make quotations for example in the future with elements of artificial intelligence or data analysis. We are working on those as innovations for the search that allow us to give many more tools and many more elements to the investigative work which is the center, which is the core of the search for the missing." 4. FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST OF THE MISSING PERSONS SEARCH UNIT, FROM THE INTERNAL SEARCH GROUP OF THE MAGDALENA REGIONAL PAULA GONZALES SPEAKING TO REPORTER (Spanish), SAYING: "The process of identification is integral and multidisciplinary. This integrates many areas of knowledge, and many technicians and professionals are involved in the process of identification. We, in the process of prospecting, really do not lead to an identification, but to a hypothesis of identity. Many times we cannot establish those hypotheses of identity for what we are recovering. There is not enough evidence to support directing a little to who could be that person, but it is a job that requires that we integrate many areas, even prospecting requires an integration of knowledge and application of very important techniques. Archaeological information of biological anthropology is collected, the social context is collected, and the economic context many times also has to influence these spaces, because we have the constant reuse of space by natural people and also by the entities that have left the bodies here.) We, as anthropologists, are the ones who materialize, so to speak, the search for a body. We receive the information, we are the ones who methodologically establish how we are going to recover that body. We are the ones who recover and then later, mainly in support of the respective entities, the identification processes which are not always possible. Many times it is recovered, but it is not so feasible to get a DNA sample or recover genetic information about a person. That sometimes gets very complicated. Recovering information about a body is not easy. We here respect people's beliefs, we also respect how they want their relative to be delivered, and where they want him to be buried. We do a process of construction of how that moment is going to be to be able to close a moment of violence with a very important moment of memory. In that case, the dignified deliveries for us is a very beautiful moment and a moment of peace construction because it not only brings the family together but also repairs the surroundings." SCRIPT The Colombian Unit for the Search of Missing Persons (UBPD) searched the San Rafael Cemetery in Fundacion, Magdalena on Tuesday, March 25, to identify the bodies of missing persons. The UBPD searched both burial vaults and human remains in the ground to find people who were murdered or disappeared during the Colombian armed conflict. Heavy rainfall, acidic soil, and the humidity of the country's tropical climate present challenges to forensic search efforts. Luz Janeth Forero Martinez, General Director of the Missing Persons Search Unit, outlined the four main stages of the search process: gathering information, conducting exhumations, identifying bodies through genetic tests, and delivering the remains to families. She highlighted the challenges posed by Colombia's geography, climate, and ongoing conflict, as well as the large number of missing persons, many of whom lack photos for identification. Paula Gonzales, Forensic Anthropologist, explained that the identification process is complex and often relies on hypotheses due to insufficient evidence. She noted that recovering DNA is difficult, and emphasized the importance of respecting families’ wishes for the dignified return and burial of their loved ones, which plays a crucial role in peace and memory-building. The UBPD estimates that there are 124,734 missing people in Colombia, more than all the dictatorships combined in the rest of South America. The search process begins with information, as the UBPD cross-references various sources to determine the existence of places of interest for the search. Next comes the localization process, where experts search mass graves or cemeteries for unclaimed bodies. Once the unit locates the body of a missing person, the identification process begins with feedback from the families, such as fractures, lifestyle habits and the corresponding genetic validations of the person. Finally, the body of the missing person is returned to the family for a dignified and culturally appropriate burial of their loved one to provide a sense of closure. Writing by Aleyna Cil
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