Forced Disappearances Given the magnitude of the criminal phenomenon of forced disappearance developed in Guatemala during the civil war, and taking into account that forced disappearances not only cause a permanent pain to the relatives and close friends of the victim due to the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved one, but also that it generates legal and administrative problems, it is necessary to solve these problems to stop the suffering and complications that the disappearance causes. It is the recommendation of the Commission of Historic Clarification that it be included in the National Reparations Program. Missing people Missing or assumed to be missing persons are those whose relatives have not had any notice of the whereabouts of the person or that have been assumed to be missing on the basis of trustworthy information. As the International Committee of the Red Cross indicates, a person could be assumed to be missing because of many circumstances, such as movement of refugees inside or outside a country; death in action during an armed conflict, or the forced or involuntary disappearance. |
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Non identified persons investigation unit at FAFG This unit arose from the work developed in the Verbena project, whose objective was the identification of people through comparing the data of the non-identified bodies (XX) of La Verbena graveyard with the information of the reports of disappeared people that other organizations had in their possession. The information from the organizations, historical documents and files of people who had disappeared in Guatemala City was gathered. This investigation was developed under the hypothesis that many of the people disappeared in the capital had been buried as “XX” in La Verbena graveyard.
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Further work carried out by this unit includes the analysis and systematization of information contained in the historical files of the National Police guarded by the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office in Guatemala. As a result of this analysis, the identification of the body of Luis Fernando Colindres was determined and there is also certainty of two other cases of people buried as XX in La Verbena graveyard. During the 2007, the information contained in the Morgue of the Judicial Organism was systemized, resulting in the creation of a data base of information contained in forensic medical reports from the year 1979 to 1985. In order to follow the investigation, the compilation was also performed in graveyards located in Escuintla, Amatitlán, Antigua Guatemala and Chimaltenango, where non-identified bodies from Guatemala City were also buried during the civil war. |
