Mexico City has launched a significant initiative to unearth and identify numerous bodies from communal graves in a local cemetery. This effort is part of a comprehensive approach to address the escalating number of missing persons cases in the city. Gerardo Cervantes Arroniz, the director of the Institute of Expert Services and Forensic Sciences (ISPCF), highlighted that this exhumation endeavor is the most extensive in Latin America.
The meticulous project, which has been in progress for seven months, originated from a thorough analysis that cross-referenced data from the cemetery and reports of missing individuals. The cross-examination revealed potential matches in names, fingerprints, and other characteristics, indicating hundreds of possible positive identifications, according to Luis Gómez Negrete, who leads the city’s commission for missing persons searches.
Approximately 6,600 bodies from 75 burial locations spanning around 200 square meters in a secluded area of the cemetery are slated for exhumation. These unclaimed and unidentified bodies have been interred in layers since the 1960s, as stated by Gómez Negrete.
One poignant story is that of Sofia Lara Alfonso, whose family recently learned that her brother, Carlos Daniel Lara Alfonso, was buried in an excavation site within the cemetery. Despite reporting him missing in 2009, they were never informed of his demise. Carlos, who led a transient life and succumbed to severe pneumonia in a hospital in 2012, was interred in a common grave without his family’s knowledge.
Ana María Maldonado, who has been searching for her missing son for 15 years, expressed hope that he might be found in one of the communal graves at Panteón Civil de Dolores. The pervasive issue of disappearances in Mexico, fueled by violence from various sources, has left over 130,000 individuals missing nationwide, positioning the country alongside conflict-ridden nations like Syria and Colombia.
Families of the disappeared have mobilized to press the city administration to prioritize this crisis, leading to the establishment of a dedicated committee. Mexico City has initiated extensive searches to identify commonalities among missing persons cases, spanning remote areas across the city.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has raised concerns about the accuracy of the national registry for missing persons, vowing to implement changes to enhance its reliability. The exhumation project, shrouded in sorrow and hope, continues to unfold, offering families a glimmer of closure amidst the anguish of uncertainty and loss.