Uncovering the "disappeared"

Yesterday's post described the work of COMADRES, the organization of mothers of civilian victims of the civil war, dedicated to finding what happened to the "desaparecidos", those were were abducted by death squads or the armed forces and never heard from again. That work continues, as an article yesterday on the IPS news service describes:
The local residents and forensic experts are digging in the spot where the remains of five men and one woman are thought to be buried in La Angostura, a rural village in the mountains near the town of Ciudad Barrios, 136 km east of San Salvador. The exhumation work takes place Apr. 24-28.

The Madeleine Lagadec Human Rights Centre’s efforts to uncover the truth have led to around 600 exhumations of common graves since El Salvador began the transition to democracy in the wake of the 1980-1992 armed conflict, which left more than 75,000 civilian victims dead, as well as some 7,000 people "disappeared", according to official estimates.

Nearly two decades later, the remains of thousands of "desaparecidos", as the victims of forced disappearance are known in Spanish, are still buried in common graves without ever having been identified. (more)

Does anyone disagree that family members should have the right to assistance in learning what happened to their loved ones? Yet organizations which work on this task regularly report receiving a cold shoulder from the current government in El Salvador.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Tim, it is not a surprise they present a cold shoulder, in fact in 89, they bombed COMADRES and FENASTRAS (ya now ironically the place for deathmetal concerts lol)

When you find out where all the fotos of the desaparecidos, beheadededs, and disfigured are, drop a line here.

I have lots of family who are sick and tired of hearing about the "lost and kidnapped children in the country side agencies"-and want to KNOW WHAT TF HAPPENED TO THEIR PARENTS!