DNA testing may spur war crimes cases
Region's first large-scale push to identify remains set to begin
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (Reuters) -- Boxes of bones from mass graves line the
walls of an open-air laboratory, where remains from men, women and children killed
during Guatemala's 36-year civil war wait to be identified.
Many of their families have waited in agony for decades to put the bones to rest. Few of the killers have
been prosecuted, and researchers now hope to set justice in motion by using advanced DNA testing to
identify the human remains. The first such large-scale effort in Latin America is set to begin next year.
The researchers at the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala hope the testing will provide key
pieces of evidence needed to punish those responsible for massacres during the armed conflict that claimed
some 200,000 lives.
Such technology has been used to identify victims from the World Trade Center attack and the Bosnia war,
but now for the first time it will be used on a broad scale to help solve extra-judicial murders and
disappearances that took place during the "dirty wars" in Central and South America.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has earmarked $3 million for DNA analysis of skeletons
exhumed from clandestine grave sites in Guatemala, Argentina and Peru. Work in Guatemala is expected to
begin early next year.
Argentina will likely receive close to $1.4 million, and the other two countries will be allocated $800,000
each.
"This is important for the families of those who were killed or disappeared, as well as for the cause of
international justice," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont who spearheaded the effort to fund
the DNA testing. "By exposing the truth about what happened we can help prevent future atrocities."
Accelerated techniques
After the Balkan wars and the attacks of September 11, 2001, private laboratories developed accelerated
DNA testing techniques and computer programs to process thousands of genetic sequences at a time.
The Bode Technology Group, a Virginia-based lab unit of database giant ChoicePoint, ran over 18,000 tests
on decomposed and contaminated remains to identify victims from the World Trade Center.
Although DNA evidence is often gathered by police in developed countries, there has been little DNA testing
in Guatemala due to lack of funds. This has made it difficult for forensic anthropologists to identify victims of
clandestine war crimes, many of whom were piled into secret mass graves.
Researchers have been trying to match eyewitness testimony about more than 3,000 bodies exhumed since
1992 with physical evidence like clothes and teeth, without the help of genetic information.
At the foundation offices, Mayan relatives in traditional clothing look on as anthropologists examine rib cages
and jawbones of 13 skeletons recently removed from mass graves in Quiche and Chimaltenango, two of the
most violent regions during the war, where civilians were trapped in battles between leftist rebels and
government troops.
The bones are washed, X-rayed, neatly labeled and cataloged. After identification, they are placed in simple
wooden coffins so relatives can hold proper burials.
The new funding will allow Guatemalan anthropologists to send bone samples from their excavation sites to
the Bode labs for DNA testing.
This evidence, matched with blood samples from living family members, could provide strong evidence for
future prosecutions.
Unsolved crimes
Many of the dead were massacred in villages across the Indian highlands. The majority were victims of
government forces, according to the country's Truth Commission report, which was released after the war
ended with U.N.-brokered peace accord in 1996.
But many war crimes remain unsolved.
In the town of Comalapa in southern Guatemala, the foundation dug up 210 bodies around a military base,
many killed in the 1980s during the rule of former dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. So far only one person
has been identified.
"People were captured and removed from their homes," said Fredy Peccerelli, the foundation's director, who
has received death threats for his work. "They were buried in different places over a long time, so identifying
them is very complex."
Peccerelli hopes the new genetic testing initiative will lead to more rigorous investigation of crimes past and
present in a nation with one of the highest murder rates in Central America.
"Only about 5 percent of homicide investigations in Guatemala use scientific evidence," Peccerelli said. "I
hope this begins to show prosecutors and judges that to catch those responsible, we now have better tools."