With the intervention of a contractor company, the Municipal Mayor’s Office completed the investigation in the cemetery for the poor in Aguachica, also known as San Martín, where 59 skeletal remains were exhumed.
Of those, 38 remains have been identified and were located in ossuaries of the central cemetery, while the other 21 will undergo an identification process.
“With this we are fully complying with the guardianship ruling generated by the Aguachica Circuit Promiscuous Court and also with the request made by the JEP, which ordered the transfer of the remains found in the San Martín cemetery and make the necessary exhumations to transfer it. to the central cemetery,” said Martha Beetar, Aguachica’s government secretary.
During the intervention, an interdisciplinary group of professionals participated, made up of the Municipal Legal Office, the Coordination of the Point of Attention to Victims, the Investigation and Prosecution Unit of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, JEP, the Municipal Ombudsman of Aguachica, the National Police, the National Army, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation and the representatives of the Municipal Board of Victims.
The exhumation was carried out through a work plan launched by the municipal administration from June 16 to 22. In addition, they also seek to determine if there were victims of forced disappearance or other events recorded in the framework of the armed conflict in the cemetery.
For this reason, the victims’ families participated in the procedure, who were accompanied by legal and psychological care professionals.
“Through this process there are still many victims who are waiting for the recognition of those bodies that are here without any identification so that they can have access to the truth, justice and reparation,” said Belkis Alvarado, representative of the victims.
The JEP imposed precautionary measures on the cemetery through the Decree of April 21, 2020, which was extended for several years.
The other areas that were also protected are Medellín, Tarazá, Ituango, Valdivia, Cáceres, Yarumal, Nechí, Peque, Briceño, San Andrés de Cuerquia, Liborina, Sabanalarga, Toledo, Olaya, Buriticá, Betulia and Puerto Berrío, belonging to Antioquia; La Victoria, Riosucio, La Dorada, Samaná and Norcasia, from Caldas; Lebrija, San Vicente de Chucurí and Cimitarra, from Santander; and Sincelejo, Corozal, San Marcos and San Onofre, from Sucre.