“This is South-South cooperation at work,” declared José Pablo Baraybar, Executive Director of EPAF, while observing how Congolese police practiced recovering evidence from a mock grave in the provincial capital of Goma.

EPAF’s forensic training program for 40 police officers from the province of North Kivu is a part of a larger effort by the American Bar Association, with support from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Human Rights Labor, and Democracy, to promote the rule of law in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“This was an excellent training, very participatory,” enthused Maj. David Bodeli Dombi as he finished the two week foundational course in forensics  ”You brought us all up to the same level of understanding. None of us can say that we knew this material before we came.”

EPAF’s forensic training programs have already been successfully reproduced in Nepal and the Philippines. They demonstrate the capacity of people from developing countries to come together and share experiences in order to achieve justice and reconciliation.

EPAF provee entrenamiento forense a oficiales de policía de la República Democrática del Congo

Goma, República Democrática del Congo – Una ciudad que se recupera tras años de guerra brutal hoy empieza, poco a poco, a lidiar con su violento pasado.

“Esto es la cooperación Sur-Sur en acción,” declara José Pablo Baraybar, Director Ejecutivo del EPAF, mientras observa cómo la policía congolesa recupera la evidencia de una fosa simulada en la capital provincial de Goma.

El programa de entrenamiento forense del EPAF, que beneficia a 40 oficiales de policía de la provincia de Kivu del Norte es parte de un esfuerzo mayor de la American Bar Association, con financiamiento del Comité de Democracia, Trabajo y Derechos Humanos del Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos, esfuerzo que busca promover el estado de derecho en la República Democrática del Congo.

“Éste el mejor entrenamiento que hayamos tenido,” dice un policía al terminar la primera semana del curso básico forense. “Ahora tenemos las herramientas que necesitamos para conducir una investigación completa.”

Los programas de entrenamiento del EPAF ya han sido exitosamente conducidos en Nepal y Filipinas y demuestran la capacidad de los países en desarrollo de acercarse y compartir experiencias para obtener justicia y reconciliación.

El II Congreso tiene como objetivo fortalecer a las asociaciones de familiares de los desaparecidos y establecer las normas mínimas para el trabajo de acompañamiento psicosocial en el proceso de búsquedas de los desaparecidos.

En el marco del Congreso se presentara  “La chalina de la esperanza”, proyecto artístico-terapéutico impulsado por la artista grafica Marina García Burgos y la periodista Paola Ugaz, este proyecto está siendo apoyado por el EPAF.

Se viene trabajando con mujeres que han sido victimas de la violencia o son familiares de desaparecidos, ellas tejen, entre todas, una gran bufanda. Buscan abrigo a su soledad frente a un estado indiferente con un método de comunicación ancestral en el poblador andino, el tejido.

Se ha creado un formato (parecido a una pagina A4) y cada señora-tejedora tiene libertad absoluta de crear en ese pedacito un espacio de memoria. Escoge el color y la técnica que quiera y, en muchos casos, incluyen frases, nombres o fotos de su familiar desaparecido. Las señoras se reunían para tejer en la Oficina para Personas Desaparecidos –OPD (Ayacucho).

Hasta la fecha han participado 20 agrupaciones entre barrios asociaciones (Asociación Nacional de Familiares Detenidos, Secuestrados y Desaparecidos del Perú – Anfasep, Vaso de Leche, etc.) y barrios de dos Provincias de Ayacucho: Huamanga y Huanta.

Para mayor  información sobre el II Congreso los invitamos a visitar las siguientes páginas web:

Página del evento: www.congresoexhumaciones.com.

Artículo en el periódico, El Espectador: http://www.elespectador.com/articulo199370-expertos-de-27-paises-discuten-normas-procesos-de-exhumacion

Artículo de Telesur: http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/70585-NN/analizan-en-colombia-tema-de-las-desapariciones-forzadas/

Kathmandu, Nepal – El Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (EPAF) ha finalizado el entrenamiento forense para la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Nepal (NHRC), Advocacy Forum -Nepal y miembros de la Policía Nacional. Entre el 18 de marzo y el 15 de abril, 78 personas de dichas instituciones fueron instruidas en cuatro talleres realizados en Dhangadhi, Pokhara y Kathmandu.

La cooperación entre el EPAF y las instituciones capacitadas es significativa ya que trabajan en sociedades de transición post conflicto y por medio de la cooperación pueden intercambiar experiencias para investigar casos de desaparición forzada.

“En muchas maneras, Nepal está exactamente donde estaba Perú antes de que se creara la Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación”, manifestó Marcela Lumbreras, capacitadora del EPAF. “Por eso creemos que nuestra intervención puede ser muy valiosa  para el proceso por el cual está atravesando ahora Nepal”.

Los entrenamientos incluyeron una combinación de conferencias y prácticas en campo con el fin de llevar a cabo investigaciones efectivas para esclarecer los crímenes cometidos y terminar con la impunidad.

Estos entrenamientos fueron organizados en coordinación con American Bar Association y con financiamiento de la Oficina de Democracia, Derechos Humanos y Trabajo del Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos.

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EPAF’s Forensic Training Workshops in Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal – The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) recently finished training Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Advocacy Forum – Nepal, and the National Police on how to conduct effective forensic investigations into cases of forced disappearance from the country’s internal armed conflict.

From March 18 to April 15, 78 representatives from those institutions participated in four training workshops in Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Dhangadhi. Through the 4-day workshops, EPAF and its Nepali counterparts were able to share valuable experiences from working in post-conflict societies under similar conditions.

“In many ways, Nepal is exactly where Peru was right before the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” reported Marcela Lumbreras, one of EPAF’s forensic trainers in Nepal. “As a result, we think our experience can be very important as they go through this transitional process.”

The training program included a combination of both classroom and field-based exercises to give the trainees hands-on experience in conducting forensic investigations that can help to collect evidence on the crimes committed during the conflict, identify the victims, and hold the perpetrators accountable.

The training program was organized in coordination with the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative in Nepal under financing from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

El Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (EPAF) expresa su solidaridad a las víctimas de Ambo, Huánuco, quienes el jueves 1ero de abril perdieron a sus familiares y a aquellos que aún no logran determinar su paradero. Estos últimos son referidos con el denominativo de “desaparecidos” ya que no se sabe si están vivos o muertos y sus familias sufren la zozobra de no saber qué pasó con ellos. Aunada a la tragedia natural existe otro problema muy serio y es que las cifras oficiales de los desaparecidos en la zona, que refieren 40 personas, discrepan de las cifras referidas por los pobladores que suman entre 200 y 300 personas.

Tal como los medios de comunicación han indicado al comentar y opinar sobre los casos de Ambo, es un hecho que para las familias de las víctimas, quienes han tenido que sufrir una situación tan traumática como esta, poder enterrar dignamente a sus seres queridos representa un elemento de paz y tranquilidad.

Cabe recalcar que la tragedia de Ambo llama a la reflexión sobre otra tragedia igualmente presente y de gran actualidad, y es el hecho que en el Perú habría más de 14,000 desaparecidos, no por un desastre natural sino a manos de agentes del Estado o de grupos subversivos durante el período del conflicto armado interno. Tal como en Ambo, aún no se dispone de un universo preciso de víctimas, es decir, de un número específico de personas desaparecidas que permita establecer una estrategia de búsqueda.

Así como las familias de las personas que han desaparecido en Ambo, las familias de esos miles de desaparecidos por el conflicto armado, muchas de las cuales se encuentran precisamente en el Departamento de Huánuco, esperan desde hace 27 años saber qué ocurrió con sus seres queridos y, en los casos en los que se demuestre que las personas han muerto, que los restos sean restituidos para poder enterrarlos dignamente.

El Equipo Peruano de antropología Forense (EPAF) seguirá luchando por un país en el que se garantice el Derecho a Saber de todos aquellos que por desastres naturales o violencia política perdieran a sus familiares y hasta el momento no conozcan su paradero. Que el Perú no sea un país de cementerios clandestinos y que sus ciudadanos no vivan sin saber que ocurrió con sus hijos, madres, hermanos, pues este desconocimiento, esta oscuridad es en sí misma una forma de muerte.

Ambo and the Missing in Peru

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) expresses its solidarity to the victims of Ambo, Huánuco Province, who, last Thursday April 1st, lost family members in the mudslides and to those who have not yet been able to determine the whereabouts of their loved ones. The latter are generally referred to as “the missing” because it is not known whether or not they are dead or alive and their families suffer the anguish of not knowing what happened to them. Coupled to this natural disaster is an equally important problem, which is that the official figures refer to 40 mortal victims while local inhabitants estimate that there may be between 200 and 300.

As underlined by the media when commenting the events at Ambo, it is a fact that for the families of the victims who have suffered a traumatic situation such as this one, being able to bury their loved ones in a dignified manner can be a means to recover a certain serenity.

The tragedy of Ambo calls for a reflection on another equally important and present tragedy: the fact that in Peru there could be over 14,000 missing persons. They did not disappear as a consequence of a natural disaster but in the hands of State agents or subversive groups during the internal armed conflict (1980-2000). Like in Ambo, we do not have, as of yet, a final number of victims, which makes it very difficult to determine the search strategy to be implemented.

The families of those thousands of missing persons, just as the families from Ambo, many of which-as a matter of fact-are from the Huánuco Province, have been waiting for the last 27 years to know what happened to their loved ones and, in the cases when their family members are proven to be dead, for the return of their remains in order to give them dignified burials.

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) will continue fighting for a country that warrants the Right to Know to all those who lost their loved ones in natural disasters or as part of the internal conflict. For Peru not to be a country of clandestine cemeteries and for its citizens not to live without knowing what happened to their children, mothers and brothers since that lack of knowledge, that anguishing darkness, is also a way of dying.

El Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense ha venido realizando un detallado seguimiento del caso en torno a los violentos sucesos que acontecieron en Bagua, el pasado 5 de junio de 2009. Hemos instado en todo momento a la realización de una investigación imparcial que pueda dar respuestas a las familias de las víctimas. Después de ver la presentación de la Policía Nacional del Perú el día de ayer, explicando la información recabada que indicaría la suerte del hasta ahora desaparecido mayor PNP Felipe Bazán, pasamos a comentar lo siguiente.

Si bien la información gráfica recaudada atestigua el desempeño de la PNP en la búsqueda de uno de sus efectivos, mostrar este material públicamente no necesariamente aporta ayuda alguna a la resolución del caso y más bien puede aumentar el dolor de los familiares. La fotografía de un hombre con torso desnudo, conducido por un grupo de personas y con posibles señas de maltrato físico no es una imagen que pueda calmar el dolor y la angustia de la familia que aún se encuentra a la espera de respuestas concretas.

La familia del mayor espera hace siete meses obtener respuestas sobre el paradero de su hijo y al igual que ella, las familias de miles de peruanos esperan conocer el destino de sus seres queridos. Felicitamos la diligencia con la cual la Policía Nacional del Perú ha desplegado una labor de minuciosa investigación en este caso en particular, y llamamos la atención al estado peruano, a que demuestre la misma diligencia en los más de quince mil casos de desaparición forzada que en más de 25 años no han sido esclarecidos y cuyas familias, como la del mayor Bazán, esperan en total desconsuelo.

Los desaparecidos son peruanos independientemente de su color, credo, condición social o pertenencia institucional y sus familias mueren cada día un poco más al no conocer del destino de sus seres queridos. Nos solidarizamos con la familia de mayor Bazán en esta espera tan tortuosa y esperamos que en breve puedan obtener las respuestas que tanto ansían.

The Disappeared in Peru and the Case of Major Felipe Bazán

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) has closely followed the events surrounding the violent confrontations in Bagua on June 5, 2009. Since then, we have consistently encouraged the authorities to carry out an impartial investigation that would provide the families of the victims with concrete answers to their questions about what transpired that day and what happened to their loved ones. After having seen yesterday’s presentation from Peru’s National Police (PNP) explaining the information that it has collected regarding the whereabouts of Major Felipe Bazán, we would like to share the following observations.

Although it is true that the discovery of the photograph showing Maj. Bazán shortly after his capture is a testament to the PNP’s diligence in investigating the disappearance of one of its officers, we fear that publicly exhibiting the picture will not contribute significantly to the resolution of the case and can only serve to intensify the pain of his grieving family. The photograph of a man led by his captors, naked from the waist up with possible signs of mistreatment is not an image that can help to calm the pain and anguish of a family that still hopes to find evidence of their loved one’s whereabouts.

Maj. Bazán’s family has been waiting for that information for the past seven months, just as the family members of thousands of Peruvian still hope to learn about the fate of their loved ones. We congratulate the PNP for its diligence in investigating this particular case. At the same time, we call on the Peruvian government to demonstrate the same diligence in shedding light on the more than 15,000 cases of forced disappearances that have been awaiting investigation for more than 25 years. The families of the disappeared in Peru, just like Maj. Bazán’s, are desperate for news about their loved ones.

The disappeared are Peruvians just like any other, regardless of their color, creed, social condition or institutional affiliation. With each passing day, their relatives get older and eventually pass away without ever knowing the truth about what happened to their loved ones. As an organization, we believe that both state and society have a moral obligation to search for the disappeared on behalf of the families that so anxiously wait for their return.

We offer our solidarity to the family of Maj. Bazán during this difficult time, and we hope that in very short order they will find the answers that they so desperately seek and deserve.

According to Baraybar, investigators recovered a partial denture from a mass grave near the massacre site that did not fit any of the remaining unidentified bodies. “In other words,” he said, “we still have a 58^th victim missing.”

Baraybar added that a vehicle belonging to Jephon Cadagdagon, a local businessman, was discovered buried in one of the gravesites. The car was penetrated by multiple “perforations”, though only Mr. Cadagdagon’s body was found in the vehicle.

“We raise the question as to whether he was traveling indeed alone or may have been taking passengers on his way through the area,” Baraybar said, in which case the total number of victims would be much higher

The massacre in the country’s Manguindadao province took place on November 23rd when 100 armed men surrounded members from the Mangudadatu clan as they attempted to register the candidacy of one of their leaders for next year’s elections. The assailants led the caravan from the highway to a nearby hillside where they attacked the victims with M-16s and machetes.

After 10 days at the head of the investigation, Baraybar confessed that he is still perplexed by the “veil of impunity that surrounds this case.”

Of all the massacres he has investigated, he admitted that this was the first one in which the perpetrators tried to cover up the crime yet send a message at the same time.

“There’s a combination of trying to hide [the crime] with the graves and trying to state that ‘I did that’,” Baraybar said.

Philippine police have arrested senior members of the Ampatuan clan as the principal suspects in the massacre. The Amputuans, a rival clan that has often competed with the Mangudadatus for political control of the region, have denied the charges against them.

The massacre, which is considered the worst case of election-related violence in Philippine history, took place as representatives from the Mangudadatu clan were on their way to register the candidacy of one of their members for next year’s elections. At least 29 journalist accompanied the convoy at the time of the attack and are thought to be among the dead.

According to press reports, the convoy was surrounded by about 100 armed men and led from the highway to a remote hillside, where they were attacked with M-16s and machetes. Philippine police have arrested Andal Ampatuan, Jr. as the main suspect in the massacre. Ampatuan, a rival clan leader and local politician, has denied the charges against him.

During his first day at the massacre site, Baraybar likened the scene to those he observed as a forensic expert in Rwanda during the mid-1990s. “It reminded me of something–it’s just like Rwanda,” he said. “This kind of topography unfortunately provides an incentive for acts of impunity. Its sheer remotenes keeps away public attention.”

The Maguindanao province is notorious for its clan rivalries, including the one between the Mangudadatu and the Ampatuans. Each of the two clans have often competed for influential positions in local and regional government in the past.

For the latest news on the investigation, follow EPAF’s updates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/epafperu

November 6, 2009, Lima, Peru:  In a striking example of community-based advocacy, a survivor of Peru’s “dirty war” against terrorism has won election as the first mayor of Putis, a village in southern Peru that suffered one of the country’s worst-ever massacres.

Gerardo Fernandez Mendoza in Putis. Photo: Iain Guest

Gerardo Fernandez was elected by acclaim this summer after villagers in the Putis area collected the 1,000 signatures required to establish a new Centro Poblado (community). The designation opens the way for Putis to demand government services and even press for reparations on behalf of those who were killed.

Mr Fernandez, who recently visited Washington to meet with the US State Department and Senate, lost a son, daughter, and mother during Peru’s 20-year struggle against the Shining Path. His election represents a victory not just for human rights but for Peru’s indigenous people, who were targeted by the Army and guerrillas but had little recourse because of their exclusion from the mainstream of Peruvian life.

Over 15,000 Peruvians are thought to have disappeared between 1980 and 2000. Ninety-two died on December 13, 1984, when soldiers attacked the village of Putis. It was not until the spring of 2008 that their remains were exhumed by the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) and restored to their families.

The Advocacy Project (AP), a partner of EPAF, attended the Putis exhumation and helped EPAF publicize the event through blogs and video. Three AP volunteers (Peace Fellows) have since helped EPAF develop information tools to promote its work.

In the process, EPAF has also empowered the relatives of those who died. After hiding out in the jungle for several years Mr Fernandez returned to Putis and formed an association of relatives to lobby for justice. During a video interview last year with AP at the Putis gravesite, he said that his advocacy had received a major boost from the exhumation.

430 villagers from Putis were killed or disappeared out of a total population of 1,700, he said: “We ask that the rest of the mass graves in the area are exhumed, and that those responsible are brought to justice. (We also seek) individual and collective reparations.”

Following the exhumation, Mr Fernandez went on to seek election. Last month, he brought his cause to Washington where he met with staffers from the office of Senator Patrick Leahy and the Open Society Institute. Mr Mendoza also briefed officials at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the US State Department, which funded the Putis exhumation.

It was Mr Fernandez’s first trip outside Peru and Jose Pablo Baraybar, the director of EPAF, who accompanied him, was impressed by his poise and persistence. “It shows the power of memory,” said Mr Baraybar. “The relatives are saying ‘We haven’t gone away. We still exist.’”

Mr Fernandez’s visit to Washington was also the latest move by EPAF to ensure that the disappearances in Peru remain on the international agenda. Gisela Ortiz, another EPAF official, will visit Washington next week to meet with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Ms Ortiz’s brother was kidnapped and killed by a death squad in 1992.

Although the violence has left a deep and traumatic legacy in villages like Putis, the government of Peru is hardening its position against any full-scale accounting. On October 14, a special human rights chamber of Peru’s Supreme Court acquitted several army commanders from the military base of Los Laureles, in the north, who may have been implicated in killings. Alan Garcia, the President of Peru, has proposed that a special committee be set up to review all cases that involve the military. The chief prosecutor has opposed the move.

Meanwhile, experts warn that by trying to ignore the past, the government may be risking a new confrontation with a resurgent Shining Path, which appears to be recruiting young men at gunpoint to carry drugs. A column from the Shining Path passed through the EPAF encampment last year, highlighting the security risks that face human rights work in isolated areas of Peru.

The AP video on Putis massacre: http://www.advocacynet.org/page/putisfilm

EPAFR video: http://epafperu.org/

Ash video interview with Gisela Ortiz; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEtVUSh3LTI&feature=player_embedded#at=176

We also invite you to share this exciting news with any of your friends that are interested in our principle areas of work: forensic investigations and trainings, the reconstruction of histroical memory, and the ongoing search for the missing and disappeared.

Thanks again for your continued interest in EPAF, and we look forward to seeing you soon on Twitter!

The workshop will provide legal professionals with a technical and methodological approach to applying forensic investigations in cases of forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. 

EPAF also organized a forum at Micaela Bastidas National University of Apurimac on June 11th to accompany the workshop and discuss issues related to the contribution of forensic science in the investigation and prosecution of human rights violations. However, the forum has been cancelled due to the paralyzing effects that the national strike has had in the region of Apurimac.

Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that the forum was organized with the objective of informing civil society actors (legal professionals, social scientists, family members of the disappeared, students and the general public) about the basic elements and procedures involved in forensic investigations in order to strengthen their role as advocates and independent observers in the search for the missing and disappeared.

 EPAF would like to thank the following people for their commitment to participate in the forum: 

Dr. Lucio Vilcanqui, President of the Superior Court of Apurimac.

Dr. Luciano Valderrama, President of the Office of the Prosecutor for Apurimac.

Dr. Rosa Santa Cruz, Representative from the Office of the Ombudsman in Apurimac.

Carmen Rosa Cardoza, Forensic Anthropologist from the Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense – EPAF.