Over 10,000 unidentified bodies found in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Over 10,000 unidentified bodies found in Colombia
Monday, 08 November 2010 11:19 Teresa Welsh

A survey to determine the number of unidentified corpses found by authorities in Colombia has returned a count of 10,084 so far, with more than half of the country's municipalities yet to report their figures, reports El Espectador.

The survey, which is being conducted by the Justice and Peace tribunal with the Prosecutor General's Office, was distributed in July to mayor's offices in an attempt to get an accurate count of the unidentified bodies registered by authorities across the country. As yet, less than half of the 1,034 municipalities have responded.

~snip~
According to an annual report issued by Colombia's forensics agency, Medicina Legal, over 18,200 Colombians went missing in 2009. In October 2010, a government official announced there are over 50,000 missing people in Colombia.

The prosecutor general has registered some 27,000 people as missing, but admits there are still many cases that need to be investigated.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12793-10000-unidentified-bodies.html

[Bacchus39]

1. mass grave in La Macarena debunked according to article

The municipality of La Macarena in Meta reported 464 unidentified bodies, a figure only slightly higher than the 446 reported by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR). The UNHCHR conducted an investigation in September following reports from human rights organizations that a mass grave in the town held 2,000 unidentified bodies. The Colombian government denied the allegations from the group of NGOs, claiming the group was trying to use the announcement to undermine a free trade agreement with the European Union. The UNHCHR did not find indications of either a mass grave or secret burials, but did not rule out the possibility that "new information could be received that would serve to define, enrich or adjust" the contents of the report.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Debunked? You have an overly excited imagination.

People can see your resource, and read it for themselves:

UNHCHR: 446 unidentified bodies buried in Meta graveyard .
Tuesday, 07 September 2010 14:37 Kirsten Begg .
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11717-unhcr-446-unidentified-bodies-buried-in-meta-graveyard.html

From your article:

~snip~
The UNHCHR undertook an analysis of the La Macarena graveyard, following concerns from human rights organizations that the cemetery may have been used as a mass grave to house up to 2,000 bodies, among them alleged victims of extrajudicial killings.

While the international body did not find explicit indications of a mass grave, UNHCHR director Christian Salazar said that he was "extremely concerned about the large number of people buried in the cemetery, whose identities and causes of death have not been clarified" and who "were reported as killed in combat with the armed forces since 2002."

Salazar stressed the need "to find out if the people buried in the cemetery were victims of extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, or other human rights violations."

~snip~
The report also remarked that with 114 instances, the Meta department has the second highest number of extrajudicial killings or "false positive" cases under investigation in Colombia. False positives refer to Colombian civilians killed by members of the Colombian armed forces and presented as guerrillas killed in combat.

According to the UN, the Colombian Prosecutor General's office has been investigating 1,354 cases of alleged false positives since March 15 of this year. As a result the UNHCR stressed "the magnitude of a situation in which unidentified cadavers are buried in cemeteries at a national level."

Debunked? Fortunately we don't have to take your word for it.