I have kept busy familiarizing myself with the new work regime for the next months and the troubled history of this country. A few days ago I had the opportunity to check out the exhumation of mass burial sites in the city where unidentified bodies from the civil war were dumped. I didn't know what to think. It was so interesting yet so horrifying at the same time thinking that thousands upon thousands of bodies had been simply thrown into circular wells dug deep into the ground. There were three wells, a large one 10m across and 30m deep and two smaller ones about half the size of the first. All together an estimate of 14,000 bodies. Fourteen thousand bodies rotting away in black plastics bags in a sealed concrete container. The forensic anthropologists were half way through the second (the big one) and none of the bodies had been identified yet. Not one positive DNA match to people declared to be missing since the 70s.
And yet a morbid curiosity was awakened. The scientific mind wanted to examine those fragile putrid bones and feel the effects of decomposition. After 30 years of lying in sealed concrete holes with thousands of other decomposing bodies, bones start to resemble in texture, colour and consistency of rotting twigs. The leader of the expedition bent a rib in half as easily as if he were bending the stem of a daisy.
The smell wasn't horribly unpleasant, mostly earthy with a hint of methane but no where near as unpleasant as the stench of month old corpses in the process of exhumation. Rolling down the window to ask for directions was bad enough. Watching the policeman hesitate as he contemplated the answer in a putrid haze was worse. Still it was fascinating seeing first hand the effects that foreign bodies can have on our skeletal body identifying stabbings, gunshots, machete slices and post mortem breakages.
It was the unique cases that really stick. The six month old fetus placed in a jar within the body bag of an old man. Logic would dictate the the other body would be its mother not an anciano. Then were the remains of a young lady buried with her white heels and blue skirt whose skull still had 5 bullets rattling around in it even after having undergone the full process of embalming. The coroner simply did not think to take out the bullets.
It was horrifying but somehow undescribable getting the chance to see the true effects of this country's history first hand. It puts the fear into you knowing that most of these peoples' killers are still alive and kicking, most likely in positions of power. It's the not knowing who but seeing the results of their horrible actions. Just the other day, Thursday in fact, 6 tortured bodies were found downtown, open for display for all morning commuters entering the city. This isn't a very pretty culture.
More info: http://alienatedleft.blogspot.com/2010/10/exhumations-at-la-verbena-time-has-come.html
And yet a morbid curiosity was awakened. The scientific mind wanted to examine those fragile putrid bones and feel the effects of decomposition. After 30 years of lying in sealed concrete holes with thousands of other decomposing bodies, bones start to resemble in texture, colour and consistency of rotting twigs. The leader of the expedition bent a rib in half as easily as if he were bending the stem of a daisy.
The smell wasn't horribly unpleasant, mostly earthy with a hint of methane but no where near as unpleasant as the stench of month old corpses in the process of exhumation. Rolling down the window to ask for directions was bad enough. Watching the policeman hesitate as he contemplated the answer in a putrid haze was worse. Still it was fascinating seeing first hand the effects that foreign bodies can have on our skeletal body identifying stabbings, gunshots, machete slices and post mortem breakages.
It was the unique cases that really stick. The six month old fetus placed in a jar within the body bag of an old man. Logic would dictate the the other body would be its mother not an anciano. Then were the remains of a young lady buried with her white heels and blue skirt whose skull still had 5 bullets rattling around in it even after having undergone the full process of embalming. The coroner simply did not think to take out the bullets.
It was horrifying but somehow undescribable getting the chance to see the true effects of this country's history first hand. It puts the fear into you knowing that most of these peoples' killers are still alive and kicking, most likely in positions of power. It's the not knowing who but seeing the results of their horrible actions. Just the other day, Thursday in fact, 6 tortured bodies were found downtown, open for display for all morning commuters entering the city. This isn't a very pretty culture.
More info: http://alienatedleft.blogspot.com/2010/10/exhumations-at-la-verbena-time-has-come.html
No comments:
Post a Comment