Thousands of unidentified bodies to be exhumed in Mexico

Authorities in the Mexican border city of Cuidad Juarez plan to exhume the remains of thousands of people to get DNA samples that may help identify them and bring order to past police practices.

A team of 30 people, including forensic anthropologists and odontologists, are already exhuming remains from cemeteries in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, said Rene Medrano, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office.

The team will exhume unidentified bodies that were buried in common graves between 1991 and 2005, Mr Medrano said.

They will extract DNA samples and build a database.

The remains will then be tagged and reburied in individual graves, he said.

Authorities said the exhumations were not directly related to the cases of 360 women killed over the past 14 years in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million.

Victims’ relatives have long demanded that independent investigators take part in the probes, saying efforts by state officials have been tainted by inept officers.

Officials estimate more than 4,000 people were buried in common graves in Ciudad Juarez alone over the 14-year period.

They were buried this way because the bodies were unidentified.

The programme first started three months ago in Chihuahua City where authorities exhumed 180 remains. One has already been identified, Mr Medrano said.

The exhumations were the brainchild of state attorney general Patricia Gonzalez, who “wants to bring order and clarity to past police practices”, Mr Medrano said.

In the past, Chihuahua state investigators have been accused of losing or contaminating evidence and of other missteps that botched cases.