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Buried secrets. Episode 04, Mass graves of Guatemala [efilm]

2014

Streaming Video

Total copies: 1

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Summary

Guatemala for nearly 36 years was also a country ripped apart by a brutal civil war between the military government and the rural Mayan population. In 1996, the United Nations brokered the final cease-fire. Mass graves now mar the countryside and efforts sanctioned by the present government have been underway to uncover, identify and properly rebury the dead. Dr. Clyde Snow, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, has been traveling to Guatemala since 1991, when he first trained local archaeology students and helped set up a forensic lab in Guatemala City. He has invited Dr. Elizabeth Murray to observe and join in on the work being done by the crew there. Snow and Murray will travel into the jungle where one of the Guatemalan teams is presently excavating a mass grave site. They will also spend time in the lab in Guatemala City where Dr. Murray will have an opportunity to examine some of the remains and talk with various "technicians" about the forensic anthropological methods they use to aid in their identifications. For the Mayan survivors, it is of the utmost importance to them that the victims be identified, their injuries noted, and that proper burial take place. For this reason, after remains are studied and documented by the anthropology teams, a repatriation and reburial ceremony is carried out. Dr. Murray, joined by some members of the Guatemalan crew, will be present for one of these solemn testimonials to the importance of this work. On this episode of Skeleton crew, though decades may have passed, the bones are alive with many stories to tell.