Searches for remains of missing persons in Araguaia resumed

Brazil's government resumed searches in Xambioá, Tocantins, and São Geraldo do Araguaia, Pará, for the bodies of victims of forced disappearances from the Araguaia Guerrilla (1972-1974) – an anti-dictatorship movement that emerged in the 1970s. The government estimates that 61 members of the movement are still missing.

The mission, the first this year, began Monday (June 8) and runs until June 19. It is being conducted in municipalities that were home to bases and camps set up by the army during the guerrilla war, according to the Human Rights Secretariat of the Presidency (SDH). Witnesses reported guerrillas were buried in several locations in the area known as Bico do Papagaio (Parrot's Beak), in the state boundary between Tocantins, Pará and Maranhão.

The search was organized by the Araguaia Working Group coordinated by the SDH in collaboration with the Ministries of Defense and Justice. The investigation involves a team of 20 geology, archeology and forensic anthropology experts.

In São Geraldo do Araguaia, the team will proceed with the investigations that began in 2012 and 2013 in an old cemetery to look for bodies of missing politically persecuted people potentially buried in the graves. Experts will also check for any caves and crevices that could have been used to conceal the corpses.

Part of the group will stay in Tocantins, where they will continue the excavations on the site that was home to the Military Base of Xambioá. Government reports suggest the space was used for torturing peasants and political activists.

The Araguaia Working Group has rescued 27 victims' remains between 2009 and 2014. The material was sent to the University of Brasília, the Federal Police's National Forensic Institute, and the Forensic Medical Institute of the Federal District.

Twelve among them are being examined for DNA extraction, and six were found not to match any of the existing samples in the database of DNA profiles of relatives of missing politically persecuted persons. According to the SDH, DNA extraction from four skeletons was unsuccessful, and five others were subjected to anthropological tests and are pending further procedures.

Translated by Mayra Borges