Forensics in the Guatemalan Massacre

A few years ago I took a class in forensic anthropology where we discussed its uses in victim identification after mass killings.  One case study that I looked at was its uses in Guatemala after massive civil conflicts.  One of the major differences between forensics in Guatemala and Srebrenica was the available technology.  In the case of Guatemala, while technologies for genetic testing were available within industrialized countries, local populations (and the organizations that sought to help in identification efforts) in the small communities within Guatemala were unable to afford these technologies.  Therefore, identification was solely grounded in the field of forensic anthropology.  A second difference was that in Srebrenica, there were a variety of organizations (both local and international) involved in the identification process that competed with each other and had various goals and motivations for their work.  This slowed the process of human recovery and was fueled with political tensions.  In Guatemala, there was one predominant group responsible for recovering the remains of victims of the massacre (the Guatemalan Foundation for Forensic Anthropology).  While it was a lot of work for one group, they did not have to deal with competing organizations.  This may have helped the efficiency of the group and reduced tensions between locals and the scientists involved in recovery efforts.
However, a similarity is found in the uses of science to identify victims of these massacres: families and communities need identifications of loved ones to provide a sense of closure.  While Wagner focused more on the idea of having an identification to resolve the idea of a ‘missing’ person (one who families still may desperately cling to the hope that their relative is still alive), the general sense I got from my readings about the Guatemalan massacre was that people wanted to identify loved ones to then given them a proper burial.  Culturally, the idea of a proper burial was necessary bring peace to the deceased and to allow all to move on.