Feliciana Bernal stands between the trenches dug by forensic anthropologists in Xe’Xuxcap, Nebaj. She is looking for her one year-old son, who died over 30 years ago.

Guatemala – Ixil Genocide
Italy   www.danielevolpe.com

In the early ‘80s, the Ixil Community was one of the principal targets of a genocide operation, involving systematic rape, forced displacements and hunger during the Guatemalan Civil War. By 1996, it was estimated that some 7,000 Maya Ixil had been killed. Many survivors are still searching for the remains of their deceased relatives from the Civil War. Exhumations make up an important part of the process of clarification and evidence gathering of Guatemalan justice. The forensic inquiry tries to reconcile the grief of survivors, who can then give a dignified burial to their loved ones.