ADVANCES OF FORENSIC GEOLOGY IN ARGENTINA: SEARCH WITH NON-INVASIVE METHODS FOR VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

Abstract

The forced disappearance of people has been a historical practice at world level specialized in the disposal and hiding of bodies using different methods and depths of burial. Latin America has not been the exception to this appalling practice, since victims of forced disappearance are recorded in several countries. About 21,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Colombia at present and in the Argentine Republic it is estimated that between 9,000 and 30,000 people were also disappeared in the same way between 1976 and 1983 during a de facto government called “military dictatorship”. Since 1983, despite the period of successive democratic governments 210 involuntary disappeared people have been recorded until 2014. This situation in Argentina demands, in an imperative way, the training and specialization of forensic geologists, the improvement of techniques, and the development of new methodologies to be applied in the location of clandestine graves. The aim of this contribution is to present advances in prospection techniques for different types and forms of concealment of clandestine burials, with emphasis on the use of the ground penetrating radar. The use of GPR technology in the detection of anomalies corresponding to different forms of clandestine burials and mainly their concealment (buildings, concrete slabs, tanks, water pits and landfills, boulder deposits, limestone, vegetation, etc.) is recommended because it substantially increases the possibility of findings. The results obtained in the different cases of exploration with ground penetrating radar presented by the analogy or similarity that they have with real cases of different types of burial and hiding of clandestine graves are considered of interest.