They Dug for Decades for Colombia’s Disappeared and Now They Are a National Symbol

Sep 9, 2025 | Astrid Suarez
AP News
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Luz Elena Galeano intently watches as the earth is sifted for clothing, documents and bone fragments, hoping for a sign of her husband, who disappeared two decades ago during the urban conflict that tore apart the Colombian city of Medellin.

It has been a daily ritual for Galeano and 40 other women who take turns monitoring the soil excavated from La Escombrera, a debris landfill on Medellin’s outskirts, where the remains of six people were found in the last eight months.

The effort is part of an ambitious forensic project by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a tribunal established in 2018 to investigate and prosecute crimes that happened during Colombia’s armed conflict, often by rebel groups who kept hostages for ransom.

The Associated Press was granted access to La Escombrera, where excavations that began in July 2024 have confirmed the site is a mass grave, as families had claimed for decades.