La distancia

2017 - Ongoing ~ El Salvador; Honduras; Guatemala

Social Issues, Contemporary Issues, Documentary

“If we do not find her at the end of the day she will be lost forever, I’m sorry for her mum,” says the forensic anthropologist and criminologist Israel Ticas, while looking at the thick vegetation around him. He is digging into the woods in a remote area controlled by the street gang the Mara Salvatrucha to find Reina Isabella Sanchez, a 20 years old girl who disappeared in 2013. She was the girlfriend of a policeman. Reina will never be located.

In the area of the so-called “Northern Triangle,” which is home to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, in the last forty years, violence has become part of life like the region’s periodic volcanic eruptions. Beyond the average murder rate of a war zone, nowadays people are not just being killed, but they are actually vanishing.

Street gangs such as La Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and other criminal organizations rule over the population by fear: "Ver, oir y callar" (look, listen and shut up) is a motto you see on the walls all around the country, where the gangs dictate people's life.

Governments’ reaction to the raising of organized crime and violence has been open war, In a sort of utopian idea in which violence should end violence.

In this context, The Northern Triangle has seen for more than a decade a systematic use of forced disappearance by criminal groups and law enforcement which blurred their role in a battlefield over the control of territory through fear.

The only Criminologist in El Salvador, mothers who can’t find their loved ones and Sicarios become the chorus of a painful melody revealing a grey area, where resilience, love, and dignity lay.

El Salvador, Departamento de La Libertad.
The excavation site where the remains of 20 years old Reina Isabella Sanchez supposed to buried. Reina was raped and killed by MS13 gang members for being the girlfriend of a policeman. Her remains will never be found. "She is gone forever, and her mum will never find peace," said forensic anthropologist Israel Ticas at the end of the of two days of research.
El Salvador, Departamento De La Libertad.
Criminologist Israel Ticas works on a clandestine cemetery inside a mountain. Ticas has developed a distinct technique for processing crimes scenes. He investigates every part of the crime form the abduction till the burial. "Processing all the proofs can be the solution to this kind of violence, to get the right conviction for a criminal and it also works as the deterrent against further murders," said Mr. Ticas.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
A latex glove filled with soil of a clandestine cemetery which criminologist Israel Ticas uses to collect.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
Forensics while carrying the body of a woman killed by suspected gang members. "The level of violence against women is exponential," said Criminologist Israel Ticas, "I think because in the Salvadorian society they are seen as objects, and this also affects the modus operandi of the pandillas."
Honduras, Departamento de Comayagua.
Celenia Rivera Ortiz caresses the picture of her son Juan Carlos Rivera, 29, which disappeared in July 2017. He was a sales adviser for a telecommunication company. Witnesses said that he entered into an MS13 controlled area and never came back. "We have a nightmare in this house. at times we hear that someone stops at the door, my daughter thinks he is here, he is coming back" said his mother.
Honduras, San Pedro Sula.
A member of the 18th street gang plays in Rivera Hernandez, the most violent neighborhood in San Pedro Sula, the Honduras Industrial capital. This group of the so-called Barrio 18th is responsible for hundreds of disappearances in the area.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
An artisan gun so-called "Trabuco" found in a clandestine grave. It loads a single 12 caliber bullet.
Guatemala, Atitlán Lake.
Cledy Lorena Call Cumes,31, her husband, Luis Gilberto Tìan, disappeared in October 2011. A paramilitary group "Los Encapuchados de Panajachel" (The Hooded) is allegedly suspected of the crime.
Guatemala, Atitlán Lake.
A view of the Volcano Toliman on the Atitlán Lake where the remains of Gilberto are supposed to be. "Now the only thing I would ask them is to tell me where they threw it, and have a place to take flowers." said his wife.
Honduras, Tegucigalpa.
Marìa Del Carmen Baron poses for a portrait outside her house where, in January 2016, a commando of four men in police uniform kidnapped her 29 years old daughter, Carmen Maria Baron. After five months of research, the DNIC (Investigation Unit) told her they closed the case for lack of evidence. "Today I'm scared when I leave home, and I've stopped looking for her. I need to protect my other son."
Honduras, El Lolo de Comayaguela.
Members of the DPI (Division Policial De Invetigacion) looking for evidence in an area used as a clandestine cemetery by the 18th Street gang where the bodies of four girls were found.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
The Personal Diary of the Forensic anthropologist and criminologist Israel Ticas. In the course of his career, Mr. Ticas discovered more three hundred clandestine graves. Now he lives in constant threat for his life since MS13, and 18th Street Gang Threatened to kill him.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
A forensic on a murder scene of a gang-related homicide. El Salvador has been ranked as one of the world most violent countries, but now it is difficult to have a real image of the situation because people are simply vanishing. According to La Fiscalia General De La Republica (FGR) in the first two months of 2017 more than 600 people have disappeared.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
An operator of the quick reaction unit 911 of the Nacional Police on patrol in a gang-controlled area. Recently Nacional Police (PNC) in El Salvador has been strongly criticized by human rights groups and accused by local prosecutors of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of suspected gang members. "I think that the majority of people are with us, we are trying to eradicate cancer," said the operator.
Honduras, San Pedro Sula.
A stairwell covered in blood in a safe house used by 18th Street Gang. The so-called "Maras" in Central America kill their victims collectively thus all of them are responsible.
El Salvador, San Salvador.
Two twelve caliber bullets found nearby a Clandestine grave.
Guatemala, Undisclosed location.
Marvin a 17 years old boy from El Salvador. He is an MS13 member. Los Zetas, A Mexican cartel, recruited him as a hitman and later try to kill him.
"I've caused pain to a lot of people in my life. I think I 'm ready to embrace death if it comes."
Now he is hiding in Guatemala.
Honduras, Juticalpa.
Cinthia Lainez, 29, hugs her 13 years old daughter, Michelle Lainez. Michelle was kidnapped and disappeared for ten days. She has been released in a rural area thanks to the struggle of her mother who made various public appearances on local media. Michelle was the victim of a minor sex trafficking case.
Guatemala, Jalapa.
Sildy Gomez Lima, 29, is a Guatemalan activist who is investigating child disappearances related to the death of forty children at The Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción in Guatemala City.
El Salvador, Departamento De La Libertad.
Clothes belonged to a man killed by his stepson who is an MS13 member. Maras or Pandillas tend to move to different sites the remains of their victims to mislead authorities investigations.