Coalición de Derechos Humanos | Arizona Recovered Human Remains Project

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Arizona Recovered Human Remains Project

Introduction

As a non-governmental human rights organization, we are deeply concerned about the continued deaths that have occurred on our borders. We are particularly concerned about those deaths that have resulted from attempts to cross our desert, which are often due to exposure and/or are heat related. Since border policies were implemented in the 1990s, it is estimated that the remains of more than 6,000 men, women and children have been recovered on the U.S.-México border. These are tragedies, and we feel that such a human rights crisis needs a viable solution.

However, in order to alert our government and the public as to the true extent of these casualties, accurate numbers of deaths must be recorded. Currently, conflicting numbers are constantly being released, mostly because of the complicated nature of recovering and identifying individuals who often carry little or no identification with them, and the many agencies this information is passed to. We would like to attempt to keep a more accurate record of migrants who have died on our borders.

In an effort to honor every life that has been lost on our borders, Coalición de Derechos Humanos records the number of bodies that are recovered on our border. With the cooperation of Arizona county officials, as well as the Consular offices of México, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Brazil, and the Binational Migration Institute, we are attempting to put names to our migrant sisters and brothers, and bear witness to the deaths of those unknown, of whom there are hundreds buried in our communities.

As we attempt to comfort their families who mourn, let us also promise to seek justice, peace, and an end to the walls that separate and divide our communities. May we honor the spirits of those who have died with the commitment to peace and dignity on our borders.

Arizona-Sonora
Recovered Human Remains

Fiscal Year (October 1- September 30)	Total
2000-2001	136
2001-2002	163
2002-2003	205
2003-2004	234
2004-2005	282
2005-2006	205
2006- 2007	237
2007- 2008	183
2008-2009	206
2009 – 2010	253
2010-2011	183
September 1 – December 31, 2011	45
TOTAL	2,332

This Year’s Deaths

Coalición de Derechos Humanos counts the number of bodies recovered in Arizona for the fiscal year, which begins October 1st and ends September 30th of every year. This will be so that we can compare the numbers put out by the government officials with those that we gather, in collaboration with the Consular offices and county medical examiners.

The following are the human remains recovered from October 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011

#	Name	Sex	Age	Country	Date Discovered	Location Discovered	Cause of Death
1	Saturnino Silva Lopez	M	40	Unknown	10/1/2011	N 31 53.322 W 111 48.103	Acute coronary thrombus
2	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/6/2011	N 32 78.601 W 111 98.936	Undetermined- skeletal remains
3	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/8/2011	N 32 37.379 W 112 48.9317	Undetermined- partial skeletal remains
4	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/10/2011	N 31 35.907 W 111 41.923	Undetermined- skeletal remains
5	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/12/2011	N 32 46.628 W 112 10.570	Undetermined- skeletal remains
6	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	10/12/2011	5 miles Northeast of South Mountain	Undetermined- skeletal remains
7	Juan Rivera Espinoza	M	29	Unknown	10/14/2011	N 32 49.51 W 111 02.134	Probable hyperthermia
8	Jose Jesus Orduña Ruiz	M	26	Unknown	10/15/2011	N 31 35.500 W 110 91.106	Hyperthermia
9	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/17/2011	N 31 46.025 W 112 12.090	Undetermined- skeletal remains
10	Saul Octavio Pro Flores	M	20	Unknown	10/17/2011	N 32 20.50 W 112 98.98	Undetermined- mummified, partially skeletonized remains
11	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/24/2011	N 32 12.161 W 112 49.326	Undetermined- skeletal remains
12	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/24/2011	N 32 10.765 W 112 38.743	Undetermined- skeletal remains
13	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	10/24/2011	N 32 00.253 W 112 17.647	Undetermined- skeletal remains
14	Unknown	F	Unk	Unknown	10/25/2011	N 31 54.412 W 112 12.275	Undetermined- skeletal remains
15	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	10/28/2011	N 32 36.561 W 111 50.9149	Undetermined- skeletal remains
16	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/2/2011	N 31 43.44 W 111 59.025	Probable hyperthermia
17	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/2/2011	Parker Canyon (Cochise County)	Exposure
18	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/4/2011	N 31 55.115 W 112 16.129	Undetermined
19	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/5/2011	N 32 25.964 W 111 32.878	Probable hyperthermia
20	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/7/2011	N 31 53.823 W 111 54.690	Undetermined- skeletal remains
21	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/8/2011	N 31 36.031 W 111 09.365	Undetermined- skeletal remains
22	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/10/2011	N 32 46.628 W 111 59.054	Undetermined- partial skeletal remains
23	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/11/2011	N 32 30.537 W 111 28.357	Undetermined- partial skeletal remains
24	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/11/2011	N 32 32.290 W 111 33.106	Undetermined- partial skeletal remains
25	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/15/2011	N 31.30.375 W 111 07.766	Undetermined- skeletal remains
26	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/16/2011	N 32 01.963 W 111 53.978	Undetermined- skeletal remains
27	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/18/2011	N 32 23.055 W 112 46.555	Undetermined- skeletal remains
28	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/19/2011	N 32 17.460 W 111 20.618	Undetermined due to skeletal remains
29	Eliezer Labrador Rios	M	25	Unknown	11/21/2011	N 32 38.912 W 111 07.850	Gunshot wound of head
30	Feliciano Sanchez Rios	M	42	Unknown	11/21/2011	N 32 38.912 W 111 07.850	Multiple gunshot wounds
31	Cristian Abel Sanchez Velazquez	M	20	Unknown	11/21/2011	N 32 38.895 W 111 07.882	Multiple gunshot wounds
32	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	11/22/2011	N 32 00.772 W 112 04.112	Undetermined- skeletal remains
33	Unknown	F	Unk	Unknown	11/22/2011	Douglas, AZ (Cochise County)	Pending
34	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	11/27/2011	N 31 85.49 W 111 54.6517	Undetermined- skeletal remains
35	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/1/2011	N 32 03.772 W 113 00.206 (Why, AZ)	Undetermined- skeletal remains
36	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/5/2011	N 32 00.566 W 111 10.614	Undetermined- skeletal remains
37	Unknown	M	Unk	Unknown	12/6/2011	N 31 44.741 W 111 59.254	Undetermined- skeletal remains
38	Byron Neftali Sosa Orellana	M	28	Unknown	12/6/2011	N 32 06.015 W 112 03.816	Gunshot wound of chest
39	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/8/2011	I-8 MP 159 1/4 mile south of I-8	Undetermined- skeletal remains
40	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/10/2011	South I-8 West of Stanfield	Undetermined- skeletal remains
41	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/19/2011	Southwest of Vamori Village	Undetermined- skeletal remains
42	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/22/2011	N 31 13.13 W 111 14.39 (Green Valley)	Undetermined- partial skeletal remains
43	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/29/2011	5 miles south of Little Tucson on Power Line Road	Undetermined- skeletal remains
44	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/29/2011	N 32 34.609 W 111 45.144	Undetermined- skeletal remains
45	Unknown		Unk	Unknown	12/30/2011	N 32 09.353 W 111 31.162	Undetermined- skeletal remains

Note: In addition, the Arizona Daily Star has also begun a database of migrant deaths. There are many overlapping details overlapping details overlapping details between their numbers and ours, but if you are looking for someone specific and do not see it on our list, you may also want to check the AZ Starnet database. Searches can be done by name, home, age, and date. Here’s the link:

http://reg29ulus.azstarnet.com/borderdeaths/search.php

Last Year’s Recovered Human Remains

2010-2011

Past Years’ Recovered Human Remains

2005-2006
2004-2005
2003-2004
2002-2003
2001-2002