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In this Sept. 12, 2014 photo, flowers decorate burial niches at San Isidro cemetery in northern Mexico City. Once exhumed, families put the remains in above-ground niches offered by the cemetery, cremate them, or bury them in a different plot. The lack of cemetery space has prompted the city's legislative assembly to propose a law that would reduce the time a body can remain in a grave and encourage people to cremate the bodies of their love ones. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_1]()
In this Oct. 13, 2014 photo, human bones rest on a restored and modified pre-hispanic altar, at San Andres Mixquic cemetery in Mexico City. The cemetery, which is full and must exhume graves to make space for all new burials, places the bones from unclaimed remains on two exposed altars within the site. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_7]()
In this Sept. 18, 2014 photo, sun glints through the tress above densely packed graves at the San Isidro cemetery in northern Mexico City. "In less than three years (the cemeteries) will be completely filled," said Assemblywoman Polimnia Sierra, who proposed the law. She said the city's 119 cemeteries only have 71,000 gravesites available and that each year about 30,000 people die in the capital. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_8]()
In this Sept. 12, 2014 photo, graves lie tightly packed together in a nearly-full San Isidro cemetery in northern Mexico City. Officials say there is no room available in the capital for new cemeteries. Mexicoâs capital is rapidly running out of gravesites and many residents of this growing metropolis of 9 million people have to exhume the remains of their loved ones once the burial rights expire to make room for new bodies. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_10]()
In this Sept. 12, 2014 photo, graveyard musicians ride through San Isidro cemetery as they look for clients, in Mexico City. As part of Mexico's tradition of honoring and celebrating the dead, families will often hire graveside musicians to play during funerals and anniversaries. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_4]()
In this Oct. 14, 2014 photo, a cemetery worker removes plastic fittings from an exhumed coffin as he prepares to salvage the metal frame for sale, at San Isidro cemetery in northern Mexico City. "Their worldview is not the same as ours," said Jesus Guzman, a street vendor in the borough of Iztapalapa, of city officials backing the law. "Can you imagine that with the stroke of a pen they can erase All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead? They have no idea what they are doing." (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_9]()
In this Oct. 14, 2014 photo, a coffin containing human remains is hauled away after being exhumed to free up space for new burials at the San Isidro cemetery in northern Mexico City. Critics say a push by the city to encourage people to cremate their bodies of their loved ones will threaten Mexico's long and rich traditions surrounding burying and celebrating the dead.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_5]()
In this Sept. 17, 2014 photo, a gravedigger rests beside an exhumed coffin containing the remains of a woman who was to reburied with her husband in a different plot, at San Isidro cemetery in Mexico City. Jesus Guzman, a member of the Autonomous Union of Native Towns and Neighborhoods of the Federal District, said many indigenous Mexicans prefer burial and are reluctant to accept cremation. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_3]()
In this Sept. 25, 2014 photo, a photo of a woman peers out from a burial niche in northern Mexico City. Families often decorate niches with flowers, relics, and photographs of the deceased. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_6]()
In this Oct. 14, 2014 photo, a pile of unmarked bones from an older burial lie next to a grave after being excavated as part of an exhumation to create space for a new burial, at San Isidro cemetery in northern Mexico City. Unclaimed remains are reburied unmarked beneath the coffin and tombstone of a new burial. While other countries around the world reuse graves, it is a sensitive issue in Mexico where celebrating the dead is still a living part of the culture. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)![Mexico_City_cemeteries_2]()
In this Sept. 17, 2014 photo, discarded tombstones and grave markers lie smashed following exhumations to make room for new burials, at San Isidro cemetery in Mexico City. San Isidro officials said they currently only exhume remains after at least seven years, and only with the agreement of the family. But other boroughs can set different rules for their cemeteries. Jose Jimenez, who helps administer the San Francisco cemetery in another borough, said "What really bothers us is that they don't respect our loved ones. They come a year or two after we bury them, take them out of the grave and bury whoever is next." (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Cramped Mexico City residents face even more crowded conditions in cemeteries
Mexico's capital city is quickly running out of room at its cemeteries, so many residents have had to exhume the remains of their loved ones once the burial rights expire to make room for new bodies.
Move Forward
- Cramped Mexico City residents face even more crowded conditions in cemeteries
