The new excavation of the V Graves Plan has begun this week in the old cemetery of Ses Figueretes, in the municipality of Ibiza, where up to 70 people killed in 1936 and 1937 are being sought, as confirmed by the Conselleria de Presidencia, Coordinación de la Acción de Gobierno y Cooperación Local. The intervention, considered a priority, aims to advance in the recovery and identification of victims of the Civil War and Franco’s repression.
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Exhumation of Civil War graves in Ibiza and Formentera cemeteries
The work will continue until “May or June” of 2026, according to the Government at the opening ceremony of the excavation of the first grave, which marks the fourth phase of the search in this enclave of Vila. At each stage new remains have been confirmed, which has prompted the Balearic Executive to maintain the pace of exhumations on the island.
A two-year, 842,000-euro intervention
The V Graves Plan, awarded in July 2025 to the joint venture formed by the Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi and ATICS SL, has a duration of 24 months and a total budget of 841,900.46 euros, slightly rounded up by the Executive in its public presentation to 842,000 euros. The project contemplates actions in 12 locations -eight in Mallorca, one in Ibiza and three in Formentera- based on the studies of the Technical Commission of Missing Persons and Graves.
The plan is divided into two lots: one for excavation, exhumation and identification, and the other for restoration, conservation and documentation of the materials recovered in previous campaigns.
Three victims identified and thirteen families are still waiting
So far, three people whose remains were found in previous interventions have been identified: Bartolomé Costa Serra, Mariano Castelló Castell and Josep Vidal Ramon, located thanks to genetic analysis carried out in 2024, and became the first victims identified in Ibiza. The remains were found mixed, since the area was altered by later burials, which makes searches difficult. Even so, there are 13 families on the island who are still waiting to find their missing, according to Government sources consulted at the start of the campaign.
Three archaeological campaigns had already been carried out at Figueretes between 2018 and 2022, in addition to the interventions of Plans III and IV, which made it possible to locate remains and confirm the presence of multiple victims.
A work subject to archaeological and forensic protocols
The technical teams apply the protocols of the Spanish Association of Anthropology and Forensic Odontology (AEAOF): manual stratigraphic excavation, topographic and photographic registration, individualized extraction of remains and genetic analysis in the BIOMICs (UPV/EHU) and ancient DNA (UAB) laboratories. The current intervention will be carried out for three or four weeks, before moving the work to Formentera after Christmas and then to Mallorca, within the same regional plan.
Commitment to Law 10/2016
The Govern recalled that it remains committed to Law 10/2016 for the recovery of people who disappeared during the Civil War and the dictatorship. Since the beginning of the legislature, 24 bodies have been exhumed, 13 victims identified and eight remains returned to their families during 2025. “With this new phase in Ses Figueretes, we reaffirm our will to advance in the location and identification of the victims and the restitution of their memory,” moved the general director of Institutional Relations and with the Parliament, Xesca Ramis, present at the start of the work.
