Murders of
Women and Girls In Juarez, Mexico
250 Murders Prompt Mexico Anti-Violence Campaign
During the past eight years, the bodies of an estimated 250 young Mexican
women, all poor, most under age 19, were dumped near the Texas border.
Advocates say the unsolved murder cases illustrate an acceptance of
violence against women.
MEXICO CITY (WOMENSENEWS
)--Women's groups, human rights organizations and unions have launched
a national anti-violence campaign in response to the murders of an estimated
250 women over eight years in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from
El Paso, Tex. The campaign's leaders condemn what they call inadequate
police investigation into the deaths and demand the federal government
step in.
The national campaign involving 300 organizations is called "Stop the
Impunity: No More Killings!"
Because Mexico is sensitive to international pressure, the campaign
is planning an international lobbying effort, with the help of Amnesty
International. Advocates also have received the support of Eve Ensler,
creator of "The Vagina Monologues," a one-woman play about all aspects
of women's sexuality, and of the international V-Day anti-violence campaign.
The proceeds from the play's performance in Mexico will go to the rape
crisis center Casa Amiga to help defray the costs of caskets for recent
murder victims.
"All these deaths do not only affect Juarez people. They affect the
whole Mexican citizenship, and women in particular," said Lidia Alpizar,
general coordinator of Elige ("Choose") Network of Young People in Favor
of Sexual and Reproductive Rights. She addressed a news conference here
last Friday at the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion
of Human Rights.
The campaign arose after the bodies of eight more women were found last
month in a farming field in Cuidad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua.
The women, all of them very young, were raped and strangled before being
dumped in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. It is not known
exactly how many women were murdered in Ciudad Juarez since 1993, when
the first bodies were found, given the flawed police investigation,
according to local and national women rights' groups. Yet, current estimates,
based on statements and press reports, place the number of bodies found
at more than 250.
Most of these women were raped and/or beaten before being killed. About
90 of them were found mutilated or tortured, suggesting that some of
the crimes could be serial murders.
Most Victims Were Under 19, Students and Workers
The victims were young: 65 percent of them between 15 and 24 and most
of them under age 19. Most were students or workers in small commercial
businesses or in "maquiladoras," foreign-owned assembly plants. Most
of them were poor and lived in the marginal sections of the city. Many
were not from Ciudad Juarez, but went there from other Mexican states
or other countries in search of work.
The motives for the murders are obscure. Theories include drug or organ
trafficking or the use of the women in the filming of so-called snuff
movies that feature the sexual assault and murder of women.
The campaign is insisting that federal authorities start investigating
the unsolved cases, said Ximena Andion, coordinator of the complaints
division of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of
Human Rights.
President Vicente Fox has announced that the attorney general's office
would take part in the investigation, but advocates were skeptical,
saying they hoped the government was making a serious commitment, not
just responding briefly to public outrage.
The campaign's leadership is also asking that Marta Altoguirre, the
rapporteur for women's rights of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights,
visit Mexico and issue recommendations on the situation of women in
Ciudad Juarez. In addition, the campaign's leadership plans to ask the
court to review some of the unsolved cases.
The lack of serious investigation into the murders by the local police
regarding was documented in a 1998 report from the National Human Rights
Commission based on a look at files produced by the police after each
murder. The report said the files were missing crucial information and
many did not contain pictures of the corpse that could lead to identification.
The police had been unable to identify some victims and had misidentified
others, the report said.
One Man Convicted, 12 Jailed As Investigations Continue
Perhaps as a direct result of poor police work, only one man was sentenced
for murdering a woman in Ciudad Juarez. Women say the other cases remain
unsolved; police say only 55 murders are unsolved. Another 12 suspects
are currently in jail, awaiting trial on murder charges. Some of them
have been imprisoned since 1996. Two were arrested after the recent
discovery of the eight bodies. In some cases, the police are said to
lack proof of jailed men's guilt but they remain jailed while the investigation
continues. In other cases, the suspects recanted after making confessions,
claiming that they were tortured and forced to confess, according to
Julia Perez, a spokesperson for Milenio Feminista, a network of 250
feminist organizations.
The continued murders and the lack of effective prosecutions have created
a climate of impunity, according to Alpizar of the youth organization
for sexual and reproductive freedom. As an illustration, she said that
these days a common warning from a man to his girlfriend in Ciudad Juarez
is that she'd better do what he wishes, otherwise he will "dump her
at Lomas del Poleo," one of the sites where corpses were found.
Another consequence of the unsolved cases is that women rights' groups
do not have the information necessary to better focus their prevention
campaigns on the most vulnerable women, said Victoria Caraveo, spokesperson
for the Coordinating Group of Non-Governmental Organizations for Women's
Rights.
Still, prevention efforts are underway.
At the same time the national campaign was launched here, organizations
in Ciudad Juarez started a 50-hour prevention program called "Light
and Justice for Women in our City." Residents lighted candles to show
their support of the fight against violence towards women.
But what a prevention campaign cannot do so easily is change the city's
economic and socio-cultural context that, according to Alpizar, contributes
to the climate of extreme violence against women.
In a City of Immigrants, Many Work in Foreign-Owned Plants
Ciudad Juarez is city of immigrants, a city of very poor people, crowded
with people trying to cross into the United States, explained Alpizar
in a recent interview. The government's response to the need for economic
development has been to assist the growth of maquiladoras. "It's an
answer that violates all the individual's social and economic rights,"
she said.
There are many more victims than those whose bodies were discovered,
added Caraveo, of the Coordinating Group of Non-Governmental Organizations
for Women's Rights. The murdered women were the first casualties, but
their suffering families' are additional victims, she added, saying
that the crimes hurt the entire community because they generate fear
and anguish among many women and their relatives, to the point of psychosis
in some cases.
But the situation in Ciudad Juarez is only the tip of the iceberg of
the violence towards women in Mexico, said Alpizar.
"Juarez is simply one of the saddest and most tragic examples of the
violence that we women live in Mexico," she said.
More than 100 women were murdered in Mexico City this year, and 36 in
the northern state of Nuevo Leon, according to Perez, of Milenio Feminista.
And thousands of women are "desaparecidas," or missing, Perez said in
an interview. The state of Chihuahua counts about 400 "desaparecidas,"
while the state of Chiapas has about 300 and Guerrero, 150.
These numbers--which do not take into account the everyday domestic
violence that many women suffer--and the lack of investigation and prosecution
demonstrate the misogyny of the Mexican system justice, according to
Perez.
"The judge is the first one who thinks: 'Well, she was seeking it,'"
she said.
"If from the people who have to give justice, the message is that women
are the guilty ones, it's really serious, because it's like giving men
carte blanche, saying, 'It doesn't matter if you kill a woman.' "
Only 11 of 32 States Make Domestic Violence a Crime
The laws also fail to protect women, according to Perez. Only 9 out
of 32 states have specific laws protecting children and women against
domestic violence, and only 11 states have changed their 17th-century
civil and penal codes to make domestic violence a crime. In the remaining
states, beating wives or children is not considered a crime.
And, in a worrisome trend, legislators in some states are trying to
rescind laws that were passed to protect women.
"Beyond the individual culprits of these murders, there is a state responsibility,
because of the state's neglect, that fostered violence," said Andion
of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.
"Tolerating this violence is also, according to international conventions,
a form of wielding violence."
Laurence Pantin is a journalist based in Mexico City.
STARK CONTRAST IN BORDER MURDER RATES
Courtesy NMSU
The City of El Paso ranks lower in violent crime than many regional
cities of similar size, according to new FBI figures released in late
May. The murder rate of 5 for every 100,000 people places the city 18th
among 23 Texas cities with populations over 100,000. In 1996 there were
only 30 reported murders in the City, 245 reported rapes and 1,195 robberies.
Reported rapes and robberies have risen slightly over 1995 figures from
242 and 1,076 respectively, while reported murders have declined from
37 in 1995.
These figures are in stark contrast to the violence rate just across
the border in Ciudad Juarez, where there have been 100 reported murders
during the first 6 months of 1997 alone, a rate of 18 murders per 100,000
or more than 3 times the 1996 rate of its neighbor to the north, El
Paso. According to an El Paso Times interview with El Paso Police Department
spokesperson, Al Velarde on that city's lower crime rate, he characterised
the Juarez murder rate as "outrageous" and stated that the entire area
is in a drug corridor. A Diario de Juarez article stated that there
have been 33 reported drug overdoses in the city so far this year.
Other verifiable statistics on crime in Juarez have been difficult to
locate, but according to published information used in a May FNS story,
Juarez Mayor Ramon Galindo stated that the armed robbery rate of businesses
in Juarez has declined in March 1997 to 34 robberies per month down
from a high of 84 robberies in March of 96. While this rate is apparently
just crimes against businesses, it is a rate far below the El Paso 1996
rate of 1,195 robberies or nearly 100 per month.
The population of El Paso is estimated at 660,000 and the population
of Ciudad Juarez is estimated at 1,100,000.
Sources: El Paso Times, Diario de Juarez, INEGI on-line statistics
Friday, 12 January, 2001, 16:42
GMT
City of Dreams
Courtesy BBC
The Mexican police have arrested an Egyptian chemist, suspected of murdering
over 200 people in the border town of Juarez in the past seven years.
But have they got the right man? Bruno Sorrentino investigates.
The victims are mostly young female assembly line workers in the maquiladoras
factories owned by high profile multinationals such as GE, GM, RCA,
and Chrysler.
These conglomerates are drawn to the Chihuahua desert town just across
the Rio Grande from the US city of El Paso-by the tax free status and
cheap labour.
This proximity - just a matter of yards between the sprawling makeshift
city of rural migrants, on one side, and high tech America, on the other
- results in a potent and often dangerous concoction.
All the women died in similar circumstances in the desert surrounding
the factories.
Public confidence at an all time low
For years, the authorities have failed dismally to produce a credible
suspect while the death toll has mounted. Is there one, or are there
several serial killers on the prowl, or perhaps some homicidal maniac
who moves freely across the border?
After sustained criticism for their embarrassing failure to produce
a credible suspect, the investigators came up with what seemed like
the perfect monster. An Egyptian chemist by the name of Abdel Latif
Sharif, stands accused of being a serial killer. So relieved were the
public at the arrest that his name instantly became a by word for evil.
Serial killer or scape goat
In Juarez he is simply known as 'Sharif'. But public relief was only
short lived: the murders have continued after his arrest.
And although there is no evidence that Sharif has killed anyone, the
national and international press repeat parrot fashion the official
line that Sharif is the serial killer of Juarez.
In a major newspaper article, investigative journalist Rosa Isela Perez
has extensively revealed details of fraud in the authorities handling
of the Sharif case.
Her investigation indicates that Sharif is being used as a scapegoat
by the authorities to cover their own inefficiency and corruption.
Her article has been kept under wraps by her newspaper.
Rosa has been followed and harassed by unknown men who she believes
are undercover government agents trying to frighten her into abandoning
her investigation.
Women of Juarez blame police
Women's organisations have become increasingly vocal in the criticism
of the authorities, and believe the murders may be the result of some
deep rooted social phenomenon, more symptomatic of a predominantly macho
society at odds with itself.
For young female workers, factory jobs mean a break with the conservative
customs of the traditional family and village. They live independently,
emulating the lifestyle of women just north of the border as they become
the main breadwinners.
Public officials have added to fears that a patriarchal backlash may
be taking place by condemning the murder victims themselves for having
lived free and independent lives gained from their jobs in the factories.
But in truth, the women are far from liberated by the work. They are
employed because they are cheap and easily exploitable - for their $10
dollar a day pay.
They all face extreme work conditions, including menstruation checks
to prove they're not pregnant.
In a culture still dominated by machismo, this new perceived female
independence has fuelled male resentment: the murdered women may be
casualties of a vast conflict in a society ill prepared for rapid change.
City of Dreams: 1850 GMT, Saturday 13th January 2001 on BBC 2.
Writer/Director: Bruno Sorrentino
Series Producer: Farah Durrani
Editor: Fiona Murch
To read the transcript, please click here.
To catch a killer: FBI to aid
Mexican police in series of unsolved killings
02/05/99
By Nancy San Martin / The Dallas
Morning News
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - The FBI is looking for a killer. Agents won't
stop at the U.S. border to find the guilty.
Under an unprecedented arrangement, a team of FBI agents specializing
in the psychological profiling of serial killers will arrive in Ciudad
Juarez next month to help Mexican authorities solve a series of gruesome
slayings that authorities believe has taken the lives of nearly 200
young women.
Authorities in this border city across from El Paso say they may be
looking for more than one killer.
The FBI's cooperative effort follows another slaying discovered this
week. Soccer players stumbled across the corpse in a field on the outskirts
of town, within sight of guard towers for the state penitentiary.
"These homicides are up to a point where we have to do whatever is possible
to resolve it," said Steve Salter, a public safety adviser for the state
of Chihuahua who enlisted the FBI's help.
The unsolved killings began in 1993, according to statistics from the
medical examiner's office. At least 50 of the victims, including the
most recent, were strangled.
What concerns authorities most is the similarity in about 30 of the
cases: The victims are young, dark-haired, slender women whose bodies
often show signs of mutilation and rape. Those similarities fuel the
theory that a serial killer may be lurking.
Three experts from the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent
Crime in Quantico, Va., will test that theory when they arrive on March
8.
"The FBI is not going to come and tell us who is responsible for this,
but they are going to tell us what kind of person is responsible," said
Mr. Salter, an American working under contract with Chihuahua authorities.
The agents will stay in Juarez for a week and give Mexican officials
guidance on what areas to concentrate on. They will be looking at things
like the time of day the slayings were committed, the ages of the victims
and where they fit in the social structure.
Many of the dead women worked at assembly plants known as maquiladoras,
prompting fear among the facilities' largely female workforce.
"I think it's great the FBI is going to help because too many women
have disappeared," said Martha Arellanes, 32, a maquila worker. "We
are part of society and the authorities need to take care of us, too."
Dr. Irma Rodriguez Galarza, a forensic specialist, is skeptical about
the serial killer theory. She speculates that some of the deaths may
be the result of a troublesome change in the psyche of Mexican men as
Ciudad Juarez continues to evolve as a player in the global economy.
"There exists a rivalry, professionally and economically, between men
and women," Dr. Rodriguez said. "Women don't stay at home anymore. They
have more liberty now, liberty that puts them at risk.
"I'm sure that the FBI, as experts, will come to the conclusion that
this is not the work of a serial killer but of a social criminological
phenomena - a product of a loss of values and influence of drugs and
alcohol," Dr. Rodriguez said.
Mexican authorities have pointed to gang members and copycat killers
and have even raised the possibility that the deaths could be the work
of one or more Americans crossing the border.
Within the past three years, several suspects have been charged with
some of the killings. But there have been no convictions.
The dirt soccer field where the most recent victim was found has been
a dumping ground for at least two other women, Chihuahua state police
said.
Throughout the week, Mexican authorities combed the field in search
of evidence. They also released a composite of the victim, believed
to be 18 to 20 years old. No one has yet come forward to claim the body.
Authorities said their biggest obstacle in solving the cases is citizens'
refusal to step forward with information that could aid the investigation.
Some residents said the reluctance is due to a lack of trust of police
officers and fear of retaliation from the criminals.
"Here, criminals with money tend to go free and those without money
are on vacation in Cereso [prison]," said Cenovio Miranda, 43, an area
resident, pointing to the penitentiary near the soccer field as police
worked. "People don't like to get involved."
Tuesday, August 4, 1998 Published at 22:12 GMT 23:12 UK
World: Americas
FBI hunts for Mexico killer
Courtesy 1998 BBC
Many women's bodies have been found dumped on waste ground
The BBC's Tom Carver says it will be a long time before the women of
Mexico receive the protection they need.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is joining the hunt for a serial
killer believed to be behind a wave of murders in a town just over the
Mexican border.
It is thought that nearly 120 women have been killed so far and the
manner of their deaths suggests it is the work of one man.
Evidence suggests work of an organised serial killer
The US criminal psychologist, Robert Ressler, says he believes the murderer
could be an American citizen who crosses the border to commit his crimes.
Mexican police in the border town, Jaurez, have arrested one man, but
the murders have continued at the rate of about one a fortnight.
Lured by work
Many women are drawn to the town by prospects of employment at foreign-owned
factories - for which they are paid an average of $5 a day.
Victim's sister: still traumatized
Ahalia was one woman who worked in these factories. But on March 13
she never returned.
A month later her body was found stuffed into a storm drain. Like many
of the other female victims, she had been raped and strangled.
She left behind a five-year-old daughter.
But despite the large number of victims, the women's families are usually
poor and have little influence over the authorities investigating the
crime.
A BBC correspondent says the police are anxious to play down the possibility
of a serial-killer and often seem indifferent to the victims.
The Chief Prosecutor, Jorge Lopez Molinar, said: "Some of the cases
have already been solved and have no relation to the others."
Mr Ressler studies the evidence
But despite their apparent confidence, Mexican police have asked for
help from Mr Ressler.
He believes the murderer could be an American.
"A shrewd, clever serial killer, taking advantage of crossing the border,
doing his deed, and coming back leaving no clues behind - it's very
much a reality that has to be considered," he said.