Female homicides in Ciudad Juárez

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The phenomenon of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, called in Spanish the feminicidios ("femicides") or las muertas de Juárez ("The dead women of Juárez"), involves the violent death of hundreds of women since 1993 in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. Most of the cases remain unsolved.^[1]

[edit] The homicides

According to the Organization of American States's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights:

[edit] Reactions

On May 30, 2005, President Vicente Fox told reporters that the majority of the Juárez killings had been resolved and the perpetrators placed behind bars. He went on to criticize the media for "rehashing" the same 300 or 400 murders, and said matters needed to be seen in their "proper dimension".^[2] In response, the congressional special commission for the killings said that the president needed to be better informed about the situation.^{[citation needed]}

A group of mothers, families, and friends of the victims, called Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa A.C. ("Our daughters to come back home, civil association") was formed to raise awareness about the situation and put pressure on the Mexican government to pay attention to these cases, some of which have gone unsolved for 12 years. Members of the group, including co-founder Norma Andrade, demand that proper investigations be carried out.

Another family organization, Voces sin Eco ("voices without echo") was founded in 1998. They painted pink crosses on black telephone poles to draw attention to the problem and align themselves with family values.^[3]

An informal group, which the press named Las Mujeres de Negro ("the women in black"), originated in November 2001 in the city of Chihuahua, following the discovery of eight corpses together. They attended the protest, which interrupted the celebration of the Mexican Revolution, wearing black tunics (as a sign of mourning) and pink hats. Since then, they have marched across the desert from Chihuahua to Juárez and planted crosses (sometimes with plastic limbs attached) in prominent places.^[4]

To protest the lack of progress in the cases, a huge free concert was held by famous Latin artists such as Alejandro Sanz, Alex Ubago, Manu Chao, Lila Downs and others on September 18, 2005 in Mexico City's central Zócalo square.^[5]

In 1999, singer Tori Amos reacted to the accounts of the murders with her song "Juarez" on the album To Venus And Back.

In 2000, El Paso post-hardcore band At the Drive-In released a music video for their song "Invalid Litter Dept." that details the deaths. The video features several photos of newspaper clippings and articles about the murders.

In 2001, filmmaker Lourdes Portillo released one of the first documentaries dedicated to the victims of the murders, "Señorita Extraviada".

In 2002, U.S. border journalist Diana Washington Valdez published an investigative newspaper series in the El Paso Times about the murders titled "Death Stalks the Border."

In the same year Polish journalists Eliza Kowalewska and Grzegorz Madej released a TV series about crimes in Juárez.^[6] Journalists cooperated with crime experts Robert Ressler and Candice Skrapec. This series was shown on Polish television TVN in 2003.

In 2003, journalist Max Blumenthal won the Online News Association independent feature award for his investigative article in Salon.com, "Day of the Dead", which examined the murders and the connection between them and the policies of the corporations with factories in the border city.^[7]

In 2004, Mexican norteño group Los Tigres del Norte released a song called "Las Mujeres de Juárez" (The Women of Juarez) on their Pacto de Sangre album. Juárez mayor Héctor Murguía denounced the song, saying that it painted a false picture about the "real face of Juárez."

In 2004, Greek documentary team Exandas, released a production titled "Juarez, City of the Dead, women" featuring interviews with several relatives, maquiladora workers and owners and showcasing police corruption, evidence tampering practices and collaboration with one of the Mexican drug cartels, whose members emerge as the most likely culprits.

In 2005, Diana Washington Valdez published "Cosecha de Mujeres: Safari en el desierto Mexicano" [Oceano/Mexico/Spain], an investigative book in Spanish exposing the murders. Despite sabotage to the book and attempts to block its distribution, it was a finalist for the Ulysses Lettre Award for international reportage.

In 2006, Diana Washington Valdez published "The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women" [Peace at the Border/California/First Ed.], an investigative book in English about the Juárez women's murders, drug cartels and government corruption in Mexico. The ebook version was titled Harvest of Women: Safari in Mexico."

In 2006, Los Angeles filmmaker Lorena Mendez produced Border Echoes, a documentary about the Juarez women's murders based on nearly 10 years of investigation. She collaborated with Diana Washington Valdez for the film.

In 2006, Gregory Nava directed a movie called Bordertown with Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas.

In 2006, the poet Marjorie Agosin published a book of poems on the Juarez women's murders titled Secrets in the Sand: the young women of Juarez.

In 2007 The Daughters of Juarez by 11 time Emmy award winning journalist Teresa Rodriguez was published, the most recent book on the murders. Teresa Rodriguez is a reporter for Univisión, the largest Spanish-language television network in the United States. There, she co-anchors the critically aclaimed and award winning news magazine "Aqui y Ahora". She has been investigating and reporting on the Juarez murders for over 10 years.

In 2007, Toronto filmmakers Alex Flores and Lorena Vassolo released Juarez, a documentary film about the murders.

[edit] External links

• City of Missing Women, Stern Magazine (Germany) written by Jan Wiechmann, photographs by Timothy Fadek
• Press release: The Truth Behind the Juarez Murders - documentary film, by Lorena Mendez-Quiroga
• Lourdes Portillo, Señorita Extraviada ("Missing young lady", 2001 video) ISBN 0807861731
• Juárez police drop 72-hour requirement for missing persons reports May 2005
• (Spanish) Cosecha de mujeres. El safari mexicano,("Harvesting women, the Mexican safari", article by Diana Washington, at La Jornada
• (Spanish) Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa A.C. ("May our daughters be returned to our homes, civil association").
• Mexico Solidarity Network A 2004 online booklet on the femicides.
• Women of Juarez Australian website.
• http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=S21szFgtwtU. 420 women killed in Ciudad Juarez, a shortfilm by Rocco Trigueros.
• http://lynnie-disposablepeople.blogspot.com. Disposable Women of Juarez.
• http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Crooked-Nose-Obsession-Forensic/dp/140006533X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212344089&sr=8-1

by Ted Botha Forensic artistFrank Bender's life story intertwined with his most challenging case "The Jaurez Murders" published by Random House, May 2008.