Thread: Women's murders rise in city on U.S.-Mexico border

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01243442.htm

Women's murders rise in city on U.S.-Mexico border
01 Dec 2005 19:16:14 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Tim Gaynor

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The number of women murdered in this notorious city on the U.S. border has surged this year, despite a government effort to crack down on crime, prosecutors said on Thursday.

More than 340 women have been strangled, beaten and stabbed to death in Ciudad Juarez, south of El Paso, Texas, in a 12-year killing spree that has provoked outrage in Mexico and abroad and led to calls for decisive government action to end the crimes.

Chihuahua state prosecutors said 30 women and young girls were murdered in the industrial city from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, compared with 19 murders in all of 2004, when Mexican President Vicente Fox created a special prosecutor's office to probe the crimes.

Some killings have been particularly gruesome. A 2-month-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered last month.

Rights groups in the past criticized authorities' handling of the investigations, saying they were marred by inefficiency and corruption.

But prosecutors said they had charged suspects in 80 percent of the murders committed this year and could not be blamed for the sharp increase.

"Our job is not crime prevention. ... While the murder rate has regrettably risen (in recent months), this year has been the most effective to date for prosecutors," said Claudia Cony Velarde, assistant attorney general in Juarez.

Various motives have been put forward over the years to account for the murders, around a third of which involved rape or sexual assault, but none has been widely accepted.

Some theories blame serial killers and rogue drug cartels, but Velarde said about 80 percent of the recent murders fit a pattern of "domestic or intrafamily violence."

"There isn't a serial killer loose on the streets. The majority of the crimes were committed by someone from within the victim's own household," she said.

One group working with victims' families broadly agreed with Velarde's analysis, although they still hold serious concerns about the way authorities have handled cases.

"The federal, state and city authorities do need to work closely together to end impunity and solve the crimes, but a real prevention campaign is needed in order to eradicate gender violence," said Victoria Caraveo, who represents the families of about 30 murder victims from the city.

"It's not enough just to advise women not to walk in dark alleys or to tell them to keep their parents informed of their movements. The causes run much deeper than that," she said.

Many victims were poor working mothers employed in factories in the industrial city of 1.3 million people.

Even Oprah had an article on this - about women and girls being murdered in mexico with connections to the police and probably the sex industry.
whats mr foxy doing about this?

There have been over 300 murders in all. And that is just the bodies that have been FOUND! There are others still in the desert.

Most are the women from the maquilas on the Mexican side of the border. They leave for work or leave from work and never come home.

Every year, there is a vigil to mourn them. That started a few years back.

The Mexican police arrested two bus drivers a year or so ago who proved to be totally innocent of any wrong doing. It is suspected that the Mexican police are among the murderers.