May 25, 2005
This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBW4RK869E.html

Thousands of Teachers March Against Disappearance, Killings in Mexican Border City
The Associated Press


CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) - More than 3,000 teachers marched through the border city of Ciudad Juarez on Wednesday to demand authorities find an elementary school teacher who went missing three weeks ago, and stop a string of killings of young girls.
The teachers marched to city hall in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, carrying photos of Edith Aranda, a 22-year-old teacher who disappeared May 3, and a banner that read "Teacher Edith, we wait for your return. We demand justice."

Federal investigators say more than 350 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since 1993. About 100 killings in the area follow an eerily similar pattern in which young women were sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in the desert.

Aranda was last seen in downtown Ciudad Juarez, where many of the victims of the string of unsolved killings against women where last seen.

The protesters also called on authorities to do more to protect children after two girls, ages 7 and 10, were sexually assaulted and killed this month.

"What teacher would be next? What student will be next?" shouted a man speaking to the crowd.

AP-ES-05-25-05 2017EDT