The Dead Women in Juarez

In 2003, ten years after the first registered homicides of women in Ciudad Juarez, the official reports counted 263 murders, as well as 4,587 reports of disappeared persons during the same decade.

Among the common characteristics of the homicides are torture, rape and death by strangulation; patterns that have only been identified but have never served authorities or the multiple attorneys assigned to the cases throughout the years for clearing any of the cases.

Added to the disappearances and homicides is the inefficiency in solving them, investigations that have not been properly prepared and there is very few information regarding the role of each government office responsible for communicating with society.

In 2005, the Human Rights National Commission (CNDH) presented the report “Integral evaluation of the actions carried out by the three government fields in relation to femicides in Juarez Municipality, Chihuahua”. For the two years since it was assigned to the Evaluation Commission, until the edition of this report, 38 more cases have been added.

That organism’s conclusion is that there is no commitment from authorities, and especially from the Federal Government, particularly with the Commission for Preventing and Eradicating Violence against Women in Ciudad Juarez.

From the document and events derive multiple interpretations that recognize the State of Chihuahua as a site ruled by impunity, because besides the homicides, violence against women and deprivation of liberty are predominant.

The Mexican Government, in response to the report presented by CNDH, has stated that different authorities, as in the case of the Secretary of State, in 2003, coordinated efforts for strengthening the rights of affected persons. Such actions refer to justice support, crime prevention, social promotion and the protection of human rights for the women in Juarez.

There have been investigations by the three government fields: Federal, State and Municipal, and no matter the programs and recommendations in each area, what is certain is that there hasn’t been a satisfactory result for the society of Juarez nor society in general.

In response, civil society has made multiple complaints to the public opinion in books, hundreds of newspaper articles, television shows, short and feature films, conferences and art, all referring to the topic of the dead women of Ciudad Juarez.

The situation of the investigations, even after being many times officially assigned by responsible commitments of various governments, there is no final report by the Federal Government clearly dealing with the origin of the homicides, the names of suspects or anyone arrested.

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Artículo Producido por el Equipo Editorial Explorando México.
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Foto: Angelines Vega