Blog #3: Factors

Please watch this video on Dual Injustice: Femicide and Torture in Ciudad Juarez:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5419nIVp8&feature=related

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico has been portrayed as an area plagued with drug cartels, political and police corruption, prostitution, and migrant-smuggling rings as well as a rapidly ballooning population.  Much of this population was due to the Macquiladora Factories being built in this region.  Very rapidly, female factory workers in search of better opportunities began migrating to the city and these factories looking for cheap labor with much eager to employ them.  Over time, Juarez became a city with much activity and a bustling nightlife.  Unfortunately, many of these women started disappearing and being murdered. 

Most of these murdered women in Juarez were from the lower levels of society.  They were young, poor, and vulnerable and ultimately were more likely to be attacked.  Due to the nature of their work, women were often held and forced to work overtime.  As a result, this often meant walking long distances alone at night. 

Corruption, laziness, irresponsibility of investigations, and apathy of investigators can be blamed for why murders continue to occur.  In Mexico, homicide is a state crime and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of the state police.  Local authorities are not responsible for investigating crimes; however they are often the first to arrive at the site of a murder and can affect how well the crime scene is preserved.  They have disgracefully failed in investigating the murders of women and collecting and preserving key evidence, such as clothing, fibers, fluids, and even the victims’ remains. They have mixed up DNA tests, destroyed important evidence, and have allegedly returned some young women’s remains to the wrong families.  There are groups of volunteers that organize searches in the desert areas and they discover bodies and evidence left behind by authorities.  Authorities have ignored important leads, and have incorrectly identified victims, or failed to identify them at all.  This is all to be blamed on the judicial system and injustice that is occurring there.       

Authorities have carried out arrests simply to reduce public concerns over the murders.  Many detainees have been tortured into providing false confessions.  Methods of torture include beatings, electric shocks, simulated executions, suffocation, and deprivation of food and water.   This behavior by authorities reflects a desire to scapegoat convenient suspects. 

Since homicide is a state crime in Mexico, the federal authorities do not become involved and investigate unless the murders are directly linked to federal crimes such as weapons or drug trafficking, or if the murders were committed specifically for the purpose to commit a federal crime.  When a federal crime occurs and authorities become involved, they have encountered resistance from the state police.  State Authorities have refused to share evidence, autopsy reports, witness information, and other any other information that may help authorities investigate the murders.


References


Washington Office on Latin America: Crying Out for Justice: Murders of Women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. March 2005.  
Nathan, Debbie: The Juarez Murders. Amnesty International Magazine.
Fregreso, Rosa Linda. "Mexican encounters: the making of social identities on the borderlands. University of California, Berkeley, 2003.
NACLA Report on the Americas. Combating Impunity and Femicide in Ciudad Juarez. May/June 2008.