Network Updates
The Network without Borders for Women's Life and Liberty was created at the "Feminicide = Sanctioned Murder" conference, held at Stanford University on May 19th, 2007.
LETTER FROM LOURDES PORTILLO AND GEMMA CUBERO
Dear Rebecca:
We are writing to you today to ask for help on behalf of the mothers of the women and girls murdered and disappeared in Ciudad Juárez Chihuahua. The mothers and relatives have faced innumerable obstacles to attain justice. They have been relegated to a response where they march in a circle in front of the Fiscalia in Ciudad Juárez every first Thursday of every month at 11A.M.
This simple, but powerful gesture was inspired by the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina. Paula Flores, mother of Sagrario Gonzales and Malu Andrade sister of Lilia Alejandra Garcia Andrade are the leaders of this group. This monthly event is allowing the families to stay visible, and in some way has captured the imagination of the authorities, since they have recently made declarations that they will start a campaign of cleaning up the image of Ciudad Juárez.
The Pink crosses we now associate with this city have become the symbol of the women of Juarez and it was precisely Paula Flores who thought to use that symbol, that has traveled around the globe, but it was first painted on the light posts around Ciudad Juárez, Paula Flores and other relatives have continued to paint them over the years in memory of their loved ones.
During last month's march the mothers made an announcement that they would be painting new crosses in one of the main and new avenues of Juarez, one that leads to the neighborhood where most of the murdered women lived. This plan was announced in the local newspapers, and the Mayor of Juarez in response, threatened to "apply the law" (aplicar la ley) if they paint the crosses. (Please see attached article)
On behalf of a network of people who support the mothers right to justice, we are asking for your help to protect the mothers from any further abuse.
We are asking that some high profile sympathizers be present as witnesses during the "painting of the crosses" by the mothers that will take place on Sunday Oct 7.
We are graciously and specifically asking that you contact Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, since they have worked with WITNESS and are sympathizers of this tragic cause. Their presence would be a powerful deterrent to any abuse that might occur to the mothers. It will bring renewed attention to their cause, that has been largely ignored by the authorities, and certainly, the mothers and relatives would be enormously grateful.
We appreciate your intervention on their behalf.
Lourdes Portillo and Gemma Cubero
Representatives of Red sin Fronteras por la Vida y la Libertad de las Mujeres
For more information about the members of La Red and its purpose go to:
IN SPANISH: http://ccsre.stanford.edu/feminicide/Spanish/resoluciones.html
IN ENGLISH: http://ccsre.stanford.edu/feminicide/resolutions.html
REPORT ON THE JULY 5 PROTEST, JUAREZ, MEXICO
WRITTEN BY ROSA-LINDA FREGOSO
As we had accorded during the organizational meeting in Stanford when we created the Network without Borders for Women's Life and Liberty, the first protest took place today, July 5, 2007, in front of the Fiscalía Mixta para la Atención de Delitos contra Mujeres in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Relatives of the murdered and disappeared women led the protest, marching in silence for one hour, wearing white shirts with photographs of one of the murdered or disappeared victims. Those of us who came to support the relatives and witness the protest were very moved by the power, dignity and fortitude exhibited by the relatives. We also hope that today's protest succeeds in drawing attention to the issue. There were over 300 in attendance, including relatives and supporters from the U.S. and Mexico, in addition to members of the television and print media who interviewed many of the participants.
A couple of disturbing incidents to report: A few blocks into Ciudad Juárez, the U.S. group was approached by the Municipal Police who asked what the purpose of our visit was. (We were each carrying huge “pink crosses" so I guess we stood out). Anyway, the police assured us that they were there to provide us with "vigilancia" and just in case, we made sure to take a few photographs of them. During the protest, a number of young women who were with Pilar [Sánchez] from Casa Amiga, and were carrying placards and signs of protest, were verbally assaulted by men who yelled out things like: "Its because of how they were dressed that they were assaulted"; or "they deserved it." Malú also noticed people inside the Fiscalía who were laughing at the protest, and so she asked me to take pictures of them.
The day before the protests, Irene Simmons, who heads the Redressing Injustice project, held a dressmaking workshop with approximately 15 mothers from Cd. Juárez and Chihuahua City. Mothers and relatives displayed the dresses as part of the protest march around the plaza. After the protest, the relatives and other supporters convened at a local restaurant and planned the next event, scheduled for August 2nd, in Chihuahua City. Irene Simmons has agreed to travel to Chihuahua City to lead a dressmaking workshop with the mothers in Chihuahua City and the mothers from Ciudad Juárez agreed to join the protest in Chihuahua City.
The following founding attending members of the Network without Borders for Women's Life and Liberty were present at the Ciudad Juárez protest: Paula Flores, Eva Arce, Malú García Andrade, Pilar Sánchez Rivera, Marisela Ortiz, Cynthia Bejarano, Rosa-Linda Fregoso, Adriana Carmona.
November 15, 2007
Women's/ Human Rights News
NMSU Honors Femicide Fighters
In one way or another, Esther Chavez Cano has touched countless lives throughout the world. In the judgment of El Paso labor activist Victor Munoz, collaborating with the longtime Ciudad Juárez women's rights activist shaped "who I am."
Assigned to cover the Ciudad Juárez women's murders for CNN in the 1990s, journalist Brian Barger was amazed by the boxes of newspaper clippings about the femicides Chavez had collected. Long before few cared, the founder of the March 8 Feminist Group was methodically documenting and publicly denouncing the rape-murders of young women whose bodies were dumped on the desert outskirts of Ciudad Juárez.
Profoundly moved by the crimes, Barger quit the reporting beat and helped Chavez found Casa Amiga, Ciudad Juárez's rape crisis and domestic violence center, back in 1999. The experience, Barger said recently at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces (NMSU), "changed my life."
Suffering from cancer, Chavez was honored at a November 9 NMSU ceremony attended by Munoz, Barger and other friends who gathered to celebrate the life of a Mexican feminist whose legacy will endure in the university's library, which now contains the Esther Chavez Cano Papers 1990-2006. Personally donated by Chavez, the papers cover the history of the Ciudad Juárez femicides as well as other developments related to women's and labor issues in the Mexican border city.
"NMSU is profoundly honored to accept the donation of the Esther Chavez Papers to the Rio Grande Historical Collections of the library, said Dr. Waded Cruzado-Salas, NMSU executive vice-president and provost. Praising Chavez's leadership, Dr. Cruzado-Salas said the human rights advocate's work assured that the "voices of the silenced" wouldn't be forgotten.
In an interview with Frontera NorteSur after the emotional celebration, Chavez reflected on the long struggle of Ciudad Juárez's women to combat gender violence and win justice. Chavez's best-known accomplishment was the establishment of the non-profit Casa Amiga as an institution of survival and healing for violence-tormented women and children.
Struggling out of an old house near the city's downtown for many years, Casa Amiga now occupies a large, modern facility in the southern section of the city that serves thousands of clients every year. Casa Amiga has inspired the creation of similar centers in a city where battered and assaulted women once had nowhere to turn. Still not satisfied, Chavez said she would like to establish a second center.
"I don't know if I have time, but it's urgent for me to open another (Casa Amiga) where we were in the city before, Chavez affirmed, "because the distances are such and the poverty is so great that a woman from the (other) side of the city who wants to visit us has to spend half her salary in a day just to go, because she has to take three buses, which are expensive,"
Observing Ciudad Juárez grow from economic investment and the North American Free Trade Agreement, Chavez contended that the city's workers have not enjoyed the fruits of the boom. In Chavez's view, Ciudad Juárez is saddled with a deadly underdevelopment that results in bizarre tragedies like this year's street cave-ins which killed a young girl who was walking to school, Jazmin Garcia, as well as a man who tried to rescue the 12-year-old child. "We are in the 21st Century," Chavez said in an incredulous tone.
After weathering years of battles and negotiations with successive Chihuahua state and municipal governments, Chavez assessed the gains and shortcomings of the women's movement. The seasoned activist cited as positive steps forward the creation of special prosecutorial divisions for women's homicides and sexual crimes, a new domestic violence law, legal system reforms, and the involvement of national and international human rights organizations in the Ciudad Juárez women's struggle.
Still, Chavez conveyed skepticism. "I ask myself constantly: If the mentality of judges and prosecutors doesn't change, the law might be good but it won't change anything."
Crediting the present Chihuahua state government for not trying to undermine Casa Amiga, Chavez maintained the current authorities have a better understanding of the gender violence problem-to an extent. Chavez charged that a "lack of political will" or a "cover-up" means scores of rape-murders linger in impunity.
"We have a lot of corruption," Chavez said. "It's not because I say it. You can see it in any newspaper you open up: an ex-cop kills a woman or an ex-cop was seen kidnapping....there's a cop involved in many of the Juarez crimes. It's known there is a pact between the police and those that sell drugs. A lot remains to be done."
Just days prior to Chavez's appearance at NMSU, a young mother, 22-year-old Claudia Elizabeth Gallegos Serranos, was found strangled to death and her body burned in Ciudad Juárez, according to press accounts. Questioning official statistics of the crimes, Chavez openly pondered: "Who are the real victims? How many disappeared are there in the city?"
Among others who were on hand in Las Cruces to honor Chavez was Paula Bonilla Flores, the mother of 1998 murder victim Maria Sagrario Gonzalez Flores. In a separate public presentation sponsored by the NMSU student group Advocates to Stop Chihuahua Femicides, Bonilla Flores retold the history of her daughter's brutal slaying and the long struggle for justice that followed it.
In 2005, Sagrario's family encouraged Chihuahua state police to arrest a suspect in the crime, Jose Luis Hernandez, who was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the young woman's murder last year. But Bonilla Flores, who said she was only notified of the sentence after making a special trip to the state prosecutor's office, quickly added that several other suspects in Sagrario's slaying were still free.
In May 2007, prompted by the numerous irregularities in the murder investigation of her daughter, Bonilla Flores filed a complaint against the Mexican government with the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the official human rights agency of the Organization of American States. Closer to home, Bonilla Flores and other relatives of femicide victims recently painted emblematic pink-background crosses along Ciudad Juárez's new Camino Real highway and, inspired by the Argentine mothers of the disappeared, began holding regular protests on the first Thursday of every month outside the offices of the Office of the Chihuahua State Attorney.
Like Chavez, Bonilla Flores is appalled by the efforts of some to sweep the murder cases under the rug or portray them as a "myth" or "black legend" that have stained Ciudad Juárez's reputation. "My daughter Sagrario is not a myth. I didn't make it up that I had a daughter named Sagrario. I didn't make it up that she was murdered in such a way," Bonilla Flores said in an interview after her well-attended talk. "My daughter existed, and I would tell you all to believe in the families and not in everything the authorities say. We have the truth in our hands and in the case files of the victims. There are no advances, nothing is resolved and there are no real investigations."
In Esther Chavez Cano's worldview, justice for Sagrario Gonzalez and many other women is truly an issue that transcends borders. "There's a lot to do, but there many more voices demanding justice, demanding changes. I think this is important. In spite of everything, more discordant voices are being born that say, 'I don't agree with this, I don't want this'," Chavez said. "Although you are Americans and we are Mexicans, the murdered women are the world's murdered women, because women are killed all over the world. We have to join together to bring an end to this."
-Kent Paterson
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Missing 15 year old, 3 women murdered in Juarez, more from Amigos
Please help publicize the disappearance of 15 year old Adriana Sarmiento Enriquez. She is a friend of one of our Amigos. She disappeared on her way home from school on Friday, January 18th. She is fifteen, 55 kilos, 155 cm, has hazel eyes and long brown hair. She was last seen by her friend when they departed from a bus stop on their way home from eating after school. Adriana disappeared sometime on her walk from the bus stop to her home.
Her mother, Tina Enriquez can be contacted in Juarez at 0115265666327463. She has a daughter, Veronica, who lives in El Paso and can be contacted at 915-564-5206.
http://www.amigosdemujeres.org/missing
Most recent murders
The level of violence in Juarez has escalated Since January 1, 2008, there have been 29 murders in Cuidad Juarez. Three of these were women. The latest murders are:
Jan. 18th, Maria Guadalupe Esparza Zavala died of stab wound to the heart. Her 12 year old daughter told police she and her stepfather had been arguing.
Jan. 20th, Mirna Yeremia Munoz Ledo Marin was found nude inside her house, stabbed several times.
Jan. 21st, Ericka Sonora Trejo, 38 and 8 months pregnant was found in the bathroom of her house. Police said her father-in-law allegedly bludgeoned her with an axe.
United Nations and EU meetings
Some members of Amigos will accompany members of Justicia para Nuestras Hijas and Centro de Derechos Humanos de Mujeres de Chihuahua to Mexico City and meet with delegations from the UN and EU. Both groups have been involved in a bringing the continued injustices to the attention of these international bodies.
3rd young woman missing from Juarez this year/ Join protest in Juarez on March 8th
Sadly, another young woman is missing from Juarez. Her name is HILDA GABRIELA RIVAS CAMPOS and she disappeared on February 25th on her way home from school, again from the center of the city. This time the authorities instituted the Alba Protocol, which is intended to link various police agencies in an immediate search, similar to Amber alerts in this country. She is the third young woman to disappear from Juarez in 2008.
Adriana Sarimiento Enriquez disappeared January 18, 2007.
Ana Christina de la O Espino disappeared on January 23, 2008.
See our website for more information on these three young women. The central area of Juarez is now officially considered an area of high risk.
The response to Amigo's email about Adriana's disappearance was immediate. Amnesty issued an urgent action. Unfortunately, Adriana is still missing.
Please join us for international Women's Day, March 8th in Juarez at the Plaza de Armas for a demonstration making a shameful 15 years of femicides. See our website for details.
http://www.amigosdemujeres.org (Click on upcoming events.)
MEXICO: Activists Lash Out at Government Report on Juárez Killings
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Feb 17 (IPS) - Activists in Mexico are upset over a report by a special prosecutor's office on the killings of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, which they say buries many of the key facts and arguments relating to the murders.
"The report is humiliating and disgraceful, because it falsifies and plays down the facts," Esther Chávez, president of Casa Amiga, a non-governmental organisation that provides support to the victims' families, told IPS.
Ciudad Juárez, a city of 1.3 million people which borders El Paso, Texas, has been shaken by the hundreds of murders and disappearances of women which have occurred there since 1993.
According to human rights groups, a large number of the victims had been raped - some by multiple attackers û and tortured. Theories about the motives for these crimes range from satanic rituals to pornography rings and "snuff" films in which someone is actually murdered. Human organ trafficking is also suspected.
But according to an extensive report by the Special Prosecutor's Office investigating the Ciudad Juárez killings, which was released on Thursday, "the exact dimensions of the problem have been distorted," thus creating myths and unfounded rumours.
"If it was such a minor problem, why didn't they say so before? Why have they spent so much money investigating it? I think the government wants to downplay the situation, but even if only one more woman is killed, we will continue to cry out," Chávez said in a telephone interview from Ciudad Juárez.
Marimar Monroy, of the non-governmental Mexican Commission for Defence and Promotion of Human Rights, said the Special Prosecutor's Office report appears to promote the message "that violence against women, and ‘femicide', aren't important matters."
"This problem is not about numbers, it's about a climate of violence that is persistent and unacceptable," Monroy told IPS. The prosecutors' inquiry concluded that there was no pattern of serial killing among the 379 murders of women in Ciudad Juárez registered in the last 11 years, and that sexual violence was involved in only 78 of the killings.
Furthermore, it stated, 125 of the women died in their own homes at the hands of relatives, friends or acquaintances, and most of the murdered women lived in a highly "criminal and violent" environment.
The Special Prosecutor's Office, which comes under the Attorney-General's Office, reported that the largest number of killings of women in Mexico occurred in Toluca, near the capital.
According to statistics on the number of homicides per 100,000 population, the next in rank is Tecate, in the northern state of Baja California, followed by the resort city of Acapulco on the Pacific coast. Ciudad Juárez ranks fourth.
And with respect to missing women in Ciudad Juárez, activists put the number at more than 4,000, but the official inquiry mentions only 47 documented cases.
The report admits that the local authorities in charge of investigating the murders in Ciudad Juárez had been markedly negligent in the past, which had aggravated the climate of violence against women.
The facts and conclusions of the report are dubious, because discredited sources of information were used and important facts have been ignored, said Chávez, one of the most active voices in Mexico to denounce the violence against women in Ciudad Juárez.
In recent years the Mexican government has come under heavy pressure from local and international human rights groups for the spate of killings of women in Ciudad Juárez.
In response to the pressure, President Fox named a Special Prosecutor's Office and a special commission for the Juárez cases. And now, on Friday, he replaced the Juárez special prosecution by a new body called the Special Prosecutor's Office Investigating Crimes Related to Violence against Women in the Country.
But the working methods of these bodies, and the reports they produce, have been seriously questioned by activists.
Esther Chávez commented that the latest report on the Ciudad Juárez killings was "hurtful," because "basically it's making a comparison between the situation in Juárez and other places, which is no consolation and does nothing to alter the fact that most of the crimes remain unpunished."
Most of the murdered women were in the 15-30 age group, and many were from low-income social strata and worked in maquiladora factories, which operate in tax-free zones and assemble products for export using imported materials.
These factories are concentrated in Ciudad Juárez and other Mexican cities along the U.S. border. Their work force mainly consists of young women, many of whom are living far away from their families.
In Ciudad Juárez, a number of factors — migration, unemployment, social exclusion, a large floating population, human trafficking and drug trafficking, among others — converge to give the city its particular characteristics. Together with the social dynamic generated by the large number of national and foreign maquiladoras, they have brought levels of extreme violence to the city, according to government reports.
Justice for the abused children of Mexico!
Dear Friends we are trying to get as many signatures to this document as possible from today until Thursday 21st when the Supreme Court will rule. We wish this could be covered by media in the US. The fact that prominent and famous movie makers are endorsing it might help. but the main reason is that this ruling might change mexican history; and that Succar Kuri is a legal citizen and this is a global crime.
Can you help us too?
thankyou
Lydia
Justice for the abused children of Mexico!
Last year Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho wrote a book called The Demons of Eden, exposing a child porn ring in Cancun which involved the sexual abuse of many young children and the production of child porn videos for sale in the United States and Europe. One of the men involved sued her for defamation and arranged a judicial kidnapping and she has since been threatened her death so often that she is now under 24 hour police protection
Refusing to be intimidated, Lydia Cacho sued those involved, including Mario Marin , Governor of the state of Puebla, and Kamel Nacif, a big sweatshop operator known as the "Denim King," for violating her human rights. In January 2nd 2007 she was found not guilty in the defamation case; now her own lawsuit went trough Congress and is before the Mexican Supreme Court. A conviction in the case could be a breakthrough not only for the violated children of Cancun but for millions of others, including journalists, who suffer from the collusion of Mexican government officials and criminals. However, the culture of impunity is very strong in Mexico and international pressure is needed to bring such powerful men to justice.
The facts
In the fall of 2003, a few brave children reported that they had been sexually abused by Jean Succar Kuri, a Cancun hotel owner and american citizen in california, who was set up in business his friend, Kamel Nacif, a rich and politically-connected businessman. Succar Kuri fled to the United States, where he was arrested in Arizona, but not extradited until Lydia Cacho's book and arrest brought new attention to the case.
In retaliation, Succar Kuri's protectors, Kamel Nacif and Mario Marin,arranged to have Lydia Cacho arrested and taken on a torturous 20 hours ride to the state of Puebla, threatened with rape and murder all the way. After this ordeal, her adversaries had a psychiatric evaluation done, which they recently released in an attempt to brand her as crazy and thus influence the Supreme Court. There has already been much interference with the process of justice: death threats against Cacho's first two lawyers, who dropped the case; the disappearance of important evidence; and a recent attempt to assassinate Cacho by sabotaging the armored car she rides in.
What is at stake?
Nothing less than the integrity of the criminal justice system is at stake here. The persecution of Lydia Cacho and of the children who testified against Succar Kuri has reinforced the opinion of the eight out of ten Mexicans who do not report crimes because they know the authorities won't protect them. The Court must recognize the evidence that implicates the authorities in Puebla in child pornography and trafficking networks, and hold them accountable for their actions. We urge all Judges of the Supreme Court to recognize existing evidence and rule accordingly.
This is an historic opportunity for the Supreme Court judges to show that the Mexican people can trust in the rule of law, and to show the world that the purpose of the Mexican criminal justice system is to protect citizens and their human rights, not to perpetuate corruption and impunity.
Signed by:
Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Guillermo del Toro, Luis Mandoki, Berta Navarro,Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Lorena Maza, Mariana Rodríguez, Dana Rotberg, Carlos Reygadas, Sasha Sokol, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Kate del Castillo, , Patricia reyes Espíndola, Carmen Gimenez Cacho, Gabriela García Luna, Elena Poniatowska, Denise Dresser, Angeles Ochoa,Sergio Aguayo, Jorge Zepeda Patterson, Alberto Ruy Sánchez, Carmen Boullosa, Sabina Berman,Humberto Musachio, Enrique Berruga, Maria Idalia Gómez, Salvador Camarena, Salvador Frausto. Jenaro Villamil, Debora Holtz, Héctor de Mauleón, Alejandro Paez, Rita Varela, Marco Lara Kahr, Cri Rodríguez,Huberto Bátiz, Berta Hiriart, Clara Jusidman, Angeles Mastretta Carlos Fazio, Clara Scherer, Diana Washington Valdéz, Epigmenio Ibarra, Federico Campbell, Jordi Soler,Guadalupe Loaeza, Héctor (Eko) de la Garza, Jorge Fernández Menéndez, Grupo Elefante, Saul “Jaguares”,Liliana Felipe, Jesusa Rodríguez, María de los Angeles Moreno, María Elena Chapa, María Teresa Priego, Marie Claire Acosta,Marina Arvizu, Mónica Lavín, Patricia Mercado, Ricardo Rocha, Rosa Nissan, Rosaura Barahona, Sara Sefchovich, Sergio González Rodríguez, Maximiliano Vega Tato, Alberto Begné, Margarita De Orellana, María Consuelo Mejía, Blanca Rico, Alicia Leal,Gerardo Garcìa
Together with their US supporters:
Amnesty Intel.USA, CPJ New York.
March 20, 2008
Women's/Human Rights News
Femicide Resurfaces in Chihuahua City
Once again, the specter of femicide is haunting Chihuahua City. The murder of high school student Paulina Elizabeth Lujan Morales sparked outbreaks of "collective psychosis" and triggered youth protests this month. On Monday, March 17, hundreds of high school students marched through downtown Chihuahua City carrying placards and chanting the familiar slogan "Not One More". Halting the city government offices, the young people were nevertheless greeted with silence since officials were away on vacation.
A 16-year-old student at Chihuahua City's Cobach 2 school, Paulina Lujan was last seen leaving classes early on the evening of Monday, March 10. Her sexually assaulted and severely beaten body was discovered on Thursday, March 13 off the highway that leads from the Chihuahua state capital to the nearby town of Aldama. The young woman's shoes were located in a nearby arroyo.
Lujan's body was discovered in the same area where the corpses of other femicide victims were found in the past, including 16-year-old ECCO computer school student Paloma Angelica Escobar, who disappeared in 2002 under similar circumstances as Lujan did and almost six years to the day of the latest victim's murder. The Chihuahua-Aldama highway zone is near the headquarters of the Chihuahua state police.
The Lujan slaying bore resemblances to other women's killings that have struck Chihuahua City between 1999 and 2003. Besides having the same physical, age and occupational profile of other victims, Paulina Lujan was described as a tranquil, reserved young person by her mother. "(Paulina) was a model student who didn't have behavior problems," Patricia Morales Rodriguez said. "Let there be no doubt, we will get the murderers of Paulina," vowed Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza, adding that authorities would not fabricate scapegoats in the murder case.
According to PGJE spokesman Rene Medrano, 18 persons have rendered declarations in connection with the Lujan crime. A young man who's been mentioned as a possible suspect, Alexis Garcia, complained that presumed friends and family of Lujan unfairly have harassed him. Garcia said he had "nothing to do with the crime." Early press accounts of the Lujan murder mention the possibility that the victim could have met her killer via an Internet blog and e-mail.
Paulina Lujan was the fourth woman murdered in Chihuahua City since last November. The other victims have been identified as Angelica Lopez Cruz, Claudia Janeth Llana Moreno and Irene Pena Monje. Lujan's disappearance occurred two days after International Women's Day, an anniversary which was marked in the borderlands this year by a protest rally in Ciudad Juárez staged by relatives of femicide victims from the border city and Chihuahua City. Only days earlier, victims' relatives were met with a police response in the Chihuahua State Legislature during an unsuccessful attempt to convince state lawmakers to renew a special commission dedicated to investigating the women's murders.
Additionally, the Lujan crime occurred within a border context of escalating violence in the region involving organized crime gangs and Mexican security forces. Two days prior to Lujan's disappearance, Mexican soldiers and suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel engaged in a bloody Chihuahua City shootout that left one army officer and six gunman dead.
Youths, meanwhile, demanded greater security for Chihuahua City's schools. Students said they were concerned bout loud strangers hanging around Paulina Lujan's school at dismissal time.
Sources: El Heraldo de Chihuahua, March 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 2008. Articles by Jorge Armendariz, Ever Haro Guillen, Octavio Marquez, E. Fernandez, Ernesto Topete, Jose Hernandez Berriors, David Pinon Balderrama, and Manuel Ruiz. La Jornada, March 15, 2008. Article by Miroslava Breach B. Lapolaka.com, March 13, 2008. Cimacnoticias.com, March 6, 2008. Article by Dora Villalobos Mendoza.
Frontera Norte Sur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
For a free electronic subscription, email: fnsnews@nmsu.edu
