Less than 50 miles south of where I live lies the Mexican city of Juárez. Not many years ago it was considered the murder capital of the planet, even more dangerous than Baghdad. Over five years it is estimated that about 10,000 people died there in the drug-fueled war, most of whom were said to be drug lords or their henchmen, but many were people mistakenly killed, caught in the crossfire, had seen things they should not have, or who had opposed the gang leaders in some way. Since then the murder rate has dropped 40% and some sort of normality has taken hold. Shops have been reopened and the exodus that had drained about 25% or more of the city has reversed.
In this chaos of blood, the earlier multiple murders of mostly young women who worked in the maquiladoras, primarily U.S. owned factories, have been nearly forgotten. At least 370 women were murdered, and some have estimated the number of deaths to be close to 1,000 (see references.) Some missing women have never been found. The local policia were often accused of being complicit in the murders and of protecting the men who raped, tortured, and murdered the women. In fact the rise of femicides prior to the drug wars may actually have been a prequel to the violence that followed. One can only hope that many, if not all, of the perpetrators were killed during the drug wars. They were very violent and violent men (and certainly all of these were men) usually end violently. I wish I could say that I hoped that they found redemption, but I really do not feel that way, despite my Quaker background. They were too brutal for me to feel much compassion. I do feel compassion for those young girls and their families, many of whom never saw their daughters alive or dead after they left for work one day.
The scandal has never really left Juárez, nor have any of the murders been satisfactorily resolved. In fact the few prosecutions that did occur were tainted by accusations that the policia found a convenient scapegoat and tortured them to obtain a confession. We just do not know the truth and it may never come to light. We only know that just across the Rio Grande lies a killing field where justice will never be served, unless the killers were punished by their own violent ways. Like the victims of Stalin or Assad, these young women will never have their day in court.
The close proximity of this city of atrocities is enough to make me very grateful that our children never went there when they were teenagers, as many did. The last time I visited the city, along with my wife and one of our grown daughters and her boyfriend, it was on a very hot day. Even then the streets of the city seemed dangerous, as the streets of all border cities do. Still we had a good meal and did some shopping before taking the bus to the border crossing where we seemed stuck in traffic in the almost unbearable heat forever. The bus finally got close enough to the border and we got off and then crossed on foot. I never went back. In fact I never went back to Mexico, although I have in the past visited border towns and traveled into the interior on a number of occasions. I even spent one evening in a Cantina in Monterrey discussing with the locals the death of an early Juárez cartel boss during an operation in Mexico City. They were sure it was no accident and I now think that they were probably right.
The drug war has buried everything. I feel a bit strange as a white male writing this diary, but I somehow have the feeling that I must bear witness. Others have felt the same way, but I have seen no mention of this in the press for several years. I am (as we Quakers say) led to keep these young women, who suffered so much, from totally disappearing in our memory. They deserve much better than that.
Artwork by me with made up headlines. Hand after a Renaissance drawing.
Internet References:
Juárez, Mexico's onetime murder capital, is making a comeback. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/...
Female Homicides in Ciudad Juárez.http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Who is killing the women of Juárez. http://abcnews.go.com/...