Femicide in Ciudad Juárez

thumb|350px|The location of [[Ciudad Juárez]]

More than 500 women were killed between 1993 and 2011 in Ciudad Juárez, a city in northern Mexico. A narcofosa (mass grave attributed to organized crime) containing the remains of women killed in 2011 and 2012 was found in Madera Municipality, Chihuahua, in December 2016.

Homicide statistics

In 2005 Amnesty International said that more than 370 young women and girls had been killed in the cities of Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua since 1993.

A study was conducted in 2008 on the Femicide Database 1993–2007 at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte which documented incidents of femicide that occurred in Ciudad Juárez from 1993 to 2010. Of the various different kinds of murders that were analyzed, the study found two common patterns in the data which were classified as intimate femicide and systemic sexual femicide. Intimate femicide refers to women who were killed by men that were close to them. at New Mexico State University, the situation in Juárez is one of "impunity regardless of gender". She states that "female murder victims have never comprised more than 18 percent of the overall number of murder victims in Ciudad Juárez, and in the last two decades that figure averages at less than 10 percent. That's less than in the United States, where about 20 to 25 percent of the people who are murdered in a given year are women".

Statistical evaluation of data from 1990 to 2012 conducted by researchers Pedro Albuquerque and Prasad Vemala shows that femicide rates in Juárez are in most years like rates in Chihuahua City and Ensenada and, as a share of overall homicide rates, are lower than in most cities evaluated.

Contributing factors

Organized crime and drug trafficking

Drug cartels operate in Juárez, which has resulted in high levels of violence against the local population, including women and girls. Misogyny is a common trait of gang activity. According to Livingston, this migration of women created, "a new phenomenon of mobile, independent, and vulnerable working women," in cities like Ciudad Juárez. Such studies indicate the importance of exploring the effects of NAFTA when considering the possible causes of the murder of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez. In 2011, Amnesty International said, "The government [has] failed to take effective measures to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the abduction and killing of three women in Ciudad Juárez... or to combat the ongoing pattern of violence against women and discrimination in the city.

Convictions

According to Pantaleo in 2006, "While around 400 girls and women have been abducted and murdered, few arrests and convictions have resulted." For convictions that have been made, there is a great deal of controversy that surrounds them. Further, suspects that have been apprehended have claimed that they were tortured into confessing.

In 2008, 16-year-old Ruby Frayre Escobedo was murdered by Sergio Barraza Bocanegra who was acquitted at his first trial for lack of evidence. Following two years of activism, a retrial convicted Bocanegra, who remained on the run. In 2010, Ruby's mother, Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, was assassinated by a shot to the head at point blank range while demonstrating for justice in front of the Governor's Palace in Chihuahua.

International justice

There have been several international rulings against Mexico for its inadequate response to the increasing violence against women.

Further, the Committee concluded that the measures undertaken by the Mexican government in response to gendered violence against women leading up to the time of their inquiry were "few and ineffective at all levels of the State". The Court ordered Mexico to conduct a new investigation of the murders, create a national memorial for the victims, pay reparations to the families of the victims, and to improve measures which prevent and adequately investigate the murder of women and girls. The center works to provide women in Juárez with a refuge against violence, therapy, legal council, and medical attention.

Cultural references

In television and radio

American television series The Bridge (2013)
This American Life (Public Radio Exchange), Episode 506 - Secret Identity, Act Three: The Blonde Avenger
Netflix series Narcos: Mexico Season 3

In film

Blood Rising (2013) directed by Mark McLoughlin
Backyard: El Traspatio (2009) directed by Carlos Carrera
Bordertown (2007) starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas
Señorita Extraviada/Missing Young Woman (2001) by Lourdes Portillo
Documentary Equal Means Equal (2016) directed by Kamala Lopez
Bajo Juárez: La Ciudad Devorando a Sus Hijas (2006) directed by José Antonio Cordero and Alejandra Sánchez
Las tres muertes de Marisela Escobedo (2020) directed by Carlos Pérez Osorio

In music

Tori Amos wrote a song titled "Juárez" for her album To Venus and Back (1999–2000)
At the Drive-In's song "Invalid Litter Dept." (2001)
Los Tigres del Norte's song "Mujeres de Juárez" from their album Pacto De Sangre (2004)
Gloria Trevi's song "Inmaculada" from her album Una Rosa Blu (2007)
The Misfits wrote a song about Juárez titled "Where Do They Go?" for their album The Devil's Rain (2011)
Las Cafeteras's song "Mujer Soy" from their album It's Time (2012)
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die's song "January 10th, 2014" from the album Harmlessness (2015)
Intocable's song "Día 730" (2016)
Sheer Mag's song "Can't Stop Fighting" from their third EP (2016)
Misty L. Dupuis wrote a choral work called Mujeres de Juárez (Premiere: May 6, 2018)

Novels, poetry, non-fiction, plays

Sergio González Rodríguez. Huesos en el desierto (Bones in the Desert). Editorial Anagrama, 2002. (book, nonfiction)
Roberto Bolaño. 2666. 2004. (novel)
Alicia Gaspar de Alba. Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders Arte Publico Press, 2005. (mystery novel)
Diana Washington Valdez. The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women. 2006 (book, non-fiction)
Juan Felipe Herrera. Señorita X - Song for the Yellow-Robed Girl from Juárez. 2007 (poems)
Teresa Rodríguez.The Daughters of Juárez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border. 2007 (book)
Stella Pope Duarte. If I Die In Juárez. 2008 (novel)
Valerie Martinez. Each and Her. 2010 (poems)
Charles Bowden. Murder City: Cuidad Juárez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields. 2011. (book)
Nancy Pineda-Madrid. Suffering and Salvation in Ciudad Juarez. 2011 (book, non-fiction)
Sergio González Rodríguez. The Femicide Machine. Semiotext(e) Intervention Series, 2012 (book, nonfiction)
Isaac Gomez. The Way She Spoke. 2019 (play)
Caridad Svich. Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a rave fable). 2019 (play)
Eve Ensler. Vagina Monologues (play) {verification needed for this 1996 play as reference to Juarez events – predates any evidence of reporting}

Articles

Debbie Nathan, "Death Comes to the Maquilas: a Border Story," The Nation. January 13, 1997
Howard LaFranchi, "Girls Who Find New Roles in Mexico Also Face Danger," The Christian Science Monitor. June 4, 1997
Sam Dillon, "Rape and Murder Stalk Women in Northern Mexico," The New York Times. April 18, 1998
Ricardo Sandoval, "Serial Killings Haunting Mexico; 120 Young Women Slain Since 1993," Times-Picayune. November 21, 1998
Paul de la Garza. "Series of Slayings Baffles City on Mexican Border," Arizona Republic. November 27, 1998
Sam Dillon, "Feminist stokes outcry at brutal string of killings," The Gazette (Montreal). March 1, 1999
Mary Beth Sheridan. "The Death that Haunts Juárez," Los Angeles Times. May 12, 1999
Molly Moore."Young Women Follow Journeys of Hope to Factories-and Then to Violence; Bright Lights, Dark City," The Washington Post. June 25, 2000
"Murders of 'Invisible Women' Grow at Mexican Border," New Zealand Press Association. March 5, 2002
Ellen Nieves. "To Work and Die in Juárez." Mother Jones (magazine). May/June 2002
Ed Vulliamy, "Murder in Mexico." The Guardian. 8 Mar, 2003
Jessica Livingston. "Murder in Juárez: Gender, Sexual Violence, and the Global Assembly Line," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. Vol. 25, No. 1, 2004