JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE:

THE JUAREZ CARAVAN SEEKS TO SPREAD AWARENESS

ABOUT INJUSTICE AND BRUTALITY AGAINST WOMEN IN MEXICO
by Kate Tarasenko

[Originally published in the Rocky Mountain Bullhorn (Fort Collins, Colo.),

Oct. 21-27, 2004, pg. 11]

Over a decade has passed since the mutilated body of 16-year-old Angelica Luna Villalobos was discovered in the Mexican city of Juarez, just south
of neighboring border town El Paso, Texas. Since then, the disappearance and brutal rape-murders of 370 young Mexican women have gone
uninvestigated and unsolved.

The failure of Mexican officials to halt the femicide of Chihuahua's daughters -- most of them impoverished factory workers -- has sparked
condemnation by the United Nations, resolutions by the U.S. House and Senate, and unyielding cries for justice by the victims' families. One group
of family members and their advocates will speak in Fort Collins on Wednesday, Oct. 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the City Council Chambers, 300
LaPorte Ave., as part of the city's Community Forum, organized by CSU’s Dr. Norberto Valdez and sponsored by several community
organizations.

The group, dubbed the "Juarez Caravan," features Cynthia Diaz, of the Mexico Solidarity Network, and Marilu Andrade, whose 17-year-old sister,
Alejandra, was abducted on Valentine's Day in 2001. Her body was found a week later. No one has been arrested for her murder.

The Juarez Caravan is part of the larger International Caravan for Justice which has been traveling across the United States and Mexico to spread
awareness of these unpunished crimes, and the epidemic of violence against women worldwide. (See the Bullhorn’s Oct. 16-22, 2003 cover story,
"Crosses of Despair.") It will culminate this Friday in Washington, D.C. with demonstrations, speeches and meetings with human rights activists and
officials from the Mexican Embassy, as well as a briefing on Capitol Hill. The Organization of American States will also hold a hearing on the
murders in Juarez this Thursday, offering presentations by its Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The upcoming reports are expected to echo long-standing grievances of police incompetence and corruption, and official indifference to the grisly
rape-murders which are now infecting the region of Chihuahua City, 250 miles south of Juarez. While a handful of men have been arbitrarily arrested
and prosecuted over the years in response to heated public outcry for action, no forensic evidence has conclusively linked them to the crimes.

The preservation of crime scenes and collection of evidence is another point of contention in the public's accusations. Clothing which has been
positively identified by family members who are missing loved ones has been found by several groups of volunteers scouring crime scenes abandoned
by police.

A number of Mexican officials working on the murders have quit or been reassigned, some citing their refusal to fabricate evidence, or because their
efforts pointed toward police involvement in the crimes.

The only evidence that independent observers can agree on, including the international watchdog group Physicians for Human Rights, is that all of the
suspects previously held in custody were tortured into giving confessions.

Although females comprise the bulk of the work force in the low-paying assembly plants, factories and stores dotting the corridor between El Paso
and Juarez, these women still lack any independent status in a society struggling with the economic affront presented by NAFTA to Mexico's
traditional culture of machismo.

Couple this firmly-rooted legacy with what advocate Laurie Freeman calls "a big shame on the world stage" -- the murder of poor women with
impunity -- and it seems that solving the “Maquilladoras Murders” is all but impossible.

Speaking from the Washington Office on Latin America, Freeman says, "The Mexican officials really need to get serious about actually investigating
these crimes, instead of just offering scapegoats. That is one of the messages that the Caravan is trying to convey."

In addition to the many efforts by human rights groups in the United States and around the world, Freeman says that U.S. actions at the Congressional
level are having an impact. She cites the recent Senate and House resolutions, including HR-466, co-sponsored by 136 Representatives, including
Colorado's Mark Udall, condemning the murders and calling for swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice.

A special federal prosecutor has recently been named by Mexico's attorney general to oversee the cases. President Vicente Fox has approved
formation of the country's own federal bureau of investigation to probe connections between Juarez's notorious Carillo-Fuentes drug cartel and some
of the murders.

In spite of the Mexican government's long-awaited concessions to public outrage about the unsolved murders, Freeman is cautiously optimistic. She
says, "We can still pressure them into doing more."

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