The Guardian: Quintana Roo is Mexico’s sunshine state, a booming tourists’ playground which draws record numbers of holiday-makers to its golden beaches, coral reefs, Mayan ruins and all-inclusive package deals.
But in recent weeks, the Caribbean region has been badly shaken by a string of brutal murders of women – which authorities have seemed keen to downplay. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label femicides. Show all posts
Showing posts with label femicides. Show all posts
Jul 31, 2015
For Great Evils, Great Women
La Jornada: In a landmark ruling, issued in Ciudad Juarez on July 27, five people responsible for organizing a network of human trafficking, linked with the murder of at least 11 women, have been sentenced to 697 years in prison. They were found guilty of prostituting and murdering 11 girls, whose remains were found in the Navajo creek, a desolate landscape of the municipality of Praxedis G. Guerrero, 77 kilometers from Juarez.
Women played an important role in the proceedings that led up to the historic decision, with both the relatives of the victims and women’s rights defenders from the organizations Women’s Roundtable of Juarez and Justice for Our Daughters participating.
Women played an important role in the proceedings that led up to the historic decision, with both the relatives of the victims and women’s rights defenders from the organizations Women’s Roundtable of Juarez and Justice for Our Daughters participating.
Jul 9, 2015
The growing danger to women and girls in central Mexico
AFP: Guadalupe Reyes clings to thoughts of her daughter one day flying a plane, a dream for the 18-year-old girl.
Until the teenager vanished 10 months ago in central Mexico.
Mariana is the latest in a growing number of girls and women who have disappeared, or worse, in the populous State of Mexico, which has become the most dangerous region for women in a country that is all too used to violence. Read more.
Until the teenager vanished 10 months ago in central Mexico.
Mariana is the latest in a growing number of girls and women who have disappeared, or worse, in the populous State of Mexico, which has become the most dangerous region for women in a country that is all too used to violence. Read more.
Jan 28, 2015
More Femicide Victims Identified from Border Graveyard
Frontera NorteSur: The parents of Esmeralda Castillo Rincon recently heard sad news about their long-disappeared daughter. The 14-year-old had been missing from her Ciudad Juarez home since 2009, and the parents had waged a long campaign demanding her safe return.
On January 16, however, the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office (FGECH) notified Jose Luis Castillo and his wife, Martha Rincon, that Esmeralda's remains were among those of other female murder victims recovered from the Navajo Arroyo in the Juarez Valley bordering the United States in 2012 and 2013.
On January 16, however, the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office (FGECH) notified Jose Luis Castillo and his wife, Martha Rincon, that Esmeralda's remains were among those of other female murder victims recovered from the Navajo Arroyo in the Juarez Valley bordering the United States in 2012 and 2013.
Nov 4, 2013
Juarez: The sequel
GlobalPost
Dudley Althaus
November 1, 2013
Young daughter in hand, Isabel Aguilera recounts the mayhem that stalked these streets.
Here they dragged a father from the breakfast table, shooting him dead outside in front of his family. There they came for a shopkeeper, gunning him down behind the counter. Yonder they snuffed two brothers after pulling them from their beds before sunrise.
“They were people from outside,” Aguilera, 38, said of the killings that recently swept like cholera through Riveras del Bravo, a teeming sprawl of Mexico’s working poor. “They wanted to inject power, fear.”
These thousands of matchbox houses once ranked among Earth's deadliest patches through years of criminal war in Ciudad Juarez, an industrial and narcotics corridor bordering America’s safest large city El Paso, Texas.
More than 10,000 people were murdered across the Mexican city of 1.3 million in less than five years. Many were young men gunned down on streets like these. Read more.
Dudley Althaus
November 1, 2013
Young daughter in hand, Isabel Aguilera recounts the mayhem that stalked these streets.
Here they dragged a father from the breakfast table, shooting him dead outside in front of his family. There they came for a shopkeeper, gunning him down behind the counter. Yonder they snuffed two brothers after pulling them from their beds before sunrise.
“They were people from outside,” Aguilera, 38, said of the killings that recently swept like cholera through Riveras del Bravo, a teeming sprawl of Mexico’s working poor. “They wanted to inject power, fear.”
These thousands of matchbox houses once ranked among Earth's deadliest patches through years of criminal war in Ciudad Juarez, an industrial and narcotics corridor bordering America’s safest large city El Paso, Texas.
More than 10,000 people were murdered across the Mexican city of 1.3 million in less than five years. Many were young men gunned down on streets like these. Read more.
Jul 30, 2013
The State of Mexico, the other Ciudad Juarez
El País - Vanguardia
July 21, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico – You don’t always learn from your mistakes. A decade ago, Mexico was terrorized with the almost daily appearance of female corpses in Ciudad Juarez.
At that time, the Mexican state was not able to guarantee a woman's right to life, stated the American Court of Human Rights in 2009.
And now, 20 years after the beginning of femicide that has left more than 800 dead in the border city began, Mexico faces a new crisis and it is not Ciudad Juarez in the 90s, but the State of Mexico in 2013.
Civil associations argue that in 2011 and 2012, 563 women were killed in the State of Mexico for the sole reason of being a woman.
This last week is a clear example of the tragedy: the bodies of five young women, all with signs of brutal violence, have appeared in the Valle de Chalco, a town of about 350,000 inhabitants located precisely in the State of Mexico.
A gender violence alert mechanism that was created five years ago has now become a dumb bell. Neither these five dead nor the 563 from the last two years have convinced the National System to Prevent, Treat, Punish and Eradicate Violence to activate it.
This Friday they again refused to implement an alert, which so far remains unused even though the number of deaths in the country increased by 68% between 2007 and 2009, according to UN Women. The figure, for example, tripled in the State of Baja California.
July 21, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico – You don’t always learn from your mistakes. A decade ago, Mexico was terrorized with the almost daily appearance of female corpses in Ciudad Juarez.
At that time, the Mexican state was not able to guarantee a woman's right to life, stated the American Court of Human Rights in 2009.
And now, 20 years after the beginning of femicide that has left more than 800 dead in the border city began, Mexico faces a new crisis and it is not Ciudad Juarez in the 90s, but the State of Mexico in 2013.
Civil associations argue that in 2011 and 2012, 563 women were killed in the State of Mexico for the sole reason of being a woman.
This last week is a clear example of the tragedy: the bodies of five young women, all with signs of brutal violence, have appeared in the Valle de Chalco, a town of about 350,000 inhabitants located precisely in the State of Mexico.
A gender violence alert mechanism that was created five years ago has now become a dumb bell. Neither these five dead nor the 563 from the last two years have convinced the National System to Prevent, Treat, Punish and Eradicate Violence to activate it.
This Friday they again refused to implement an alert, which so far remains unused even though the number of deaths in the country increased by 68% between 2007 and 2009, according to UN Women. The figure, for example, tripled in the State of Baja California.
Jul 23, 2013
Femicide increases in the State of Mexico and other states; Amnesty calls for gender alert but the PRI resists
By Sin Embargo
Published July 17, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico City, July 17 (Sin Embargo). - Just earlier this month, deputies and senators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) prevented the First Permanent Commission from issuing an appeal to the Government of the State of Mexico to stop resisting and implement a "gender alert" in the state.
Yesterday, Amnesty International drew attention to this request and asked to include other states like Oaxaca, Guanajuato, and Nuevo Leon. According to the organization, the Federal Government has ignored multiple requests that have been made to make the warning statement, due to the "alarming levels of violence against women."
Daniel Zapico, AI representative in Mexico, said that the refusal of the authorities seemed like an "attempt to minimize a situation that has claimed epidemic dimension."
According to the results of the National Study on Sources, Origins and Factors that produce and reproduce the Violence Against Women, the nine states that show an increasing trend of female homicides are Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Published July 17, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico City, July 17 (Sin Embargo). - Just earlier this month, deputies and senators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) prevented the First Permanent Commission from issuing an appeal to the Government of the State of Mexico to stop resisting and implement a "gender alert" in the state.
Yesterday, Amnesty International drew attention to this request and asked to include other states like Oaxaca, Guanajuato, and Nuevo Leon. According to the organization, the Federal Government has ignored multiple requests that have been made to make the warning statement, due to the "alarming levels of violence against women."
Daniel Zapico, AI representative in Mexico, said that the refusal of the authorities seemed like an "attempt to minimize a situation that has claimed epidemic dimension."
According to the results of the National Study on Sources, Origins and Factors that produce and reproduce the Violence Against Women, the nine states that show an increasing trend of female homicides are Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Jun 20, 2013
Mexico arrests many over slaying of 11 women
Aljazeera
June 13, 2013
Mexican prosecutors have arrested 12 people in connection with the killings of 11 young women whose skeletal remains were found near the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez early last year.
The suspects include alleged drug dealers, pimps and small store owners.
They allegedly belonged to a gang that forced young women into prostitution and drug dealing and then killed them when they were "no longer of use," the prosecutors' office for the northern state of Chihuahua, said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The 10 men and two women face charges of human trafficking and homicide.
Six were already in local jails for other offenses, and six other were detained early on Tuesday.
Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, was the scene of a series of killings of more than 100 women beginning in 1993. Read more.
June 13, 2013
Mexican prosecutors have arrested 12 people in connection with the killings of 11 young women whose skeletal remains were found near the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez early last year.
The suspects include alleged drug dealers, pimps and small store owners.
They allegedly belonged to a gang that forced young women into prostitution and drug dealing and then killed them when they were "no longer of use," the prosecutors' office for the northern state of Chihuahua, said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The 10 men and two women face charges of human trafficking and homicide.
Six were already in local jails for other offenses, and six other were detained early on Tuesday.
Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, was the scene of a series of killings of more than 100 women beginning in 1993. Read more.
Nov 11, 2012
Chihuahua campaign begins to find 118 missing Juárez women
By Lorena Figueroa \ El Paso Times
November 04, 2012
JUAREZ -- Chihuahua authorities last week launched a statewide campaign to locate 118 women from Juárez who have disappeared since 1995.
The campaign offers an $8,000 reward to anyone whose information helps find the women, dead or alive, said officials with the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office.
Silvia Nájera, spokeswoman for the state's Special Prosecution Office for Crimes Against Women, said the strategy attempts to get the public involved in solving some of these cases.
Since the early 1990s, hundreds of women, mostly teenage girls -- some as young as 13 -- from poor and middle-class families, have disappeared in Juárez. Many have been found dead.
Nájera said that the special prosecution office lists 118 cases involving women who disappeared from 1995 to the present. The agency was established in 1995.
"This doesn't mean that we won't be taking any leads on older cases. If we receive information, we will investigate," she said.
The campaign began Tuesday with the publication in various print media outlets in Juárez of the photographs and biographies of six women who were reported missing between 1995 and 1998. Read more.
November 04, 2012
JUAREZ -- Chihuahua authorities last week launched a statewide campaign to locate 118 women from Juárez who have disappeared since 1995.
The campaign offers an $8,000 reward to anyone whose information helps find the women, dead or alive, said officials with the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office.
Silvia Nájera, spokeswoman for the state's Special Prosecution Office for Crimes Against Women, said the strategy attempts to get the public involved in solving some of these cases.
Since the early 1990s, hundreds of women, mostly teenage girls -- some as young as 13 -- from poor and middle-class families, have disappeared in Juárez. Many have been found dead.
Nájera said that the special prosecution office lists 118 cases involving women who disappeared from 1995 to the present. The agency was established in 1995.
"This doesn't mean that we won't be taking any leads on older cases. If we receive information, we will investigate," she said.
The campaign began Tuesday with the publication in various print media outlets in Juárez of the photographs and biographies of six women who were reported missing between 1995 and 1998. Read more.
Oct 10, 2012
Doubts Raised About the Alleged Assassin of Marisela Escobedo
As readers of the Americas MexicoBlog and the Americas Updater know, we have been closely following the case of Marisela Escobedo. Mother of Rubí, who was brutally murdered in 2008, Marisela became a human rights defender, seeking justice for her daughter's murder, tirelessly knocking on government doors and even investigating (and resolving) the case herself. The assassin escaped after confessing. Protesting in front of the Chihuahua state offices, Marisela herself was shot dead.
On October 8, the Chihuahua government announced that it had captured the assassin of Marisela, who confessed to authorities. José Enrique Jiménez, ("El Wicked") told the press that he shot Escobedo on orders from the Zetas. He said Sergio Barraza, who murdered Rubí, was a member of the Zetas and Escobedo's very public mission to bring him to justice upset the nation's most ruthless organized crime group.
But human rights organizations have their doubts regarding the resolution of the crime. Luz Esthela Castro, Escobedo's attorney noted in Reforma (Oct. 9, 2012) that the government already "solved" the case, announcing in December 2011 it stated that investigations had established the guilt of Hector Flores, a decesased crime figure. But videos of the crime show only one shooter.
Castro also noted that the latest alleged assassin used unusual legal terms in his confession, implying he had been coached. The governor of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte, reacted angrily to the doubts raised by human rights organizations.
"Whoever doubts, is simply adding elements to try to make sure that things are not resolved," he told Reforma.
The murders of Marisela Escobedo and her daughter Rubí are on a short list of crimes against women presented to the Federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) by an international delegation of women human rights defenders and journalists led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams. These crimes were identified as priorities for the gravity of the crimes and as a signal that the Mexican government was serious about investigating and prosecuting crimes of violence against women.
Everyone wants to see this brutal assassin behind bars--that's why as the Mexico host committee and the delegation we included the case on the list of priorities. But there has been a recent spate of captures and cases being closed in the final days of the Calderón government that are surrounded
For more information on Marisela Escobedo's case and the demand to the PGR, see the report from the delegation organized by Just Associates and the Nobel Women's Initiative that I had the privilege of being part of here.
After talking with colleagues in JASS and others about the recent developments in this important case, the concern is, first, that we could be seeing another case of scapegoats presented to deflect public pressure and criticism.
Second, if this is the assassin, the problem remains that the men who hired him and Sergio Barraza who killed Rubí are still at large. The justice system that repeatedly failed to prosecute and then imprison the guilty is still deeply flawed. And the public safety system that stood by as a woman human rights defender was shot practically on the steps of the state building still cannot guarantee women's safety.
On October 8, the Chihuahua government announced that it had captured the assassin of Marisela, who confessed to authorities. José Enrique Jiménez, ("El Wicked") told the press that he shot Escobedo on orders from the Zetas. He said Sergio Barraza, who murdered Rubí, was a member of the Zetas and Escobedo's very public mission to bring him to justice upset the nation's most ruthless organized crime group.
But human rights organizations have their doubts regarding the resolution of the crime. Luz Esthela Castro, Escobedo's attorney noted in Reforma (Oct. 9, 2012) that the government already "solved" the case, announcing in December 2011 it stated that investigations had established the guilt of Hector Flores, a decesased crime figure. But videos of the crime show only one shooter.
Castro also noted that the latest alleged assassin used unusual legal terms in his confession, implying he had been coached. The governor of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte, reacted angrily to the doubts raised by human rights organizations.
"Whoever doubts, is simply adding elements to try to make sure that things are not resolved," he told Reforma.
The murders of Marisela Escobedo and her daughter Rubí are on a short list of crimes against women presented to the Federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) by an international delegation of women human rights defenders and journalists led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams. These crimes were identified as priorities for the gravity of the crimes and as a signal that the Mexican government was serious about investigating and prosecuting crimes of violence against women.
Everyone wants to see this brutal assassin behind bars--that's why as the Mexico host committee and the delegation we included the case on the list of priorities. But there has been a recent spate of captures and cases being closed in the final days of the Calderón government that are surrounded
For more information on Marisela Escobedo's case and the demand to the PGR, see the report from the delegation organized by Just Associates and the Nobel Women's Initiative that I had the privilege of being part of here.
After talking with colleagues in JASS and others about the recent developments in this important case, the concern is, first, that we could be seeing another case of scapegoats presented to deflect public pressure and criticism.
Second, if this is the assassin, the problem remains that the men who hired him and Sergio Barraza who killed Rubí are still at large. The justice system that repeatedly failed to prosecute and then imprison the guilty is still deeply flawed. And the public safety system that stood by as a woman human rights defender was shot practically on the steps of the state building still cannot guarantee women's safety.
Sep 21, 2012
Ciudad Juarez Launches Aggressive Campaign For Female Crime Victims
Fox News Latino, by Joseph Kolb
Published September 19, 2012
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – In a small room at the Fiscalía Especializada en Atención a Mujeres Víctimas por Razones de Género, Bernardo Manzano stood pensively with his hands cuffed behind his back, while two police officers stood on either side of him as he was photographed and questioned by more than a dozen reporters.
Not a drug dealer this time. The 43-year-old maquiladora worker was about to be charged with sexually assaulting his wife.
Parading suspects accused of committing crimes against women in front of the media have become increasingly common here, in the wake of a combined and aggressive campaign by Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua state to curb these kind of offenses.
A 20-year legacy of crimes against women, especially the well-publicized killing of women in the late 1990s – popularly known as ‘femicides’-- has given this border city international notoriety.
The new prosecutor's office, which opened in March, deals exclusively with crimes against women but is not limited to legal matters. The modern three-story building houses a one-stop service center that includes special prosecutors and investigators, but also provides child care, medical, counseling and financial support services. In the coming months it will also provide temporary shelter for women and children facing domestic violence.
"Crimes against women are not going down, but now we have better collaboration with the municipal, state and federal police, as well as the forensic lab," said Silvia Najera, spokeswoman for the agency. Read more.
Published September 19, 2012
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – In a small room at the Fiscalía Especializada en Atención a Mujeres Víctimas por Razones de Género, Bernardo Manzano stood pensively with his hands cuffed behind his back, while two police officers stood on either side of him as he was photographed and questioned by more than a dozen reporters.
Not a drug dealer this time. The 43-year-old maquiladora worker was about to be charged with sexually assaulting his wife.
Parading suspects accused of committing crimes against women in front of the media have become increasingly common here, in the wake of a combined and aggressive campaign by Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua state to curb these kind of offenses.
A 20-year legacy of crimes against women, especially the well-publicized killing of women in the late 1990s – popularly known as ‘femicides’-- has given this border city international notoriety.
The new prosecutor's office, which opened in March, deals exclusively with crimes against women but is not limited to legal matters. The modern three-story building houses a one-stop service center that includes special prosecutors and investigators, but also provides child care, medical, counseling and financial support services. In the coming months it will also provide temporary shelter for women and children facing domestic violence.
"Crimes against women are not going down, but now we have better collaboration with the municipal, state and federal police, as well as the forensic lab," said Silvia Najera, spokeswoman for the agency. Read more.
Jun 29, 2012
Violence Targets Women In Mexico, Central America
The Center for International Policy's own director of the Americas Project, Laura Carlsen, speaks to NPR about the report for the Nobel Women's Initiative: From Survivors to Defenders: Women confronting violence in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
NPR: Violence against women in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala has reached crisis proportions, according to a report by the Nobel Women's Initiative. The group's delegation spent ten days documenting homicides, disappearances, and attacks of sexual violence. Laura Carlsen wrote the report and discusses the findings with guest host Viviana Hurtado.
VIVIANA HURTADO, HOST: Now we turn our attention to a growing problem in Mexico and Central America - violence against women. It's a situation that's become a crisis in the last decade. For example, in Guatemala the number of women murdered each year has more than tripled since 2000.
The Nobel Women's Initiative, which was founded by the female Nobel Peace Prize winners, is shining a bright light on this violence and its victims. The group has also just released a report, "From Survivors to Defenders: Women Confronting Violence in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala." I'm joined by the author of the report, Laura Carlsen. She's the director of the Americas Project for the Center for International Policy based in Mexico City. Read more.
VIVIANA HURTADO, HOST: Now we turn our attention to a growing problem in Mexico and Central America - violence against women. It's a situation that's become a crisis in the last decade. For example, in Guatemala the number of women murdered each year has more than tripled since 2000.
The Nobel Women's Initiative, which was founded by the female Nobel Peace Prize winners, is shining a bright light on this violence and its victims. The group has also just released a report, "From Survivors to Defenders: Women Confronting Violence in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala." I'm joined by the author of the report, Laura Carlsen. She's the director of the Americas Project for the Center for International Policy based in Mexico City. Read more.
Jun 6, 2012
Nobel laureates highlight violence against women in Mexico, Central America
CNN: Increased militarization in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala has created more insecurity, especially for women, a report spearheaded by two Nobel laureates found.
"The war on drugs ... has become a war on women," Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchu wrote in the report, based on a 10-day fact-finding mission. "Efforts to improve 'security' have only led to greater militarization, rampant corruption and abuse within police forces and an erosion of rule of law."
After consulting with presidents, high-ranking officials, human rights activists and others, the team compiled statistics to illustrate the problem. Read more.
"The war on drugs ... has become a war on women," Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchu wrote in the report, based on a 10-day fact-finding mission. "Efforts to improve 'security' have only led to greater militarization, rampant corruption and abuse within police forces and an erosion of rule of law."
After consulting with presidents, high-ranking officials, human rights activists and others, the team compiled statistics to illustrate the problem. Read more.
May 11, 2012
Two women in Sonora executed
El Proceso: Organized crime took the lives of six people in Sonora and Mexico City on Thursday, including two women.
In the first attack, five people were killed by gunfire in the towns of Nogales and Navojoa, according to the spokesman for the State Attorney General, José Larrinaga Talamante.
According to the state official, in Nogales, two women and one man were gunned down in front of the Ittcano factory, while a toddler was injured by bullet fragments.
He said the attack had taken place the day before, around 7:00pm, when the victims were travelling north in a gray Dodge pickup truck with Sonoma license plates on Avenida Libre Comercio. A silver Dodge Caravan passed, from which a group of gunmen shot repeatedly.
The individuals fled and abandoned their vehicle on Calle Nueva Irlanda, where they allegedly got into another car.
In southern Navojoa, brothers Héctor and José Gregorio “N” were shot to death. The former, 50, was found dead inside his Chevrolet Traverse, in the Centro neighborhood, with two gunshot wounds to the face and left temple.
The other victim, José Gergorio, 46, was found on Calle Pesqueira y Amado Nervo, lying in the street with several gunshot wounds.
The attorney general’s office reported that the state investigators found several 7.62mm rounds spread over 10 meters at the lcoation.
Moreover, in the Mexican capital, a man around the age of 30, who was found this morning in the Popular Ermita Zaragoza, Iztapalapa neighborhood, died after being shot in the head.
According to the Ministry of Public Security in the Federal District (SSPDF), the events occured near the Santa Martha Metro station, between Generalísimo Morelos and Retorno de Niño Artillero streets.
According to the department’s report, whose officials travelled through said streets warning city authorities, the site was inspected and the presence of an as-of-yet-unidentified man’s body, dead from a gunshot to the head, in the street was confirmed.
Experts arrived to the location to examine the body, while the Iztapalapa 6 Public Ministry of Territorial Coordination began a preliminary investigation.
In Torreón, Coahuila, two municipal police officers were injured by suspects while in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Oriente supermarket.
The Laguna 1 Delegation of the Attorney General’s Office said the attack occurred at 2:20pm. A Code Red was immediately activated and military and police mounted an operation to search for the assailants.
Officials from the Municipal Public Security Bureau were transferred to a hospital in eastern Torreón. Their conditions have not yet been reported. read more
Michael Kane, Americas Program
In the first attack, five people were killed by gunfire in the towns of Nogales and Navojoa, according to the spokesman for the State Attorney General, José Larrinaga Talamante.
According to the state official, in Nogales, two women and one man were gunned down in front of the Ittcano factory, while a toddler was injured by bullet fragments.
He said the attack had taken place the day before, around 7:00pm, when the victims were travelling north in a gray Dodge pickup truck with Sonoma license plates on Avenida Libre Comercio. A silver Dodge Caravan passed, from which a group of gunmen shot repeatedly.
The individuals fled and abandoned their vehicle on Calle Nueva Irlanda, where they allegedly got into another car.
In southern Navojoa, brothers Héctor and José Gregorio “N” were shot to death. The former, 50, was found dead inside his Chevrolet Traverse, in the Centro neighborhood, with two gunshot wounds to the face and left temple.
The other victim, José Gergorio, 46, was found on Calle Pesqueira y Amado Nervo, lying in the street with several gunshot wounds.
The attorney general’s office reported that the state investigators found several 7.62mm rounds spread over 10 meters at the lcoation.
Moreover, in the Mexican capital, a man around the age of 30, who was found this morning in the Popular Ermita Zaragoza, Iztapalapa neighborhood, died after being shot in the head.
According to the Ministry of Public Security in the Federal District (SSPDF), the events occured near the Santa Martha Metro station, between Generalísimo Morelos and Retorno de Niño Artillero streets.
According to the department’s report, whose officials travelled through said streets warning city authorities, the site was inspected and the presence of an as-of-yet-unidentified man’s body, dead from a gunshot to the head, in the street was confirmed.
Experts arrived to the location to examine the body, while the Iztapalapa 6 Public Ministry of Territorial Coordination began a preliminary investigation.
In Torreón, Coahuila, two municipal police officers were injured by suspects while in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Oriente supermarket.
The Laguna 1 Delegation of the Attorney General’s Office said the attack occurred at 2:20pm. A Code Red was immediately activated and military and police mounted an operation to search for the assailants.
Officials from the Municipal Public Security Bureau were transferred to a hospital in eastern Torreón. Their conditions have not yet been reported. read more
Michael Kane, Americas Program
Apr 17, 2012
Human remains of 12 near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, are girls, women
Los Angeles Times: "Authorities in violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, say the skeletal remains of 12 people found in the area in recent months are those of girls and women, stirring fresh worry that someone is preying on young females in the border city.
The special prosecutor assigned to investigate crimes against women said in a statement Monday that it used DNA to identify six of the victims, who were between 15 and 19 years old. The teens were reported missing in 2009 and 2010, officials said.
Forensics testing has so far been unable to identify the other remains. Decomposition had reduced them largely to bones by the time they were found in a rural area outside Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, in January and February." read more
The special prosecutor assigned to investigate crimes against women said in a statement Monday that it used DNA to identify six of the victims, who were between 15 and 19 years old. The teens were reported missing in 2009 and 2010, officials said.
Forensics testing has so far been unable to identify the other remains. Decomposition had reduced them largely to bones by the time they were found in a rural area outside Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, in January and February." read more
Feb 10, 2012
Human Rights Violations: 30 femicides in Veracruz since August of last year
Milenio: "From August 29, 2011 to February 8 of this year, in Veracruz state 30 femicides have been counted, said the director of the Collective for Research, Development and Education for Women (ICW), Mayela Garcia Ramirez. Since the adoption of the amendments to the Penal Code by which Veracruz established the legal concept of femicide, there have been 30 cases, so it is urgent that the authorities work to prevent this crime and the daily increase in the number of victims." Spanish original
Jan 23, 2012
Human Rights Violations: Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams denounces impunity for femicides in Mexico
EFE/CNN Mexico: The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jody Williams, denounced impunity regarding crimes against women in Mexico and the lack of political will to find solutions.
After meeting with a group of 50 activists who fight for collective rights of women, the American criticized the "nice words" from the government and demanded "real" solutions to a problem that she said affects the entire population. "There is no time for excuses. Families who are suffering in this country want to see action and women who have been raped by the police and military want to see justice," she said.
According to her, joint action by civil society that demands responses from the government is necessary to reverse this situation. "No one person can change society; it has to be a whole community that goes into action," she said. Therefore, the unity that associations of victims have been showning in reporting cases of disappearances, rapes and murders across the country she considers to be a positive sign.
She also stated that one of the main obstacles to achieving justice and an end to impunity in Mexico is the high number of people involved in these crimes.
Accompanied by Lisa VeneKlasen, director of Just Associates, an international feminist organization, and Imelda Marrufo, of the Women's Network in Ciudad Juarez, Williams stated that, despite the oppression and dangers, there is hope. "This problem requires a constant struggle if we want to see a society in which we can live without fear," she said.
Her visit is part of an investigation being carried out by the Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú regarding murders of women in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. It began Saturday and ends on January 31. The activists are scheduled to go tomorrow to the state of Guerrero for a meeting with women and on Tuesday to meet with diplomats and women who hold high positions in Mexican political life and the judicial system.
The objectives of the visit is to make visible the role, contribution and actions that women have taken to eradicate violence and insecurity in the country and to urge the Mexican government to ensure the protection of human rights defenders.
During 2010, in Mexico about 3,100 women were killed, while in Honduras it amounted to about 1,500 between 2008 and 201, and in Guatemala over 5,000 women died in the last 10 years in a violent way.
Activist Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her intense struggle for the prohibition and removal of landmines." Spanish original
After meeting with a group of 50 activists who fight for collective rights of women, the American criticized the "nice words" from the government and demanded "real" solutions to a problem that she said affects the entire population. "There is no time for excuses. Families who are suffering in this country want to see action and women who have been raped by the police and military want to see justice," she said.
According to her, joint action by civil society that demands responses from the government is necessary to reverse this situation. "No one person can change society; it has to be a whole community that goes into action," she said. Therefore, the unity that associations of victims have been showning in reporting cases of disappearances, rapes and murders across the country she considers to be a positive sign.
She also stated that one of the main obstacles to achieving justice and an end to impunity in Mexico is the high number of people involved in these crimes.
Accompanied by Lisa VeneKlasen, director of Just Associates, an international feminist organization, and Imelda Marrufo, of the Women's Network in Ciudad Juarez, Williams stated that, despite the oppression and dangers, there is hope. "This problem requires a constant struggle if we want to see a society in which we can live without fear," she said.
Her visit is part of an investigation being carried out by the Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú regarding murders of women in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. It began Saturday and ends on January 31. The activists are scheduled to go tomorrow to the state of Guerrero for a meeting with women and on Tuesday to meet with diplomats and women who hold high positions in Mexican political life and the judicial system.
The objectives of the visit is to make visible the role, contribution and actions that women have taken to eradicate violence and insecurity in the country and to urge the Mexican government to ensure the protection of human rights defenders.
During 2010, in Mexico about 3,100 women were killed, while in Honduras it amounted to about 1,500 between 2008 and 201, and in Guatemala over 5,000 women died in the last 10 years in a violent way.
Activist Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her intense struggle for the prohibition and removal of landmines." Spanish original
Jan 22, 2012
Human Rights Violations: Two Nobel Peace Prize winners participate in campaign against femicides in Mexico and Central America
La Jornada: "The Nobel Peace prize winners Rigoberta Menchú (1992) and Jody Williams (1997) are leading a campaign against femicides in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
Menchú, Guatemalan indigenous leader, reported that she and the U.S. citizen, Williams, will participate in research beyond that carried out by authorities in each country, in order to contribute to the clarification of cases and prevent impunity. She indicated that the research will take place during a field visit from January 21 to 31 in the three countries.
... Menchu stated that human rights activists, artists and filmmakers from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Guatemala will also participate in the investigation." Spanish original
Menchú, Guatemalan indigenous leader, reported that she and the U.S. citizen, Williams, will participate in research beyond that carried out by authorities in each country, in order to contribute to the clarification of cases and prevent impunity. She indicated that the research will take place during a field visit from January 21 to 31 in the three countries.
... Menchu stated that human rights activists, artists and filmmakers from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Guatemala will also participate in the investigation." Spanish original
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