The Femicides of Jurez

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The Femicides of Juárez
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Femicide

• Definition Gender-motivated mass killing of
  women i.e., the killing of women because they
  are women.

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Problem

• Over 400 unsolved femicides in Juárez and
  Chihuahua since 1993
• Twice as many women have gone missing and are
  presumed dead by friends and relatives
• Pattern Victims are tortured, raped, mutilated,
  killed, and dumped in the desert
• The death toll rises almost weekly
• Authorities have arrested 12 suspects, yet the
  killing continues

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Official Complicity?

• Police indifference often claim victim ran away
  w/ boyfriend
• Suspicion of coverup attempt to blame Abdel
  Latif Sharif (arrested 1995, convicted 1999)
• Attempt to blame nine members of youth gang Los
  Rebeldes, 1996

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Other Causes Neoliberalism?

• Shantytowns around maquiladoras employ mostly
  young women
• Perceived as more docile, obedient, and less
  likely to strike
• Long hours, usually into late evening
• No security (for workers), no police protection,
  no street lights

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Causes Mean Streets
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Other Causes Corruption Gangs

• Narcotraficantes' tentacles reach deep into
  government, police, and military
• Many gangs involved in the drug trade use murder
  to intimidate critics, silence witnesses,
  eliminate competitors, and control their
  followers
• Officials often have financial incentive to look
  the other way the proverbial offer you cant
  refuse.

A victim awaits justice. A society
awaits answers.
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Other Causes La Santa Muerte Holy Death

• God(dess) of criminals and the dispossessed
• In return for sacrifices and offerings, grants
  power over life, death and money
• Possible descendant of Aztec cult of
  Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacíhuatl, the god and
  goddess of death and the underworld, Yewá / Maman
  Brigitte, the Afro-Antillean goddess of the
  underworld, and the Catholic Saint Pascual
  Bailón, protector of the poor and of Indians, who
  appeared to his Indian followers as a crowned
  skeleton
• Cult centered in Tepito, one of the poorest and
  most violent neighborhoods of Mexico City

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Causes Machismo

• In traditional patriarchal society, male figure
  is bread-winner and protector, female is child
  bearer and nurturer
• In maquiladora economy, poor women find work more
  easily than poor men (see above)
• In some men, the resulting loss of prestige and
  (self)respect could give rise to anger and a
  desire to reassert control

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Conclusions

• Most Mexican men, of course, are appalled by
  these killings and want justice for the victims
• Obviously, men and women alike fear for their
  mothers, daughters, sisters and friends
• Like us, they search for answers on what elements
  in their society and culture have given rise to
  the femicides of Juárez