The facts behind the myth

15 de Junio del 2006

· About 50 women have been killed in Juarez this year, according to a Web interview given in February by French writer Maud Tabachnik, author of “I Have Seen The Devil Face to Face: Homicide of Women in Juarez”. But last May, the State Attorney's Office of Chihuahua, Mexico reported that the number of women homicides committed in Juarez to date is nine, which matches the local news media records. When questioned about her sources, Tabachnik admitted that she has never been to Juarez “I didn't go to Juarez because I can't speak Spanish”, she answered.

By Gabriela Minjares and Sandra Rodríguez
Edited by Ivan A. Rodríguez
EL DIARIO

CIUDAD JUAREZ- In the last decade, a dark legend based on speculation, exaggeration, myth and misinformation about the alleged serial assassinations of women in Juarez, has spread beyond the borders of Mexico, causing irreparable damage to the city's image and its society's standards, according to the national attorney general's office, ––Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR).

Among the tales that have contributed to that legend are that Juarez is the city of Mexico –– and even the world–– with the highest rate of homicides against women, that these have been perpetrated by numerous serial killers still at large, that more than 4,000 girls are currently missing, that organs from their bodies were for sale in the black market, and finally, that in Juarez the female population can not leave their homes without the risk of being attacked.

These rumors have created a plethora of distortions.

Although the fact that from 1993 to the present more than 300 women have been murdered in the area is not denied, the reality is that most of them did not perish under the circumstances or exaggerations published by yellowish media since these gender crimes began to surface.

The PGR, which took the issue in a slow manner and even based at their moment some of their hypothesis in myths generated by misinformation (such as the traffic of the victim's organs), just emitted this past January a final report created by officials of an internal affairs department which confirmed in writing what the majority of Juarenses originally perceived, “It is true that the loss of a single life is enough to cause indignation and rejection from society, but it is also true that the facts and evidences show that in the last years, a vicious circle stemming from facts, impunity and speculation has created a perception that differs entirely from reality, affecting in major part the society of Juarez”, indicates the document.

It also adds, “The speculation on this topic is huge. Figures and events that do not correspond with what really happened have been handled without rigor”.

This erroneous perception about a problem that did exist in the city but that was over dimensioned, filled with exaggerations, has spread all over the world.

Great blame for these erroneous insights lies on the disproportionate handling of one local newspaper in Juarez , which was driven by commercial and personal motives that changed the reality of the cities situation.

Federal, state and municipal governments failed to take action to avoid the spread of this parable and the misunderstanding of such a complex problem.

Moreover, there are documents showing negligence of law enforcement agencies involved in purported cover up.

Likewise, this deformed reality was stimulated by new, profit-driven, nongovernmental organizations that increased this faulty perception on the national and international arenas in order to gain revenue at the expense of the dead women.

The consequence: an avalanche of works enhancing the issue.

From the first book about the subject: “Dead Women of Juarez” (published in 1990), to “I've Seen the Devil Face to Face: Homicide of Women in Juarez” (released this year in Europe ) at least 67 literary works have been published. In addition, a Web search shows 7 performances, 7 plastic works, 18 literary works, 12 plays, 9 movies and documentary videotapes, 14 songs and countless features from different countries around the world.

The political battle to blame it on the other

For the duration of the two Chihuahua State Government periods in which the women murders allegedly increased, –– the first six year term headed Francisco Barrio, PAN, the second by Fernando Baeza, PRI –– a so-called “battle of figures” to decipher which administration outdid the other in terms of the death count emerged.

During the past thirteen years, the dark legend created by the string of crimes has not only affected the society of Juarez , but also the three levels of government.

Three presidents from different political parties: Carlos Salinas de Gortari, PRI, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, PRI and Vicente Fox Quesada, PAN, have been involved.

The Salinas and Zedillo administrators remained sidelined, while Fox Quesada, pressured by the international public opinion, felt obligated to take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile, Juarez has had six city mayors: four of them leaded by National Action Party, PAN, one provisional, and the current one ruled by Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI.

During the term of former State Governor Francisco Barrio Terrazas (1992-1999), authorities started to support the claim of serial murderers with documents and the problem drew national attention due to a special report by the Human Rights National Commission (CNDH).

In the recommendation 44/98, issued by CNDH on May 15, 1998, in response to a complaint by a federal female representative, multiple deficiencies were brought to light, including some found to have plagued the gathering of inquiries. In the majority of those, evidence was found to produce a delay in law enforcement.

It should be noted that, from the judicial point of view, it is the State Attorney's Office that has jurisdiction over the murder of women, and it is responsible for handling the entire prosecution of suspects.

The CNDH asked for an investigation to determine administrative or judicial liabilities pertaining to the duty of former Attorney General for the state of Chihuahua Arturo Chavez Chavez, along with other officials under the command of assistant attorney in charge of the northern region Jorge Lopez Molinar.

Since then, this situation generated erratic information about the phenomenon of crimes against women; a tendency which snowballed into a problem that a few cared to clarify.

So, in response to the CNDH suggestion, state authorities belittled the work done by the commission led by Mireille Rocatti, considering it was a “partial view leading to wrong conclusions and statements, or even lacking fundament, motivation and objectivity”.

The issue appeared in Barrio's last state of the union address, in which he warned that the suggestion of holding officials liable would not be carried out. Barrio instead blamed the media for the violence in the state. According to him, the media “spoiled” people and prompted the “gradual loss of moral values” in society.

Moreover, because of demands from some of the victim's mothers, he went as far as saying that the State was not liable for the prevention of crimes but rather it was responsible for the investigation of those that have already been committed – reason why he would deny petitions to create a special prosecution “because it'd be useless”.

It wasn't until the last year of his term, when he finally conceded the problem by naming Maria Antonieta Esparza as chief prosecutor in the matter, even though he argued crimes against women showed a “normal” occurrence.

Meanwhile, high-ranking officials of his administration attributed the homicides to the fact that victims were wearing miniskirts, went out to the streets after dancing at night, walked around dark places alone, and were “available”, or engaged in prostitution.

In addition, reports by the Interamerican Human Rights Commission in Mexico show that the response given to families by the authorities in charge fluctuates from indifference to hostility.

One of the most emblematic cases during Francisco Barrio Terrazas administration was the death of Cinthia Rocio Acosta Alvarado, a little girl who was murdered in February of 1997.

In response to the outcry and pressure from citizens to solve the assassination of the 10 year old who had been missing for a month, authorities argued Cinthia lacked attention from her own family.

According to a forensic test practiced on the girl's body they also established that the minor suffered bone deficiencies due to a poor diet. The official version even demonstrated her dentures had severe decay.

Today, eight years after those statements were issued; accusations against Barrio's administration in the handling of this case continue emerging.

One example being the attempted dismissal of current assistant Secretary of the Interior Arturo Chavez Chavez requested by different organizations and officials because of his position on the crimes against women.

Also, according to sate authorities, it was during Francisco Barrio's term that a “serial killer” began operating in this border town, though he was never brought up on criminal charges. Investigators at the time determined an Egyptian engineer Abdel Latif Sharif as responsible for the killing of six women in the Lote Bravo, and charged him with one count only.

Sharif was pronounced not guilty on most of the charges filed against him because the prosecution's cases weren't strong enough.

In 1995 however, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of Elizabeth Castro Garcia.

Later on, authorities labeled him a “serial killer” maintaining that from inside of the prison he financially supported criminal groups to perpetrate sexual homicides against women in order for him to be exonerated. Officials never proved this theory.

Sharif, who argued he was being a “scapegoat” since his arrest in 1995, died last Thursday in a Chihuahua city's prison without ever proving his innocence, or the authorities ever establishing his criminal liability in all the cases.

The criminal group linked to Sharif, which was allegedly paid by him to continue the string of homicides, was called “The Rebels”. This gang is believed to have committed the killing of seven women whose bodies were found in the Lomas de Poleo vacant lot. The murders showed striking similarities to those found at Lote Bravo and subsequently ten members of this gang were detained in an impressive downtown police bust on April 14, 1996.

Of all suspects detained that day, four minors were released because no evidence linking them to the homicides was found.

The remaining six were tried in 2005 and were sentenced to terms ranging from 24 to 40 years behind bars. Soon after one suspect was freed after an appeals court found him innocent while the others received reduced sentences.

Amid complexity, scandal and commercial interests

Executives of the newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez failed to agree on an advertising rate with then State Governor Patricio Martinez' officials and both sustained a battle that ended up on the pages of Norte's publication.

Recommendations made by the Human Rights National Commission (CNDH) in 1998 were only the first in a series. Throughout the years, national and international human rights organizations have published several reports agreeing on the complexity of the problem, the apparent negligence engaged in by law enforcement agencies, and the federal government's dilated response to the issue. Proof of the density of the problem is that even with the competitive arguments at the state level between PRI and PAN, no changes in crimes against women or the application of justice emerged.

With Martinez ' PRI administration though, the issue went from myth to profit – a change generated by business interests.

Over his six year term the phenomenon was surrounded by scandals such as the investigation of the murders of eight women, found in November 2001 on a cotton field. Followed by the controversial criminal trials of Victor Javier Garcia Uribe (‘El Cerillo'), and Gustavo Gonzalez Meza (“La Foca”). Gonzalez Meza died in prison under obscure circumstances. The ensuing trial lacked inquiry, credibility and eroded into a verdict of not guilty in favor of Garcia Uribe because of lack of evidence on the matter.

Circumstances surrounding the crimes led to an increase in the number of fables that hypothesized on the causes of political motivations of the homicides. This went to the extent that the theories emerged linked the murders to a purported boycott of the Free Trade Agreement in order to harm the maquiladora industry.

Other accounts include government cover-up, impunity and the protection of responsible parties, which involved businessmen or leading politicians who allegedly made campaign contributions.

Consequently media all over the world contributed to the proliferation of erroneous or exaggerated facts on the murders of women.

A soar newspaper's campaign

The newspaper kept the issue of the Juarez killings in a greatly exaggerated manner on its front pages, using it as a campaign to virtually blame the governor.

Executives of the newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez failed to agree with then State Governor Patricio Martinez on an advertising rate and both sustained a battle that ended up on the pages of Norte's publication.

The newspaper kept the issue of the Juarez killings in a greatly exaggerated manner on its front pages, using it as a campaign to virtually blame the governor and the state attorney for the phenomenon, according to government sources interviewed by El Diario.

Norte de Ciudad Juarez, involved basically in a commercial feud with the government, was joined by a PAN's faction, looking to increase its political balance facing both the 2000-2003 federal elections and the 2001-2004 municipal elections.

In addition, relatives of the deceased have argued that some non-governmental and human rights organizations took advantage of the lopsided campaign, more to profit from the suffering of the victim's families than to repair the damage caused by the homicides.

Today it is obvious that with the new governor of Chihuahua Jose Reyes Baeza, the editorial content at El Norte changed; hence this theme has stopped occupying the first column of the newspaper.

That particular situation was then clearly pointed out by some important public figures, including political activist and former director of Chihuahua 's Institute for Women, Victoria Caraveo Vallina. She questioned the use of the newspaper's main pages as a way to be distinguished as “the only local medium defending the truth”.

“In order to sell and survive there are some media that have used this issue in an irresponsible way”, said Caraveo at that time.

Media attorney Ernesto Villanueva mentioned this issue on July 19, 1999 in a story published by Proceso, (a national political magazine), where he wrote that “the last straw of journalism abuse is to confuse the financial health of a media outlet with the freedom of speech and information”.

The four thousand missing version from Soberanes

The PGR indicated that from 4,456 women reported as missing from 1993 through 2005, only 47 were confirmed, 13 located, 11 alive and 2 deceased, thus the number pending to be located gets down to 34.

Statistical maneuvering about the murders of women and those who have disappeared has remained unchanged since the last decade. This was especially noticeable when non-governmental and human rights organizations like Amnesty International began publishing their own figures with different data.

Because of this, the uneven handling of the number of dead and missing women has prompted a surge in the number of myths, speculations and misinformation that has infiltrated all government levels.

Proof of this is the case of the President of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH), Jose Luis Soberanes, whom after assuring that crimes of women in Juarez “are a great national embarrassment” gave in to the numbers game.

Accordingly, before a national and international press gathering held in the city for the presentation of the Integral Plan for Public Security on July 22, 2003, the Mexican ombudsman said that there were 263 unsolved cases of murdered women in Ciudad Juarez, and 4, 487 cases of missing women. In spite of the lack of precision in the figures presented by Soberanes, which was quickly noticed by journalists, he insisted such data was the only information available to him and that it reflected a compilation of records regarding dead and missing women.

Nonetheless, former head of the Chihuahua Institute for Women Victoria Caraveo asked him to correct his mistake and apologize for the erroneous figures he made in public.

“Everybody was astonished because, unfortunately, the Doctor was not careful enough to study the reports before making any comments, or maybe he is not well informed about what he is saying and he is releasing this information irresponsibly. We invite him to state what his source was”, Caraveo then stated.

Soberanes never apologized. Instead, he disseminated the data in different forums, arguing its contents stemmed from a special report on the cases, an action that got into a battle of words between him and Caraveo.

While Soberanes accused Caraveo of being a “spokeswoman” for the state government, she accused him of being an employee for Vicente Fox. The controversy damaged the image of Soberanes. In fact, Juarez mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal declared him persona non grata.

Different data published by government offices at the federal level has been compared to those of Soberanes.

For example, the PGR indicated that from 4, 456 women reported as missing from 1993 through 2005, only 47 were confirmed, 13 located, 11 alive and 2 deceased, thus the number pending to be located gets down to 34.

Accuracy of numbers, motives, and other circumstances surrounding the crimes is not of minor relevance, the National Attorney General Office stressed.

“This aspect in human rights issues becomes especially relevant, because a wrong analysis can produce the wrong therapy, which in turn can bring results even worse than the illness itself”, the agency says.

“Unfortunately, something like this has happened in the case of homicides and missing cases of women in Ciudad Juarez ”.

The PGR did not mention text or authors of the equivocal diagnostics or of the data handled without rigor. It did mention, however, that events occurring in this borderland these past thirteen years should be treated with “realism” and specific evidence.

“The memories of victimized women due to homicides and the rights of surviving relatives deserve to be treated seriously as well as respectfully. The ones that have not treated this matter in that way must respond to history”, the PGR document warns.

The reality is different: PGR

During the two years investigation, 11,678 biographies, 4,038 addresses, 4,396 phone numbers, 59 weapons and 25 bank accounts were analyzed.

After years of keeping itself either marginalized from the phenomenon or even echoing myths, in 2003 the PGR finally took hands on action by ordering two men to stay in the city while investigation on their purported link to the sale of organs was cleared. By 2004 a presidential order strained the federal government to create a special prosecution office to act under the PGR wing. The initiative was viewed as a way to respond to national and international pressure mostly provoked by the dark legend, rather than to an honest intention to face the series of murders.

Maria Lopez Urbina was then named head of that office. Her performance turned ambiguous as her actions revealed a quest centering on government neglect instead of pursuing those responsible for the crimes. None of the officials she listed have been sanctioned to this date.

Lopez Urbina was subsequently replaced by former human rights activist Mireille Rocatti, who practically took over only to shut down that special prosecution's office in mid 2005, with the pretext that her field of action would be taken to a national level by doing so.

Later on, this last January the PGR issued another report already mentioned, based on information gathered by the special prosecution, which denounced theories based on unfounded evidence.

During the two years investigation, 11,678 biographies, 4,038 addresses, 4,396 phone numbers, 59 weapons and 25 bank accounts were analyzed.

Based on the juxtaposition of this data, officials created a process of elimination to generate a relevant hypothesis.

As a result, federal authorities found no evidence to support the premise that Ciudad Juarez was host to “the largest serial crime in the history of the world”.

“Speculation reached on this issue is huge. Figures have been used with disregard for rigor, facts, or reality”, indicates the text.

On this issue, Mario Alvarez Ledezma, assistant attorney for the PGR, told to the national media that the result of this investigation questions much of what he called “little scripts” and “pamphlets” that have been written about women assassinated in this city and that originated a huge “amount of stupidities”. Ledezma failed to mention however, that it was his offices' report that created the most fallacies on the subject.

Responding to pressure from national and international organizations for the federal government to solve the issue, President Fox assured to the public in 2004 that in fact the agency was created to investigate and prosecute the crimes related to the homicides.

“Regardless of the obstacles, we accept the challenge, considering it the government's moral duty not only to clear circumstances that generate homicides but to also punish the offenders”, says Fox as part of his first State of the Union in Los Pinos.

Despite the fact that the special prosecution's office not only didn't count with the facilities to attract and investigate over 300 homicides (which by law are discretion held by the state government), they also admitted that because of deficiencies in the gathering of evidence, some investigations would be “impossible to solve”.

Besides creating the special prosecution's office under the PGR wing, the federal government launched the Commission for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women of Ciudad Juarez subordinated by the Secretary of the Interior, naming Guadalupe Morfin Otero as its director.

As its name suggests, the commission was not to have the power to investigate or arrest suspects in anyone criminal case, instead it was to focus more in the area of prevention. To this date, that office has yet to make public any outcome of its work.

Moreover, commissioner Morfina's salary and office location became controversial issues. With a salary of 160,000 pesos a month (about $14,000 US dollars) she became the highest paid government official of any level in the state of Chihuahua, surpassing even the governor's pay.

In addition, although her office headquarters' were supposed to have been established in Juarez , commissioner Morfin is seldom found in the city.

From fiction to hypothesis

According to several specialists in criminology and psychology, the lack of culprits and information plus the contradictions and government secrecy plaguing the cases, finally gave way to urban legends.

According to several specialists in criminology and psychology, the lack of culprits and information plus the contradictions and government secrecy plaguing the cases, finally gave way to urban legends.

The production of “snuff videos” (sexually charged videos where the victim is in fact killed), the involvement of satanic groups, police gangs, former police officers doings, as well as serial killers, and the sale of human organs were all part of the negative publicity that the murders generated.

The PGR officially named the sale of human organs a viable hypothesis in April 2003 in spite of poor evidence to support speculations.

Three men were arrested, but three months later the special prosecution's office set them free arguing that there was insufficient evidence to prove that any traffic of human organs took place.

Writers and government add to the myth

“We also know that many of the young women brutally killed were students at computer skill schools. It appears that school employees would take their pictures at the time of registration and later circulate them on the Internet where the girls are then chosen, abducted, raped, maimed and killed…”- Marcela Lagarde, federal PRD representative

Irresponsible writers and authors have not been alone in the making of stark contributions added to the dark legend. Mexican officials are also responsible for the dissemination of inexact facts.

While attending a world forum where feminist issues were discussed, federal representative Marcela Lagarde y de los Rios of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), asserted “many” of the Juarez victims were video recorded while they were raped, mutilated, and killed.

“We also know that many of the young women brutally killed were students at computer skill schools. It appears that school employees would take their pictures at the time of registration and later circulate them on the Internet where the girls are then chosen, abducted, raped, maimed and killed, all this recorded for further use as pornographic products, and finally the bodies are dumped in the middle of the desert”, she said in an interview released via a press statement.

Lagarde de Los Rios participated as a speaker at the World Forum of women from July 28th to the 30th in the 2004 Barcelona Forum as chairwoman of the Special Commission to Know and Follow Up the Investigations Related to the Women Homicides in Mexico and Prosecution linked to the House of Representatives.

Interviewed by reporters at the Forum, Lagarde de los Rios was asked about the status of the investigations. Lagarde said there were 130 cases of women showing a similar pattern, stating “they suffered a violent sexual killing: they were found mutilated, without nipples, without vulva”.

“These victims share yet another pattern: they are mostly young, less than 30 years old, attractive, with long hair… With more than 130 brutal killings, the police is looking for a serial killer, like that of British novels”, she added.

Also, Lagarde explained that these homicides happened in Juarez because the city is a clear example of what is called an “anti-human development”.

“It's a city full of maquiladora plants, factories where neither male nor female workers have rights. Getting in and getting off work poses a danger for them, there is no liable transportation available and the streets are not lighted at night”, she said.

She also criticized the fact that there are some local businessmen worried about the city becoming the object of homicide conversations. She also said the negative campaign diminishes the struggle of victims' families interested in justice for their late daughters.

“These businessmen want all to be forgotten and start from scratch, but the mothers of the victims have been tenacious in demanding justice. Despite the discrediting and stigma they have suffered, they keep on asking that the authorities fulfill their democratic responsibilities”, she said.

But the statements of Lagarde, considered by some sectors as “indiscretions that only strive to feed the international morbid curiosity produced by the killings of the women”, had other consequences.

Nora Yu Hernandez, congresswoman for Juarez and a member of the commission chaired by Lagarde, said those statements sparked an immediate reaction that forced the House to restrict her involvement.

“It seems she used her statements looking for international notoriety, because we must recognize that most of her life Marcela has worked with non-governmental organizations, and she is very much welcomed in those surroundings. But we did not agree with her, and we were not going to allow her to continue with that bunch of lies. That caused the commission to stop her and we kept her from going to forums on her own in the name of Congress. It was from the issuance of those statements why we prohibited her to go to any international forum on her own”, Yu Hernandez said.

Representative Lagarde did not agree to a phone interview with El Diario, which would have allowed us to print her version of the situation and the decisions made by the commission she directs. She said she was at the final stage of a diagnosis on the violence against women in Mexico .

The comments she made in Barcelona , however, are not only fictitious but they contradict her own reports regarding activities carried out by her as head of the commission.

In those documents she asserts that the main objective of her job is to “stop falsified, sexist and misogynistic information” on the issue because “people with little information have created a stereotype of murdered women as ‘young women who are poor, brown-skinned, with long hair, working at maquiladoras who are sexually assaulted by serial killers under the influence of alcohol or drugs who are members of criminal gangs'”, all characteristics that Lagarde stated to be true at Barcelona.

These declarations discredited her among sectors in Juarez , which challenged her on the basis of incongruence between her declarations and her performance.

Former president of the private charity Fundacion Fidevida and The Juarez Maquiladora Association (AMAC) Bernardo Escudero Ortega, and vice-president of the Mexican Bar Confederation Salvador Urbina Quiroz, both agreed in a negative evaluation of Lagarde.

“There is a serious conflict and incongruity on what she does because her intention has been to exhibit way more of what we were trying to alleviate, which was to reiterate that Juarez is a violent city”, Urbina Quiroz says.

The need to state things clearly

The PGR found that of the murder motives of 379 crimes, 78 were sexually motivated, 106 were due to domestic violence, 76 showed an undetermined cause, and 119 others were attributed to “social violence” such as revenge, fights, hangs, and robbery.

The matter of “perception”, the precision of data, the motives and other circumstances surrounding the crimes, indicate the PGR's final report is not of minor importance. It is with the objective data and well-defined criteria on the magnitude of the problem that the preventive and corrective actions can be taken.

The data of PGR's research shows that in Mexico there are at least three other cities - Toluca, Tecate and Acapulco - with higher homicide rates that should also be taken into account; but because of the publicity that Juarez has gathered, they have been obscured.

Between 1991 and 199, there were 221 murdered women in Juarez, while in Toluca there were 603, which represent 2.7 times more, says the report.

“If the total urban area of Toluca comprising 12 municipalities is calculated, there isn't any other city in the nation that get close to this statistic.

The closest one was Tecate, located in the state of Baja California , with 3.0 followed by Acapulco , with 2.6. Juarez occupies the fourth place in this tragic count”, adds the report.

A similar pattern can be observed in the reports made by the Special Commission of the Mexican House of Representatives, which show the southern state of Chiapas having the higher rate of murdered women in Mexico .

From 2000 to 2004, according to the official data, 1,465 deaths of women were recorded on that whole state. Where as in a longer period of time, from 1993 to 2004, the city of Juarez only had 347 such homicides. In general, the PGR states there were 379 prosecutors, 14 taken over by the federal prosecutors, and 116 more still under investigation during this same lapse of time.

The PGR also found that of the murder motives of 379 crimes, 78 were sexually motivated, 106 were due to domestic violence, 76 showed an undetermined cause, and 119 others were attributed to “social violence” such as revenge, fights, hangs, and robbery.

Myths that sell

“What happens”, he adds, “is that the sexual factor is what sells the most. It has more to do with a sort of profit that sells from a theme ” – Jose Perez Espino

For Jose Perez Espino, author of the article The Invention of Myth and the Lucrative Theory of Conspiracy published in the book Sexist Violence. Some Clues to Understand the Homicides of Women in Ciudad Juarez , published in 2004 by UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), the accuracy related to the number of sexually motivated crimes is important because it's the one factor primarily exploited for the construction of myths.

“One part of that construction is that they are all related to sexual motives. Truth is, things are not necessarily like that, and that doesn't mean I am underestimating the point”, said Perez, who is also a journalist from Chihuahua .

“What happens”, he adds, “is that the sexual factor is what sells the most. It has more to do with a sort of profit that sells from a theme ” He says. “In other words, it sells to talk about the concept of ‘feminicide'”.

The PGR report reiterates Perez's opinion and concurs that the purported pattern of the sexual motive has “fed” the idea that Juarez is the world's capital of female homicides.

“Along these 13 years, there were other homicides that even if they do not fall into the pattern mentioned before (the sexual motive), have kept feeding the perception that more homicides are perpetrated by serial killers or that behind those murders are other motivations that are being ignored both by the local and federal authorities”, the report says.

This version, for instance, strongly nurtured the sale of the book “Huesos en el Desierto” (“Bones in the Desert”), written by the journalist Sergio Gonzalez Rodriguez.

“They are orgiastic homicides with sexual rituals and a capacity for very tough, sadist perfectionism”, Gonzalez affirmed during the promotion of his book.

Press coverage of the killings in the Mexico City , says Perez Espino, has featured poor investigative practices.

“That's aside from the desire for fame and profit by some reporters and writers, questionable ethics, the scandal, and the indiscretion in the handling of information, as well as the constant creation of myths, stigmas and stereotypes in a significant part of the newspapers and the books published on the subject”, he says.

News correspondents from national and international media have also contributed to this situation, spreading factless stories. Many of these news correspondents came to the border with preconceived ideas and spread myths around the world without taking the time to investigate what was really happening in the city.

Several reporters based their information on the local media headlines and left the town with an exaggerated impression of what was really happening.

It is to this handling that Bernardo Escudero, former head of AMAC, (Association of Maquiladora Industry in Juarez) attributes the myths that affirmed that “there were thousands” of murdered women and that “all of them were ‘maquila' operators”.

“There were good and bad reporters. Some of them didn't have any source of information and their only purpose was to magnify the issue so they could create a scandal that would help their work make more impact in their hometowns. What they created was a larger problem that identified Juarez as the city of crime, perdition, and an unsafe place for women. This is a practice slanted favorably towards their interests”, he says.

Several photographers from local newspapers found a way of making profit by offering guided “tours” for foreign reporters charging them from $100 to $150 US dollars per day.

According to statements from photographers, their job was to take foreign reporters to the places where some of the bodies were found as well as to the addresses of some victim's families.

The manner in which the information was handled called the attention of President Vicente Fox when he declared in 2005 that the media was working with “remakes” of these killings in Juarez since most of these cases were already solved and the killers in jail.

“What has happened in Juarez offends us, but it is also not right to be rewriting the same reports without new information …the same 300 or 400 cases of women, who very painfully, very sadly have lost their lives over already more than 12 years”, Fox said.

From the crime to the show

As mentioned before, at least 67 works have been published: from the first book on the subject in 1999 “Las Muertas de Juarez” (“The Killed Women in Juarez”), to “He Visto al Diablo de Frente: los Homicidios de Mujeres en Ciudad Juarez” (I've seen the Devil in the Eye: The Homicides of Women in Ciudad Juarez”), released this year in Europe.

In addition, a Web search shows 7 performances, 7 plastic works, 18 literary works, 12 plays, 9 movies and documentary videotapes, 14 songs and countless features from different countries around the world.

Stories that sell

The titles are as diverse as “Crimenes de Odio” (“Crimes of Hate”), “Mascarada en Rojo” (“Masquerade in Red”), “Mascara contra Cabellera” (“Mask against Hairdress”), “Mujeres en Polvo” (“Women in Dust”), “Somos las que ya no somos” (“We are the ones who are not any more”), “Los Chacales de Ciudad Juarez” (“The Jackals of Ciudad Juarez”), “La Mujer Perfecta” (The Perfect Woman”), “Elegia en el Desierto” (“Elegy in the Desert”), “Señorita Extraviada” (“Young Lady Lost”), “Una Cancion por las Muertas de Juarez” (“A Song for the Dead Women in Juarez”), “Desiertas Voces Calladas” (“Desert Hushed Voices”),

“Que Mujeres tan Extrañas” (“What Unusual Women”), “Cronica de Impunidad” (“Chronicle of Impunity”), “Los Trazos del Viento” (“The Strokes of the Wind”), “Frontera” (“Border”), “Hotel Juarez” (“Juarez Hotel”), “¿Quién Escucha a las Muertas?” (“Who Listens to the Dead Women?”), “Ni Una Mas” (“Not a Single More”), “La Virgen de Juarez” (“The Virgin of Juarez”), “Y Nadie las Quiere Ver” (“And no one Wants to See Them”), “Indolencia” (“Indolence”), and more.

To this date, studios in Hollywood are preparing at least two major movies exposing the subject to the world from their own point of view.

One of them is “Bordertown”, shot in Nogales , Mexico , with actress Jennifer Lopez starring as a journalist investigating the crimes in this border city.

“Bordertown” reunites the award-winning Gregory Nava with Lopez. The director worked with her in 1997, in “Selena”, the blockbuster movie based on the life and death of the legendary tex-mex singer. They also worked together in the 1995 family drama “My Family”.

Other members of the “bordertown” cast include Antonio Banderas, Martin Sheen, Sonia Braga, and Mexican soap star Kate de Castillo”.

The other Hollywood movie is “The Virgin of Juarez”, a story with a supernatural twist, starring British actress Minnie Driver, who shares credits with also Mexican actress Ana Claudia Talancon.

World celebrities have made reference to the murder of women on countless occasions; and in almost ever case, the artist or performer mentions his or her solidarity with the victims and their families.

Yet, how much of it is solidarity and how much of it is an excuse for profit with this subject that “sells”? This is one of the questions that Perez Espino reflects in his analytical article “La invencion de los mitos…” (“Fabrication of myths”).

“A whole industry has evolved surging from the purported help to the victims in Mexico City . There are documentaries, movies on VHS and DVD format, books, theater plays, and fund raisings… The public was invited to drop money in a box outside the famous metropolitan Insurgentes Theater in downtown Mexico City , informed that the proceedings from the sale of the video were for the victim's families. This among other clearly lucrative activities”, he wrote in his article.

Solidarity as an excuse

“Where does profit begin? In the play “The Monologues of the Vagina” for example, “money for the victim's families has been asked for many years” – Jose Perez Espino

The fine line between denouncing and seeking profit from such a painful subject was defined long ago, said Perez Espino.

“Activists, non-governmental organizations, and the reporters who have talked about the subject agree that the crimes constitute an issue which is supposed to be visible. The subject should be known at the national and international levels, but I believe all of this was accomplished when the reports from Amnesty International or the United Nations urged the Mexican government to take measures”, he asserts.

“Those are technical steps that should have been taken and would actually have helped, but everything came to a point in which the situation ended up backwards. To the extent that it became a commercial exploitation and in that context now is that the Jennifer Lopez movie is going to be released”, he adds.

“The problem with this ( Hollywood ) business”, he says, “is that it discredits everything and overshadows official measures that have been implemented to fight and prevent the problem, reducing the possibility for these measures to work effectively”.

“Where does profit begin? In the play “The Monologues of the Vagina” for example, “money for the victim's families has been asked for many years” – Jose Perez Espino

On this particular case, an investigation by this media found that the play boxed $74,296 U.S. dollars, according to the press office of author of the play Eve Ensler, who also participated in the march of Hollywood performers held here in Juarez on February 14, 2004.

The raised money, the office said, was sent to a local organization called Casa Amiga, where according to director Esther Chavez Cano, violence victims receive help. None of the money essentially made it to the victim's families as we suggested during the play.

“We have to live on something. We collect money. Everything collected in Mexico will benefit Casa Amiga”, says Morris Gilbert – producer of “Los Monologos” in Mexico .

For years, amid their pain and suffering from the losses and the negligence of the governments, family members of the victims have denounced that their tragedy became a profitable business.

“The group, the families, the pain, all have been used; everything has been manipulated to get other sorts of things, putting the family members of the murdered women up front. I think we have been manipulated for all this time”, said Guillermina Gonzalez – sister of Sagrario Gonzalez, killed in 1998 – in an interview in December 2000.

‘Nobody talks about that'

“The foreign journalists who have been to Juarez say that even the local media doesn't deal with the subject, stressing that the reporters in Juarez are afraid… which is false”, Perez Espino says.

On February 6th of last year, in a Web chat organized by a newspaper from Spain El Mundo, French writer Maud Tabachnik answered about fifty questions about her latest novel, “I've Seen Devil Face to Face: Homicide of Women in Juarez”.

She was asked anything from her hypothesis to the murders motives to whether she had been threatened. The author mentioned that most of “the culprits” are untouchable drug traffickers” and that “since the beginning of this year (2006) there have been about 50 women killed”, but she didn't support her claim.

Tabachnik did not mention her sources and it's necessary to clarify that according to the State Attorney's Office and records kept by El Diario, there were 9 assassinations of women in Juarez this year – a contrasting exaggeration sustained by the writer.

Maud also said, “it is possible the whole scenario constitutes a test for admission” for would-be drug traffickers. “They don't even open police investigations”, and it has “been difficult for me to find documentation because it is a subject that few care for”. When asked by someone on the Internet how she got the documentation to write the novel, she responded: “I haven't been able to find official documents or anything similar”.

Tabachnik's lack of sources perhaps has to do with the fact that, as she says in another interview, she has never been to Juarez .

“I didn't go to Juarez because I can't speak Spanish and because there the law of silence rules and no one was going to say anything. I was not going to walk with a microphone down the street because nobody was going to inform me (…) so I preferred to talk to Mexicans who are worried about this reality”, the author said, according to a dispatch from Europa Press.

That is yet another side of the mythical pyramid. To say no one wants to talk about the subject in this border city is a lie. Hundreds and hundreds of news files stand to prove homicides have been covered and reported in a timely fashion.

“The foreign journalists who have been to Juarez say that even the local media doesn't deal with the subject, stressing that the reporters in Juarez are afraid… which is false”, Perez Espino says.

“Even when interviewed by The Columbia Journalist Review, reporter to El Paso Times and author of the book “Cosecha de Mujeres, Safari en el Desierto Mexicano”, (“Women Harvest, Safari in the Mexican Desert”) Diana Washington Valdez, talked as if Juarez journalists are fearful. She believes our freedom of speech is under attack; which, I think is a very inaccurate statement”, he adds.

According to the written text Perez Espino quotes (which can be found at www.cjr.org) Mrs. Washington Valdez, who refused to be interviewed by El Diario this time, said: “The journalists here in Juarez know what I know. Only they can't report on it. So they tell me, ‘go for it, Diana'”.

The author of the interview, John Burnett, mentions Washington was alone when writing an “explosive theory” that some consider “highly speculative” and that asserts “mexican federal investigations have accounts of officials and other people who facilitate orgies where women are abused and whose dead bodies are found later”.

Washington claims in “Cosecha de Mujeres…” that important men in the country were responsible for the killings of women” in Ciudad Juarez and that “federal agents mentioned that the women were used for orgies and later murdered for sport”.

Always citing unidentified third parties, citing their different accounts, Washington never identifies such “important men”. She also quotes businessmen, but she never tells us who they are.

In one of the testimonies published in the text it is said that an investigator made a comment to the effect that the “crimes were carried out as a way to protest the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and that these men were looking for certain concessions from the government”.

In her book, Washington also says that some of the suspects contributed to the electoral campaign of President Vicente Fox.

Among them are the ones the PGR calls “the participation of organized crime”.

These versions, the federal agency says, indicate “the killer enjoys the protection of the police, since the homicides are due to fights among gangs of ‘drug traffickers' and ‘polleros' (human smugglers), or to parties where women are killed as part of the fun. Parties in which, of course, policemen also participate”.

In other theories she mentions how “speculations without any fundament have been sustained as the cause of the homicides”, this motivating the relationships between the NAFTA and the financing of Fox's presidential campaign.

Washington Valdez refused to be interviewed by this newspaper claiming “everything she has to say” on the subject is written in her book.

http://diario.com.mx/nota.asp?notaid=53aacd219248d7cf0239505007f68799