CNN/AP: Mexico quietly ends probe of killings of women along border

[DeepModem Mom]

Mexico quietly ends probe of killings along border
About 100 women assaulted, killed, dumped in Juarez since 1993
Tuesday, July 25, 2006


Crosses have been raised in Juarez, Mexico, in memory of the women who were raped and strangled there.

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- Federal officials have quietly closed a three-year inquiry into the rape-strangulation of 14 women and teenagers in the border city of Juarez, leaving relatives with little hope the killings will ever be solved.

The federal Attorney General's Office intervened in 2003, promising it would try to solve cases plagued for years by allegations of state police corruption and incompetence.

Federal prosecutors privately returned the cases to state authorities in June because they didn't find evidence of a federal crime, according to the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office....The victims' families weren't told the investigation had been closed; they read it in the local newspaper.

"It fills me with rage, with a feeling of impotence, because they never investigated anything," said Josefina Gonzalez, whose 20-year-old daughter's remains were found with those of seven other young women in 2001.

In addition to those eight killings, federal authorities also dropped investigations into the slayings of six teenagers....They were among about 100 young women who were sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in the desert outside Juarez since 1993. The killings appeared to fit a serial pattern. Most of the victims were young, slim brunettes who worked in foreign-owned assembly plants. Many disappeared walking home on unlit streets in working class neighborhoods....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/07/25/border.killings.ap/index.html

[Straight Shooter]

1. I hope someone besides the Federales will keep looking for the killers.

This is a very bizarre and sad situation.

[adriennui]

2. don't count on it

the only reason mexico even bothered to investigate was because the el paso times and various women's groups from the UT-el paso demonstrated and brought pressure.
it makes me ill to think no one is going to be punished.

BTW, 100 victims is too low a figure.

[acmavm]

3. Yeah, I once read in a detailed article that there were 300+ victims of

this killer or killers. And that there was a good chance that Mexican police also had something to do with it. Either they had to be covering up for someone or were actually involved in the deaths.

Oh well, they were only women after all.

:sarcasm:

[w4rma]

4. When you see an investigation of a major crime like this pushed aside

the folks pushing it aside are usually very connected to the crime. Folks very high up in the Mexican federal government are responsible.

[adriennui]

5. why the hell would anyone want to do this?

these were young women working at the maquilladores....not drug runners, not informants.
this is the mass murder of young innocent women.

i want to see more articles about this. maybe the NYTimes can do a follow-up.

[Acadia Blue]

6. This is what Mexico is like. I lived there for about 2 years while in

college. This is what Bush wants for our country. We should not be able to depend on the government for anything. If you can't pay for it, you don't get it. The have and have not society is what our prez and he wants to import people who are used to being abused and don't complain. Better that Mexicans fight for change.