Mexico Mexico - Las Muertas de Juárez *UNSOLVED*

[absinthe]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4794

Previous (brief) thread on the killings

 

[SewingDeb]

This is from May 9th. It was originally online at Courant.com but
he link no longer works (there is fee for older articles) so I copied it from my own post on another forum:

Mexico's Police Chief Killed

Drug Cartels Suspected

MEXICO CITY — - Gunmen assassinated Mexico's national police chief Thursday, blasting him with nine bullets outside his home in the capital and dealing a significant setback to the government's campaign against drug cartels.

Edgar Eusebio Millan Gomez, the public face of Mexico's offensive against drug cartels, became the highest-ranking law enforcement official to be killed since the start of the effort 17 months ago. The assassination could give new confidence to drug cartels blamed for 6,000 killings in the past 2 1/2 years, and embolden other anti-government groups in this violence-plagued nation.

 

[SewingDeb]

Drug Cartels to Mexican Police: 'Join Us or Die'

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Drug cartels are sending a brutal message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.

The threat appears in recruiting banners hung across roadsides and in publicly posted death lists. Cops get warnings over their two-way radios. At least four high-ranking police officials were gunned down this month, including Mexico's acting federal police chief.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356532,00.html

 

[blaize]

Maquiladoras At A Glance

Thought I'd post this link for anyone like me who needed to look up what exactly a maquiladora is.

 

[absinthe]

SewingDeb, do you think that drug cartels are responsible for raping and killing some/all of the women? That has certainly been theorized before...let me find a link

 

[absinthe]

Many of the victims are slim, dark-skinned women in their teens or 20s, workers at the in-body assembly plants known as maquiladoras that produce electrical goods and car parts. They come to the border from poverty-stricken towns farther south, drawn by the promise of steady work and a more exciting life. The plants, famous as examples of unfettered free trade, provide jobs but few amenities to the cities where they are installed.

Some of the women were strangled, some mutilated, some tortured and beaten to death, many after leaving work to return to their shantytown homes.

It's a shocking story, and a stain on the conscience not only of Mexico but also of Canada and the United States. We have embraced Mexico as an economic partner, but are too often indifferent to the social fallout from continental integration.

http://takenbythesky.net/Juarez/nov30_2001.html

This resonates with me as a reason why those of us who live in North America have especial cause to be concerned.

 

[SewingDeb]

SewingDeb, do you think that drug cartels are responsible for raping and killing some/all of the women? That has certainly been theorized before...let me find a link

I think it is very possible. The articles make it sound like they run the country.

 

[absinthe]

I think it is very possible. The articles make it sound like they run the country.

Do you believe that they are "thrill killing" or murdering the women as a mean of shutting them up (as in, they know too much about the cartel's operations)?

 

[blaize]

I wonder how some of these young women are recruited? Do they find the work themselves or through an agency or is it possible that there's a somewhat darker aspect to getting to work in the maquiladoras? Could we be looking at organized crime trafficking in young women for labour and prostitution with the murders and very obvious mutilations being used as a way to coerce good behaviour and payments to 'coyotes'?

Ok, since this is such a huge topic stretching over at least 15 years, how would you all like to structure discussion?

there are a few facets in particular that interest me:

1. Connection to maquiladoras (Is there a corporational link? Are maquiladoras being used as hunting grounds for young women? How can we, as Western consumers, influence the international corporations that utilize this cheap labor to make maquiladoras safer?)

2. Modus Operandi of the killers (Right breast severed and left nipple bitten off, kidnapping, stabbing/shooting/asphixiation/strangulation/?, the apparent "holding" of many victims for several days before death)

3. Links to Mexico's elite (police, federales, wealthy young men, government officials, powerful cultists)

 

[SewingDeb]

This is from my link above:

Police who take on the cartels feel isolated and vulnerable when they become targets, as did 22 commanders in the border city of Ciudad Juarez when drug traffickers named them on a handwritten death list left at a monument to fallen police this year. It was addressed to "those who still don't believe" in the power of the cartels.

Of the 22, seven have been killed and three wounded in assassination attempts. Of the others, all but one have quit, and city officials said he didn't want to be interviewed.

"These are attacks directed at the top commanders of the city police, and it is not just happening in Ciudad Juarez," Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said at the funeral of the latest victim, police director Juan Antonio Roman Garcia. "It is happening in Nuevo Laredo, in Tijuana, in this entire region," he said. "They are attacking top commanders to destabilize the police force."

-----------

I'm not sure if this is related to the murders or not but it sounds to me like the drug cartels run Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo where a lot of them happened. Maybe the murders are just to keep people fearful which adds to their power.

 

[SewingDeb]

Do you believe that they are "thrill killing" or murdering the women as a mean of shutting them up (as in, they know too much about the cartel's operations)?

Either theory is possible. I think they just run those parts of Mexico and they can get away with anything.

 

[absinthe]

I wonder how some of these young women are recruited? Do they find the work themselves or through an agency or is it possible that there's a somewhat darker aspect to getting to work in the maquiladoras? Could we be looking at organized crime trafficking in young women for labour and prostitution with the murders and very obvious mutilations being used as a way to coerce good behaviour and payments to 'coyotes'?

Interesting conjecture!

I admit I don't know much about how the women get to Juarez...certianly, they must be recruited somehow, as I'm sure young poor women from southern villages don't have the means or know-how to get a bus ticket all the way to Juarez. I do know that many of these women came without their families to find work. A young women in a stange city without a support network could certainly be easy pickings.

 

[absinthe]

I wish there was a concise list of the murdered women somewhere, so we could categorize how many worked at maquiladoras, how many at dance clubs/bars, brothels, etc...

How many were Juarez natives and how many were transplants.
How many lived with family and how many lived alone.
Hmm...I'm sure there are more things I would like to know...

 

[blaize]

I have no doubt that fighting organized crime in Mexico is a hellish & often fatal calling. The thing about the Ciudad Juarez killings though is that someone takes the trouble to dispose of the bodies in a way that means that they're not found for some time. Usually organized crime or gangs kill very publicly to make a public 'in your face' point. Why would they bother concealing the bodies at all if they know they can act with almost 100% impunity?

 

[absinthe]

I have no doubt that fighting organized crime in Mexico is a hellish & often fatal calling. The thing about the Ciudad Juarez killings though is that someone takes the trouble to dispose of the bodies in a way that means that they're not found for some time. Usually organized crime or gangs kill very publicly to make a public 'in your face' point. Why would they bother concealing the bodies at all if they know they can act with almost 100% impunity?

IMO, in many cases the bodies are not so much concealed as dumped after the victims were tortured for several days.

Blaize, in regards to your previous post, I know of at least one case where a maimed body was dumped directly in front of the maquiladora where the victim worked.

 

[SewingDeb]

I wonder how some of these young women are recruited? Do they find the work themselves or through an agency or is it possible that there's a somewhat darker aspect to getting to work in the maquiladoras? Could we be looking at organized crime trafficking in young women for labour and prostitution with the murders and very obvious mutilations being used as a way to coerce good behaviour and payments to 'coyotes'?

I would bet they find these jobs through agencies which may be involved in human trafficking.

 

[barb0301]

I wish there was a concise list of the murdered women somewhere, so we could categorize how many worked at maquiladoras, how many at dance clubs/bars, brothels, etc...

How many were Juarez natives and how many were transplants.
How many lived with family and how many lived alone.
Hmm...I'm sure there are more things I would like to know...

From my post #14, this is probably the most inclusive list you will find right now, it includes victims 2004-2007: http://www.wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=474&Itemid=2

 

[absinthe]

From my post #14, this is probably the most inclusive list you will find right now, it includes victims 2004-2007: http://www.wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=474&Itemid=2

Thank you so much Barb! This is great.

Does anyone speak Spanish?

 

[blaize]

Now that's brazen and speaks directly to a commercial & intimidatory motive. 'We can come right into your work place if we want to.'

I wonder what happened directly after that case? Did the maquiladora management get onto LE or complain directly to the local crime gang? If we could find out a bit more about that specific murder and it's aftermath I bet we'd gain a lot more insight into how 'business' is conducted locally.

IMO, in many cases the bodies are not so much concealed as dumped after the victims were tortured for several days.

Blaize, in regards to your previous post, I know of at least one case where a maimed body was dumped directly in front of the maquiladora where the victim worked.

 

[blaize]

Yes Deb, I imagine we are looking at a human trafficking situation disguised as a legitimate enterprise.

I would bet they find these jobs through agencies which may be involved in human trafficking.