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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2002
Stop the murders
Chicago--I joined an overflow crowd at the Latino Cultural
Center, on Nov. 12, to see a new documentary, "Senorita Extraviada"
("Missing Young Woman") by Lourdes Tortillo. "Senorita Extraviada"
documents a two-year search for the truth in the underbelly of the new global
economy. The result is this shocking and brutal portrait of the human costs of
globalization and violence against women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The opening scene of a woman talking about her escape from
a would-be killer, sets the tone for this chilling look into the kidnapping,
rape and murder of over 230 (now estimated to be over 300) women since 1993.
Most worked for maquiladoras, businesses owned by Japanese, German and largely
U.S. corporations. This film unravels the demonization of these women by the
frustrated authorities in their portrayal that the women's lifestyles caused
their fate. Re-creation of the victims' faces by forensic workers and
testimonies by the surviving family members give us the dignity these women
deserve as members of their community who were loved by their family and
friends. A discussion followed the screening, led by Rosario Acosta,
co-founder of Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa (Let Our Daughters Come Home), an
organization founded in Juarez and Chihuahua in 1998 by family members of the
murdered women. They work to end the silence, by pressuring the authorities and
demanding better working conditions and security at the maquiladoras. Upcoming
events include a letter-writing campaign (www.chihuahua.gob.mx) as a way we can
influence Congress and U.S. businesses with plants in Juarez. In Mexico itself, a gathering of 1,000 women under the
banner "Women in Black" marched through Mexico City on Nov. 25 calling
for the murderers of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez to be brought to
justice. First Lady Martha Sahagun de Fox spoke, calling the
killings the country's "most outrageous example of the violence against
women." Rosario Robles, head of the opposition Democratic Revolution Party,
blamed President Vicente Fox's government for not doing more. The political pressure created by this video, the march,
and another video, "City of Dreams: the Disappearing Women of Juarez,"
can only help end the dehumanization and murder of women and hopefully aid the
movement that is uncovering Juarez's trade in human suffering. --Sue S. |
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