"ELECTORAL TRUCE" ANGERS MUJERES' GROUPS

by Jeff Barnet, Frontera NorteSur Editor

The National Action Party (PAN) government in Chihuahua avoided a controversial public debate concerning its handling of violent crimes against women (violencia contra mujeres) in Ciudad Juárez by obtaining a one-month extension--called "the electoral truce" by some citizens' groups--on its obligation to respond to a recommendation-report issued by National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH).

The extension, granted June 12, gives the municipal government in Juárez and the state government in Chihuahua City, both currently under PAN rule, until July 10 (five days after the state elections) to formulate a response to the CNDH report. The 82-page document is entitled "The Case of Assassinated Women in Ciudad Juárez and The Lack of Collaboration of the Authorities of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua."

In the report The CNDH analyzes 24 of the 49 cases of women murdered in the city in 1996 and 1997 and contends there were "numerous irregularities in the investigations." The special CNDH panel said investigators misidentified corpses, lacked basic information on the increase of cases of murdered women, and failed to obtain expert tests when necessary. The report detailed seven recommendations to the governor and several more to the municipal government.

PAN leader Governor Francisco Barrio argued successfully that the original June 12 deadline would have "added a political ingredient" to the already highly-charged issue.

Leaders of several Juárez citizens' groups and officials of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), however, attacked the electoral truce.

Vicky Caraveo, leader of Mujeres Por Juárez, called the state government "irresponsible. They prefer to look for political excuses, rather than confront the serious problem of three years of police incapacity." She added that Governor Barrio "shields his face from the people with capricious political pretexts."

Another leader, Astrid González, who once headed a civil organization against the violence and is now running for state diputado (representative) with the PRI, said that the extension is "illegal."

"We are very alarmed by the way in which the city council has committed an irregularity in conspiracy with the municipal president," she said.

PRI candidate for mayor of Juárez, Jose Eleno Villalva, said the action taken by PANistas Governor Barrio, Juárez Mayor Enrique Flores Almeida, and Attorney General Arturo Chávez Chávez was "shameful and showed a complete lack of political responsibility."

Eleno added, "How many more young dead women do the National Action authorities need before they will begin to investigate?"

PAN official Hernán Rivera Rodriguez defended the extension, saying it would give the council and other authorities more time to consider the report. Barrio and Almeida both formally requested the extension. Almeida said, "Nothing has happened recently, so we consider this recommendation to have a high political-electoral content."

However, Mujeres Por Juárez leader Caraveo responded, "These politicians are a joke to the people, and we must endure their capricious and absurd pretenses."

Esther Chávez Cano, spokesperson for Coordinated Non-Governmental Organizations (ONG) in Ciudad Juárez, also challenged the "electoral truce," saying that authorities had plenty of time to deal with the issue before the election, but chose instead to slow the resolution and thus evade any commitment to stop more murders of women.

"It is not an electoral issue, as they have been saying. It's been an issue we've been dealing with since 1993," said Chávez. "The authorities are going down a mistaken path, and they do not see the human side, the pain caused to society."

"I shake and am on the verge of tears when I see pictures of the victims. I can imagine them alive, I can see them smiling, and of course, there are the families also," she added.

The CNDH report also includes investigatory work and recommendations from Amnesty International and the United Nations Organization (UNO). Upon receiving the report May 15, PAN leaders were under immediate attack from PRI, Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD), and citizens' groups leaders. Barrio charged that the timing of the report allowed the PRI and PRD to politicize it, and led PAN legislators in a vote to abstain from commenting on the report, June 5.

Despite the extension, state Attorney General Chávez, and municipal president Flores were both formally challenged by their critics on June 19 to explain their response--or lack thereof--to the ongoing investigation. Chávez has been asked to appear before the State Congress to defend his handling of the case. Flores and his predecessor Ramón Galindo were charged with misappropriating funds intended for the security of women. In addition, Flores was accused of forging the city council document that called for an extension on responding to the report. See Top Story of the Day for June 19.

Galindo, who fielded the brunt of the criticism about the issue lodged by the PRI and others during the campaign, asked in a June 15 debate "why no one was questioning the more than 500 deaths of men in Ciudad Juarez?" The PAN gubernatorial candidate also said "there are no magic solutions" to the problem.

In a related story, an ex-FBI investigator from the United States spent a week in Juárez investigating the murders, and announced his theory on June 20 that the over 130 slayings of women in Juárez since 1993 could be the work of a serial killer "exploiting the easy access of the U.S.-Mexico border," according to a report in the El Paso Times. Robert K. Ressler said the killers could be foreigners (extranjeros) who might work in the same maquila factories in which some of the victims were employed. He also said that the Juárez street gang, "Los Rebeldes," were "good suspects" as well.

On June 26, Chihuahua state police (PJE) found the body of a young girl, believed to be between the ages of 15 and 17 years old, in the south Juárez desert area known as Lote Bravo. She had been dead for several hours, and autopsy reports showed she had been sexually assaulted.

Two other 14-year-old girls--Cinthia Yadira Peinado Nájera and Brenda Méndez Vázquez--were missing and feared dead.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's office said El Caso Brenda resembled another case of a girl who was later found dead. Julio César del Hierro, police investigator, said on June 29 that he believes Brenda may have been abducted "by an individual who is committing serial murders."

Cinthia Yadiro Peinado was a member of Youth Crime Watch (JBC), a group committed to fighting the kidnappings and murders of young women in Juárez.

Sources: El Diario, El Norte de Ciudad Juárez, El Paso Times