Pubdate: Mon, 13 Apr 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A9
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Elisabeth Malkin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/drug+cartels
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Juarez

AS MEXICAN KILLINGS RISE, GROUPS TAKE ENVOY TO TASK

MEXICO CITY -- Lawless Ciudad Juarez has become a potent symbol of 
Mexico's escalating drug war. Drug cartels recently chased out the 
police chief there, and citizens have become fearful witnesses to 
daily murders of drug dealers, police officers and bystanders. But 
lost amid the headlines are the murders of young women that drew 
international notice more than a decade ago and that continue today.

Now, frustrated women's groups are making new headlines of their own, 
challenging the recent appointment of Mexico's ambassador to Canada, 
Francisco Barrio Terrazas. They say he was negligent in dealing with 
the killings in the 1990s as governor of the state of Chihuahua, 
where Ciudad Juarez is located, across the border from El Paso, Tex.

The women's groups, along with other human rights organizations, sent 
a formal protest to Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Relations this 
month. They are also asking the Foreign Relations Commission of the 
Mexican Senate to reconsider Mr. Barrio Terrazas' appointment. 
Several human rights groups in Quebec have supported their protests.

"He doesn't represent Mexicans," said Marisela Ortiz, a founder of 
May Our Daughters Return Home, an association of victims' families in 
Ciudad Juarez that is leading the challenge. "Because of his 
misogynistic characteristics, we oppose him having any position, and 
even less in a country that is known as a promoter of peace."

Rights groups estimate that as many as 500 women have been killed 
since 1993 in Ciudad Juarez and other cities in the state of 
Chihuahua. Many of them were tortured before they were killed, their 
bodies often found weeks later, dumped in the desert.

Many of the killings remain unsolved. Although several people have 
been convicted in some of the slayings over the years, some were 
later released after evidence suggested they were tortured into confessing.

Women's groups have long maintained that the police did not try to 
solve the cases, either because they feared that organized crime was 
involved or because they were involved themselves, or both.

The groups also argue that the authorities simply did not care 
because the victims were poor. Many of those killed had challenged 
Mexico's machismo culture by earning their own livings in the area's 
assembly plants.

The women's groups' most incendiary assertion against Mr. Barrio 
Terrazas -- and one that the Mexican media have repeated -- is that 
he once suggested that the victims should not have worn miniskirts 
and walked through unlighted streets. But it is unclear whether Mr. 
Barrio Terrazas, who was governor for six years starting in 1992, 
ever made such a statement.

In response to a query, the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa said the 
ambassador "rejects the notion that he was indifferent or insensitive 
about the topic or that he insinuated that the murdered women of 
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, bore some responsibility for their own deaths."

The embassy statement also said he had "strongly encouraged the 
punishment of the perpetrators of murders or disappearances of women."

Mr. Barrio Terrazas, a member of President Felipe Calderon's National 
Action Party, has held several national posts since his years as 
governor, including serving as a deputy in the Mexican Congress. He 
began work as ambassador on Feb. 26, after Senate ratification.

As violence in Juarez has risen in the past year, so, too, have the 
killings of women, said Ms. Ortiz, of May Our Daughters Return Home. 
The state government said that 98 women were killed last year in 
Juarez, although Ms. Ortiz estimated the toll at 130.

Although attention in Mexico to the plight of the women of Juarez has 
wavered, the murders have caught the attention of celebrities. The 
latest to take up the cause is the singer Peter Gabriel who, along 
with representatives of human rights groups, met with Mr. Calderon 
last month to deliver a petition asking him to work to end violence 
against women. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake