…”Since 1993 over 400 women from Ciudad Juárez, a large city on the US-Mexico border, have been murdered and over 70 are still missing, according to Amnesty International’s 2003 report “Intolerable Killings.” The victims are young women, generally under 29 years old. They are mostly poor, often workers in the maquiladoras (assembly factories), and live in the marginalized areas of the city. The Mexican authorites, under much pressure from human rights groups and NGOs, have so far failed to carry out proper investigations into the killings, and those responsible for the crimes remain unpunished.
“Why is this happening? People cite many reasons; lack of women’s rights, the devastating culture of impunity, and poverty. Following the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico began an industrialization programme on its northern border. Hundreds of maquiladoras were set up in Ciudad Juárez and the promise of new work attracted thousands of unemployed people, including many women, from all over Mexico and other countries in Latin America.
“However, the “NAFTA boom” never quite materialised; workers were paid only $4 a day and official Mexcian poverty levels rose by almost 5% six years after NAFTA was implemented. Now, facing increasing competition from China, where workers are paid even less at $1.91 a day, some of the maquiladoras are closing down. In 2003, over 130,000 jobs were lost in the maquiladoras. Those who still have their jobs face poor working conditions, and rampant labour rights violations.
“Ciudad Juárez’s geographic location as a border city makes it an important point for the trafficking of immigrants and drugs. In addition, judicial and government institutions are often corrupt and infiltrated by interests representing the drug trade. These factors add up to a city with one of the highest levels of criminality in Mexico, with little sense of local identity or community.” ….
