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 Editorials | Issues | January 2007 
State of Mexico Sees Increase in Femicides
 Fernando Martínez - El Universal
| "For more than a decade, the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez, near the US-Mexico border, have been killing fields for young women, the site of over 400 unsolved femicides. Despite the horrific nature of these crimes, authorities at all levels exhibit indifference, and there is strong evidence that some officials may be involved. Impunity and corruption has permitted the criminals, whoever they are, to continue committing these acts, knowing there will be no consequences."
- from MexicoSolidarity.org |
Angela Xolanche was a high school student when she disappeared on May 21 from a small community in Chimalhuacán.
Her body was found two days later in Tlalmanalco. She had been raped and strangled.
Worse for the family, Angela wasn´t even identified until 83 days later after she had been buried in a common grave.
Her murder is one of 118 unsolved femicides committed in the State of Mexico in 2006.
In 2005, state prosecutors reported 105 femicides, which means there was a 12 percent increase in the year just ended.
The majority of the victims are young girls from the municipalities bordering Mexico City - Chimalhuacán, Ecatepec, Nezahualcóyotl, Naucalpan and Valle de Chalco. Most were strangled and sexual assault was the primary motive.
In the final six months of 2006, the state attorney general´s office arrested several suspects allegedly responsible for nine of the murders in Nezahualcóyotl and Chimalhuacán.
Sociologists and criminologists say the disturbingly high numbers of femicides suggest a violent society infused with machismo and misogyny where the family structure is not functioning adequately.
René Jiménez Ornelas, a specialist at National Autonomous University of Mexico´s (UNAM) Social Investigations Institute, said these femicides are murders whose intrinsic purpose is to kill based on motivations of misogyny and gender discrimination.
"We are in the midst of a crisis for family relations," he said. "The battle for power within the family - similar to that within society - usual victimizes the weakest."
José Luis Piñeyro, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Mexico (UAM), argues that the femicides in the State of Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, while troubling, do not represent a national security issue since the murders have not exceeded the capacity of the authorities to resolve them.
Instead, it reveals the negligence of the authorities, as well as the lack of political will to address them and the broader public´s failure to insist upon resolution.
Regardless, the increase in femicides is disturbing and should raise alarms.
The number of such murders has climbed significantly the past three years. From 2000 to 2003, the number reported was steady - 2000 - 32; 2001 - 26; 2002 - 42; and 2003 - 38.
But then the numbers soar. In 2004, femicides in the State of Mexico climbed to 74, while in the past two years, the total number of victims reached 223. |
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