Ciudad Juarez mass murders get international spotlight as giant puppets start SF weekend

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE


Contacts:

Jane Welford, Women in Black: 510-812-7450 Mary Bull, Mourning Mothers:
415-509-1188

Code Pink, Women for Peace: http://www.codepinkalert.org claire [at] codepinkalert.org

To:
All Media

Date: February 11, 2004

Ciudad Juarez mass murders get international spotlight as giant puppets kick off weekend of mass protests

- Fri, Feb 13: 4pm, Mexican Consulate, 532 Folsom, SF -

- Sat, Feb 14: 6:30pm Vigil, Dolores Park, 18 & Dolores, SF -

- Sat, Feb 14: March on Ciudad Juarez, Mexico -



San Francisco. Growing international outrage over the ongoing murders of hundreds of
women in Ciudad Juarez has prompted a Valentines Day pilgrimage to the Mexican town
that shares a border with El Paso, Texas. A Bay Area contingent including seven
Berkeley High students will be joining the massive March on Juarez event, sponsored
by Amnesty International, Code Pink, and dozens of other groups. Meanwhile, local
demonstrations will begin Friday at 4pm at the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco,
where Giant Puppets of Grieving Mothers carrying rag-doll dead children will mourn
the victims and demand an end to the slaughter. Demos will continue on Saturday at
an evening vigil at Dolores Park, San Francisco.



Since 1993, more than 320 women have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez. Of these
deaths, approximately 100 have been sexual-torture killings of young women, ages 12
- 19. Four hundred and fifty more women are missing. In addition to this, eleven
young women have been missing in Chihuahua City since 2000 and four have been raped
and murdered. It is feared that these crimes are linked to those of Ciudad Juarez.

Jane Welford of Berkeley Women in Black, who co-organized the Mexican Consulate
protest, said, "No one is taking responsibility for solving these cases. Not the
police, not the public defenders office, not the US corporations who are exploiting
these desperately poor women. Sixty percent of the victims are sweatshop workers,
yet the managers of these US-owned maquiladoras deny any responsibility for the
security of their female employees."

Since the passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992, 340 US
corporations have been operating in Ciudad Juarez, including Dupont, GE, Ford, Lear,
GM, RCA, Avery, and Phillips. The maquila association that represents US interests
sued the city to avoid paying for street lamps and security cameras around job
sites. A local judge ruled in their favor, citing NAFTA Chapter 11 provisions.
According to the judge's order, factories are not liable for security expenses, so
there are no lights, no cameras and no action supporting women's security.

"This atrocious situation is the result of corporate globalization-"free trade"-in
which corporations seek the most desperate poor and cheapest workforce, workers
health and safety laws are struck down as barriers to free trade, and no one is held
accountable. Consequently, life is very, very cheap," said Swaneagle Harijan,
another protest organizer, "What we are demanding is police, Mexican government, and
corporate accountability in solving these murders, and an end to global trade rules
that put profits before the lives of workers."

Ciudad Juarez is now known as the City of Lost Girls.