The body of Susana Chavez was found strangled and with one hand cut off in Ciudad Juarez last week, but has only now been identified. Ms Chavez tried to draw attention to the killing of mainly poor women in the border town in the 1990s. The phenomenon of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, called in Spanish the feminicidios and las muertas de Juárez ("The dead women of Juárez"), involves the violent deaths of countless of women since 1993 in the northern city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. The estimated homicide toll is speculated to be about 400, but many local residents believe that the true count of los feminicidios stands at an estimated 5,000 victims. Most of the cases are still unsolved today.
According to the Organization of American States's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights:
The victims of these crimes have preponderantly been young girls, between 12 and 22 years of age. Mostly students, and were maquiladora workers. Some were relative newcomers to Ciudad Juarez who had migrated from other cities of Mexico. The victims were generally reported missing by their families, with their bodies found months later abandoned in vacant lots or in the desert. In most of these cases there were signs of sexual violence, torture or even cases of disfigurement.
The most prominent suspects in the Juarez serial case were arrested, following the discovery of body clusters in the areas noted in parentheses.
1995 - Abdul Latif Sharif was arrested,
1996 - were arrested (Lote Bravo).
1999 - Los Choferes was arrested (Lomas de Poleo).
2001 - García Uribe and González Meza were arrested
According to the Organization of American States's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights:
The victims of these crimes have preponderantly been young girls, between 12 and 22 years of age. Mostly students, and were maquiladora workers. Some were relative newcomers to Ciudad Juarez who had migrated from other cities of Mexico. The victims were generally reported missing by their families, with their bodies found months later abandoned in vacant lots or in the desert. In most of these cases there were signs of sexual violence, torture or even cases of disfigurement.
The most prominent suspects in the Juarez serial case were arrested, following the discovery of body clusters in the areas noted in parentheses.
1995 - Abdul Latif Sharif was arrested,
1996 - were arrested (Lote Bravo).
1999 - Los Choferes was arrested (Lomas de Poleo).
2001 - García Uribe and González Meza were arrested
