Violence Against Women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO -- (House of Representatives - July 07, 2004)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I often criticize the media for the things that I think are inattentive and improper. Tonight, I would like to rise to give tribute to the media where I think good has been done.
A long-time friend, Rebecca Allen, an editor from the Orange County Register, forwarded to me eight articles in a series they printed in mid-June. The articles, written by the brave and courageous Yvette Cabrera and Minerva Canto, four articles apiece, detailed the difficulties that face young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
My district butts up to the very corner of Juarez, and I have watched the problems of hundreds of deaths of young women, but until reading a series of articles, it was not personal. The first in the series of articles talked about she never came home. Concentrating on Erendira Ponce, 17, all that she dreamed of was a life beyond her poor neighborhood. At 17 she ended up as one of hundreds of women killed in Juarez, Mexico, skull crushed, raped and just thrown down into the dirt.
The second in the series of articles is about the investigator Angolee Talavera, 29 years old, the lead investigator who still has no one to try for all of the killings.
The third in the series of articles concentrates on a suspect's wife. The police have tried to silence the suspect's wife.
The suspect, a truck driver, Victor Javier Garcia Uribe, was summarily arrested by two men who were dressed with masks over their head and other men that came up with Halloween costume masks. Little did they understand that
Victor had married his wife Mary Ann Garcia when she was still in a wheelchair from an accident suffered while they were dating. He nursed her back to health, moving in with her, and because of the love and the faith that they have built up, she stands by him continuing to provide more and more evidence that he is innocent. Yet, he stays in prison today.
Her persistence is rewarded by three beatings from the local authorities, with the admonition that this is a message from the governor, Stop making noise.
The fourth in the series of articles is about a mother's pain. Irma Monreal just lives with the loss of her 15-year-old, the one around whom her and her family's dreams operated. Her 15-year-old daughter just brought the light and life and laughter into their home. Esmerelda wanted to rescue her mother from the poverty, getting a job as a secretary to pour a new concrete floor in their dirt-floored home. At 15, she was taken and brutally murdered. Her body was found purple and swollen with all of the flesh and even the hair missing, just a blank skull on top of her body. What kind of tremendous terror are the people in Mexico living with and the authorities unable to solve?
The fifth series is about an orphan, the inevitable orphans that suffer from the loss of moms.
The sixth is about an activist, the activists who are ignored, who are threatened to keep silent, to stop making waves.
The seventh was about an imprisoned reporter who dared to write about the loss of her friend and blame the authorities, and now she sits in prison.
And finally the eighth article is the hope for the future, talking about women such as Esther Chavez.
The one common trait, Mr. Speaker, is the impunity with which these young ladies are killed. The common element is the careless violence that discards these young ladies as if they had no value.
Mr. Speaker, I add my voice to those speaking up on behalf of justice. We are told in the Bible that the worst sins are those which are committed against the poor and the fatherless, against those who are innocent and unwilling and unable to provide their own protection. Mr. Speaker, these are the people who are suffering in Mexico today. These are the people who are suffering in Ciudad Juarez. I commend the Orange County Register for printing this bold series of articles and drawing to the attention of the United States the difficulties that lie just across the border for women who have done no wrong.