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The Daughters of Juárez:
A True Story of Serial
Murders South of the
Border
In 1993, life began to
change for the young
women of Ciudad Juárez,
Mexico. Promises of
employment at the city’s
hundreds of maquiladoras
had stirred hopes of a
better life. But instead,
hundreds found a violent
death.
One by one, their
violated and mutilated
bodies began turning up
in the barren lands that
rim the industrial
border city, just steps
from the city of El
Paso, Texas in the
United States. At last
count, more than 400
women and young girls
have perished here, and
countless others have
simply disappeared
without a trace.
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Although information
about these horrific
crimes is readily
available, little has
been done to expose the
conditions that continue
to fuel them. In fact,
for the past 13 years,
these victims—the
majority poor women and
girls from the
impoverished slums of
this burgeoning border
city—have lived in a
silent cycle of
discrimination that has
belittled them. And
despite the findings of
several prominent
organizations, the
formation of numerous
commissions, the
appointment of federal
special prosecutors and
the undying efforts of
local women’s rights
activists to right the
wrongs, the abuses
against Juárez’s young
women continue seemingly
unabated.
Insiders and advocates
for the victims have
raised the possibility
that a serial killer or
killers is operating
here, but there is
little evidence to
support such a claim.
Others have suggested
that members of Juárez’s
powerful drug cartel, in
concert with a handful
of leading businessmen
on both sides of the
border, may be
responsible for a number
of the killings—and that
members of Mexico’s law
enforcement may also be
complicit in some of the
crimes. These same
sources have also
focused a spotlight on
certain members of
government who appear to
have focused their
attention on covering up
these crimes and
protecting the
perpetrators instead of
solving them and
bringing closure to the
many bereaved families.
As
anchor and correspondent
for Univision, the
largest Spanish-language
television network in
the United States, I
have interviewed the
bereaved families,
victims, human rights
leaders, authorities,
private investigators,
attorneys, suspects and
forensics specialists.
Yet, the more I learned
about the murders, the
more appalled I became.
I remember reading each
article and wire story
over and over again,
trying to retrace those
last moments of each
victim and asking myself
‘why?’ Then there were
the pictures with
captions of the
surviving parents, a
pain so deep, that to
this day, I can close my
eyes and remember their
faces.
I
am fortunate to live in
a country where an Amber
Alert is issued every
time a child or young
person is reported
missing. Ciudad Juárez
is not far from El Paso,
just a five- minute car
ride over the Rio
Grande, and yet no such
alerts exist there.
I have always felt
strongly about battling
injustice and now, as a
parent myself, I could
identify even more with
these grieving families.
This was a story I not
only wanted to cover; I
had a duty to do so.
My
own family emigrated
from Cuba when I was 9
months old. While I grew
up with few luxuries,
that fact never seemed
to matter. My parents
had always told me I
could be anything I
wanted to be if I just
set my mind to it. Years
later, I became the
first in my family to
graduate from college.
The women of Juárez are
fighting for that same
right to become someone,
but their struggle is
marked by a trail of
blood and their abusers,
for the most, remain at
large, despite repeated
calls for justice.
By
writing about these
horrific murders and the
historic, socioeconomic
and gender issues that
have allowed assassins
to remain free, I hope
to reach readers outside
of Mexico. I hope to
instill in them the
outrage I felt when I
first read about this
cycle of violence. But
most importantly, I hope
to provoke immediate
action, ending the
impunity once and for
all.
These Daughters of
Juárez never had the
opportunity to speak
out. Their cries for
justice were brutally
silenced. Perhaps, this
time, someone will
listen.
 “The
Daughters of Juárez is a
book you
cannot put down and will
never forget—it will
shock you and it should.
The authors have done a
remarkable job piecing
this horrific puzzle
into one lucid account
of the atrocities that
have befallen Juárez,
Mexico. This is truly an
extraordinary book.”
—Isabel Allende
By
Teresa Rodriguez |
