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Land Speculation, Gentrification Visit a Border City Recovering from the Borderland's Little Katrina Legendary for its sparse rainfall and blistering dry heat, the Paso del Norte region of the US-Mexico borderlands was jolted by torrential storms and floods in late July and early August. Living in an area that normally receives only about 9 inches of rainfall per year, residents were drenched with nearly the same amount of precipitation in just a few days. Streets were turned into small raging rivers, homes crumbled under the weight of water, mud crashed into houses, and land peeled away in the sheets of rain. The deluge followed a July 6 storm that also disrupted life in the border zone. According to the US Drought Monitor, 6 inches of rain clobbered the El Paso area in the 7-day period ending on August 5. Assessments of the damage to human life and property are still in progress, but preliminary reports from the press, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and residents sketch a portrait of widespread property destruction and loss of family and public patrimony in Ciudad Juarez , southern New Mexico and El Paso County , Texas . "From what we have seen, (Ciudad Juarez) resembles a mined zone- as if there had been a war in our city," said Gabriel Flores Miramontes, the president of the Ciudad Juarez branch of the Canacintra business association. In Ciudad Juarez , about 5,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, while scores of schools, businesses and public places were similarly effected. In the rural Juarez Valley south of the city, more than 1,500 acres suffered crop damage, according to Mexican press reports. Gonzalo Bravo, spokesman for the binational, Ciudad Juarez-based Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) told Frontera NorteSur that about 50 percent of the existing paved roads in Ciudad Juarez were damaged. At one point or another, more than 10,000 people were forced to flee their homes on both sides of the border. At least 6 people have died in Mexico and the United States from causes attributed to storms since July 6. Ciudad Juarez 's poor neighborhoods, or colonias, which are often built in environmentally unsound zones prone to flooding, suffered the worst impact. "People in the colonias remain afraid, because their homes are on the verge of falling apart," said Felix Perez, the Ciudad Juarez representative of the Rio Bravo Environmentalist Alliance. "There was damage in the whole city, but most of it was in the colonias," Perez said, adding that the practice of past municipal administrations granting land titles in dangerous zones aggravated the risks to many people. Up against a potential catastrophe, Mexican authorities evacuated hundreds of residents to several shelters located in safer sections of the city, and announced that hundreds of families will have to be permanently relocated. Liz Flores, the Ciudad Juarez director of the Roman Catholic-affiliated Caritas relief organization, said most of the people facing relocation still don't know where their new homes will be situated. "They don't have answers," she said. Stressing that many "victims are in shock," Flores said some people confronted an added horror: looting. According to the community activist, about 80 percent of the flood refugees found shelter with relatives, friends and neighbors in order to stay close to their homes. "People want to be near their houses to guard against looting," she said. Caritas and other organizations are concentrating on helping victims survive the immediate crisis, but Flores predicted that the "biggest problem" is still to come if the shelters close and aid dries up without people knowing where and how they will be rebuild their lives. Some people risk losing their jobs because of the necessity of attending to family and home matters stemming from the flood crisis, Flores added.
DAMAGE ON THE US SIDE TOO The Paso del Norte's flood disaster vividly demonstrated how Mother Nature does not respect borders. While storms wrought their greatest fury on the Mexican side of the border, they walloped the US side too. In El Paso County , hundreds of residents were evacuated from the communities of Vinton, Westway, Canutillo, and Socorro . A scary moment came when a small dam located in Ciudad Juarez about one mile from the US border threatened to break and flood downtown El Paso, prompting city authorities to temporarily evacuate more than 1,500 people from the historic Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita neighborhoods. Farm workers gathered in the Border Agricultural Workers Center on El Paso 's Oregon Street were trapped by international bridge closures, many unable to return home to their families across the border in Ciudad Juarez . Carlos Marentes, center director, said the low-income seasonal workers faced financial losses by not being able to go out and pick chile in wet fields. The chile pickers are paid on a daily, piece-rate basis. According to a report in the El Paso Times, more than 1,500 homes, 50 businesses and 100 roads in the west Texas country sustained damage estimated at more than $100 million dollars. Up Interstate 10 in southern New Mexico's Dona Ana County, residents in low-income subdivisions and colonias were either forced from their homes or trapped inside because to the surging waters. "People were living as if they were on islands inside their mobile homes," said Veronica Carmona, an organizer with the Las Cruces-based Colonias Development Council. "People are going out with shoes in their hand," Carmona said. At the southern edge of Dona Ana County , on the Texas and Chihuahua borders,the 1,200 residents of the small, low-income community of Anapra weretemporarily evacuated from their homes. In an interview with Frontera NorteSur, Jess Williams, public information officer for Dona Ana County , declined to give a damage estimate for the New Mexico sector of the Paso del Norte. Williams said authorities want to be careful about coming up with an accurate assessment, which is still underway. Williams said County personnel are preparing a report for the August 22 Dona Ana County Commissioners meeting. Confirming some property damage, Williams added that no injuries were reported in his county from the downpours. "We didn't get hit nearly as hard as El Paso County did," Williams insisted. "We were able to respond very quickly."
HOLES IN THE BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE Striking almost 15 years after negotiators for the North American Free Trade Agreement pledged to rehabilitate the border's underdeveloped infrastructure, the Paso del Norte flooding disaster nevertheless exposed continued, gaping holes in emergency response, storm control, infrastructure, environmental protection, and housing needs. Built decades ago and showing wear and tear, Ciudad Juarez 's flood control system of small dikes and dams was severely tested by rains not seen in the borderlands since the 1950s. A dam at El Paso 's Fort Bliss (which is undergoing a major troop expansion) overflowed, flooding homes in a central El Paso neighborhood. Ciudad Juarez 's notorious problem of illegal garbage dumping came back to haunt the city as trash washed from hillsides, empty lots and arroyos. On both sides of the border, stagnant pools of water collected, threatening to spread illness and mosquito-borne diseases. Authorities in both the US and Mexico are busy figuring out how to pay for the recovery costs, which will likely run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. State disaster declarations in Texas and New Mexico will help free up funds to assist local governments in paying for reconstruction, and a federal disaster declaration should provide another source of aid. In the US , some homeowners-but not all-have flood insurance to help them get back on their feet. In Mexico , however, hundreds of low-income homeowners who don't have flood insurance suffered complete losses. The preliminary cost estimate for new houses, repaved roads, upgraded dikes, storm wastewater systems, and repaired schools and public properties in Ciudad Juarez alone are tagged at more than $400 million dollars-roughly double the city's annual city budget. Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza and Ciudad Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal have announced that about $35 million dollars in pledges from the three branches of Mexican government and the private sector for reconstruction aid have been made- a proverbial drop in the bucket of the required funding. "Obviously, what we have to do is look for extraordinary resources," Mayor Murguia said. "It's not a question of 20 or 30 million pesos, but much bigger goals that involve the three levels of government." The Ciudad Juarez mayor said international bridge fares collected by the Mexican federal government should be returned to the city to help pay for the clean-up and rehabilitation work. Squeezed by disaster, the Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua governments now face the hard choices of meeting emergency expenditures while cutting resources for other programs. The Mexican federal government is also strapped for funds, since its federal Natural Disaster Fund is overwhelmed with requests to pay for floods in Veracruz state and other places. The BECC's Gonzalo Bravo said his agency is prepared to offer technical advice and hear proposals for possible help from the San Antonio-based North American Development Bank (Nadbank), which was set up under a side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement to finance border environmental infrastructure projects. Acknowledging that the BECC and Nadbank were not set up to handle emergency situations, Bravo said the Paso del Norte crisis nevertheless marks a watershed. "We are ready to help them with the emergencies," Bravo said. Impacted communities in both Mexico and the United States can request the BECC's assistance in obtaining either loans or grants from the Nadbank, Bravo added. Kent Paterson New Controversies Erupt over Maquiladora Worker "Shortages" Like the old days of Ciudad Juarez 's assembly-for-export economic boom, factory owners say they confront a labor shortage. With an estimated 10,000 maquiladora jobs available, mainly in production worker positions, maquiladoras and labor contractors are offering sign-up bonuses, head-hunters' fees and even temporary boarding in hotels. Once again, buses are rumbling south to southern Veracruz state to scoop up willing hands for the assembly of global products in the hundreds of mainly foreign-owned factories that drive the local border economy. Other workers have arrived from southern Chiapas and Oaxaca states, bearing instructions from their new employers and hotel hosts not to talk to the press. Promoted by the Chihuahua Economic Development Council, a plan is afoot to construct temporary worker dormitories. Grappling with a purported worker deficit, representatives of the maquiladora industry are urging government to further subsidize production costs by getting more involved in the recruitment and housing of workers. Increasingly, industry spokespersons are following up on a statement made last December by Juan Carlos Olivares Ramos, vice president of the Maquiladora Civil Association ( AMAC ), who said, "It is the responsibility of the state to provide the necessary people to fill vacancies." Enjoying a cyclical upswing, the state of the maquiladora industry stands in stark contrast to the situation earlier in the decade when mass lay-offs, production shutdowns and plant relocations hit Ciudad Juarez hard. To be sure, maquiladoras play a pivotal role in the economies of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua state. Not only do the mainly foreign-owned plants provide an estimated 240,000 direct jobs in Ciudad Juarez alone, according to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), but they also generate additional jobs and income for suppliers and local businesses. Mexico 's National Institute of Statistics, Informatics and Geography (INEGI) reports that Ciudad Juarez 's maquiladora industry had an economic impact of about $4.6 billion dollars in 2005, an amount double the Chihuahua state government's budget for 2006. Ciudad Juarez generates slightly more than 44 percent of Chihuahua state's gross product, while nationally, the border city of about 1.3 million people accounts for almost 2 percent of Mexico 's Gross National Product. Nonetheless, industry appeals for state support are stirring polemics by elected and appointed officials who contend that the maquiladora industry is seeking to benefit from the public dole while owing money to the public till. Helping fuel the criticism is the recent, widespread destruction caused by torrential storms in some of Ciudad Juarez 's poorer neighborhoods. Weather-wrought disaster is exposing the need to pay for major improvements in the city's infrastructure. About 15,000 homes are located in what are considered high-risk zones, and 43 percent of the city's streets are still unpaved. Jorge Alvarez Compean, Ciudad Juarez municipal secretary, recently criticized sectors of the maquiladora industry for legally challenging payment of a public utility tax. "They come to create wealth for their businesses, but they limit themselves to paying the property tax, while their transport trucks destroy the pavement," Alvarez said. Andres de Anda Martinez , coordinator of the National Action Party fraction of the Ciudad Juarez City Council, issued a similar criticism. Contending that the maquiladora industry benefits from the "cheap labor" of his city, the city councilman maintained that the maquiladora industry is less willing to participate in solutions to the city's problems." Striking a more conciliatory note, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal called on the federal government to assist with the settlement of new workers. "We need resources and these are not obtained with declarations," Mayor Murguia said. "Federalism should strengthen the municipalities not with prayers or good intentions, but with money to resolve the problems." In an attempt to insulate the maquiladora industry from new policies that could be implemented by the next presidential administration, the federal Economy Ministry is expected to publish a decree soon that will institutionalize tax incentives for the maquiladora industry One important, missing element from the growing debate over the maquiladora industry's reported worker shortage is the question of whether prevailing wages are sufficient to attract and retain new workers. The starting minimum wage for assembly line workers hovers around $4.50 per day, though maquiladora industry representatives argue that health benefits, cafeteria allowances, transportation subsidies and work bonuses push the real daily wage higher. New evidence strongly suggests that Ciudad Juarez 's labor "shortages" stem not from the unavailability of local workers but from the inability of workers to get ahead on maquiladora wages in a very expensive city. For starters, at least 126,000 people of working age lack formal employment in Ciudad Juarez , according to the IMSS and the Center for Economic and Social Information. In Chihuahua state, at least 394, 363 people are in a similar predicament. An additional, potential labor pool exists within the ranks of deportees from the United States , who are now offered maquiladora jobs by the Chihuahua State Employment Service and National Migration Institute. Despite the labor demand, large numbers of people are opting to work in the informal sector rather than on a factory assembly line. Many formally unemployed people actually earn a living as street vendors, stop light acrobats, fast food stand operators, domestic workers, yard cleaners, and prostitutes. Although they do not receive health or other benefits, workers in the informal sector report earning higher incomes while maintaining a degree of autonomy in their jobs. Cesar Ayala, a 21-year-old sandwich stand seller, said a steady business provides "money every day." Ayala said some maquiladora workers are following the fast food vendor's path, first testing the waters with weekend stands before jumping into the business altogether. "I have friends and neighbors that start out that way and later they leave when they see that they too can make it," said Ayala. While no immediate figures were available to compare informal incomes to factory worker incomes in Ciudad Juarez , a recent national study by the Center of Private Sector Economic Studies (CEESP) found that the average monthly income of informal workers was about $650 dollars. Nationally, 28.32 percent of all working age Mexicans labor in the informal sector, according to the CEESP. The research institute estimates that about 12% of Mexico 's Gross National Product is generated in the informal economy. In an election year, street vending is on the rise. According to Ciudad Juarez municipal records, the number of registered informal vendors increased from 10,000 at the end of 2005 to 11,583 by the middle of 2006. Most of the registered vendors run fast food stands. Nearly 15,000 Ciudad Juarez residents labor as domestic workers, earning a daily wage that ranges between $18 and $23 dollars, an income that's far higher than the base wage paid in the maquiladoras. Teresa Luna, the co-operator of the Good Living domestic worker employment agency, estimated that live-in house workers can net about $136 dollars every week. Francisca Torres, a single mother of a two-year-old child, said she quit her job a few weeks ago in a maquiladora plant where she earned about $40 dollars a week. Torres then went to work in a private home. "I earn in two or three days what I made in the maquiladora in a week," said Torres, "and I don't ignore my baby as much." According to the INEGI, 96.6 percent of Mexican domestic workers are women, but some men also prefer employment in private homes. Isidro Orozco cleans patios and gardens in the upscale Campestre neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez . Like Torres and other female domestic workers, Orozco discovered that he too could bring home more money by working outside the factory gates. "I earn more here than in the maquiladora or as a laborer in the farm harvest," Orozco said in a recent interview. Sources: Lapolaka.com, July 29, 2006 . El Diario de Juarez, July 21, 22 , 24, 27, 26, 28, 31, 2006. Articles by Ramon Salcido, Juan Olivas, Rocio Gallegos, Juan de Olivas, Gabriel Simental, H. Carrasco, Veronica Galan, Agencia Reforma, the Notimex news agency. Norte, July 24 and 31, 2006. Articles by Francisco Cabrera, Sonia Aguilar and Jorge Chairez. La Jornada, May 23, 2006 . Article by Ruben Villalpando. Mexican Border Checkpoint Criticized Representatives of Ciudad Juarez business and human rights groups are criticizing a highway checkpoint operated by the Federal Office of the Attorney General (PGR) south of the border city. Installed last April and outfitted with a high-tech gamma ray detection device, the new checkpoint is drawing fire for allegedly delaying commerical traffic, violating Mexicans' constitutional right of free travel and duplicating an already-existing, nearby inspection stop manned by the Mexican army. "We've pointed out for some time that the Precos (the Mexican army checkpoint south of Ciudad Juarez) causes problems for commerce and for those who travel by highway," said Antonio Andreu, the head of the Ciudad Juarez branch of the National Chamber of Commerce. "All the trucks that arrive there are inspected, and form lines for two or three hours." Andreu charged. "Besides the despotic treatment by soldiers, merchandise, clothes and drinks are sometimes damaged." Andreu questioned the efficiency of forcing people to undergo double inspections, and urged the authorities to better coordinate their actions. "If we had a lot of conflicts before, let's see if the siting of another (checkpoint) four miles away doesn't duplicate the problems," Andreu added. Hernan Ortiz, the leader of the Popular Independent Organization, a community group active in some low-income Ciudad Juarez neighborhoods, questioned the checkpoint from a human rights perspective. "Instead of doing an investigation, the (authorities) don't show respect for the law and trap people while they are traveling," Ortiz contended. "It could be that the checkpoints are showing results, but they are violating human rights" Information recently published by Ciudad Juarez's Norte newspaper reported that about one-and-a-half tons of illegal drugs found hidden in 20 vehicles have been confiscated by soldiers at the Precos checkpoint since the beginning of the year, with 25 suspects arrested. In contrast, less than 100 kilograms of marijuana have been seized at the new PGR checkpoint, which is located about 4 miles up the highway from the Precos. Rolando Alvarado Navarrete, the Chihuahua state PGR delegate, said federal officials will remove the new checkpoint if it bothers citizens. Alvarado said a team from the federal anti-corruption agency will arrive soon to do an on-site study of inspection times and citizen concerns. But Alvarado denied that the PGR checkpoint duplicates the army's, since the new inspection station concentrates on uncovering contraband with a high-tech device while the military's checkpoint emphasizes physical inspections. Travelers headed to Ciudad Juarez from the south frequently have their suitcases searched by soldiers staffing the Precos checkpoint. Alvarado added that the PGR checkpoint serves a strategic function, since it is located near roads known for their heavy transport of illegal drugs. "We can't install the gamma ray machine in any part of the highway," Alvarado maintained. "It requires space and an adequate place." Highway checkpoints south of Ciudad Juarez have a long and controversial history. Former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari ordered the elimination of Mexico's highway checkpoints in 1991 on constitutional grounds, but suddenly reinstalled them in 1993 . Human rights organizations protested the measure, but Teresa Jardi Alonso, then-Chihuahua PGR delegate, argued that the inspections were needed to control firearms and drug trafficking. In March 2001, former Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha, a general in the Mexican army, withdrew the PGR from the Ciudad Juarez checkpoint, which was then put under the control of the army. Sources: Norte, June 11, 2006. Articles by Sonia Aguilar, Carlos Huerta and Angel Zubia. More Computer School Monkey Business They stand as luring beams of light to the future. In Mexican city after city, privately-owned computer schools promise to train youth in the skills they need to survive in the high-tech global economy. But in Chihuahua City , some students worry that their money and time spent in a local training academy is going down the drain. Alarmed by perceived irregularities, three students from the National Center of Intensive Training University (CNCI) have solicited the assistance of Chihuahua state education authorities in guaranteeing that their studies are officially recognized. The trio, Barbara Milani, Rodrigo Flores and Jose Ramirez, informed the press about their concerns after realizing that the national office of the CNCI had severed ties with its Chihuahua City franchise. "There are students who finished their studies and they are battling to get their transcripts, maybe because the school does not have the official recognition of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP)," speculated Ramirez. "It is a very irregular situation. The director only goes to the school to collect tuition money," added classmate Milani. "We call CNCI Mexico, the corporate headquarters, and they tell us that CNCI in Chihuahua doesn't exist, but nobody explains what is happening." Although the Chihuahua City school currently enrolls almost 100 students, it allegedly has been operating since 2005 without accreditation by the federal SEP. The CNCI's Chihuahua City students pay about $110 dollars per month for instruction in computer graphics, accounting, website design, computer repair, and bilingual secretarial careers. Commenting on the Chihuahua City students' concerns, Eduardo Abarca Fernandez, the CNCI's franchise director, said the national company is now out of the loop. "It was a franchise we gave, but since it never got accredited and didn't comply with the standards that we demand, we took away the franchise right," Abarca said "It's very unfortunate that the students are involved in this problem," he added. "We already presented a legal complaint against the franchisees, for fraud and illegal use of the franchise name, but unfortunately, this is out of control of the students who we know aren't at fault." Two years ago, the CNCI granted a franchise to a group of unidentified businessmen in Chihuahua City . Until this week, a Chihuahua City school was included on the CNCI's roster of schools posted on the company's website. Mauricio Baca Beck and Nancy Ortiz were listed as the personnel in charge of a downtown Chihuahua City school that had a different address than the one mentioned in the current controversy. Multiple schools with the CNCI name operate in Ciudad Juarez , but only one, on Lopez Mateo Boulevard , is listed on the CNCI's web page. A school in downtown Ciudad Juarez on September 16 Avenue that carries the CNCI name is not listed. Another CNCI branch operates in Delicias, south of Chihuahua City . Founded in 1986 by Grupo Dataflux , a Mexican company that launched a computer education and equipment distribution business in Mexico and Colombia , the CNCI University is a national chain of schools that counts over 200 SEP-approved schools in more than 20 Mexican states. Company schools include a university, technical institutes and high schools. Technical training programs typically last about 18 months. Additionally, a chain of Internet cafes in Mexico , Cybercafe, is run by the company. Students completing the CNCI's assorted programs are guaranteed job placement, and potential bilingual secretaries are told they will learn not only how to answer phones but, importantly, how to cultivate “an excellent image and presentation” for their personal and professional development as well. Based in Monterrey , Nuevo Leon , the computer school chain is owned by members of the prominent Salinas Pliego family (no relation to the former president and his brother), a clan associated with the TV Azteca, Salinas Rocha, Banco Azteca and Elektra companies that operate in Mexico and the United States . Another associated enterprise is the Todito.com Internet portal that features chat rooms, gossip and music geared for youth appeal. In 2004, the CNCI began franchising outlets to interested entrepreneurs. A statement on the CNCI's website claims that franchisees can expect a 45 percent rate of return on their investment, but financial data reported by the Hoover 's business analysts show a much smaller profit margin for the company. Faced with lagging income in 2001, the CNCI reportedly extended the length of its professional training programs in order to “increase the volume of weekly payments.” The CNCI Chihuahua City controversy is the latest scandal to hit privately-owned computer schools in Chihuahua City and other regions of Mexico . Beginning in 2001, allegations of labor law violations, fraudulent educational programs, illegal drug abuse, sexual harassment, rape, and even kidnapping and murder began surfacing in a number of separate schools using different names. At least 17 girls and young women who had some kind of contact with computer schools in Chihuahua City , Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo disappeared between 1995 and 2005. Virtually all of them were later found raped and murdered, their bodies recovered in clusters with other victims of suspected serial killers. Several of the victims were reported last seen at ECCO ( a school officially not affiliated with the CNCI) computer school branches in Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez, and two employees of the school who were identified by victims' relatives as persons of extreme interest in at least two of the femicides mysteriously vanished. An undercover investigation of the ECCO computer school was carried out by the Federal Office of the Attorney General ( PGR ) two years ago, but the results of the probe were never publicly disclosed. The investigation came about two years after press reports first linked ECCO to numerous femicide victims. Based in Guadalajara , ECCO has denied any involvement in the femicides. Coral Arrieta Medina, a 17-year-old Ciudad Juarez maquiladora worker and CNCI student, was the last reported rape-murder victim to have a known connection to a computer school. Vanishing one day in March 2005, Arrieta's body was found three days later in the notorious Lote Bravo area on Ciudad Juarez 's outskirts, the same place where numerous femicide victims were dumped from 1993 to 1996. Suspicion quickly fell on Arrieta's brother-in-law, a security guard by profession, who was identified as either Fio Delfino Morales or Pio Delfino Mora Avalos. Claudia Cony Velarde, then head of the joint Chihuahua state-federal law enforcement unit in charge of investigating women's homicides, was quoted last year as saying the Arrieta investigation had “two very strong lines of investigation” and was proceeding on track. According to Velarde, both Chihuahua state and PGR investigators were working on the case. A report by the federal Chamber of Deputies femicide commission later stated that Arrieta's brother-in-law was detained in the United States and extradited to Mexico in 2005, but the outcome of the murder case was never thoroughly clarified. In the most recent Chihuahua City computer school controversy, state education officials say they will support the efforts of Milani and the other students to gain official recognition of their studies. Eva Trujillo, the spokeswoman for the state Ministry of Education and Culture, said authorities recently met with school manager Jose David Chavez Valdez, who requested 15 extra days to come up with the paperwork confirming the academic standing of the school. Guadalupe Chacon Monarrez, the Chihuahua minister of state education, said her department will work with the students to get their studies accredited, as well as support a possible complaint against the CNCI franchise with the federal Attorney for Consumer Protection. "In this regard, the Ministry of Education and Culture will assume its responsibility and try to protect the young people," Chacon pledged. Chihuahua 's top education official said that authorities are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the physical plants and curricula of private schools in the northern border state. Sub-standard private schools are even a greater problem in Ciudad Juarez than in Chihuahua City , Chacon added. Sources: El Diario de Chihuahua, May 7 and 8, 2006. Articles by Erika Talina Perea and Sandra Gutierrez. El Diario de Juarez, March 17, 2006 . Article by Jacinto Segura and Javier Saucedo. El Universal, March 16, 2005 . Article by Luis Cano Cano. cnci.com. camaradediputados.gob.mx Gold and Silver Up Historically one of Mexico 's important mining regions, the northern border state of Chihuahua continues turning out gold and silver. Statistics from the federal National Institute of Geography and Informatics report gold production of 682 kilograms in Chihuahua for January 2006 was up 56.88 percent above the output for the same month in 2005, while silver production of 30,810 kilograms represented a 21 percent increase during the same time period. The estimated, combined production of the two commodities in January was valued at more than $24 million dollars. Most of the mining is centered in the municipalities of Parral, Santa Barbara and Saucillo. Arturo Perez Saenz, the president of a national mining engineers and geologists' association, said the Chihuahua mining sector employs more than 10,000 workers. Perez said mining boosts other sectors of the economy including trade, services and ranching. According to Perez, a good portion of the silver and gold is sent to metal shops in Monterrey , Nuevo Leon , where the precious metals are then processed for sale in Mexico and abroad. Gold and silver mining in Chihuahua is carried out by several Mexican and foreign companies, chief among them Grupo Mexico, Grupo Penoles, Minerales Metalicos del Norte, La Perla Minas de Fierro, Minera Frisco, Bismark and Palmilla. Perez said a 1992 investment law reform during the administration of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari resulted in the increased participation of foreign-owned firms in the Chihuahua mining industry. Nationally, Chihuahua is rated the number three state in the production of gold and silver. Source: El Diario de Juarez, April 8, 2006. Article by Ramon Salcido. Mega-projects: The Kick-Off of the "Border Raiders?" Divided by a border, elected officials from the Paso del Norte region are joining together for a common project: bringing professional football to the border. At a Ciudad Juarez meeting this month, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes announced the establishment of a binational commission to explore the feasibility of landing a United States National Football League team in the Paso del Norte border region within the next 5 to 6 years. Joining Richardson and Reyes in the cross-border initiative are El Paso Mayor John Cook, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal, Las Cruces Mayor William Mattiace and Mayor Ruben Segura of Sunland Park , New Mexico . Boosting the project in Santa Fe , Gov. Richardson promoted a new NFL team as an economic development tool. Speaking in Santa Fe , the Democratic governor contended a professional football franchise "could create good jobs and new opportunities for business in our state." Although a clear plan is far from being presented, comments by elected officials indicate that each of the cities interested in the project will try to draw some benefit from it. According to Gov. Richardson and Mayor Mattiace, Albuquerque could the headquarters of an eventual franchisee while home games might be played in El Paso or Ciudad Juarez and spring training conducted at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces . Also, Gov. Richardson and the other officials behind the border football project are attempting to tweak the interest of the private sector in investing money on a dream team. Businessmen from Ciudad Juarez attended the closed meeting where the proposal was presented. Although few of the attendees were publicly identified, one name mentioned was Ibarra, a family prominent in the construction industry and the current owners of the Indios de Ciudad Juarez professional soccer team. A prime mover of the sports mega-project, Gov. Richardson has been working on interesting a football team in New Mexico and the border region for some time. He's met with representatives of the Dallas Cowboys and other teams, conferred with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and hired California sports consultant Dan Barrett to study the project. Upwards of $500,000 dollars in tax dollars from New Mexico have been earmarked for the pilot study. The big issues surrounding the project are, of course, costs and benefits for local governments and economies. In 2001, Denver 's Invesco field where the Broncos play opened for games with a price tag of $400 million dollars. In recent years, governments in many US cities have granted public subsidies for the construction of sports complexes used by privately-owned teams. A 2000 review of previous experiences in some US cities by Oklahoma economist Dr. Daniel Sutter found a very modest economic impact from publicly-subsidized stadium sports. Dr. Sutter noted that claims of job creation were overblown in some cases, while spending on other forms of entertainment like movies and amusement parks decreased and shifted to professional sports. Restaurants close to stadiums cashed in but eateries near theaters lost out, according to Dr. Sutter. The "Border Raiders" project is already drawing criticism, especially from members of New Mexico 's Republican Party. New Mexico state Senator Joe Carraro, for instance, attacked the state-funded pilot study as "frivolous." Rejecting the notion that a pro team would relocate to New Mexico , Senator Carraro contended that the state expenditure on the study was "money (taken from) kids going to school." A possible National Football League franchise is the latest in a series of publicly-supported mega-projects that are emerging as future economic locomotives of the Paso del Norte border region. El Paso is slated for a major expansion of Fort Bliss , while the Southwest Regional Spaceport, bolstered by subsidies from the New Mexico State Legislature, is sited for the desert north of Las Cruces . Officials from both Mexico and the US are pushing the twin city of San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa planned for the New Mexico-Chihuahua border as the locus for much of the manufacturing industry in the future. While the Fort Bliss and Spaceport projects are moving ahead with little controversy, organized opposition to the San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa is picking up steam in Ciudad Juarez because of fears that tax dollars needed for pressing social needs will be instead spent on subsidizing the new border city. Sources: El Diario de Ciudad Juarez , March 19, 2006. Article by Lorena Figueroa. Norte, March 17, 2006. Article by Adrian Ventura Lares. El Paso Times, March 17, 2006. Article by Louie Gilot. Albuquerque Tribune, March 16, 2006. Article by Kate Nash. The OAS Revisits the Ciudad Juarez Murders As New Scandals Erupt Almost two years to the day of issuing its report on the Ciudad Juarez women's murders, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States heard that much more action needs to be taken by authorities. On March 3, a delegation of women's and human rights activists urged the Washington, D.C.-based IACHR to seriously follow up on recommendations the human rights institution made in 2003 to the administration of President Vicente Fox. Making the appeal were representatives of several Latin American non-governmental organizations who presented a report to the IACHR about femicide in Latin America . Marimar Monroy, a member of the non-governmental, Mexico City-based Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights and one of the presenters of the report, said in an interview with Frontera NorteSur that the delegation traveled to the US to call for an end to a continued, "grave violation of human rights." Based on a 2002 visit to Ciudad Juarez, the IACHR issued an extensive set of recommendations to the Fox Administration mainly rooted in the principles contained in the American Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention of Belem do Para . "Violence against women is, first and foremost, a human rights problem," noted the IACHR in its report to the federal Mexican government. Coinciding with investigations by Amnesty International and the United Nations, the IACHR discovered a pattern of sexually-related murders, numerous irregularities in the handling of murder cases by the Office of the Chihuahua State Attorney General (PGJE), serious doubts about the guilt of some suspects, and a failure to systematically address gender and domestic violence. Also, the Washington-based commission scored the Mexican government for not implementing a series of 1998 recommendations from the government's own National Human Rights Commission. Among other measures, the IACHR recommended examining the linkages between cases, reactivating cold cases and protecting witnesses, family members, journalists and human rights defenders from threats. The IACHR issued protective orders for Esther Chavez, the director of the Casa Amiga rape crisis center, and Miriam Garcia and Blanca Lopez, the wives of two bus drivers accused of the 2001 cotton field murders. Lopez's husband, Gustavo Gonzalez, died under mysterious circumstances in prison while awaiting trial, and his lawyer, Mario Escobedo Jr. was shot to death by Chihuahua state judicial police during the administration of former state Attorney General Jesus Jose Solis Silva. Sergio Dante Almaraz, the lawyer for Gonzalez's ultimately acquitted co-defendant, Victor Garcia Uribe, was murdered in Ciudad Juarez last January. The lawyer was also granted protective order by the IACHR, to no avail. Lawyers demanding justice in the Almaraz murder have recently reported receiving threats. The Government's Response to the OAS: In response to the concerns of IACHR and other international organizations, the Fox Administration stepped up technical cooperation with Chihuahua state law enforcement, established a special prosecutor for women's homicides in Ciudad Juarez, appointed Guadalupe Morfin to coordinate inter-institutional efforts to combat violence against women and provided some social, psychological and economic support to victims' relatives. Together with the PGJE, the Office of the Federal Attorney General (PGR) launched searches for missing women, managing to locate 11 women of the alive and identifying skeletons as belonging to two long-disappeared women, Alma Delia Lopez Guevara and Blanca Cecilia Rivas Lopez. Currently, the federal and Chihuahua state governments collaborate in a joint program to find missing women called "Operation Alba." Nonetheless, critics like Monroy say the federal government has fallen far short in meeting the IACHR's recommendations of curbing violence against women, detaining genuine murderers and holding accountable state officials responsible for botching previous investigations. None of the more than 100 mid and low-level Chihuahua state law enforcement officials named by former Special Prosecutor Maria Lopez Urbina for allegedly committing serious breaches of duty has received legal punishment. High-ranking state officials with ultimate authority over the investigations were never named or charged. "We see that impunity continues," Monroy concludes. In fact, more irregularities in previous investigations came to light in recent days when Chihuahua State Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez admitted that the bones of some murder victims had been improperly taken from state storage and moved to the medical school of Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez. The unauthorized removal was uncovered by a team of Argentinian forensic specialists contracted by the Chihuahua state government to help identify murder victims. As a result of the discovery, Gonzalez suspended Enrique Silva, the longtime chief of technical services for the PGJE in Ciudad Juarez . Women's activist Paula Flores, the mother of 1998 murder victim Sagrario Gonzalez, accused Silva of committing previous irregularities by falsifying a declaration attributed to Flores that was included in her daughter's murder file. Flores said she didn't think the irregularities were an accident. "(Silva) knows a lot and I don't think that it's because they don't know or that it is negligence," she said. Silva, who is reportedly related to former state Attorney General Solis, made no immediate comment about the bone scandal. Since the IACHR's 2002 visit, at least 117 women have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez-18 more than in the comparable 37-month period prior to the visit. Among the latest victims were 15-year-old Guadalupe Hernandez, shot to death on March 2 of this year, and 74-year-old Margarita Cardoza Carrasco and her 27-year-old granddaughter Luisa Lorena Hernandez. Stabbed to death, Cardoza and her granddaughter were found in late February in Cardoza's home some 72 hours after reportedly being killed. It was reported that the younger woman, who was handicapped, had been raped. Unconfirmed reports indicated Cardoza might have denounced drug traffickers in her neighborhood before being murdered. A suspect in the Hernandez shooting was arrested, while authorities say they were investigating two men in the Cardoza-Hernandez double slaying. More than 500 women have been murdered for different reasons in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City since 1993, according to press reports and the 2005 book Cosecha de Mujeres (Harvest of Women) by Diana Washington Valdez. Dozens more remain missing. The Feds Astonishing Declarations : In response to pressure from civil society and international human rights groups, the PGR attracted 24 murders for investigation. The files put under federal authority included the cases of multiple victims found in the cotton field in 2001 and on the Cristo Negro mountain in 2002-2003. Years later, not a single case taken over by the feds has been resolved. Indeed, in its "final report" on the Ciudad Juarez murders issued early this year, the PGR could not find linkages between many killings as the IACHR previously suggested. Despite mounting evidence, the PGR report glosses over serial killers, law enforcement agents and elements of organized crime as the perpetrators of a lot of the carnage. The authors of the PGR's report even suggest the rape murders of some women were secondary, almost accidental, outcomes of the "erotic sexual impulses" experienced by victimizers. "These types of declarations are very grave," Monroy contends. "A thorough investigation needs to be done." The PGR's conclusions in its "final report" are contradicted by assessments from numerous, knowledgeable experts, including the PGR's own Alicia Elena Perez Duarte, the newly appointed federal special prosecutor for women's murders, and Hardwick Crawford, the former head of the El Paso FBI office, who stated to California's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspaper this week that drug traffickers committed many of the women's killings in order to "show who was in charge." During Crawford's stint in El Paso , the FBI received intelligence about the women's murders. Crawford charged that corruption in the Mexican government prevented progress in stopping the women's murders and arresting the killers. On March 7, the PGR's "final report" came under fire in the federal Chamber of Deputies. In astonishing testimony, Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca backtracked and denied the report was the PGR's "final" word. On the defensive, he promised that Alicia Perez would do a better job than her predecessors. However, it's not known if the next federal administration, which takes office in December, will continue with Perez's office. Blasting impunity, Cabeza de Vaca vowed to take the femicide issue to, of all places, the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the next step beyond the IACHR in the OAS system. Such a move would constitute a highly unusual act of a government seeking legal orders against it self. In a press statement, the PGR justified a possible Inter-American Court intervention on the grounds that it would allow the federal government to legally sidestep Mexican law that relegates "common" murders to state legal systems like Chihuahua 's- even though provisions already exist in Mexican and international law which allow the federal government to intervene. Ariela Peralta, a lawyer with the non-profit, Washington-based Center for Justice and International Law, an organization that assists citizens petitioning the OAS for human rights redresses, told Frontera NorteSur she knew of no precedent of a state official seeking an order against his own government. "We haven't seen a similar case," Peralta said. In another surprising development, the PGR said it was considering assigning Special Prosecutor Perez to probe the Cancun pedophile ring exposed by author Lydia Cacho and transformed into an international scandal after Cacho's arrest on defamation charges last December. In recent days, Perez raised the possibility of a connection between the Cancun ring and the Ciudad Juarez slayings. Meanwhile, Back in the Commission..... Whether or not the PGR goes to the Inter-American Court , the issue of the Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City femicides is certain to percolate in the OAS for the foreseeable future. For example, two individual complaints against the Mexican government are pending before the IACHR. According to the Mexican Commission's Monroy, they concern the cases of Silvia Arce, a cosmetic and jewelry vendor and mother who disappeared in Ciudad Juarez in 1998, and Paloma Angelica Escobar, a 16-year-old ECCO computer school student who was abducted, raped and murdered in Chihuahua City in 2002. In both cases, suspects or persons of interests were identified through the investigations of family members, not police, but no arrests were ever made. Instead, Eva Arce, the mother of Silvia, as well as relatives of Paloma Escobar, have been subjected to physical aggression, harassment and threats. Additional sources: La Jornada, March 2 and 8, 2006. Articles by Gustavo Castillo Garcia. Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, March 7, 2006. Article by Sara A. Carter and Edward Barrera. El Universal, March 7, 2006. Article by Jorge Herrera. Norte, March 6, 2006. Articles by Angel Zubia Garcia and Sonia Aguilar. El Diario de Juarez, March 2 and 6, 2006. Articles by Armando Rodriguez and Javier Saucedo. frontenet.com, March 3, 2006. Article by Felix Gonzalez. Channel 44 and Channel 54 ( Ciudad Juarez ), February 24, 2006. Journalist Convicted for Defaming Former Law Enforcement Official A Chihuahua state judge has slapped well-known journalist Isbael Arvide with a one-year, suspended prison sentence for defaming former Chihuahua Attorney General Jesus "Chito" Solis Silva. Decreeing sentence on February 28, Judge Octavio Rodriguez also ordered Arvide to pay a $19,000 dollar fine and refrain from speaking or writing about Solis again. Vowing to block the sentence, Arvide said that "the law has not been respected and nothing indicates it will be." A flamboyant, Mexico City-based journalist known to have high-powered connections, Arvide's troubles began when she penned a 2001 article that linked Solis, then the chief of Chihuahua state public security, to a new drug cartel that emerged in the wake of bloody power struggles after the reported 1997 death of Ciudad Juarez drug lord Amado "The Lord of the Skies" Carrillo Fuentes. Although Solis already had a record of human rights complaints, Governor Patricio Martinez appointed the controversial law enforcement official as the state's attorney general in 2002. While serving as state attorney general, Solis initiated criminal defamation charges against Arvide. The journalist was arrested on two occasions for the offense in 2003, the first time after traveling to Chihuahua City in the company of current presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo, whom Arvide later accused of setting her up for the arrest. Arvide was traveling in dangerous territory. After the publication of her 1996 book about the disappearance of friend Heidi Slaquet in Ciudad Juarez , Arvide traveled to the border city with a police escort. In March 2003, a heavily-armed commando from the Chihuahua State Judicial Police overwhelmed Arvide's escorts from the Federal Preventive Police and detained the journalist in the Chihuahua City airport, whisking her off to jail where she was initially held incommunicado, strip searched and threatened. Released on bail, Arvide was required to report to the court every two weeks. Arvide's detention was very similar to the more recent experience of journalist Lydia Cacho, who was arrested in Cancun last December on defamation charges stemming from her book about an international ring of rich pedophiles with powerful political connections. Transformed into a national and international scandal, the Cacho arrest has become a rallying case for press freedom and an end to judicial and political corruption in Mexico . According to Cacho, she too was initially held incommunicado and even threatened with rape. In Chihauhua state, Solis' 2002-2004 tenure as state attorney general was marred by unabated narco-executions, forced disappearances, femicides and scandals. State judicial police and prosecutors under Solis' authority were variously linked to narco-executions, torture and other human rights violations. Bodies of femicide victims recovered by state law enforcement officials in both Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City were hidden from both family members and the press. In two different 2003 cases, Chihuahua state police arrested US citizen Cynthia Kiecker, Ulises Perzabal and David Meza in Chihuahua City as the alleged murderers of two young women who fit the profile of previous serial killing victims. All three suspects charged they were tortured into making false confessions. The detentions were condemned by Amnesty International, numerous other human rights groups and even Guadalupe Morfin, President Fox's special commissioner for violence against women in Ciudad Juarez . Found innocent by a Chihuahua judge in December 2004, Kiecker and Perzabal were released from prison, but Meza remains in jail. Solis was forced to resign in March 2004, after members of his Chihuahua State Judicial Police force were exposed as executioners of the Juarez drug cartel, and after an official with Solis' department in charge of initiating murder investigations in Ciudad Juarez was arrested for running a prostitution ring of minors that catered to prominent businessmen. In response to her prison term, Arvide, who is still out of jail, noted that her conviction came long after sentencing deadlines under Chihuahua state law expired. She also charged that the court had engaged in another irregularity by attempting to have her agree to a "negotiation" with Solis. In a statement posted on her web site, Arvide wrote that her predicament wasn't an isolated instance. Citing the arrest of Lydia Cacho, Arvide contended that "it's impossible to live in a legal system where the freedom of expression is cut off by the interests and personalities of power." There was no immediate comment from Solis about Arvide's conviction. Ann Cooper, the executive director of the New York City-based Committe to Protect Journalists, strongly condemned the sentence against Arvide. "Criminally prosecuting a journalist for doing her job sends a chilling message to all Mexican journalists, and it is out of step with the region's growing legal consensus that allegations of defamation are not a criminal issue," Cooper said. The press advocate added that Arvide's sentence contradicts Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights that upholds freedom of expression which does not incite violence. Even though Mexico has ratified the American Convention, a number of states still have laws that classify defamation as a criminal offense subject to imprisonment. In Chihuahua , Deputy Jaime Garcia Chavez announced he will introduce legislation in the state congress this month to decriminalize defamation. Additional sources: lapolaka.com, March 3, 2006. arvide.com Refitting Schools to Prevent Sexual Abuse Confronted with dozens of allegations about sexual abuse last year, some Ciudad Juarez schools now are redesigning their physical plant. At the New Generation pre-school in the Valle Dorado colonia, where accusations of the attempted rape of 13 children prompted outrage, school authorities are constructing bathrooms inside classrooms in order to keep students within safe monitoring distance. According to Araceli Guzman Rascon, the technical secretary of the state General Education Department in Ciudad Juarez , parent groups have agreed to a series of other measures aimed at preventing sexual abuse. Chief among the changes are greater vigilance of school hallways, entrances and exists before, during and after the school day; not allowing older students to enter a restroom during recess time for younger students without first notifying an adult, and reorganizing security committees made up of parents, teachers and students. In pre-schools where teaching and administrative staff are hired by parent groups, Guzman said personal data and identification documents of employees are currently being collected by legal authorities to find out whether or not an employee has a criminal record. Additionally, school officials are moving forward with an educational program for students. Pre-school students, for example, are receiving training in sexual abuse awareness. At the elementary and middle school levels, pupils are learning about defending themselves from sexual aggressions, preventing sexual abuse and resisting gangs. Elementary and middle school students are also subject to "Operation Backpack," a police operation that periodically conducts searches of students' backpacks. Source: El Diario de Ciudad Juarez , February 24, 2006. Articles by Guadalupe Felix. Smelter Air Permit Decision Postponed The object of a long-running battle, a closed El Paso copper smelter will continue to generate polemics and protests this year. By a 2-1 vote, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) decided February 8 to postpone an expected decision this week whether or not to renew the air quality permit for a plant owned by the American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco). Before it closed in 1999, the plant smelted lead, copper and other heavy metals for more than 100 years. The three-member TCEQ panel ordered that further studies, plant inspections and hearings about the air pollution impact of a reopened smelter be submitted to the state before a final decision on the air permit renewal application is made. Additionally, the company will have to conduct new air emissions modeling to show the impact of its operations on the air quality of nearby Ciudad Juarez and southern New Mexico . The decision was reached at a meeting in the Texas state capital of Austin attended by more than 100 permit renewal opponents who traveled from the tri-state Paso del Norte border region. Participants in the "Caravan of Justice" included border state legislators from both Mexico and the United States , environmentalists and residents of neighborhoods located near the smelter. "Justice was delayed today," said the Sierra Club in a statement. "Asarco will continue to threaten the health, environment and rights of citizens in El Paso , Ciudad Juarez and New Mexico until it's closed forever," contended Sierra Club organizer Mariana Chew. Eric Groten, the legal representative for Asarco, characterized the TCEQ's decision as "absolutely" right, but expressed frustration at the lengthy process involved in the air permit decision. Groten said Asarco is confident the El Paso smelter will be operating within a year if the TCEQ approves a renewed air permit. Some Ciudad Juarez media interpreted the TCEQ's postponement of a decision this week as a virtual victory for Asarco. "Despite the multiple protests of various environmental groups, authorities and residents of this city, as well as from the US , Asarco will open its doors in a period of 7 months," declared the frontenet.com website. Striking a similar tone, the lapolaka.com news site said an Asarco "reopening to create jobs in El Paso " was a "done deal." Opponents, however, assessed the postponed decision as giving them more time to organize against Asarco, while allowing the TCEQ to have better information about the smelter's impact on neighboring Ciudad Juarez and Sunland Park/Anapra, New Mexico . At an El Paso hearing last year, testimony revealed that previous air emissions modeling did not consider Ciudad Juarez or New Mexico , even though the wind from the Asarco plant blows in the direction of the two locales the majority of the time. Although Texas state law doesn't currently require the TCEQ to consider the air quality of its neighbors when making air permitting decisions, some environmentalists argue the state has such an obligation under the border smelter annex to the La Paz agreement between Mexico and the US . Texas state Senator Eliot Shapleigh plans to introduce legislation to require the TCEQ to take into account the proximity of Ciudad Juarez and southern New Mexico to El Paso in future air permitting decisions. Joining Sen. Shapleigh in opposition to a reopened Asarco plant are Chihuahua federal Senator Jeffrey Jones and Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza, as well as the mayors of El Paso , Ciudad Juarez and Sunland Park . After the TCEQ's decision, Chihuahua legislator Salvador Gomez Rodriguez appealed to the political leaders to step up their opposition to the smelter. Gomez criticized TCEQ's postponement as foot-dragging in the face of past studies which linked the Asarco plant to extensive lead and heavy metals soil contamination, a pollution problem in the Paso del Norte region the company denies it is responsible for causing. The latest study stoking the fires of controversy was released by the Sierra Club one week prior to the TCEQ's Austin vote. In a study contracted by the environmental group, chemist Michael E. Ketterer linked soil contamination in El Paso , Ciudad Juarez and Anapra to Asarco. Ketterer's study compared lead isotopes found in local soil contamination to lead isotopes from the Santa Eulalia mine in Chihuahua where Asarco once obtained much of the ore for its El Paso smelter. Sources: El Paso Times, February 9, 2006 . Norte, February 9, 2006 . Articles by Edith Caballero and Adrian Ventura Lares. Article by Brandi Grissorn. frontenet.com, February 8, 2006 . lapolaka.com, February 8, 2006 . Sierra Club press releases, January 31 and February 8, 2006 . Missing Teenagers' Remains Identified Sorrow visited the homes of two more Chihuahua City families this past weekend. The families of 14-year-old Claudia Judith Urias Berthaud and 17-year-old Miriam Cristina Gallegos Venegas were notified by the Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office (PGJE) that the remains of their long-missing daughters had been identified through DNA tests. In the case of Gallegos, a worker for the ACS maquiladora plant who disappeared on May 4, 2000, Argentinian forensic specialists working with the PGJE finally identified a skull orginally recovered near a construction site in 2003 as belonging to the teenager. Urias' remains were discovered last December 17 in an arroyo by an employee of the Z Gas Company, a gas distribution firm associated with the Zaragoza family of Ciudad Juarez . The teenager's remains were located in the same area where the skeleton of another missing teenager, Rosalba Pizarro Ortega, was discovered in 2004. After sitting in storage for more than one year, Pizarro's remains were also eventually identified by the Argentinian team. Urias and Pizarro's remains were found in the same general area on the southern edge of Chihuahua City where the purported body of 16-year-old murder victim Viviana Rayas was discovered in 2003. The discovery in the same perimeter of the remains of teenage girls who disappeared at widely different times suggests the same individual or individuals could be responsible for multiple crimes. However, no immediate comment was forthcoming from Chihuahua state law enforcement officials. News of the identification of Urias¨and Gallegos' remains broke at the beginning of Mexico 's three-day Constitution Day holiday, when government offices are closed and much of the press on reduced work status. Adriana Carmona, a lawyer for the victims relatives' group Justice for Our Daughters, told Frontera NorteSur the exact causes of the deaths of Urias, Pizarro and Gallegos could not be determined because of the time lag between the victims' disappearances and the identification of their sparse remains. Carmona contended other problems like not following up on leads plagued the investigation of the missing girls' cases by state law enforcement authorities. "This is a call for the authorities to change the forensic services so this kind of thing doesn't happen again," Carmona said. "We hope that because of the Argentinian forensic team, the state attorney general takes measures to correct the irregularities." A middle school student, Urias disappeared on March 10, 2003, while on her way to visit her grandmother. According to reports from Justice for Our Daughers, Urias' mother, Virginia Berthaud, was employed as a recruiter for the privately-owned ECCO computer school in Chihuahua City . Rosalba Pizarro, who went missing in 2001, reportedly disappeared after going to the ECCO branch in Chihuahua City . Since 1995, at least 16 young women or girls who had some sort of contact with ECCO and other private computer schools in Ciudad Juarez , Chihuahua City and Nuevo Laredo have been murdered or disappeared. Many had been raped. A 2003 report submitted to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by the non-governmental Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights said Virginia Berthaud was contacted by telephone 15 days after her daughter's disappearance by a man who offered to exchange Berthaud's daughter for another young woman. After news of her daughter's disappearance hit the press, Berthaud reported that a strange truck was tailing her. Other, out-of-place trucks were seen parked outside the missing teenager's school. According to the Mexican Commission's report, Urias' disappearance wasn't even investigated by the PGJE until 9 days after the girl vanished. The cases of Urias, Gallegos and Pizarro were included in a long campaign organized by Justice for Our Daughters. Chihuahua City activists demanded that Maria Lopez Urbina, the former federal special prosecutor for women's homicides in Ciudad Juarez , investigate the cases of murdered and missing women in Chihuahua City as well as in Ciudad Juarez . As it turned out, Lopez Urbina never conducted a field homicide investigation in Ciudad Juarez . Before being removed from her post and assigned to head the Federal Office of the Attorney General (PGR) in Campeche state last year, Lopez Urbina focused on naming 130 current and former members of the PGJE who she alleged had been negligent in their investigations. None of Lopez Urbina's reports specifically covered officials involved in Chihuahua City cases. Late last year, the PGR announced the dissolution of the Ciudad Juarez federal prosecutor's office and its replacement with a prosecutorial unit headed up by Alicia Perez Duarte and authorized to investigate cases throughout Mexico . Carmona said she and other women's advocates then met with Perez to insist that authorities "really investigate the cases." Until now, Carmona and her group have not seen a work plan or a commitment to investigate the Chihuahua City cases by the new special prosecutor. "This worries us," Carmona said. With less than 10 months to go before the Fox Administration leaves office, it is unclear whether Perez will make any headway, or even have a job by the end of the year. Indeed, signs exist the Fox Adminsitration is fast moving to close the unsolved cases of murdered women in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City . Carmona said some federal law enforcement officials are offering mothers of murdered and missing young women money in exchange for not pursuing any further investigations yet. She added that Justice for Our Daughters is likewise concerned about the PGR's criteria for awarding reparations to victims' families. Carmona said different amounts of money are being offered depending on whether the victim was raped or not. Additional sources: El Diario de Chihuahua, February 4, 2006. Article by Gabriel Acevedo. La Jornada, February 4, 2006. Article by Miroslava Breach. |