Frontera NorteSur October 2001

The joint INM-PGJE operation, known as "Milenio" (Millennium), is being coordinated by the PGJE. PGJE authorities told El Diario that since the September 11 attacks against the US, the PGJE has not detected the presence of any alleged Islamic terrorists in the state.

Braulio Gutíerrez Almuina, state director of the INM, said that as part of Operation Milenio his agents will watch people of Arab origin to obtain information about their activities in Mexico. He said their rights will not be affected.

A Cisen source that El Diario would not name told the newspaper that it was investigating post cards that were sent to a mosque in Saltillo, Coahuila from Chihuahua City. Cisen is also looking for at least two people from Pakistan that were walking the streets of the city selling artisanal goods last week. Cisen wants to locate them and find out the motives for their stay in Mexico.

In addition to the above mentioned investigations, Cisen is also gathering information about all Chihuahua City residents from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other countries.

Source: El Diario, September 21, 2001. Carlos Coria Rivas.

Juárez NGO's Outraged by New State Penalties for Rape & Other Crimes

According to Esther Chávez Cano, director of the Ciudad Juárez rape and abuse crisis center Casa Amiga, changes made to the Chihuahua penal code by the state congress's PRI majority are a tremendous set back for women throughout the state.

Passed in January, 2001 the penal code reform originally had stronger penalties and gave more power to prosecutors in cases of rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment. The law was to have gone into effect in May, 2001 but was put off until August 24, 2001. On Monday, August 20, 2001 the PRI majority in the state congress passed changes to the penal code reform which has sparked outcry and protest from women's groups throughout the state.

The changes to the penal code were voted on and passed in a restaurant on Monday, August 20, 2001 by PRI lawmakers, according to the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario. Members of women's organizations and opposition PAN and PRD politicians had previously blocked the entrance to the official congressional chamber so as to keep the PRI-backed reforms from being made during the current legislative season. To circumvent the blockade the PRI decided to meet and vote in a Chihuahua City restaurant.

Chávez says that with the new changes to the penal code rape will only be investigated on the victim's initiative and will not automatically be investigated and prosecuted by law enforcement. The same change to the penal code was applied to situations of domestic violence as well. As the law now exists, domestic violence can be prosecuted only if charges are filed by victims. Previously, anyone could press charges in the case of domestic abuse and law-enforcement was obligated to investigate.

Also under the new changes, rape is only said to occur when there is penetration by the male sexual organ. Penetration by another object will be prosecuted as sexual abuse, a crime less severe than rape, according to Chávez. El Diario quoted Irma Campos, head of the women's group 18 de Marzo, as saying that people found guilty of sexual abuse can possibly serve no jail time and pay only a fine.

Campos also stated that the definition of sexual harassment and its penalty were reduced by the changes to the penal code. As the law is now, sexual harassment can exist only between a superior and an employee. Furthermore, sexual harassment can not be found to exist in cases where it was brought on by provocative behavior and/or dress. The penalty was reduced from jail time to just fines which could range from the equivalent of US$40 to US$240.

Source: El Diario, August 24, 2001. Article by C. Coria & R. Domínguez.

No Echo: Juárez Murdered Women's Group Disbands

The three-year old, Ciudad Juárez based, murdered women's group Voces Sin Eco (Voices Without Echo, VSE) is disbanding according to organization spokesperson Guillermina González Flores. González said that journalists, NGOs and the media were profiting from the losses of the murdered women's families and this was the reason that the group was disbanding. However, González also stated that former VSE members will continue to demand justice for their slain family members.

Formed on July 18, 1998, Voces Sin Eco sought to support the families of missing women and to seek justice in the cases of their missing family members. Comprised of six families, none of the families' cases have been resolved, according to González.

González said that people in the media and in NGOs were profiting from VSE and that the group never wanted money to be a central concern. "From the beginning our objective was not to make money or profit, we fought with what we had, with the little that we had, this was the idea," she said. González's sister María Sagrario González, age 17, was murdered on April 16, 1998.

VSE also complains that people in Mexico and other countries were trying to raise money for the group but they never received anything. González stated that VSE helped in the production of documentaries, books and movies and that one group said that part of the earnings from a documentary were to have gone to the group. VSE never received a cent, according to González.

To cover some expenses and the rent on the small apartment that they used for an office, González said that the group sold used clothes and raffle tickets.

"We have been used by the US and Italian press," said Irma Pérez, a mother of one of the victims. "As many as three interviews a day were given by one poor person [family member]," she added.

González also criticized Casa Amiga, the only rape and abuse crisis center in Ciudad Juárez, and its director Esther Chávez Cano. González accused Chávez of manipulating public sentiment to gain funds for Casa Amiga. González also asked in the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario that Chávez not give out the group's or group members' phone numbers.

Chávez responded by saying that she only gave out VSE's phone number because the victims should speak for themselves. Chávez never wanted to speak for them, "because the pain is theirs and they should speak about it, not I."

Chávez continued by saying, "I love them a lot. Their suffering has touched me and I've helped them and I'm ready to help them again whenever they need me. I won't attack them. I respect them and all society should respect them. They know I've helped them and I'm not spiteful because they're victims and they feel pain."

Reflecting on its three years of existence, Paula Flores Molina, the mother of spokesperson Guillermina González Flores and murder victim María Sagrario González Flores, said that the group had made some solid gains. For example, families are now allowed to view their daughters' bodies before an autopsy is performed. "We've also lost our fear of authorities," she said. "We used to sit for three hours before they would talk to us. Now we walk into the investigator's office as if it were our home."

Since 1993 over 210 women have been brutally raped and murdered in Ciudad Juárez.

Source: El Diario, July 9, 2001. Article by Araly Castañon.

New Juárez Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women

Zulema Bolívar is to be the new Ciudad-Juárez based, special prosecutor for crimes against women, according to Arturo González Rascón, the Attorney General for the state of Chihuahua (Procurador de Justicia del Estado). El Diario reported that Bolívar previously served as the sex-crimes special investigator and ran the sex-crimes unit of the Attorney General's Office.

The Cd. Juárez newspaper El Norte reported that Attorney General González said that the outgoing special prosecutor for crimes against women, Suly Ponce Prieto, completed "very successful and very special investigations" and that the results of her work are verifiable. González said that of this year's 16 murders of women in Cd. Juárez, 13 of the cases have been resolved by Ponce's department. However, González did admit that Ponce had been frequently criticized by non-governmental organizations.

Speaking of her own accomplishments Ponce told El Diario that she is "leaving behind a team of professionals, a unit of competent agents." Conscious of the fact that her departure will be cause for celebration among various citizens' groups, Ponce said that the attacks against her office will continue even after she is gone.

Bolívar, the new special investigator, is considered to be one of the best university law professors according to El Diario. Bolívar said that she does not fear attacks by non-governmental organizations and hopes that her record of success will cause groups to believe in her and her office.

Héctor Carreón León, president of the Cd. Juárez office of the National Chamber of Commerce (Canaco), said that the change in leadership at the crimes against women office will not in the least benefit the citizens of Cd. Juárez. Carreón believes that more resources and personnel should be sent to the city instead.

Esther Chávez Cano, the director of Casa Amiga, the only rape and abuse crisis center on the Mexican border, said that she did not consider the change in special prosecutors to be a great advance. "Zulema and Suly are very united and there's not much difference in the treatment they have given to victims' families when the go to their agencies," Chávez stated.

Chávez, who has been one of Ponce's toughest critics, stated that even though Bolívar is a lawyer and social worker she lacks the capacity and training that such a job requires.

The Attorney General's change in special investigators is one of just many moves announced in the last weeks and is deemed as routine by González.

Since 1993 over 250 girls and women have been brutally murdered in Cd. Juárez.

Sources: El Diario, July 29, 2001. Articles by Lucy Sosa, Alex Quintero & Carlos Huerta. El Norte, July 31, 2001. Article by Manuel Aguirre & Juan de Dios Olivas.

Investigation of 1993 Killing of Woman Journalist to be Continued

Zulema Bolívar, the new special prosecutor for crimes against women, has said that she will move ahead in the investigation of the March 14, 1993 murder of 29 year old radio journalist Jéssica Lizalde León. Lizalde was shot in the face by a man that went to her Ciudad Juárez home posing as a flower-delivery man. The Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario stated that a federal police chief may have been involved in the slaying but added that the lead was never investigated.

Bolívar said that she "is not reopening the case because it was never closed." Due to a moment of relative calm in her office, Bolívar stated that she is currently reviewing all unresolved cases.

The previous special prosecutor for crimes against women, Suly Ponce Prieto, took a new look at the case last year after it had remained forgotten for years. El Diario reports that she found the investigation to be in poor shape lacking such things as the testimony of people close to Lizalde, photos of the crime scene and other essential elements. Ponce told El Diario, "The case is badly put together and I want to believe that is because of a lack of effort and work and not the result of purposeful fraud."

After eight years the case may now be hard to resolve. Of the witnesses to the crime, one has since died and police have not been able to locate another, according to El Diario.

Source: El Diario, August 22, 2001.

Gay Prostitutes Targeted & Arrested in Reynosa, Same Planned for Juárez

The Reynosa newspaper El Mañana quoted city councilor Ernesto Cantú as saying that roundups of transvestite male prostitutes in the city center were necessary to protect the image of the city and to keep the city from filling up with "maricones" (faggots).

Over the previous weekend 15 transvestite male prostitutes were arrested and taken to the police station. A judge told El Mañana that the men were released after they were warned not to "use the streets of the city center to walk around dressed as women and offering their services to drunken men." The roundup was ordered by the mayor according to the Reynosa newspaper.

Arturo Solís, president of the Centro de Estudios Fronterizos para la Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (Center for Border Studies for the Promotion of Human Rights, Cefprodhac), wrote a letter to the mayor asking him to allow gay men their Constitutional right to freedom of movement. Solís also complained that, ". . . sexual freedom is recognized throughout most of the world and we believe that the individual rights of gays are being violated.

In Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua the head of city police, Jorge Ostos, ordered law-enforcement agents to begin an operation aimed at gay prostitutes working in the city center. According to the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario, the decision to begin the operation began after the department videotaped two male prostitutes kissing in public, one man urinating in public and one prostitute taking a pair of sunglasses from a passing car.

Ostos commented that it is sad to see the loss of values reflected in the considerable demand for gay sexual services among men from Cd. Juárez and El Paso, TX.

Police agents familiar with the area said that when the bars in the center of the city close at 1 a.m. approximately 300 gay prostitutes "take over" the area for their work. The agents also said that they see many differences between male and female prostitutes. Women they said are not so uninhibited in their street-side conduct.

In response to the threatened roundup of gay prostitutes some men filed complaints with the city police Internal Affairs Office. The men allege that police agents constantly harass them and charge them fees so that they, the prostitutes, can work in the area.

Complaints were also filed with the state human rights office in Cd. Juárez.

Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), August 24, 2001.
El Diario, August 23, 2001. Article by Luz del Carmen Sosa.

Sinaloa Group Looks for 11 Missing People in BC

The Frente Contra la Impunidad de Sinaloa (Front Against Impunity in Sinaloa) has complained to the Méxicali newspaper La Crónica that it has not received assistance from state authorities in Sinaloa and Baja California in its search for missing people. The group wants help in finding ten people from Sinaloa that were disappeared in three events between September 13, 1999 and December 5, 1999. The Frente is also looking into the June 7, 1995 disappearance of Erick Francisco Quintana, a Méxicali native.

The first group disappearance that the Frente is investigating took place on September 13, 1999 in Méxicali when four people were taken away in a vehicle or vehicles. The second and third disappearances took place on December 4 and 5, 1999 in Tijuana when three men were abducted on each occasion by men identifying themselves as federal agents.

Composed of the family members of the missing, the Frente believes that a death squad exists in Baja California and that it has links to federal law-enforcement agencies.

The group's claims ring true in many ways because in numerous recent arrests along the border some alleged drug-cartel members are found to have law-enforcement uniforms and/or documents with them at the time of their detention. Whether or not these items were willingly given to drug traffickers by law enforcement, it is certain that traffickers have tried to pass themselves off as law-enforcement agents. Also, the three biggest drug cartels along the border were begun by former federal law-enforcement agents.

In Méxicali the Frente went to a state human-rights office, the Procuraduría de los Derechos Humanos y Protección Ciudadana (PDH), to ask for its help in looking for the missing people.

For Wednesday, August 22, 2001 the group had plans to go protest in Tijuana at the international border crossing.

Source: La Crónica (Méxicali), August 22, 2001. Article by José Manuel Yépiz Ruiz.

Mass Arrests in Downtown Méxicali

To slow what Méxicali's newspaper La Crónica called a crime wave in central Méxicali, city police arrested 90 individuals on the night of Tuesday, July 31 and the morning of Wednesday, August 1, 2001. Jesús Rullán, a police shift supervisor, stated that the operation was in response to complaints from businesses about the numerous crimes in the downtown area. Arrested were individuals allegedly caught selling illegal drugs and other people that were "suspiciously driving around in cars or around businesses," the newspaper reported.

La Crónica did not mention reactions to the operation from local or state human rights organizations. These groups usually protest wide-scale crackdowns such as this one.

Police administrator Rullán said that despite businesses' demands for action against crime in the downtown area, there were still some business owners that were unwilling to cooperate with the police. For example, one alleged burglar fled into a restaurant and its owner did not permit police agents to enter the establishment. Police waited until the suspect left the restaurant and then arrested the man, José Isidro Córdova Meraz, who has been arrested 25 times before by local police for such crimes as attempted murder, robbery, public intoxication, gang organizing and other crimes.

According to Alfonso Ulises Méndez, assistant director of city police operations, there has been non-stop surveillance of the downtown. One problem that police faced according to Méndez was that thieves changed their tactics by using the roofs of buildings to rob businesses and to move from place to place. To remedy the situation police began observing the roofs of buildings from strategic points around the city.

Méndez also said that police may install a small watch station in this area.

The city also announced that it will begin the regular inspection of hotels in the downtown area where criminals are said to hide.

Source: La Crónica, August 2, 2001. Articles by Moisés Márquez and Carina Rodríguez Moreno.

Family Tries to Stop Extradition of Mexican Man to US, Blames Brother for Murder

Worried that he will not receive a fair trail, relatives of Agustín Vázquez Mendoza have asked the Mexican government not to extradite Vázquez to the US for the alleged murder of a DEA agent in Phoenix. Vázquez's wife, Mirza Hernández García, said that the government will rule on the extradition in four months and all signs point to the probable extradition of her husband who was on the DEA's most-wanted list.

Hernández said that it was Agustín's brother Juan who shot and killed a DEA agent. Juan and another man were arrested the day of the murder but Agustín escaped to Mexico.

Hernández also says that Juan wrote up a document in which he confessed that he was the one that fired the gun involved in the case. Hernández complains that Mexican and US officials have not taken Juan's confession into account.

María Trinidad Mendoza Rivera, Agustin's sister, states that he has been held incommunicado since he was arrested July 9, 2000. Mendoza also said that she has asked the Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Commission, CNDH) to intervene in the case. However, according to Mendoza, the CNDH has not tried to get involved on Agustín's behalf.

Mendoza is now asking the media to request interviews with her brother so that she can find out what condition he is in and so that he can give his version of events to the media.

Source: La Crónica (San Luis), July 5, 2001. Article by Santiago Barroso & Samuel Murillo.

Mexico to Impede Migrant Crossings in Dangerous Areas

In a statement that closely echoes US border rhetoric, Méxicali's newspaper La Crónica reported that Enrique Berruga of the Mexican Secretary of Exterior Relations (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores) stated that Mexico wants orderly and legal migration between the US and Mexico.

The newspaper also stated that for the first time in history Mexico would impede potential migrants from trying to cross to the US through dangerous areas. Berruga also added that the position of the Mexican government is to defend the life of its citizens and that the way to do this is by "impeding them from crossing in highly dangerous areas."

Another means by which Mexico hopes to save lives is by installing emergency telephones in the Altar and Arizona deserts, according to Berruga.  No details were given for this plan.

In a separate La Crónica article, Baja California Governor Alejandro González Alcocer was reported as having said that he will soon declare two high-risk crossing areas in the state. The regions are the Mesa de Andrade and La Rumorosa, both near Méxicali. Both areas will be monitored by an unspecified group or groups that will try to keep potential migrants out of the area.
So far this year, between January 1 and Wednesday, June 27, 158 Mexicans died trying to reach the US.

Source: La Crónica, June 29, 2001.