Verdict Expected Today In Trial Of 11 Missing Juarez Women
A three-judge panel in the Mexican border city of Juárez is expected to announce a verdict today in a high-profile trial that centers on the disappearances and deaths of 11 young women.
The women went missing beginning in 2008 during a wave of brutal drug violence. Their skeletal remains were found three years later littered in a dry stream bed in the desert outskirts of the city. State prosecutors have charged six Juárez men with sex trafficking and homicide.
At the state courthouse earlier this week, mother Susana Montes Rodriguez addressed a crowd gathered to hear closing arguments. She held a microphone and wore a T-shirt imprinted with the image of her daughter, Lupita, one of 11 women who's story is featured in the trial.
"We demand justice," she said. "Our daughters were innocent victims."
Guadalupe "Lupita" Perez Montes was 17 when she went missing in January 2009 while downtown buying a pair of sneakers.
In trial, lawyers with a division specializing in crimes against women at the Chihuahua state attorney general's office, said that the 11 women were taken by force and made to work as drug dealers and prostitutes. One witness testified that their clients included Mexican police and military.
Like Lupita, the women went missing amid the crowded chaos of downtown Juárez, less than a couple miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Most were teenagers who came looking for work amid a gritty array of shops, bars and food stands.
Young women, many who come from Juárez's poor working class, continue to work downtown. Businesses commonly solicit female employees with 'help wanted' signs outside their doors.
Jacqueline Hernandez, 16, dropped out of school to help support her mom and five siblings. She makes $38 a week selling rhinestone studded jeans in a small store across the street from basement nightclub. Next to club, prostitutes in lacy leggings lead men to an upstairs hotel.
"I'm only here out of necessity," she said. "I do feel scared. It can be dangerous here, especially at night."
There’s a horrific history of violence against women in Ciudad Juárez. In the last two decades, hundreds of women have been murdered, some after enduring rape and torture. In 2009, an international human rights court condemned Mexico for grossly mishandling three of those cases. Mexican authorities were accused of planting false evidence, dismissing victims' families and putting scapegoats in jail.
Norma Ledesma is a former factory worker who is now in her final semester of law school. Back in 2002 she was making airplane harnesses on an assembly line when her own teenage daughter, Paloma Angélica Escobar Ledesma, was murdered and dumped in the desert.
Now Ledesma is devoted to fighting for other women who've met similar fates. Her non-profit, Justice for Our Daughters, has been working side by side with Mexican authorities to investigate and prosecute the case of the eleven Juárez women. She said today's trial represents a milestone.
"It was a huge struggle to get police to take these disappearances seriously and investigate them as potential crimes," Ledesma said.
At first the mothers did their own investigations. They hunted down witnesses and snuck into hotels that doubled as brothels. With Ledesma’s help they organized and pushed state investigators to follow their leads.
"This time we have more confidence in the police because we worked together and witnessed their investigation," Ledesma said.
She acknowledges there’s still a long way to go. The prosecution lacks direct evidence showing the accused men actually killed the women. It's a point defense attorney Laura Reyes plans to highlight.
"There is no scientific evidence to support a homicide charge," Reyes said.
The six men accused include downtown vendors who sold food and clothing. One worked as a security guard downtown, another had just gotten his bus driver's license. One is serving time for kidnapping, while another was on probation for heroin possession. Attorneys said the others have no criminal record.
Witnesses who testified in court said the men were part of a trafficking ring that lured young women with false promises of love or a job.
Back at the courthouse a girl sang a song in memory of the lost women. Among her audience are activists who’ve fought long and hard for justice.
No matter what the verdict today, most feel that this trial represents a step forward. But the full story of what happened to the disappeared women of Juárez may never be known.
