Dear friends of Chicago Network, for some weeks now we have been sending you information on the deadly campaign against journalists and other writers in Mexico working to investigate and publish the facts about the destructive effects of drug trafficking on Mexican society. Our board member Lucina Kathmann has just completed a fact finding trip to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, a city right across from El Paso, Texas on the USA border. ( Lucina’s Report: “A Cry for Help from Mexico” follows below) As you may already know, Ciudad Juarez is notorious for the unexplained and poorly investigated mass murders of women. To add to this horror, the city is now torn apart by an undeclared civil war among and between various drug gangs and the Mexican army. Lucina has written this report at the request of a UN commission based in Europe and she has presented orally the facts of this situation to the Latin Women caucus of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved with the UN's commission on the status of women. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing, China, international congress on the status of women. 8000 women from all over the world are in conference this week at the UN on the current status of women world-wide. Thank you for your attention. Nick Patricca, president Chicago Network. March 2010
Note:
Ciudad Juarez is the main consular embassy of the USA for processing migration requests for all Mexican citizens and for certain types of visas for USA citizens.
You may send your written concerns about this situation to Felipe De Jesús Calderón Hinojosa, the President of Mexico, by email, fax, or postal service.
Appeals to:
President
Lic. Felipe De
Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente
de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia
Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col.
San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Fax: (+
52 55) 5093 4901/ 5277 2376
Email: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Presidente/
Dear Mr President
Please also send copies of your appeals to the Mexican Embassy in your country.
See http://www.sre.gob.mx/acerca/directorio/embajadas/dirembajadas.htm
A Cry for Help from Mexico
I would like to call the attention of the international community to a civil war which has broken out in the north of Mexico at the border, centered around Ciudad Juárez, state of Chihuahua. This city is a few meters from El Paso, Texas, USA. In the past several months there have been 2500 assassinations. The victims are mainly innocent civilians; every family I spoke to had lost someone. Killings are only part of the problem. There are many kidnappings, accompanied by threats and sometimes delivery of a part of the kidnapped person's body to compound the pressure. A new business now exists in Ciudad Juárez, that of the negotiator or middle person who works out financial deals between families and kidnappers.
Many or most businesses suffer extortion. Some restaurants pay 200 US dollars daily to stay in business. Many businesses and especially doctors and dentists have painted out their signs so that they cannot be identified except by clients who already know them. There is a mass exodus of population; anyone who can possibly go someplace else has done so.
Two years ago President Felipe Calderón sent the army to occupy Ciudad Juárez. He reasoned that the army was not in the pay of the drug lords and thus might help put an end to the domination of drug lords in Ciudad Juárez. It sounded good, but it has not worked. The army's arrival was shortly followed by a crime wave which has grown to become warfare. It is two years now and things are worse every day. No matter who is at fault, the military occupation has produced a war.
It is unclear who is doing the killings and extortion. There is no official attempt to investigate. Many sources told me that it is unsafe to inquire and unsafe to know.
I was in Ciudad Juárez from Monday February 22 to Wednesday February 24. I spoke to representatives from an NGO concerned with disappeared women, a crisis center for abused women, the Catholic diocese's human rights office, a religious retreat house and several families in the neighborhood of the retreat house. I will supply names and details privately if necessary, but all the people I talked to begged me to protect them.
--Lucina Kathmann
International PEN (a world association of writers with consultative status at the UN)
lucina.kathmann@gmail.com