If the bus failed to show up, Ponce insisted the women wait for someone they knew who could drive them, or even call a patrol car.
Unfortunately, her advice seemed out of touch with the reality of being a poor, uneducated woman in Juárez, living on three to five dollars a day. Indeed, the wages were so low in the factories of Juárez that maquiladora workers had to be careful how they spent every dollar. Taking a bus or taxi home from work at night might mean the difference between eating and going hungry. Most of the women couldn't afford to carry a cell phone. And even if they could afford a phone, it was not likely to work in the shantytowns and desert areas outside the city.
The women of Juárez also didn't trust the city's taxi drivers and municipal police officers. There had been much speculation that some members of the Juárez police department were involved in the crimes.
In fact, one young mother claimed to have been gang-raped by members of the municipal police force while in their custody in early February of 1999. Her story had already circulated around the colonias where many of the victims lived, casting even more mistrust among the population. Many were asking themselves who was more dangerous, a taxi driver, a bus driver, a police officer, or a total stranger?
Judging by the rising number of murders and lack of response by the authorities, the answer appeared simple: no one could be trusted in Ciudad Juárez.
Chapter Six
One and the Same
In this city, it is a disgrace to be a woman and much greater of a disgrace to be a poor woman.
ESTHER CHÁVEZ CANO, WOMEN'S ACTIVIST AND FOUNDER, CASA AMIGA
ONE OF THE MOST DISTURBING and highly publicized stories to come out against the police was from María de Jesús Talamantes, who claimed to have been gang-raped by members of the local police department while in their custody in early February of 1999. A medical examination subsequently confirmed that María had indeed been raped, and guards were arrested, but a judge threw out the charges because of a lack of evidence against the men.
Talamantes, a pretty young woman with wavy long hair styled with bangs, lived on the outskirts of the city in a small brick house. The trouble began when a neighbor struck her son and quickly escalated into a brawl in which her husband was beaten and the police were called.
In an interview with María not long after the alleged attack, she told members of Univision of the events that had landed her in the city jail earlier that month. The Talamantes family lived on a dusty two-lane road that dead-ended at the family's residence. The brick house was sturdier than many of the homes in Ciudad Juárez; both María and her husband, Pedro, were employed and contributing to the household finances. As the news crew filed into the small living room to set up for the interview that day, one of the cameramen observed a marked patrol car hidden in some brush just outside the house. Who were the officers watching and why?
While the following account is hearsay, portions of María's story have been substantiated by a medical examination. María claimed that, angered over learning that her neighbor had hit her son, she had marched to the man's home to confront him. But the neighbor was with several other men who were intoxicated and began to insult her. The young mother raced home to get help from her husband, and together, they returned to the neighbor's home. It was then that the group attacked Pedro Talamantes and began to brutally beat him, María said. Horrified, she asked her son to call the police.
But when the officers arrived, they informed the group that they were all going to be detained. Talamantes claimed that her husband was so badly hurt that officers had to pick him up off the ground and carry him to the police car. They were taken to the nearby Cárcel de Piedra, "the brick jail," where they were given a perfunctory hearing before a judge. No one was allowed to speak. María and Pedro were then sent to a doctor at the facility, where her husband received treatment for his injuries and she was examined.
María claimed she was then taken into a bathroom by a female guard who said she wanted to check her for drug use. After ordering her to get undressed, the guard allegedly began sexually abusing her kissing her, caressing her breasts, and fingering her vagina. When María objected, the guard angrily slapped her across the face, ordered her to put her clothes back on, and struck her again, this time in the stomach.
Talamantes said she and the guard then left the bathroom. When she approached a uniformed male police officer to tell him of the physical and sexual abuse, he made no effort to help but instead threw her in a jail cell along with other women, some of whom were trembling and vomiting.
María said she watched quietly as some of the women asked the guards for drugs, which were promptly provided. The young mother said she innocently took some too, after the guards told her the pills would help her sleep in the crowded and uncomfortable jail cell as they reviewed her case.
Hours passed as María lay in the cell, half sleeping and half awake. She listened as the guards made suggestive comments to the women around her. At some point, they entered the cell and moved her to another lockup in a less visible area of the jail by the kitchen. She claimed that the space was littered with women's garments panties, bras, and dozens of articles of clothing.
When she asked what was going on, one of the guards grinned at her and announced, "You're going to give it to us!" The guard was no more than thirty years old, with sunken cheeks and leathered skin.
The officer's cold stare did not soften even as María began to cry. She recalled that it was then that she began to realize the magnitude of her situation.
She claimed the officer next said something that shocked her. "You want us to take you to Lomas de Poleo?" were his words. He was referring to the uninhabited stretch of desert northwest of the city where many of the murdered women's bodies had been found.
María said she tried to appear tough, ordering the officers to leave her alone. She watched as one of them left the cell and returned a short while later holding a briefcase with a photo album inside.
Talamantes alleged that the album contained photos of "little girls" being raped and beaten. Other images showed the victims "when they bit their nipples off; when they burnt them." As the guards glared at her, she leafed through the pages. She said there were images depicting men dragging various young women through the bushes by their hair. In one, a girl was laid on the ground, encircled by a group of the men. Other pictures showed the same girl being raped time and again as others looked on and jeered.
It was clear from the photos that the girl was screaming and crying, María recalled. Other photos showed several other young women being raped, both anally and vaginally, she said.
"In the photos, the men were laughing laughing at what they were doing," she recounted. In others, a man was seen dousing a young woman with gasoline, and then lighting her on fire.
"I cried and prayed to myself," María later remembered. "And as if reading my thoughts, the guards said, 'Think of them. You've seen it all, and you can't stay alive.' "
María said that when she announced that her husband was also being detained at the jail and would alert authorities if something were to happen to her, one of the officers grabbed a camera and snapped her photo from several angles, threatening to "kill" her and her husband if she told anyone about their late-night exchange. They now had her image on film and could find her anywhere, they warned.
María admitted she could not fall asleep that night, worrying about her situation and thinking about the horrific photographs of the young victims. In the morning, there was a change of guards. Though she still had no idea what charges had been brought against her, the guards declared that she had finished her sentence. Hopeful that she would now be going home, María was then moved to another cell; she was the only one in the dank space.
When Talamantes asked one of the guards why she was still being detained, the guard in the blue uniform grinned. She said he traced her shapely form in the air with his hands and said, "Because I like you."
María trembled. Just wanting to sleep, she retreated to the corner of the cell, where she lay down on the floor in a ball and dropped off to sleep. The officer in the blue uniform woke her with a kick in the face, she remembered. She said he ordered her to get up, and as she rose, he began pulling at her clothes and kissing her.
María claimed her husband could hear the commotion from his nearby cell and called to her. But there was nothing he could do to stop the violence. María recalled that when Pedro implored the guard to leave her alone, he answered with a stunning remark.
"I'm not a guard, I'm a police officer" is what María claimed the attacker yelled back. The Juárez municipal police department was housed in the same building as the jail, so it was entirely possible that the man was, in fact, a police officer.
María recalled that the officer raped her that day. Within minutes, two more guards appeared in her cubicle. They too raped her.
Before leaving, the men vowed to "kill her entire family" if she spoke up, she said.
Later, the terrified young mother was released from the jail and reunited with her husband. For two days, she dodged his repeated questions about what had happened to her during her forty-eight hours behind bars. At first she told him that the guards had only questioned her. But Pedro, suspecting that something was wrong, continued to probe. He had noticed that his wife seemed to be walking oddly, as if she had been injured, and he asked her about it repeatedly.
Time and again, María said, she declined to answer his questions and was even fearful of his caresses. She said she finally blurted out her secret, as the two of them were getting ready for bed, several days after their release. Furious, Pedro vowed to press charges against the police. Initially, she begged him not to pursue the matter, fearing for the safety of themselves and their two young children. But Pedro wanted justice, and he implored her to think of the other women who could fall victim to these officers.
The next morning, Pedro went directly to the Department of Internal Affairs to file a report. The officials there insisted that María be present to tell her story, but she didn't want to comply. She said she was too afraid to speak, remembering the threats from the officers who had snapped her photo.
In the days that followed, María began having nightmares, waking up with a start after seeing the faces of her assailants in her dreams. Even her husband's gentle touch triggered memories of the rape.
Upset over his wife's condition, Pedro returned to the Department of Internal Affairs. Again, he was told that María would have to join him, as she was the one who needed to make the statement to authorities. When he returned home, his wife and children were not there. María had taken their sons for a walk to try to clear her head. It was an inferno outside in the sweltering heat, but inside the house the temperature had grown unbearable.
As Talamantes walked the streets with seemingly no destination, she happened upon a friend. The woman immediately noticed María's frenzied state and invited her and the boys into her home for a snack. The kind invitation set María at ease, and suddenly she felt a need to share her painful story. Her neighbor listened intently and then urged María to follow her husband's advice.
That night, María promised Pedro that she would tell her story to the DA. His argument now made sense: she needed to file a report and stop these horrible men before they hurt other women.
This time, a lawyer from Internal Affairs and a psychologist were waiting for María and her husband when they arrived at the generic-looking glass and cement headquarters of the state district attorney. María was first asked to sit in the lawyer's office and make a statement, detailing what had happened to her during her incarceration. The meeting proved difficult for her, and the interview stopped each time a uniformed officer entered the room. At one point, she became so upset that she jumped under the attorney's desk and curled up in a fetal position.
Over the hours, she did manage to provide authorities with an accounting of her ordeal. Still, she didn't dare mention the grisly photographs she had been shown.
Part of filing an official complaint was the identification process. During María's visit to the office, she was asked to pick out the people who had allegedly assaulted her. The officers were lined up behind a thick glass window, and María said she immediately spotted one of her assailants.
As she pointed him out, her husband let out an audible sigh, flying into a rage. For a moment, it appeared he was going to break through the glass window and grab the man, María recalled.
María said she was also asked to undergo a medical examination. The exam determined that she had, indeed, been raped. One of her assailants had also allegedly given her a vaginal infection.
The police officers vehemently denied María's story.
The attorney representing the Internal Affairs division told María that he would open a file on her case but cited discrepancies in the times that she alleged to have been assaulted. Officials claimed too that she had contracted the infection before she came to the jail.
