Yet it was just that kind of attitude that had earned state officials a black mark in the Amnesty International report. The lengthy document chastised early investigators for displaying "open discrimination towards the women and their families in their public statements." "On more than one occasion the women themselves were blamed for their own abduction or murder because of the way they dressed or because they worked in bars at night," the report stated.
It also found that the creation in 1998 of the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Investigation of Murders of Women had "failed to live up to the expectation that there would be a radical change in the actions of the state authorities to stamp out such crimes."
The report pointed out that the institution has had seven different directors, and yet "there has been no significant improvement in the coordination and systematizing of investigations in order to put an end to the abductions and murders."
Arturo González Rascón was criticized in the report for his public comments about the victims. "In February 1999, the former State Public Prosecutor
was still maintaining that 'women with a nightlife who go out very late and come into contact with drinkers are at risk.' "
"It's hard to go out on the street when it's raining and not get wet," Rascón was quoted as saying.
The report also charged that "the failure, time and again, to keep the families informed of developments" had caused "deep distrust of the judicial apparatus and politicians."
"Impunity reigns" was the subhead to the organization's finding with regard to the handling of the investigation by Chihuahua state authorities. "As far as the state authorities are concerned, most of the murders including cases of domestic violence or other types of violence have been 'solved.' However, although, according to their figures, 79 people have been convicted, in the vast majority of cases, justice has not been done. Impunity is most evident in the case of the so-called 'serial murders' that have been recognized as such by the state but in which there has been only one conviction for the kidnapping and murder of a young woman and eighteen detainees awaiting the outcome of the judicial process, in some cases for several years."
The organization was referring to, among others, Sharif Sharif, who had been labeled the serial killer of Juárez but had been charged and convicted of only one crime, and the six members of the Rebels, who were still in custody after seven years awaiting an outcome on their cases.
Furthermore, the quality of the investigations and the alleged failure to provide adequate guarantees during the trials cast doubt on the integrity of the criminal proceedings brought against several of those arrested in connection with these crimes. Meanwhile, year after year, the crimes continued.
The discovery of the body of Viviana Rayas in May 2003 in the city of Chihuahua and allegations that those arrested in connection with the case were tortured demonstrate yet again that the abductions and murders in question are far from being solved.
The fact that the state authorities have not managed to clear up or eradicate these crimes has led to much speculation about who might be behind the murders. There is talk of involvement of drug traffickers, organized crime, or people living in the United States, as well as rumors that those responsible are being protected. There are also theories about the motives being connected to Satanism, the illegal trade in pornographic films, and the alleged trafficking of organs. However, at the moment, since the investigations have so far not been able to confirm any of them, such hypotheses are simply helping to fuel even greater fear among Chihuahuan society.
Finally, the report faulted federal authorities for "overtly" staying out of the investigations on the grounds that "unlike organized crime, the murders of women in Chihuahua State did not come under their jurisdiction as they were not federal crimes.
"Amnesty International believes that, in order to prevent, punish, and stop the abduction and murder of the women in Ciudad Juárez
as well as the abuses of power which have hindered the earlier investigations, it is essential for mechanisms to be set up to ensure proper coordination between all authorities at the municipal, state and federal level."
The report recognized that some progress had been made under the country's new president, Vicente Fox, citing the creation in February 2003 of the Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence Against Women in Ciudad Juárez. At a press conference held earlier in the year, President Fox had announced the formation of the new federal commission, which would consist of eight members of the
procuraduría
and two local citizens appointed by the president.
Fox named María Guadalupe Morfín Otero, a human rights lawyer and the former director of the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission, to head the new commission, which, Fox said, would oversee state police investigations and "clarify what has happened over the past ten years and to work so that this painful experience doesn't repeat itself."
Guadalupe Morfín immediately announced her intent to implement a federal "Forty Point Plan," although the particulars of that plan were never fully detailed. Still, her enthusiasm brought a renewed hope to families of Juárez's murdered and missing young women. Morfín had a good track record as an advocate of human rights, although critics feared that her loyalties lay with the PAN party.
The president next appointed María López Urbina, former head of the Coahuila Justice Department, to the newly created role of special federal prosecutor to review the investigations into the Juárez murders. In a press release, López Urbina vowed to investigate the cases "where there is evidence of inefficiency, negligence or tolerance on the part of public servants so there is no more impunity for those who failed to fulfill their duty." She maintained that her first task would be to establish a DNA bank to store evidence. The idea was one that criminologist Oscar Maynez had suggested years earlier. Investigators in the border city had first resisted the use of DNA testing in their investigations, citing a lack of funding.
But the excitement surrounding the new appointments was soon forgotten as police announced the arrest of thirteen members of the state police on suspicion of drug trafficking and murder that January. The stunning declaration was made on Thursday, January 29, 2004, six days after authorities unearthed the bodies of twelve people in the backyard of a Juárez home that was linked to a member of the state police department.
The house, located at 3633 Parsioneros, near the major intersection of Avenida Tecnológico and Bulevar Teófilo Borunda, was occupied by a man named Alejandro García, who, once in police custody, allegedly confessed to taking part in the killings on orders from members of the state police and the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel. Under Vicente, who had succeeded his brother Amado, the Juárez Cartel was still considered the most powerful drug organization in Mexico for moving marijuana and cocaine.
Officials learned that García was not the house's owner but was renting it from an unnamed party. Police believed the residence, later dubbed "the house of death," actually belonged to Umberto Santillán Tabares, an underling of Umberto Portillo, a fugitive smuggler facing drug charges. A search of the home had been done after authorities arrested Santillán in El Paso, Texas, earlier that month. Law enforcement officials suspected members of Santillán's gang were using the Juárez residence as a safe house.
An initial search of the house by authorities yielded four bodies. Eight more were found during subsequent searches of the home's backyard. Authorities reported that all of the bodies exhibited signs of torture, and an autopsy later determined that at least three of the men had died as a result of strangulation. A fourth man was suffocated by tape that had been placed over his mouth and nose, officials said. Others had been suffocated with plastic bags.
It was later reported that a group of heavily armed men were behind the abduction of at least three of the victims, although it is not known how long the men were held at the residence, or what had actually transpired there.
The thirteen officers were taken into custody on Wednesday, January 27, when they arrived at headquarters for the night shift. Four others, including the department's commander, Miguel Angel Loya, failed to report to work that evening and warrants were issued for their arrests. Five more commanders were later fired in connection with the torture and killing of the twelve men whose bodies were unearthed at the Juárez property. News accounts claimed the officers belonged to a corrupt gang of drug traffickers called La Línea, a group so feared that it is reportedly forbidden to say their name aloud.
An article in the
Dallas Morning News
quoted a former drug dealer who claimed to be a member of the organized drug gang that counted, among its members, officers from both the state and municipal Juárez police departments. The informant, who declined to reveal his identity, maintained that some of the rape-murders occurring in Ciudad Juárez were in celebration of successful drug runs across the U.S. border.
"Sometimes, when you cross a shipment of drugs to the United States, adrenaline is so high that you want to celebrate by killing women," the newspaper quoted the unidentified man as saying.
It was a horrific admission, and one that was substantiated by another former drug dealer during an interview with documentarian Lourdes Portillo for her film
Seńorita Extraviada.
This man also maintained that some of the gang members liked to wear the victims' nipples like trophies on chains around their necks.
* * *
In the days after the arrests,
El Diario de Juárez
stated that several of the bodies exhumed from the Juárez backyard had been buried at depths between three and four feet. There were also reports that plaster had been found on some of the corpses, all of which had been doused in lime to conceal the stench of rotting flesh.
Search warrants were secured for six other houses in the border city, and a full-blown investigation into all state police officers assigned to the night shift was ordered. It is not known what, if any, evidence was found during the execution of those additional searches.
Still, the arrests of the thirteen state police officers once again brought to the forefront what many in the city had believed all along; that members of the police were somehow linked to the ongoing femicides. The officers in custody were immediately flown to Mexico City, where they were questioned by federal agents about their alleged role in the killings of the twelve as-yet-unidentified men.
The unfolding police scandal eventually led to the resignation of Chihuahua State attorney general Jesús José Solís Silva that March, after he'd served little more than one year in the top law enforcement spot. His resignation came amid allegations that officials in his office had ties to drug trafficking.
Allegations of corruption were also lodged against former state police commander Francisco Minjares and Antonio Navarrete, who led the investigations into Sharif Sharif and Los Rebeldes. According to U.S. anti-narcotics agents in El Paso, Minjares was one of the most corrupt police officers and had provided protection to narcotraffickers. Minjares was gunned down in early 2003 in Chihuahua City in what authorities called a "gangland-style" killing.
Lawyers for Sharif Sharif alleged that Navarrete pointed a gun to the head of a witness while he was being videotaped giving testimony against Sharif. While this allegation was never substantiated, and there is no evidence that this actually occurred, one news account described how the judge threw out the tape after attorneys were able to show that the tape had been edited.
Navarrete, who was never charged with a crime, denied any wrongdoing in the case, telling one reporter that the allegations "were not true."
Ironically, the fallout from the state police scandal came on the heels of what many viewed as promising year-end crime statistics. According to data from the Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office, Ciudad Juárez had experienced a 27 percent decline in murders from 2002 to 2003, down more than fifty homicides from the previous year.
Instead of patting themselves on the back for the improved crime statistics, however, police officers were being ordered to submit to mandatory drug tests, with federal authorities warning that those who returned a positive result would be immediately terminated.
In early February 2004,
El Diario de Juárez
reported that two officers had tested positive for drugs and were immediately expelled from the department. One of the agents, the newspaper stated, was said to be part of the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Investigation of Murders of Women, an allegation that again opened the door to the probability that police had played a role in some of the killings.
Word, in February 2004, that yet another member of the state police had been arrested for "attempting" to form a prostitution ring of adolescent girls further fueled the controversy. Two young women had come forward to file a criminal complaint alleging that a senior law enforcement officer in Juárez, later identified as Héctor Lastra, was reportedly pressuring underage teens employed at the city's fast-food restaurants to engage in sex with wealthy businessmen.
News accounts maintained that Lastra, who was identified as a Juárez state police chief, had allegedly provided his clients with a catalog of photographs of the girls, all minors. According to prosecutors, the supposed photo album contained pictures of five underage girls, reportedly taken by Lastra.
