Sunday, December 19, 2010

300 women killed in Ciudad Juarez in 2010. Femicide of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz

Dear all,

Amigos de las Mujers de Juarez joins in denouncing this act of violence. We ask you all to take actions to pressure the Mexican Government to bring the killers to justice. We ask that you also denounce to your U.S. congress people the continued impunity in Mexico and propose that current and future assistance to Mexico be based on Mexico's progress to real justice.

Organizations denounce the feminicide of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz

Due to the incapability and disregard of the state and federal governments, Marisela was murdered for asking for justice for her daughter Rubi.



"I am not going to move from here until they detain the killer of my daughter" was the declaration of Marisela before putting in place her small campsite in front of the Cross of Nails NOT ONE MORE in Chihuahua City. She was prepared to spend Christmas and New Years in this emblematic place, where, the past November 25th, she participated in a demonstration with the mothers of Justice for our Daughters to hang on the cross, the names of the more than 300 women who have been killed in the the state of Chihuahua in 2010 alone.

Rubi was 16 year old when she was killed by Sergio Rafael in August, 2008. Since she disappeared and her small corpse was found in a lot together with the bones of pigs, the mother of Rubi, Marisela, a retired nurse, dedicated here life to seeking justice for her daughter, becoming a human rights defender.

The same day that the Secretary of Government, Francisco Blake, asked citizens to "reject fear to fight the criminals", Marisela was killed in front of the doors of the Palace of Government in Chihuahua City, while she was engaged in her peaceful and indefinite protest to demand that the authorities detain the killer of her daughter Rubi.

Marisela not only rejected fear, she walked for days from the office of the prosecutor to the judicial center in Juarez to demand punishment for the killer of her daughter. She always walked with her 2 year old granddaughter in a carriage and a placard with the picture of her daughter Rubi. An oral trial freed the killer, shaming the system of justice.

Marisela, untiring fighter, achieved, together with the lawyers of the Center for Human Rights of Women in obtaining an appeal tribunal (made up of 3 magistrates) who would recitify the decision of the judges and she succeeded in obtaining a sentence against Sergio Rafael, confessed murderer, condemning him finally to 50 years in prision.

"I am tired of doing their work, now let them do theirs" said Marisela. Efectively, while the authorities did not manage to find Sergio Rafael, Marisela, with her own resources, found him in Zacatecas and advised the Attorney General of Chihuahua, who alleged, that because of bureaucratic procedures, they could not detain him.

The Attorney General of the state of Chihuahua informed the mother that, together with the Attorney General of Mexico, "they would keep seeking the killer of her daughter over the whole country." They never found him.

For two years she traveled the country. She returned to Zacatecas, she went to Mexico City where she asked for an audience with President Calderon and with Attorney General Arturo Chávez Chávez. Both refused to see her. She spoke with authorities in the federal prosecutors office who promised to search for the killer of her daughter. They never found him.

Days before being murdered, she turned up at an event where she met the Governor of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte and she took out a placard that said "justice, privilege of governments". The request angered the governor, as was noted by various local journalist. The governor scolded here and treated her with contempt. Later, she succeeded in getting an interview with the state attorney of Chihuahua who promised her that he would review her case.

Lucha Castro, coordinator of the Center for the Human Rights of Women declared, at this time, we cannot ignore any line of investigation including a crime by the state because Marisela was not going to stop until they detained the killer of her daughter.

Marisela died at the doors of the Palace of Government and in front of the cross of nails that was placed by the group Women in Black and the mothers of the young women killed in the state of Chihuahua. Marisela was killed for asking for justice.

President Calderon and Governor Duarte, where is the responsibility of the citizens to make justice and where does the work of the authorities begin?

In front of such inability, number of omissions, scorn and negligence, the Mexican state is responsible and must respond immediately for the murders of Rubi.

Enough. NOT ONE MORE.

Justicia Para Nuestras Hijas / Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres



Para mayor información: Justicia para Nuestras Hijas // info@justiciaparanuestrashijas.org // Tel. (614) 413-3355 // twitter: @jpnh01 // Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres // comunicacion@cedehm.org // Tel. (614) 415-4152.

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