In the first 4 days of September, there were 17 murders–the Diario story says this rebound in murders has caused alarm amongst federal public security commanders, who met yesterday at the military garrison… These 17 deaths equal nearly half of all the murders that occurred in August (38). Also, 4 bodies were discovered in a tractor-trailer on the road between Juarez and Chihuahua. The trailer is reported to have originated in Juarez and it was hijacked at some point Tuesday night at Km 95 on the highway. This morning it was found abandoned with the bodies of 3 men and a woman in the vehicle.
Category Archives: murdered women
Juarez Murders: Mexico’s Secretary Of State To Unveil Memorial For Slain Women
If there were any doubts about the erasing of the dead and disinformation about Juarez, try this sentence:
Since 1993, the small border town of Juarez has been overcome by waves of murders, most of which have been attacks against women. Human rights activists estimate the number of slain women is in the thousands.
First, Juarez is not a “small border town” but a city of at least 1.2-1.3 million people. About twice as large as its US neighbor, El Paso. Since 1993, using official numbers from the state Attorney General and media reports, the number of PEOPLE killed in Juarez is more than 14,500 and of that total, about 1,250 were women. This does not include the people who have gone missing. But by ANY count or estimate, we can say with certainty that at least 10 times as many of the murder victims in the city of Juarez for all of these years from 1993–present have been men or boys. A less misleading article from the El Paso Times neglects to mention the actual HUMAN death toll. Notably, in 2012, as we have gratefully seen the homicide toll decrease, the percentage of victims who are women has increased. This is probably due to the fact that as the murders related to gang violence and narco-violence have declined in Juarez, the number of domestic violence murders where the victims are usually women becomes a larger percentage of the total…in 2012, it is about 12.5 %. Still, the actual NUMBERS of women killed were much higher in 2010-2011 because the numbers of PEOPLE killed were so high overall. The quote from Irma Casas of Casa Amiga is absolutely true and applies to ALL of the victims, not only the women: ”Murders are rarely investigated and only 1 percent are even decided upon,” Irma Casas, director of women’s rights group Casa Amiga Esther Chavez Cano, told FOX News Latino.
molly molloy
Murders of women
1993-2007………………427 (3,538) – 12%
2008 ……………………….87 (1,623) – 5.3%
2009……………………….164 (2,754)—5.9%
2010 ………………………304 (3,622) – 8.3%
2011 …………………….. 196 (2,086) – 9.3%
2012 (as of July 31) ………73 (584) – 12.5%
Women…………1,251 ( 14,527 total victims) – 8.6%
Women = 8.6 percent
of total murder victims over the past 18 years
Statistics from El Diario based on official data from the Chihuahua State Attorney General
Human rights and the Mexican military…Council on Foreign Relations
For those who care to look back at the record, the reports of severe human rights abuses in the current Mexican context first came to light just a few DAYS after the Mexican Army troops came to Juarez in March 2008. Municipal police walked out in protest; citizens protested home invasions and abductions, notably in the Valle de Juarez. One of the most vocal protesters was Josefina Reyes–she was later murdered by the Mexican Army… Here are her words from early summer, 2008:
“Now you see all these big billboards, ‘We [the army] have come to help you’ — but it isn’t true. They have come to pillage us, to ransack our homes. They take the food in the refrigerator, jewelry, anything . . . and they destroy property. It is not a secret who they are.”
There are many Mexicans who have documented the abuses carried out by the Mexican military against the Mexican people. It is about time that the international community take note… molly
LEGITIMATE HOMICIDE…
As I was driving home today and listening to the news about Todd Akin and “legitimate rape“…
I thought, well, what we have been seeing in Mexico for (at least) the last 6 years is a government that says there is homicide and then, there is “legitimate homicide.” And government mouth-pieces ranging from mayors and police chiefs of Juarez, to governors of Chihuahua and on up to Secretaries of Gobernacion, Defense, and Public Security and on up to President Calderon himself have consistently said that “90 percent of the dead are criminals being killed by other criminals.” [legitimate homicide...] The recent Washington Post article quotes numerous government spokespersons in Juarez reinforcing this idea that all of the killing happened between criminals — “legitimate homicides”– and government forces are now bringing calm to the city… All this at the very moment when the Mexican government is being forced to admit that it cannot legitimately classify homicides at all since it lacks the capability to investigate more than one or two percent of the crimes and now the national statistical agency says that despite all the claims of “winning the drug war,” there were more homicides (by far) in 2011 than in any other year since Calderon took office (or any year prior to that since the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)… Here is the REFORMA article from today on the new INEGI numbers. I’ll post something more comparative tomorrow…a GOOGLE translation of the REFORMA piece is below…and a little chart I am working on comparing the INEGI releases from 2011 and today. According to my first look at this new data, with estimates of what will happen for the remaining months of Calderon’s term, we are looking 116,869 homicides during the sexenio. And these are all connected to real government data and real body counts. NOT including estimates of disappeared people or bodies yet to be uncovered from clandestine graves… [feel free to check my arithmetic] Molly Molloy
GOOGLE TRANSLATION:
27,199 murders recorded in 2011
Chihuahua, according to INEGI, is the state with the highest number of violent deaths with an average of 131 murders per 100,000 inhabitants
By REFORM / Writing
Mexico City (August 20, 2012). – In 2011 there were 27,199 intentional homicides in Mexico, the highest in the six-year period, according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). The figures are derived from the information provided by the administrative records of the Registry Offices 723 4000
Civil Registry and 96 thousand prosecutor agencies that provide monthly data on deaths accidental and violent, precise INEGI in a statement. The Institute notes that the company with the highest number of deaths was Chihuahua, which occurred in
average of 131 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, and the lowest rate was Yucatan, with three cases. ”To facilitate comparison of data from homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, was an exercise by the INEGI, for population estimates for each of the years of the series to be present, consistent with the results of the Census of Population and Housing 2010, “says the Institute. ”So these calculations will not match other data generated from official projections current population are based on the Second Population and Housing 2005 and conciliation
population of 2005. “ According to the annual breakdown presented by the Institute, in 2006 there were 10,452 deaths, while in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 occurred 8,867, 14 006, 19,803 and 25,757, respectively. However, last year, according to the cut last July, have not finished it processes generation of statistics, the figure reached 27,199 deaths.
Copyright © Grupo Reforma Information Service
And here is a comment on the earlier post by my colleague at Cal State Northridge on the news media complicity in this continuing falsifying of the record:
_______________________
Amazing (but not surprising) to think this is not a big story in the U.S. Plus, a great example of how government agencies shape and manipulate reality. The Mexican government definition of drug-related crime is as bogus as the definition of gang-related crime in the U.S. The purpose, of course, is different, but the effect has been catastrophic for poor people in both instances.
The result of this, as pointed out by Molly, is that news media organizations have been reporting Mexico’s government figures without challenging the government, which means a reduction of the size of the impact on Mexican society. Instead of 50 or 60,000 drug-related killings, we should be talking about 100,000+. Think of Vietnam: 50,000 U.S. soldiers killed (and the impact on American society). Now, imagine double that size with a population half the size of the U.S. during Vietnam. Nobody in Mexico has remained untouched by this. And this is not the end yet… From Jose Luis Benavides
The result of this, as pointed out by Molly, is that news media organizations have been reporting Mexico’s government figures without challenging the government, which means a reduction of the size of the impact on Mexican society. Instead of 50 or 60,000 drug-related killings, we should be talking about 100,000+. Think of Vietnam: 50,000 U.S. soldiers killed (and the impact on American society). Now, imagine double that size with a population half the size of the U.S. during Vietnam. Nobody in Mexico has remained untouched by this. And this is not the end yet… From Jose Luis Benavides
LINKS TO SOURCES FOR NUMBERS ARE BELOW:
| INEGI total homicides reported Aug 2012* | INEGI total homicides reported July 2011+ | SNSP | |
| 2005 | 9,921 | 9,921 | |
| 2006 | 10,452 | 10,452 | |
| 2007 | 8,867 | 8,867 | |
| 2008 | 14,006 | 14,006 | |
| 2009 | 19,803 | 19,803 | |
| 2010 | 25,757 | 24,374 | |
| 2011 | 27,199 | — | |
| 2012 (Jan-June estimate from SNSP)# | 10,617 | ||
| July-Dec est. @ 1770 per month | 10,620 | ||
| TOTAL 2007-2012 Calderon’s term | 116,869 | 104,977 (estimate SNSP as per Reforma, Aug 15 2012 + July-Dec 2012 est.)& |
Mexican government admits it doesn’t know how many homicides are related to drug war…
Yesterday, REFORMA reported that a spokesman for the federal government in Mexico stated that this administration will not release a new number of “homicides related to organized crime” before the end of Calderon’s sexenio. The main focus of the article is that this will not be done because the government cannot accurately determine the causes of the homicides. This is exactly what I have been saying consistently on this list and elsewhere for several years.
The government will release the complete tally of homicidios dolosos or intentional homicides as tallied by SNSP. The numbers I’ve report most often use INEGI data for the earlier years of the sexenio and SNSP for 2011 forward. I think that these numbers are somewhat higher because INEGI data does not separate the homicidios dolosos from other homicides that are what would be classified as negligent or accidental in the US… The differences are not huge. The REFORMA article gives a total of 94,357 through June 2012; INSIGHT CRIME says the SNSP figure for Jan-June 2012 is 10,617. If the average homicides per month (1,770) is extrapolated through the end of November 2012 (when Calderon’s term ends) the total will be 19,464. Added to the previous SNSP number, we would have a total of about 103,204. I think the eventual number will be higher than that and considering the government’s political motives, I’m comfortable with my current estimate of 110,000. As some of the national figures (including Javier Sicilia) quoted in the article say, these numbers do not include the numbers of missing and disappeared people, nor the bodies that are still being found buried in clandestine graves in many places in the country.
The content of the government spokesman’s statement is almost exactly what I have been saying for years–that the criteria used to determine what is or is not an “organized crime related homicide” is bogus:
__________
He further explained: “They set the criteria and said, ‘well, let’s see…if they used weapons of heavy caliber, if they moved the body, if the body is bound, if there are signs of torture…if two or more of these (characteristics) are present then the homicide could be attributed to organized crime ‘. They had some methodological support for what was published but it was only an approximation, as if they are just saying, ‘yes, this could be organized crime,’ ” he said.
__________
I will look around for more statistics to see if a better estimate is possible. It is interesting that this admission by the government is first published by REFORMA. REFORMA’s oft-cited “Ejecumetro” has for years used the same or similar criteria to determine which killings are related to organized crime and these much lower numbers have been frequently reported in the Mexican national media. The REFORMA data are also used by the Transborder Institute (TBI) in their monthly publications on the drug war. It will be interesting to see how this policy change–admission–backtracking (what else could we call it?) by the Calderon administration will be treated in the international media–if it is noticed at all.
Borderland Beat has a better translation of the Reforma article. Also take a look at the comments.
Here is one of them:
Does anyone know why all that is going in Mexico hardly makes it on the evening news here in the US?
It’s like the domestic dispute next door that everyone is aware of but we all want to pretend its not happening. It really is strange.
It’s like the domestic dispute next door that everyone is aware of but we all want to pretend its not happening. It really is strange.
More Mexican government officials report that the new database for compiling homicide and missing persons data nationally is extremely behind and indefinitely delayed. A Google translation is below:
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
New national database for homicides delayed
Prado Henia
Agency Reform | 08.17.2012 | 22:24
Federal District-The new database that will store the numbers of intentional homicide and missing persons, which was negotiated by state attorneys and the Attorney General, has not been able to start walking.
The reasons for the delay of this new registration agreement over a year ago is that there is partial information, wrong or delay in delivering it.
An early start date for this database, set for May 12 was postponed and finally determined that as of June 15 would begin to flow data to concentrate on this record.
“The National Conference reaffirms its commitment to fulfill the mandate of the CNSP to establish databases nationally, for registration of intentional homicide and missing persons.
“For this, the law enforcement agencies are committed to providing complete records of these databases later than June 15 this year, expand, update and validate the respective information permanently,” said May 24 the entitled the PGR, Marisela Morales.
Federal District connection, Jaime Lopez-Aranda, head of the National Information Center of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), said that while the collection of information is substantial homicide, shall be at least one other months to complete the count. “The database of voluntary manslaughter is compiling the PGR will allow us to have more accurate data of victimology, for example, and not only the preliminary investigation, it secretes the victim’s age, sex of victim, location.
“We are really behind. Promised for June 15, I hope it comes out in September and October, because many entities provided information as we had to be delivered, then you should return it, “he said.
This new database and updated monthly to the SESNSP on its website will be the only references that citizens have about the violent murders occurred in the country.
Neither breaks down the number of executed by organized crime. (Agency Reform)
*************************************************************************************************************
Molly Molloy
6 killed in Juarez over the weekend; 602 so far in 2012
Six people were killed in Juarez during the weekend and there have been a total of 21 murders since the beginning of August. In August alone, there were 7 murders. The article contains a summary of the murder statistics for the year 2012. By this count, there have been a total of 602 people killed so far this year in Juarez. This comes to an average of 2.6 people per day. This is definitely an improvement over recent years and it is also twice the tally for any complete year since 2007. There is also an article on the massacre of 7 people last night at a bar in the middle of the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. molly
January–118 homicides, 12 of these were women, 2 minors, 8 police and 2 other officials among the victims.
February–82 homicides, 10 women, one minor and one policeman
March–105 homicides, 15 women, 4 minors and 9 police
April–108 homicides
May–74 homicides
June–49 homicides, including 2 minors
July–45 homicides
August (as of Aug 12)–21 homicides
TOTAL FOR 2012–602
44 homicides in July; 584 so far in 2012
El Diario reports 44 homicides in the month of July, another decrease from 49 in June. Diario gives a total of 580 for the year so far, but by the monthly tallies I have, I think a better figure is 584. This is an average of 2.7 murders each day in the city. Projecting that the downward trend continues and murders fall to 30 per month for the rest of the year, 2012 will end with more than 700 homicides. About 320 people were victims in 2007–the highest figure ever recorded in the city before the explosion of violence in 2008.
Jan 122; Feb 82; Mar 105; Apr 108; May 74; June 49; July 44
This figure is also consistent with a report an independent researcher got from an official at the Juarez morgue earlier this week–582. I believe that the discrepancy is due to how some crimes are categorized as “homicidios culposos” rather than dolosos… But I will report the number of 584 as I think it is more accurate.
Three of the victims in July were women. The article reports a total of 70 women victims in 2012, but adding up the monthly reports comes to 73.
Jan 12; Feb 10; Mar 15; Apr 18; May 6; June 9; July 3
Women are 12.5 percent of the total homicide victims in the city. This rate is consistent with rates over the years: when the overall number of homicides are higher as in 2008-2011, the percentage of the total who are women has tended to go down to between 5 and 8 percent. When the homicide rates decrease to what seems to be “normal” for the city (as in the current downward trend), then the percentage of the victims who are women rises slightly. I’ve posted below the Diario article all of the numbers I have since 1993. molly
Juarez Murders 1993-July 2012
Total 1993-2007 = 3,538 (0.7 per day)
2007 = 320
2008 = 1,623
2009 = 2,754
2010 = 3,622 (**)
2011 = 2,086
2012 = 584 (as of July 31)
Total killed since 2007 = 10,989
Total killed since 1993 = 14,527
Average of 6.3 people per day since Jan 2008
(**original media tally for 2010=3,111; March 2011 Fiscalia report = 3,951; Fiscalia spokesman gave new figure of 3,622 to Reuters reporter in October 2011)
MURDERS OF WOMEN
1993-2007………………427 (3,538) – 12%
2008 ……………………….87 (1,623) – 5.3%
2009……………………….164 (2,754)—5.9%
2010 ………………………304 (3,622) – 8.3%
2011 …………………….. 196 (2,086) – 9.3%
2012 (as of July 31) ………73 (584) – 12.5%
Women…………1,251 ( 14,527 total victims) – 8.6%
Women = 8.6 percent
of total murder victims over the past 18 years
Statistics from El Diario based on official data from the Chihuahua State Attorney General
14 bodies in Ciudad MAnte, Tamaulipas; 44 murdered in 7 states all across Mexico on Saturday
For the second time in a month, 14 mutilated bodies have been abandoned in
the town of Ciudad Mante in Tamaulipas. Also, according to the story posted
from Cronica, during the wave of violence yesterday in Mexico, at
least 44 people were murdered in the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz,
Guerrero, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Durango and Michoacan. In the Veracruz case,
11 bodies were found in a clandestine grave. The article lists other
incidents. I posted a google translation.
Abandonan camion con 14 cuerpos mutilados en Cd. Mante, Tamaulipas
Fourteen mutilated bodies found outside Mexican supermarket
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Violent events in seven states yesterday left a balance of 44 dead
Mar Horacio Ramos, Ignacio Roque and David Madriz Homes | National
24.06.2012 | Creation Time: 23:36:30 | Last Modified: 00:05:45
During a wave of violence yesterday at least 44 people were killed in
separate incidents related to organized crime in Tamaulipas, Veracruz,
Guerrero, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Durango and Michoacan.
In Tamaulipas, 14 mutilated bodies appeared inside an abandoned truck in
the parking lot of a shopping mall in Ciudad Mante.
A source from the state attorney explained that at 09:00 hours was reported
the discovery of the bodies along with a narcomensaje in the parking lot of
a supermarket chain located in the center of the municipality.
The prosecution explained that it is 10 bodies of men and four women all
mutilated and a narco message to the Gulf Cartel.
While in the municipality of Lerdo de Tejada, Veracruz, was located a
clandestine grave with eleven human skeletons.
The Secretary of the Navy of Mexico undertook dig up human remains.
Meanwhile, in various municipalities of Guerrero the wave of violence left
seven people killed, five of whom died in shootouts in the municipality of
Apaxtla Castrejon and another died in hospital Teloloapan. In Acapulco, a
shooting left as a result one dead, one wounded and a woman deprived of
their liberty.
In Monterrey, a body was found in a car, while gunmen executed one person
and wounded his nephew left refusing to pay a fee.
In the first event in the center of Monterrey was found a corpse in a
Volkswagen Jetta with the plates FGR-2162.
Moreover, in San Nicolas de los Garza, a man about 60 years old was shot by
an armed, while his nephew aged between 20 and 25 were injured.
In another incident, after close off a motorcycle, the driver of a van was
amagado by armed men who kidnapped him, but managed to escape despite being
tied hand and foot.
Meanwhile, in San Sebastian del Oeste, Jalisco, human remains were found
buried in three mass graves, which correspond to three people.
The bodies were in a ranch called Palmillas de Macedo and experts from the
Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences (IJCF) exhumed the skeletal remains.
One of the bodies has a bullet in the head and is maimed.
In Durango, two people were killed and one was injured more seriously, when
staff moved Expert Services on board an official unit Soapy village was
attacked by several gunmen with these results.
Within the limits of the municipalities of Buenavista Tomatlan and
Tepalcatepec in Michoacán five bodies, three men and two women, were found
inside plastic bags.
Alleged gunmen executed the coup de grace to the five people, among which
one of the women was pregnant and was beheaded, and one of the men were
maimed arm. The rest of the bodies were blindfolded and showed signs of
torture.
In addition to the bodies found on the bridge of Piedras Blancas, right
next to a grocery store, was found pinned to the chest of one of the women
a message that said: Here we leave a little present gentlemen to see that
it can be since we’re here Mencho and Rafa Álvarez: att 8 CJNG.
Mexico Drug Violence Shows Decline–Wall Street Journal
In this interview with President Calderon, he discusses a slight decline in
violence nation-wide and also a proposal to the US to legalize some
drugs…
Note this on the official government count:
__________
Mr. Calderón declined to give out a specific figure of drug-related deaths
in the first five months of this year, giving out only the percentage
decline. He said his government will no longer make the figure public after
human-rights groups and victims’ families complained the government was
issuing a verdict on murders before the judicial system. Mexico’s
government uses evidence at the crime scene—such as decapitations or a sign
left by an alleged cartel—to distinguish crimes linked to the drug gangs
from common murders. “We had complaints from human rights groups and
analysts that we were pre-judging cases and victims,” said Mr. Calderón.”I
have given orders to my government that we play by the book on this. Only
after a judge issues a verdict can we include this in an official number,”
Mr. Calderón said.The government hasn’t given out data on drug-related
violence since January, when figures for the first nine months of 2011
showed drug-related murders were still likely on the rise, claiming 12,903
lives during the January-September period – a pace of 16,800 murders for
the year. That compares to 15,273 drug-related murders in 2010.
______
The WSJ article also cites the Frontera List for the Juarez murders
January-May 2011 and 2012: down from 958 to 491…though these are all
homicides as reported from the Fiscalia, not just “drug-related” homicides.
At least as best as it is possible to tell from what is reported. For what
it is worth, at least three people were murdered today in Juarez–two men
shot to death by a group of three young assassins and early today, the body
of a woman was found wrapped in a blanket.
I will be traveling in the next few days, but I have been trying to keep
track of the daily homicides in Juarez. I will report back when I have
time to tally things, or, if Diario posts something with a summary…
Juarez deaths May 15-16
Yesterday, May 16, a woman who worked as a waitress in a bar was taken out
of the place by a man who argued with her and then shot her at least 11
times. She is the 2nd female victim in May and the 57th woman to be
murdered this year, according to El Diario. On Tuesday, May 15, two people
were killed, including a 15 yr old boy. By my tally, there have now been about 48 people murdered in May; 464 in 2012; and 10,546 in the city of Juarez since January 2008. molly
