Violence and women in Mexico

Millions of Mexicans celebrated the Day of the Virgen de Guadalupe on Friday. Yet as Mexico’s female patron saint was venerated several events brought to light the dangers faced by Mexican women.

Silvia Vargas had gone missing since September 2007 and her kidnapping symbolized the anguish felt by thousands of families throughout Mexico. “I have cried. I have begged... Find my daughter. Find my Silvia,” pleaded her father- Nelson Vargas- last month as he angrily denounced police incompetence in finding his daughter.

On Thursday, Nelson’s worse nightmares came true as prosecutors said to have found Silvia’s remains. “We ask everyone to pray for her and all those people who have suffered the same pain that we have felt” the family said in a written statement. Silvia was buried today at a funeral attended by dignitaries including Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Vargas’ death was tragic but so have the unsolved deaths of nearly 400 women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. Despite lip service by the federal government, these deaths continue and have gone largely in impunity.

It is in that light that a women’s rights activist from Ciudad Juarez won Mexico's National Human Rights Award. For over a decade Esther Chavez has run a campaign to bring global attention to dangers faced by women:

Chavez says women continue to be murdered in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, and the city is now also in the grip of a wave of killings linked to the drug trade.

"Events of extreme brutality define the daily life of my city," Chavez said. "Law enforcement, even with the necessary police investigations and punishment for crimes, will never solve the root problem, which is social inequality, poverty (and) a lack of educational opportunities."

Image- CNN (“Silvia Escalera stands next to a banner asking for the release of her daughter in Mexico City in August.”)
Sources- AP, CNN, Univision, Amnesty International USA, Javno