Lately most of the news emerging from Ciudad Juarez involves the constant shootouts and murders related to the drug trade. Overlooked, however, are the mysterious deaths of nearly 400 women in that border city.Most of the women murdered in Juarez over the past 25 years are between 17 and 22 years of age and have suffered from sexual abuse akin to the “releasing (of) wild instincts.” Yet recent goings-on in Juarez have to do with the inexplicable disappearances of eighteen preteens since the beginning of 2008.
Several celebrities including Jane Fonda and Salma Hayek have campaigned to bring justice to the unsolved femicides in Juarez. The latest celeb to campaign for women in Juarez is Peter Gabriel:
Musician and activist Peter Gabriel is to present Mexico's President Felipe Calderon with a petition signed by more than 1,000 people asking him to act on the hundreds of unsolved murders of women in the Mexican border city Ciudad Juarez.
Gabriel is due to perform in Mexico City on March 27, and is expected to make his appeal to Calderon then, El Pais reports.
Peter Gabriel is a prominent human-rights activist, and in 1992 founded the nonprofit group Witness, which uses video and online technologies to bring human-rights violations to light.
The actions of famous people like Gabriel and Hayek being much needed attention to crimes against women. More importantly, they help highlight the efforts of brave ladies in Mexico who have dedicated their lives to ensure that justice can be served.
Image- SignOnSanDiego.com
Online Sources- La Plaza, vday.org, The Latin Americanist, Javno, NPR
Thanks Erwin for the post about Peter Gabriel (and others including Diego Luna and Saul Hernandez from the band Jaguares) meeting with President Calderon tomorrow, March 27th. I work at WITNESS the organization Peter helped found 17 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe petition has more than 2300 signatures at this point and we're really grateful to have this opportunity as you say, to draw attention to this incredibly important, but too often overlooked issue of violence against women in Mexico.
We'll be posting updates on our blog- here's the latest: http://hub.witness.org/en/node/12402.
Again, thank you for the attention and link to us.