I live in Oklahoma, which practically puts this problem in my backyard, yet I hadn't heard about it other than in an episode of Criminal Minds last year that didn't lay out as many facts as Hise's film does. Expect to hear more as Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas star in Bordertown when it releases at the theaters.
Hise interviews several people during the 58-minute documentary, and all of them are a combination of passionate and jaded. They know this story intimately, and it still moves them, but you can tell they're just tired of telling it and watching as it falls on deaf ears. They know, but they wish everyone else knew, too.
The first problem in Ciudad Juarez is the abject poverty. Many United States manufacturing corporations have built plants there, but most employees make less than $4 a day. But that's more than the $1.90 a day earned by most workers. When you see the footage of the streets, you can tell poverty has a stranglehold on the city and is grinding it back down into the dust.
That problem is immediately coupled with neglect. Too many people don't want to get involved. No true investigation has been done because too many of those in official positions don't want to know what's really going on. Mexican police don't start acting until 72 hours have passed after paperwork has been filed about a missing person. In 2004, Special Prosecutor Maria Lopez Urbina filed charges against 81 policemen for being negligent or incompetent.
As a result, when pressured, Mexican police have started prosecuting the first man they can find who was associated with the murdered woman. Usually it's the husband or a family member. Many of these men are innocent of the charges, but they're tortured into a confession. Fearful for their own freedom, many choose not to get involved.
Corruption has always been a problem in Mexico, just as it's been a problem in all countries where organized crime exists. Criminal enterprises are profitable, and there's usually enough profit to pay off several people. Policemen don't make enough money as policemen to support their families, so everyone knows they'll be taking bribes somewhere down the road.
Article comments
1 - Katie McNeill
I'm so glad that I read this. I've never even heard about this problem and I'm glad that you have expanded my view of the world. I'll have to look some more into this as well. I just had no idea.
2 - Mohjho
At the Chico State campus three years ago, some group posted the names of all known victims from Ciudad Juarezon on a fence stretching for 30 or 40 yards.
Made quite an impression.
This is obviously a political problem sense no real investigation has been permitted.