SANTIAGO – THE Mexican government on Wednesday appeared before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to defend its alleged failure to investigate the unsolved murders of hundreds of women in the north of the country over the past decade.
The charges were brought in the Chilean capital on behalf of three murder victims – Claudia Gonzalez, Esmeralda Herrera and Laura Ramos – whose mutilated bodies showed signs of having been raped.
Their bodies were found in 2001, along with remains of five other unidentified victims, in a cotton field on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, which in recent years has been the site of widespread drug violence between rival traffickers, leading to thousands of deaths.
The three murder victims, two of whom were minors, were among nearly 400 women victims in an orgy of violence that targeted girls and women in northern Mexico.
All but a small fraction of the homicides remain unsolved, relatives for some of the victims said, blaming government negligence.
‘Every courtroom throughout the Americas will be hanging on the decision of this trial, which will guide how governments in the future handle the issue of defending women and their families against sexual abuse and violence,’ said Ariel Dulitzky, an attorney representing family members of one of the murder victims.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous institution of the Organization of American States.
State’s Attorney Patricia Gonzalez, defending the government of Chihuahua, where most of the killings occurred, said Mexico has been ‘tireless’ in protecting the safety and welfare of women and in seeking the perpetrators of crimes.
She said the government stands ready to provide financial compensation to relatives of the victims ‘for their physical and psychological suffering.’ But she staunchly refuted charges that the government dragged its feet in pursuing the murderers.
‘We have undertaken a tremendous effort – holding meetings, working with forensic anthropologists,’ Ms Gonzalez said. She added that the government hoped to close many of the cases ‘in the next several months,’ a goal which Ms Dulitzky discounted as ‘empty promises.’ — AFP
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