Thanks, Jane Fonda and Sally Field

[Chiwas]

Yesterday both led a massive meeting and march in the streets and some places in Juarez City in Mexico, where more than 350 young girls have been murdered in the last 10 years, against the impunity and laziness showed by the Mexican government in resolving the crimes.

The movement from both movie stars -and others whom I don't remember- and several non-governmental-organizations pro-human rights, made an important impact on the public opinion cause virtually all the media -radio, tv, newspapers- gave big space and time to the events.

They demanded the government "NO ONE MORE!", a proclamation made mainly by the mothers of those girls without any effective and heartfelt response by the government during a decade.

Thanks, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and everyone who participated and will keep pressing in favor of the solution of this very sad calamity and shame.

¡NI UNA MÁS!

[Chiwas]

Jane Fonda Speaks at March Over Mexico Juarez Murders
by damian james Saturday February 14, 2004 at 08:15 PM

Jane Fonda speaks out at march over Mexico murders in Ciudad Juarez

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Jane Fonda, Eve Ensler, Christine Lahti and Sally Field on Saturday added their celebrity voices to those of mothers and activists clamoring for justice in the murders of hundreds of young women in this Mexico border town during the past decade.

"I am rich, I am famous, I am white, I have a daughter, I have a granddaughter, and I know if they were murdered or disappeared, the authorities would work very work very hard to find out who killed them or who kidnapped them,'' Jane Fonda told a news conference in Ciudad Juarez.

"I have tried to feel in my body what it is to be one of these mothers of disappeared women, what it is to be ignored and made to feel like they don't matter,'' she said.

Groups of marchers from Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, across the border, met on the downtown international bridge and walked the streets of Ciudad Juarez.

They marched as part of an effort to increase awareness of violence against women worldwide through Ensler's organization, which for three years has called Feb. 14 "V-day'' and used it to remember all women who are victims of violence.

Fonda, Lahti, Field and three Mexican actresses were later scheduled to perform Ensler's play "The Vagina Monologues.''

Activists have been keeping track of violence in Ciudad Juarez, where officials have now documented more than 300 murders in the past 10 years. Few of the cases have been solved and the murders are continuing.

Some of the murders are the result of domestic violence. Others are believed to be the work of serial killers, drug gangs and even a small group of well-connected prominent local men who may have killed for sport.

Many victims were workers at border manufacturing plants known as maquiladoras, girls who traveled alone to work in Juarez and later disappeared only to turn up dead in the desert.

Often, their remains showed signs of beating and rape.

INDIFFERENCE

As years passed and the cases remained unsolved, victims' families accused local authorities of indifference. Activist groups formed, and human rights organizations weighed in with their own investigations and reports.

Last November, Amnesty International recommended that the Mexican government appoint a special prosecutor for the murders. In January, Maria Lopez was appointed to investigate the killings.

State judicial police arrested several suspects in recent years, only to find more remains. In November 2001, two truckers were arrested after eight women's bodies were discovered in an empty field.

Many victims' mothers now believe the truckers are scapegoats for beleaguered authorities. The families of the truckers have joined them in demanding justice.

The case has become so politicized that victims' groups and state officials accuse each other of using the murders for political ends. One victims' group, Our Daughters Back Home, opted out of Saturday's event.

Norma Andrade, whose daughter Alejandra Andrade disappeared on Feb. 14, 2001 and was found dead seven days later, said Saturday's event should have focused on mourning the victims rather than becoming a day of performances, dinners and celebrity-ogling.

"I can't be part of some festivity,'' Andrade said. "I'm in mourning.''

Even so, she said the march should put pressure on investigators to solve the cases and may result in some good.

"They are clamoring for the same thing we are,'' she said. "Their demand is justice.''