Sculptor Helps Identify Juarez Murders
Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under International, Justice, Women | Comments Off on Sculptor Helps Identify Juarez Murders
For more than a decade, the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez, near the US-Mexico border, have been killing fields for young women, the site of over 400 unsolved femicides. Despite the horrific nature of these crimes, authorities at all levels exhibit indifference, and there is strong evidence that some officials may be involved. Impunity and corruption has permitted the criminals, whoever they are, to continue committing these acts, knowing there will be no consequences. A significant number of victims work in the maquiladora sector – sweatshops that produce for export, with 90% destined for the United States. The maquiladoras employ mainly young women, at poverty level wages. In combination with lax environmental regulations and low tariffs under the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the maquiladoras are amassing tremendous wealth. Yet despite the crime wave, they offer almost no protection for their workers. High profile government campaigns such as Ponte Vista (Be Aware), a self defense program, and supplying women with whistles have been ineffective and are carried out mainly for public relations purposes.
The tragic saga of the dead in Juárez—directly across the river from El Paso, Texas—has been covered by those who care. Amnesty International called the murders intolerable and condemned the Mexican government for ignoring them; other human-rights groups have leveled similar criticisms over the years.
In 2003, Frank Bender, a Philadelphia forensic sculptor was asked to help the police in Juarez. For reasons he doesn’t fully understand, the Mexican police on the case ask him to help identify some of the feminicidios. Bender, through breathtakingly realistic sculptures, reconstructs the faces of unknown murder victims whose appearances are certain to have changed over years. Bender worked for days in a Juárez hotel room with crumbling skulls, facing down death threats and an infection from the bad water as he tried to create identifiable likenesses of the dead women.
Of all the cases he covers, Bender is especially obsessed with the murders of the estimated 400 women in Juarez. One of the unidentified victims, Bender nicknamed “The Girl with the Crooked Nose,” which since became the title for Ted Botha’s book on Bender’s forensic work. The book, looks at the crimes from a different perspective. Described as a nonfiction thriller, the book views the murders through the eyes of Frank Bender.
After more than a decade, the only things that are clear are that the murders aren’t going to stop anytime soon. Take action and visit Amnesty International today, sign a petition to Mexican president Felipe Calderon urging him to take action.
