Esther Chavez Cano remembered as a powerful force for women in Juarez

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EL PASO — Esther Chavez Cano fought in Juarez against an epidemic of violence that killed 1,192 women during the last 18 years in what became known as the feminicidios. Chavez Cano, who died in 2009, was remembered in El Paso February 25 as a beacon of hope for women in Juarez. “She was a symbol of accomplishment, social commitment and change,” said Dr. Moira Murphy, a Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Chavez Cano was a human rights activist who brought attention to terrible violence committed against women and children in Juarez, Mexico, a city in a fight against drugs, corruption, and murder. Chavez worked endlessly assisting families of women who were murdered or the survivors of violence.

Women’s right activist’s death brings communities together

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EL PASO – Esther Chavez Cano was no bigger than many of women and children she stood up for. “Esther, I remember as being short, smaller than most of us in this room, but oh, she was so powerful,” said UTEP professor Kathy Staudt. Cano’s small, unassuming stature was misleading. She was relentless in her efforts, and her voice, which spoke for the scores of women who were abducted, raped and brutally murdered out in the desert shanties of Cd. Juarez, Mexico, was heard around the world.

Esther Chávez Cano: An Army of One

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EL PASO — She stood five feet two inches tall in her sensible heels. With her short-cropped blonde bob and piercing blue eyes behind rounded spectacles, Esther Cano looked more like a school librarian than a scrappy fighter for human rights for women in crime-plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. But Cano, who died of cancer on Christmas Day at age 75, could definitely deliver a mighty wallop and often did, taking aim at political indifference and the lack of legal and police protection for women victims of violence in Mexico. Some who gathered in El Paso recently to celebrate Cano’s life and activism remember her as, “an army of one.”

“She said she was not a saint or Mother Teresa but just a human-being fighting for justice,” said niece Marta Strobach. The diminutive “güera,” or blonde, as some friends affectionately call Cano, was largely responsible for bringing international media attention to the previously ignored murders of hundreds of women and girls in the scrappy border town of 2 million residents, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, TX.

Esther Chávez Cano’s Columns in El DIario

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Rape, an Act of Extreme Sadism by Esther Chávez Cano

El Diario, September 13, 1995

Rape is an act of extreme cruelty, a reflection of an accumulation of hate that the man carries inside of himself. It is the most brutal aggression that a human being can receive from another; it causes severe injury to the person’s liberty, physical integrity, mental health and sometimes to life itself. In this border city, several young women have recently died at the hands of one or several individuals who, making use of their physical strength, have raped and murdered them. It could have been you, your sister or your daughter, but this time it was other innocents who paid too high of a price for the hatred that the society, the family or others had planted in the hearts of these individuals. Despite the fact that we are about to enter the 21st century, there are still many who believe that the victim is guilty of inciting the rapist, without considering that a high number of infants and very old women also suffer this aggression.

Esther “La Güera” Chávez, in memoriam

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EL PASO — El 25 de diciembre por la mañana que llamé a casa de Esther a ver cómo estaba, me enteré de la triste noticia de su deceso. Su partida en este día tan significativo para el mundo cristiano y para muchas de nosotras despertó en mí una reflexión que no acabo de elaborar. Estoy segura de que no es casual su muerte, precisamente el día que festejamos el nacimiento de Cristo. Tal vez sea una nueva esperanza. Conocí a la Güera a mi regreso a Juárez a principios de los ‘90 cuando acababan de pasar las elecciones para la alcaldía en las cuales ella había perdido con el PRD. Recuerdo que me dijo que sabía que iba a perder, pero que como ciudadanas teníamos que empezar a hacer algo para cambiar al país. Al poco tiempo me invitó a formar parte del grupo 8 de Marzo y nos reuníamos en la sala de rectores de la Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ).  Éramos un puñado de mujeres dispuestas a reclamar igualdad entre los sexos y los géneros.