View from our car approaching the Paso del Norte Bridge on the way back to El Paso from Juarez. (David Smith-Soto/Borderzine.com)

Women of Juarez tell their stories of death and despair

EL PASO – Cinthia was only 10 years old when they killed her. The little girl, full of life and energy, went out one evening to play in the park just one block away from her home, just like she did so many times. The neighborhood in Cd. Juárez was generally calm, but that one particular day in 1997, Cinthia simply disappeared. After twenty days of distress, her family was notified by the authorities they had found Cinthia’s body in a dumpster.

Juárez journalists win the 2011 Knight International Journalism Award by exposing the epidemic of violence and fear brought on by the drug war

EL PASO – Juárez journalists, Rocío Idalia Gallegos Rodríguez and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto, were awarded the 2011 Knight International Journalism Award last week for their investigative work on El Diario De Juárez, in the world’s most violent city. The award symbolizes a “valuable recognition” of the work of journalists in Ciudad Juárez, Rodríguez said. She hopes that it also will change the commonly believed notion that Mexican reporters on the border have been silenced by the lawlessness in the embattled city. Joyce Barnathan, president of the International Center for Journalism said, “These extraordinary journalists dare to tell stories that few have the courage to address. Because of them, we have an essential understanding of the tragedies faced by citizens in México.”

Rodríguez’ and Gallegos’ investigative reporting has done much to expose corrupt government officials and the ruthless drug cartels battling for control in Juárez and other parts of México.

A mural with the most important character of Segundo Barrio can be found at E. Father Rahm Ave. (Azenett Cornejo/Borderzine.com)

Segundo Barrio: a ‘living history’ lesson

EL PASO — In the heart of El Paso is Segundo Barrio, a port of entry to the United States. It’s the first community people see when they cross the border from Juarez, Mexico. Located on the city’s south side, Segundo Barrio is home to more than 8,000 people, of whom 50.8 percent are U.S. citizens, 13.7 percent are naturalized citizens and 35.5 percent are non-citizens, according to City of El Paso statistics. Yolanda Chávez Leyva, chair of the University of Texas at El Paso history department, calls Segundo Barrio the “heart of the Mexican diaspora.”

“El Segundo Barrio is one of the most historic barrios in the United States,” Chávez Leyva said. “[It] grew out of the migration of mexicanos to the United States going back to the 1880s and it’s been the starting point for thousands of families across the United States.”

The neighborhood is “very important” to El Paso, she said, because it is where the urbanization of the city began.

Feminicidio – The brazen murder of women continues in Mexico

EL PASO, Texas — More than 500 women have been kidnapped, raped, mutilated, and murdered in Ciudad Juarez since the early 1990’s in what has become known as the feminicidios. Just last week, Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, the mother of one of the victims was gunned down on the sidewalk in front of the Palace of Government in the northern Mexican City of Chihuahua as she asked for justice in the murder of her 17-year-old-daughter Rubi. The Mexican government has yet to bring those responsible for the murders to justice. The family members of the young women who have been murdered, and most Juárenses believe that the Federal Police are behind the killings and the government is covering it up. The majority of the women’s bodies are found in the desert area of Lomas de Poleo in Ciudad Juarez.

Las soldaderas de la revolución impulsan los derechos de las mexicanas

EL PASO, Texas — A lo largo de la historia el papel de la mujer ha pasado por cambios que han ayudado a darle a ellas los mismos derechos, obligaciones y deseos que le habían pertenecido solo a los hombres. Sin embargo, cien años atrás, ellas fueron vistas con otros ojos. “Durante la revolución mexicana, surgen mujeres de manos morenas, mujeres jóvenes con la interrogación en sus ojos de lo que sería la muerte. Estas mujeres no son las mujeres que relatan en los libros de historia, son las mujeres que ayudaron a que hubiera una verdadera revolución mexicana. Estas  mujeres son, las soldaderas,” dijo Elena Poniatowska, la famosa escritora mexicana mas conocida por La noche de Tlatelolco, libro publicado en 1971, en una presentación realizada por el Consulado Mexicano en el Chamizal National Memorial.