Feminicides Across Ciudad Juarez and the Rest of Mexico

As a kid, driving through the streets of Juarez always provided me with unique moments that have since become part of my childhood. With my mom behind the wheel and my cousins and myself in the back of her SUV, car games were bound to happen. Punch buggy was among the most popular and active games we had, especially in a city like Juarez, which had many old cars, several of them consisting of old Beetles. And so, it was through these games that I began to notice a number of black crosses splattered across the wooden electricity. Taking a slight interest in these symbols’ purpose, I asked my mom about them as any other kid would. However, she quickly disregarded me, and we would continue to play some more car games. These crosses took up space in my mind for a short time, maybe a few minutes, and quickly left; as they would to anyone who is visiting Juarez or does not know the history of these symbols, but its meaning has had a long and dark cultural significance underlying the history of where I come from.

The crosses, which numbered in the hundreds as of 2016, are memorials in honor of women who have been abducted and gone missing. While every single one of these victims has fallen into the hands of men responsible for the crimes mentioned above, there is a much bigger threat across Juarez, Mexico and Latin America that looms over our society. “Femicides,” or “feminicidios” as better known in Latin America, is the term used to describe “the assassination of women by men rooted in hatred, contempt, pleasure, or the assumption of ownership over a woman have led this atrocious act to become commonplace amongst Latin American countries,” (Saccomano, 52). Being the most extreme form of gender violence, femicides now account for the deaths of 12 women across Latin America each day, seven of which take place in Mexico. Unfortunately, amidst this chaos, it is my border city, Ciudad Juarez, that is notorious for its “rampant rights abuses against women,” (Driver, 40).