Mexico’s government publicly apologized on Monday for failing to prevent the killings of three women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and for the negligence of officials in investigating the crimes.
The apology is a response to a 2009 ruling by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights that besides seeking an apology, also asked Mexico to reopen investigations into the cases and to erect a memorial site in the empty lot where the bodies were found in 2001.
Chihuahua State, where Ciudad Juarez is located, has been plagued by the unsolved slayings of -hundreds of women since 1993. After failing to receive justice in Mexico, the families of three of the dead women asked the international court to take up their cases. The court only ruled on those three cases.
“We apologize. It is our obligation to investigate these crimes,” Mexican Interior Deputy Secretary Felipe Zamora said at an event in the half-finished memorial.
The Mexican government recognizes “the inconsistencies, errors and negligent acts of public officials in charge of the probes,” he added.
Relatives of slain women nearby shouted demands for justice.
“We don’t want mausoleums, we want investigations that can let us know where our daughters are and who killed them,” said Jose Luis Castillo, whose daughter Esmeralda has been missing since 2009.
Zamora did not say when or if the investigations would be reopened.
The bodies of eight women were found in November 2001 in a trash-strewn lot, where Mexican authorities built a somber memorial of concrete benches, a circular water fountain also made of concrete and a cement plaque with the names of the eight victims.
The families of three of the women appealed in 2003 for the court, which is a body of the Organization of American States, to take up the case.
Critics say police have mishandled dozens of murder cases and often tortured suspects into falsely confessing to killings.
Most of the victims were raped, killed and dumped in the desert outside of Ciudad Juarez, provoking outrage across the world. Many of the victims were young women who were last seen in the city’s downtown or taking buses. Their bodies often did not appear until months later.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
RSS