The Daughters Of Juarez: A True Story Of Serial Murder South Of The Border (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
The Daughters of Juarez, by Teresa Rodriguez (with Diana Montané and Lisa Pulitzer), chronicles a series of horrific murders of young women (and teens) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, over the last fourteen years, the law enforcement/governmental response to them, and the myriad theories as to the perpetrator(s). Over this period, a good part of 400 poor women were raped, tortured and killed, then dumped in desert areas and vacant lots around the city. The book details a rich tapestry of police and governmental brutality, corruption, blatant sexual discrimination, disregard for public safety, and just plain incompetence.Although many suspects have been charged and held, it is doubtful that any of the murders can ever be considered legitimately solved because of this pervasive and persistent institutional dysfunction. In fact, one can say that this is a glaring example of how not to run a criminal justice system. It’s heartbreaking to consider that the families of these slain women will never see justice done. Additionally, it must have been so frustrating for those in Mexican law enforcement and government who made efforts to run effective investigations, only to be stymied at every turn by the very system they should have been able to trust, forced out of their jobs because they wouldn’t falsify results or analyses, or even physically threatened.Daughters is definitely a compelling, true tale and Rodriguez does a service to those affected by these horrors by airing them for everyone to examine. The book, however, suffers from a lack of organization: Rodriguez bounces around dates, people and events so much so that it’s hard to keep them all straight. Also, she makes a point of maudlin over-description of the women and their families so as to make them more sympathetic. This in my mind is unnecessary; most people will find the extreme violence to which these women were subjected and the grief (on multiple levels) that their loved ones were forced to endure to be inconceivably horrible – no matter who the reader is. I also think Rodriguez could have used some citations to support what must have been years of research and investigation. In the end, I would recommend this book as a real eye-opener, but with these reservations.
i went to juarez this past february with charles. easily the scariest and most tragic place I’ve ever been. we met a local and paid him to show us the city. here’s some of what we saw:- whole parts of town in which ‘houses’ were mere bits of cardboard, wood, and corrugated tin held together by found nails and bottlecaps. - tanks and guys with AK47s outside police stations: in the first 5 weeks of 2008 the juarez drug cartel had already killed 22 cops, so the army was called in. - guys openly selling cocaine out of fruitstands. - whorehouses filled with (extremely) underage whores. - coyotes waiting at busstops to sneak those who have come in from the interior of the country into el paso. - poles and posts throughout the city plastered with hundreds of crosses and pictures of young girls.the crosses and pictures are a tribute to the young women killed in the juarez ‘femicide’. the official number of murdered women from ’93 – ’08 is around 500. the true number is much higher. hundreds and hundreds of young women (ranging in age from 10 – 29) raped (vaginally and anally), tortured, and then killed (breasts chewed or cut off, beaten, stabbed, set on fire, strangled). this has been happening for 15 years. three stars for this book in that it lacks the depth and heft that, say, a samantha power could have brought to it. but it’s a pretty fucking vital and necessary book. and a good look at all of it: the maquiladoras (the factories, overwhelmingly American owned, at which most of the women work), the narcotraffickers, the extreme corruption of the police and government (the police, by the way, are the biggest suspects in the murders), the extreme chauvinism inherent to mexican society, torture, NAFTA, etc. - and more than any of this... it's heartbreaking... and utterly and entirely inconceivable.
What do You think about The Daughters Of Juarez: A True Story Of Serial Murder South Of The Border (2007)?
I felt absolutely powerless as I read this book in the park--where I had a clear view of La Ciudad Juarez from the bench. The things that were most shocking were not the murders, as the commentary on the government and culture of a country that shares so much with our own. It is absolutely horrifying that the attitudes towards women and crimes against women that exist in Mexico do so in this day and age.The main complaint that I have heard about this book was that the writing style was over-the-top, but the author is a reporter on a Spanish television news station, and that voice is pretty authentic to her style, and the style of the station. I had no problem with it, but those who have little experience with Latin news may be bothered by it a bit.
—Jennifer
What did I learn from this book? Don't go to Juarez. :PThis is a book about the series of murders in and around Juarez, a city across the border from El Paso. For the last ten or so years, women have been murdered in disturbing numbers. The victims are usually poor, young, or working at night in the factories in the city. No one has ever figured out why, or who, and the one guy that's ever actually been convicted of any of these murders probably didn't do it.The author investigates many theories about who might be behind the murders, whether it's a serial killer, gangs, or even the police themselves, but she doesn't have a lot of evidence to back anything up. She spins out a lot of theories, but they never seems to go anywhere. I suppose that's kind of the point.Where she does do a good job is in documenting the police incompetence and indifference at handling the investigations, which is as scary as the murders themselves. Suspects are routinely arrested, but nothing is ever proven. The cases are routinely bungled, evidence goes missing, families are never informed about any developments, and some cases, they're given the wrong damn bodies. At the end of the book, there still are no real answers. Even after there have been numerous special prosecutors, the FBI and even Amnesty International involved, no one in power seems to treat the disappearance of almost 400 women like it's a big deal. Hopefully this book will be a catlyst to finally bring some change.
—Kar3n
This book is chronology of the events that happened in Ciadad Juarez, Mexico, from 1993 until now. A killer or killers have been terrorizing this large, impoverished, hard-working community. Between 1993 and today, there have been over 300 murders of children, teenage, and young-adult women. The bodies have been carelessly dumped, with signs of torture, rape, and mutilation. The Mexican community is outraged that the government doesn't have the requisite police force, or the man power to launch a big investigation. This story tells the accounts of several families and their frustrating journey for justice. This book was a sufficient account, but I found it hard to follow since the story jumped around so much and there were lot and LOTS of names. The last 50 pages I skimmed because the information was so redundant, I didn't feel the need to waste my time. Ultimately, the crimes have not been solved, even with the help of U.S. law enforcement. This dark time in Mexico's history will surely last a lifetime.
—Beth
