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Celebs Join March Against
Mexico Killings
OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ - Associated
Press Online
February 15, 2004
Actresses Jane
Fonda and Sally Field marched through this gritty Mexican border city urging
authorities to investigate the brutal slayings of hundreds of young women and
girls.
Mexican authorities say 258 women have been killed over the past decade in
Ciudad Juarez, a city of some 1.3 million people. Many of the victims were
sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in the desert near Juarez, across the
Rio Grande river from El Paso, Texas.
"I'm here because 300 young, vibrant women are not," Field said Saturday. "Now
is the time on this planet when we have to stand up and shine the light on
injustice."
The demonstration was sponsored by Amnesty International and the nonprofit V-Day
Foundation, led by "Vagina Monologues" playwright Eve Ensler, which combats
violence against women worldwide. Participants chanted, "Justice!" and "Not one
more!" as they followed Ensler through Juarez.
Hundreds gathered at Juarez city plaza, where they recited a prayer and sang.
Women in the crowd held enlarged black-and-white photos of some victims.
"There was a time when we could live in tranquility," said Guadeloupe Ruiz, 73,
who walked from El Paso.
"But lately there have been too many crimes, and I'm here because I want to see
an end to this."
Fonda, Field and Ensler participated in a panel discussion alongside mothers of
slain victims, Mexican officials and U.S. Reps. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., and
Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill.
President Vicente Fox's recent appointment of special prosecutor Maria Lopez
Urbina has inspired some new hope that investigators will solve the killings.
Fox also has appointed human rights lawyer Guadeloupe Morfin to head a
commission coordinating the efforts of agencies investigating the slayings.
The panelists urged Mexico to dedicate enough funds to the investigation. Fonda
met Friday night with mothers of the victims and said she heard how the
authorities have ignored their cry for justice.
Many of the victims' relatives blame police corruption and incompetence for
allowing the murders to continue. They say police tampered with evidence,
tortured suspects and forced confessions from them.
"I have a daughter and a granddaughter and I know that if they were killed the
authorities would do everything possible to solve the murder," Fonda said.
"Mexico, Juarez, Chihuahua deserve better than the authorities that are now
ruling. These mothers deserve better."
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