Since 1993, between 200 and 400 women have been murdered and another 300 or so have disappeared. In a significant number of cases, the brutality with which the assailants abduct and murder the women goes further than the act of killing and provides one of the most terrible examples of violence against  women.  Many of the women were abducted, held captive for several days and subjected to humiliation, torture and the most horrific sexual violence before dying, mostly as a result of asphyxiation caused by strangulation or from being beaten. Their bodies have been beaten, found days or even years later, hidden among rubble or abandoned in 
deserted areas near the city.

Why are the numbers hard to estimate?:
Police aren’t investigating many crimes. Police aren’t classifying many as crimes. An example of this is if a family calls and reports that their daughter is “missing” that is not a crime and is unlikely to receive any attention from the police. They need to say she was “kidnapped” in order to even have a file started on her.  Many women’s bodies that have been found have never been identified and some are believed to be Central American migrants who have no family to report them missing, much less identity their bodies, leading human rights organizations to estimate that there are many more of these immigrants who are just  missing.

Who could be killing these women?:

Serial Killers: many bodies have shown very similar signs of torture and manners of killing. Some appear to 
have been ritually sacrificed. Some women were last seen in similar cars. Narco-Traffickers: Juarez is the center of the drug supply into the US. Reports have surfaced that women have been raped and killed as victory celebrations for successful trafficking operations. Police Corruption: Many officers have been involved in rapes and murders. Some bodies have been found on Police training grounds in remote areas of the desert, constantly under police surveillance. Police destroyor mishandle evidence, allow press and whoever to rummage crime scenes, pose the bodies for  photographs, exhume the wrong bodies for DNA testing and in 200 burned any and all evidence connected to these murders.

How did this happen?:
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) accelerated the move of production to Mexico by making it 
even easier for companies to move and to not be held to the same standards as in the US. Typical maquiladora workers are women in their prime reproductive years between the ages of 12-28 because they are less likely to complain about bad working conditions. Discriminatory hiring practices, sexual harassment and illegal firing are rampant.  The average salary is $4.80 day-work days are 10-12 hours long and involve 1-2 hour commutes. (people cant afford to lie in border towns on maquila wages)  Many of the women that have disappeared were maquiladora workers who were snatched on their way to or from work.

Maquiladora Facts:

a.      A Maquiladora worker must work 4 hours to buy 2lbs of beans.
b.      A Maquiladora worker must work 11 hours and 30 min to buy a box of diapers.
c.       A Maquiladora worker must work 4 hours 17 min to buy 1 gallon of milk.
d.      A female worker is never free from the fear of sexual harassment.
e.      A female worker must submit to mandatory pregnancy test.
f.       Spontaneous abortions due to exposure to toxic chemicals are a common reality.