Justice on the Border/ Stop the Femicides Speaking Tour

Wow.
This is some heavy shit, y'all. I'm on a speaking tour with Patricia Cervantes. She is a mother from and org. called Justicia Para Nuestras Hijas from Chihuahua, Mexico whose daughter was murdered. I have heard/read so many statistics, Paty tells me over 4,000 women have been killed in Chihuahua and in Ciudad Juarez since '93, other stats say 400- no matter, one is too many, no?

It's just so deep and complex. In as much of a nut-shell as I can put something so important and overwhelming- since NAFTA women, young, pretty and poor have been murdered in Northern Mexico. NAFTA enabled huge corn subsidies to be dumped in Mexico from U.S. exports, small farmers could no longer survive, tons of people (women included, of course) began to migrate north to the U.S. and to the new outcropping of factories being built to take advantage of free trade madness. There had been factories on the border for years of course, but now with free trade, companies (so many of them U.S. based) could pay crap wages, no taxes and avoid many laws (environmental, labor) that in-country companies have to adhere to.
Factories hired these women because they had "nimble hands" and were more docile (less likely to organize, unionize, complain against abuses, laboral and sexual).

Along with so much poverty and men not being given work rose this sentiment that women were 'desechable' , disposeable. Women started getting murdered and investigations were a joke. Bones found were not the right remains, days, weeks, months passed where officials would ignore families pleas to investigate. It got so there was no doubt in many people's minds including the mothers, that there were certainly people in power accountable for the deaths. There is a lot of information out there about the femicides our website has stuff as does Amnesty International , and it's clear to me that the connection between U.S. corporations/NAFTA/goverment complicity both U.S. and Mexico/narco-trafficers all have a roll to play. It's hideous.

This tour is intense. We have events, at Universities and at community centers and it's a huge learning experience for me- and it's only day 4! The Universities are really interesting, a mix of savvy critical thinkers and utter ignorant white-bread, lots of teary eyes and that urgency to do something after they hear Paty's story. We had an event at a community space in Pilsen, a Mexican neighborhood in Chicago and the audience was full of activists and sympathisers,

it was interesting how after talking about these heavy issues how much hope and
humanity there was in the room

That support is really moving. Always someone comes up to hug her or asks me to translate to tell her how sorry they are, how much they want to help. Always there are tears.

I am translating for Paty and each time she tells her story I find out something new and more horrible. Her daughter's bones were found next to the police station which was on a hill with camera survelliance surrounding it. Surely there is footage, surely it's been destroyed. Today when someone asked her if by speaking out she felt like she was in danger she said " No, I'm not afraid. They've taken my daugher. They can't take anything else." Also totally fucked up is that because of so much pressure from families the police arrest anyone just to close the case. For Neyra' s death her father and uncle were arrested (!) and her uncle, David, was in jail for three years! There he was tourtured. Injustice anyone?

The personal side of the trip is also, well, a trip. One minute I am crying, the next laughing with Paty, the next frustrated because of all the arranging and organization this trip takes. The logistics are pretty elaborate. Paty can't walk well, so we're driving everywhere, like even a block or two and I'm not moving my body much which is making me nuts and irritable. She also has bouts of serious melancholy and is a compulsive shopper (she says she's trying to fill a void) which is odd to me. We've spent a lot of time in thrift shops. She's also afraid to sleep alone, lots of nightmares.

It's given me a to think about in terms of solidarity. We say this tour is for her and to support her organization but in organizing it it was very much about our organization. I have to shift my paradigm a bit. And it's interesting too because Paty doesn't necessarily draw the same connections to the maquilas and the U.S. responsibility- Neyra was a student, not a maquila worker, but my org. (and me) really believe in the connection and the impunity gained by belonging to this Rich Corporate/Gvt. In-Group.... whose agenda are we working off of here???? I'm learning a lot. Learning too that I'm not so collective in reality. I've got a lot of unlearning to do. I like to be alone. Enjoy privacy. Feel like I need to get physical excercize, go on walks, attend to me sometimes instead of take care of someone. Lots of flashbacks of my job in Costa Rica...

It's heavy. Solidarity. Support. Beautiful, young girls getting killed because they're girls.
Not Okay.

...........................sigh.......................

Neyra Azucena Cervantes

Fecha de reporte de desaparición 13 de mayo de 2003
Edad: 20 años
Complexión: Delgada
Estatura: 1.62 m
Cejas: Regulares y semipobladas
Nariz: Chica, afilada y abierta de las fosas
Boca: Regular
Tez: Blanca
Ojos: Grandes, color miel y redondos
Cabello: Teñido color castaño claro, corto, lacio, peinado con picos hacia atrás
Seña particular: Tiene una verruga en el pecho