The Enigma and Infamy of Femicides in Mexico and Guatemala

The Enigma and Infamy of Femicides in Mexico and Guatemala

By Jerry Brewer

Monday, December 5, 2011

The term "femicides" has been colloquially defined as "the systematic killing of women due to their gender."

There is a myriad of scholarly and political opinion in defining and describing the staggering death statistics that continue to manifest this apparent ritual abuse and carnage of women in Latin America. However, there is nothing complicated about describing many of the crime scenes in which women's bodies are recovered from alleyways and rubbish dumps, often unrecognizable due to torture and sexual mutilation.

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico has the dubious distinction of being labeled "the capital of murdered women." Perhaps this city's moniker refers to the epidemic of rapes and murders of women in the region that have gone unsolved and unpunished for years. Does this sound rather vague and quite possibly just demonstrates a high violent crime rate like many other areas of the world?

Since 2000 more than 3,800 women and young girls were murdered in Mexico, and many remain missing. Guatemala also finds itself facing the horrors of femicide. And while these two nations are not alone, the abductions and brutal killing of women in both have become almost routine.

In Guatemala City, Guatemala, femicide has claimed the lives of nearly 2,200 women and girls since 2001. Women live in constant fear of being snatched from the streets by gangs, or forced off buses at gunpoint into empty lots. The majority of victims of femicide have been described as virtually unrecognizable, due to torture and sexual mutilation.

These murders go beyond the typical aspects of murder investigation. The "overkill and depersonalization" of these victims is generally attributed to psychopathic personalities. However, with skilled homicide investigation methodologies utilized, consistent patterns and techniques of similar modus operandi could be attributed to serial killers.

To the average person, and most people not skilled in death investigations, when confronted by evidence of such violent criminality, the behavior may seem an enigma, even a unique experience. In what can be described from a profiling standpoint, many of these acts of femicide can be simply described as the acts of recreational, hedonistic or lust murderers. These are individuals who hunt and kill human prey for personal enjoyment.

Many police officials in Mexico and Guatemala are quick to minimize the women's murders by stating that the death rate overall in their respective nations is higher for men. They are not wrong. However, what they fail to acknowledge is the differences in the manner of death.

A clear and different dimension exists in these ferocious attacks and murders in which 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 found days or even years later, hidden among rubble or abandoned in deserted areas near the cities.

Although Mexican officials continue to reveal located mass graves of murdered and tortured migrant workers, kidnap victims and drug gang rivals, the victims of femicide are part of a much more prolific conundrum. In fact, many social scientists describe this femicide enigma as a result of women being categorized as "expendable, usable, abusable, and disposable within societies of inequality, displacement, and extreme poverty." Essentially, they have been seen to be there to service the needs of others.

Drug gangs have in fact found what they perceive to be an effective use of women in drug trafficking as mules and decoys. Many are threatened and extorted to perform these criminal acts at great risk, and many have been murdered and beheaded for defiance.

Guatemalan women are facing incredible violence and impunity. Recently 2,000 women marched through the streets of Guatemala City in support of the "UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women." Too, in Guatemala City there are now "women-only buses" aimed at reducing harassment and violence against women on public transport.

Women in Mexico and Guatemala continue to have a tough road ahead as they face highly exploitative conditions in employment. Trafficking of women and children continues due to extreme poverty and their natural vulnerability, which reflects them as objects of manipulation. There are few arrests and rare convictions to what is described as "government impunity."

These horrific crimes against women alone reflect not only a form of discrimination, but also violations of the rights to life, physical integrity, liberty, security and legal protection. This clearly places the State's obligation to investigate and dispense justice. Failure to act is no option and a criminal abuse of authority.

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Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global threat mitigation firm headquartered in northern Virginia. His website is located at http://www.cjiausa.org/.



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Femicide in Juarez

Trailer for "On The Edge: The Femicide in Ciudad Juarez"



On The Edge is a documentary covering the brutal murders of hundreds of poor young women in the border town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, murders that have been repeatedly ignored and unresolved by police and governments since 1993, despite the continued and persistent efforts of family members and activists to obtain justice for the victims. Rather than provide an easy, murder-mystery style solution to the crimes, the film sets out to explain the social, cultural, and economic factors that have created this situation where the killings can continue, and continue to go unpunished. In addition to explaining the circumstances, On The Edge situates the Juarez killings in the context of wider political and economic trends, showing the audience that this is not just an isolated phenomenon in one far-off city, but a glimpse at a nightmarish future for much of the world, unless something is done to prevent it.
(58 minutes, 2006, in Spanish and English with English and Spanish subtitles)
more info: http://political.detritus.net/juarez

The film is available on dvd, which an be ordered here:
http://www.illegalart.net/webshop/section.php?section=illegalart&item_id=...
it can also now be viewed online here:
http://panleft.net/cms/ontheedge

August 14th 2011 Radioactivity in rain 20 000cpm / sq. meter Toronto Canada!

NB: This may be a natural phenomenon. We are researching that possibility presently.



Hi all!
This is part 1 of my measurements of the radioactivity falling on the north of GTA (Greater Toronto Area), Canada on August 14th 2011 at 17h55.
Aprox. 1 square meter of smooth surface wiped (glass, solar panels).
Measured with a Eberline HP-260 Pancake Probe and with a Eberline E-140 counter. (Sorry for the crappy video quality, I was using my cell phone camera, I guess it's alright for a first upload...)
I measured 20 000 cpm per square meter of wipe today!!! This is the all time record since I have been taking measurements since March 14th 2011 . Previous record was 10 000cpm (counts per minute).
One panel I always keep clean, but the other panels collected quite a bit of dirt which seems to increase the radioactivity collection ability. The panels were not radioactive before it rained.

The decay rate is typically 33min - 45minutes. This matches Radon decay daughter products being selectively washed out of the atmosphere, (hence the variable decay rate.)

Where is it from? Is it normal? Is it from Fukushima? Is the NWO spiking the clouds with radioactive isotopes for weather modification? Dunno. I all know, is we get cooked virtually every time it rains or snows. The levels are increasing. In the beginning the levels were roughly doubling every 2 weeks. Since the start of the summer the levels stabilized to 3500-5000 cpm per sq. meter every time it rained. But today, yikes! 20 000cpm!

Luckily the decay rate is short and I never detect any residual radiation in the wipes after a day or so. That's what is saving us from being cooked well done.

I've noticed that the worse the storm, the more extreme the weather, the higher the counts, leading me to think that this is done on purpose:

From the reasearch I did, Radon is a heavy gas that is 8 times as heavy as air, so it hugs the ground, aprox. 100 meters or less is where it tends to collect. So if this is ground Radon why does the levels increase if it rains all day?
Wouldn't it wash out of the air after 15 minutes or so and then the levels should drop?
(My area is not known for Radon collecting in basements).

I matched the highest counts with days where the storm clouds were the tallest in the troposphere. This is much too high for Radon to collect.
Is it being pumped there on purpose? Would Radon daughters charge up and seed rain and snowflakes? Dunno?

Is it coming from space? Radon has a very short half life of 8 days, I don't think it would be floating around in space and stay radioactive for billions of years waiting for the earth's gravity to pick it up...

Could it be traveling from Fukushima via the jet stream? It doesn't make sense, as the Radon gas is 8 times as heavy as air.
Could it be traveling from Fukushima via ground winds? Maybe?
Could it be Radon coming from the tailings from the Uranium mines and washing out by the rain? At these levels? Yikes we need to shut down all the mines and cover up the tailings quick!

Has anyone any insight on this? I know what I'm measuring it's real, it's no trick and the radioactivity falling in my area is real... The question is where is it from?

Thanks for your time!

:o)



Hi all!
This is part 2 of my measurements of the radioactivity falling on the north of GTA (Greater Toronto Area), Canada on August 14th 2011 at 17h55.
Aprox. 1 square meter of smooth surface wiped (glass, solar panels).
Measured with a Eberline HP-260 Pancake Probe and with a Eberline E-140 counter. (Sorry for the crappy video quality, I was using my cell phone camera, I guess it's alright for a first upload...)
I measured 20 000 cpm per square meter of wipe today!!! This is the all time record since I have been taking measurements since March 14th 2011 . Previous record was 10 000cpm (counts per minute).
One panel I always keep clean, but the other panels collected quite a bit of dirt which seems to increase the radioactivity collection ability. The panels were not radioactive before it rained.

The decay rate is typically 33min - 45minutes. This matches Radon decay daughter products being selectively washed out of the atmosphere, (hence the variable decay rate.)

Where is it from? Is it normal? Is it from Fukushima? Is the NWO spiking the clouds with radioactive isotopes for weather modification? Dunno. I all know, is we get cooked virtually every time it rains or snows. The levels are increasing. In the beginning the levels were roughly doubling every 2 weeks. Since the start of the summer the levels stabilized to 3500-5000 cpm per sq. meter every time it rained. But today, yikes! 20 000cpm!

Luckily the decay rate is short and I never detect any residual radiation in the wipes after a day or so. That's what is saving us from being cooked well done.

I've noticed that the worse the storm, the more extreme the weather, the higher the counts, leading me to think that this is done on purpose:

From the reasearch I did, Radon is a heavy gas that is 8 times as heavy as air, so it hugs the ground, aprox. 100 meters or less is where it tends to collect. So if this is ground Radon why does the levels increase if it rains all day?
Wouldn't it wash out of the air after 15 minutes or so and then the levels should drop?
(My area is not known for Radon collecting in basements).

I matched the highest counts with days where the storm clouds were the tallest in the troposphere. This is much too high for Radon to collect.
Is it being pumped there on purpose? Would Radon daughters charge up and seed rain and snowflakes? Dunno?

Is it coming from space? Radon has a very short half life of 8 days, I don't think it would be floating around in space and stay radioactive for billions of years waiting for the earth's gravity to pick it up...

Could it be traveling from Fukushima via the jet stream? It doesn't make sense, as the Radon gas is 8 times as heavy as air.
Could it be traveling from Fukushima via ground winds? Maybe?
Could it be Radon coming from the tailings from the Uranium mines and washing out by the rain? At these levels? Yikes we need to shut down all the mines and cover up the tailings quick!

Has anyone any insight on this? I know what I'm measuring it's real, it's no trick and the radioactivity falling in my area is real... The question is where is it from?

Thanks for your time!

:o)




Hi all!
This is part 3 of my measurements of the radioactivity falling on the north of GTA (Greater Toronto Area), Canada on August 14th 2011 at 17h55.
Aprox. 1 square meter of smooth surface wiped (glass, solar panels).
Measured with a Eberline HP-260 Pancake Probe and with a Eberline E-140 counter. (Sorry for the crappy video quality, I was using my cell phone camera, I guess it's alright for a first upload...)
I measured 20 000 cpm per square meter of wipe today!!! This is the all time record since I have been taking measurements since March 14th 2011 . Previous record was 10 000cpm (counts per minute).
One panel I always keep clean, but the other panels collected quite a bit of dirt which seems to increase the radioactivity collection ability. The panels were not radioactive before it rained.

The decay rate is typically 33min - 45minutes. This matches Radon decay daughter products being selectively washed out of the atmosphere, (hence the variable decay rate.)

Where is it from? Is it normal? Is it from Fukushima? Is the NWO spiking the clouds with radioactive isotopes for weather modification? Dunno. I all know, is we get cooked virtually every time it rains or snows. The levels are increasing. In the beginning the levels were roughly doubling every 2 weeks. Since the start of the summer the levels stabilized to 3500-5000 cpm per sq. meter every time it rained. But today, yikes! 20 000cpm!

Luckily the decay rate is short and I never detect any residual radiation in the wipes after a day or so. That's what is saving us from being cooked well done.

I've noticed that the worse the storm, the more extreme the weather, the higher the counts, leading me to think that this is done on purpose:

From the reasearch I did, Radon is a heavy gas that is 8 times as heavy as air, so it hugs the ground, aprox. 100 meters or less is where it tends to collect. So if this is ground Radon why does the levels increase if it rains all day?
Wouldn't it wash out of the air after 15 minutes or so and then the levels should drop?
(My area is not known for Radon collecting in basements).

I matched the highest counts with days where the storm clouds were the tallest in the troposphere. This is much too high for Radon to collect.
Is it being pumped there on purpose? Would Radon daughters charge up and seed rain and snowflakes? Dunno?

Is it coming from space? Radon has a very short half life of 8 days, I don't think it would be floating around in space and stay radioactive for billions of years waiting for the earth's gravity to pick it up...

Could it be traveling from Fukushima via the jet stream? It doesn't make sense, as the Radon gas is 8 times as heavy as air.
Could it be traveling from Fukushima via ground winds? Maybe?
Could it be Radon coming from the tailings from the Uranium mines and washing out by the rain? At these levels? Yikes we need to shut down all the mines and cover up the tailings quick!

Has anyone any insight on this? I know what I'm measuring it's real, it's no trick and the radioactivity falling in my area is real... The question is where is it from?

Thanks for your time!

:o)

Electrosyl

Paul Craig Roberts on the 9/11 10th Anniversary - GRTV Feature Interview 002

This week GRTV talks to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary Treasury, former editor of the Wall Street Journal, author and researcher, about the significance of 9/11 on the brink of the tenth anniversary of those events. We discuss the many points at which the official explanation of 9/11 do not mesh with the available evidence, the many experts who have raised their voices in dissent (and been silenced), and what our response to 9/11 teaches us about where we are heading as a society.

9/11 Ten Years Gone

Why Feynman is Still my Hero

Mexican Blood, American Hands: Part 2

Gunmen dump 35 bodies on busy avenue in Mexico

By Olga R. Rodriguez / Associated Press
Posted: 09/21/2011 12:28:25 AM MDT

Gunmen dump 35 bodies on busy avenue in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Suspected drug traffickers dumped 35 bodies at rush hour beneath a busy overpass in the heart of a major Gulf coast city as gunmen pointed weapons at frightened drivers. Mexican authorities said Wednesday they are examining surveillance video for clues to who committed the crime.

Horrified motorists grabbed cell phones and sent Twitter messages warning others to avoid the area near the biggest shopping mall in Boca del Rio, part of the metropolitan area of Veracruz city.

The gruesome gesture marked a sharp escalation in cartel violence in Veracruz state, which sits on an important route for drugs and Central American migrants heading north.

The Zetas drug cartel has been battling other gangs for control of the state.

Prosecutors said it's too soon to draw conclusions from the surveillance video.

"We're not going to confirm or deny anything," Veracruz state Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez told the Televisa network Wednesday. "We're looking at it in different ways, we're seeing different numbers, that's why we don't want to get ahead of ourselves."

Escobar said the bodies were left piled in two trucks and on the ground under the overpass near the statue of the Voladores de Papantla, ritual dancers from Veracruz state. He said some of the victims had their heads covered with black plastic bags and showed signs of torture.

Among the bodies was a local police officer who had gone missing two weeks ago, Escobar told W Radio in Mexico

City. He told MVS Radio many of the victims were strangled, some bled to death and one person had been shot dead.

Escobar did not return phone calls from The Associated Press.

Police have identified 32 of the victims so far and maintain they all had criminal records for acts such as murder, drug dealing, kidnapping and extortion and were linked to organized crime, said Magda Zayas, spokeswoman for the Veracruz Attorney General's Office.

State Gov. Javier Duarte said on his Twitter account "the killing of 35 people is deplorable, but it's even more deplorable the same victims chose to extort, kidnap and kill."

Duarte said an intelligence database shows the 35 victims had a criminal background.

Motorists posted Twitter warnings said the masked gunmen were in military uniforms and were blocking Manuel Avila Camacho Boulevard. "They don't seem to be soldiers or police," one tweet read. Another said, "Don't go through that area, there is danger."

Veracruz is currently hosting a conference of Mexico's top state and federal prosecutors and judiciary officials.

Local media said that 12 of the victims were women and that some of the dead men had been among prisoners who escaped from three Veracruz prisons on Monday, but Escobar denied the escaped convicts were among the dead.

At least 32 inmates got away from the three Veracruz prisons. Police recaptured 14 of them.

Drug violence has claimed more than 35,000 lives across Mexico since 2006, according to government figures. Others put the number at more than 40,000.

Mexican Blood, American Hands: Part 1

Whistle-blowers allege corruption, cartel ties
By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
Posted: 09/19/2011 12:00:00 AM MDT

Two former law enforcement officers allege that they cannot get anyone to investigate allegations that the Mexican drug cartels have corrupted U.S. law officers and politicians in the El Paso border region.

Greg Gonzales, a retired Doña Ana County sheriff's deputy, and Wesley Dutton, a rancher and former New Mexico state livestock investigator, said that instead of arrests and prosecutions of suspects, their whistle-blowing activities have resulted only in threats and retaliation against themselves.

"I lost my job for a security company at the federal courthouse in Las Cruces because I would not keep my mouth shut, and someone threatened me by holding a knife to my throat," Gonzales said.

Dutton, a rancher in Southern New Mexico,
said an election official stopped by his ranch to ask him what was it going to take for him to retract his allegations concerning the official.

Confidential sources

Both men were confidential sources for the FBI in El Paso and assisted with investigations over an 18-month period.

Gonzales and Dutton allege that the FBI dropped them after "big names" on the U.S. side of the border began to surface in the drug investigations.

FBI Special Agent Michael Martinez said that the FBI cannot comment on its former or current relationships with confidential sources.

Dutton said an FBI official who used to be in El Paso sent a memo to other law enforcement agencies in the area to dissuade them from talking to him and Gonzales or having anything to do with them.

Gonzales and Dutton said both or either one of them helped with federal investigations that were successful, including the arrest of Special FBI Agent John Shipley. Shipley was convicted of weapons-related charges after a weapon he sold someone turned up in Chihuahua state at a scene where a firefight took place between Mexican soldiers and drug traffickers.

However, they said, they are concerned that other serious allegations have not found their way to court.

Hit on agent

"One of the street gangs that works for the Juárez cartel put a hit out on FBI Special Agent Samantha Mikeska, and I told the FBI as soon as I heard about it," Dutton said. "We also had information on campaign fundraisers and parties in La Union that the cartel held for officials from New Mexico and El Paso. A lot of important people were at those parties, such as bankers, judges, and law enforcement officers."

Mikeska is a high-profile agent whose investigations of the Barrio Azteca gang led to prosecutions of gang leaders. The gang, which has members in West Texas and New Mexico, is linked to the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel.

Gonzales said a U.S. law enforcement officer was suspected of selling to a street gang with Juárez drug cartel ties a list of U.S. Marshals that included their telephone numbers.

"With their number, the gang was able to 'clone' the agents' cell phones and intercept their calls," Gonzales said. "That way, they would know when one of the agents was trying to serve an arrest warrant against one of their members."

Dutton and Gonzales said small aircraft regularly drop drug loads on ranches or other properties along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that some U.S. law officers escort the loads to the next stop.

The two whistle-blowers said that drug cartels have managed to obtain computer access codes to U.S. surveillance systems that let them see where and when Border Patrol agents are monitoring the border.

They also alleged that drug cartels have given big donations to politicians, which are unreported, to influence appointments of key law enforcement officers.

Some of these allegations were contained in a letter that Dutton provided to Gov. Rick Perry, who is seeking the Republican Party's nomination for president in the 2012 election.

"Our office received the letter and referred it to the appropriate agency, which was the Department of Public Safety," Josh Havens, a spokesman for the Texas governor's office, said last Friday.

Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety and a former FBI agent from El Paso, said last Friday that he was interested in talking to Dutton. Then, about a half-hour later, McCraw said that Dutton had no credibility.

'Nothing there'

"We looked into it and there was nothing there," McCraw said.

Dutton said in response, "How can they say there was nothing when they didn't even look at what I have?"

Dutton said he has videos, telephone records, and other documents gathered over the 18 months he worked with the FBI.

"The DPS never asked to see any of it," Dutton said.

During his work with the FBI, Dutton said the FBI asked him to accept drug shipments from Mexico through his ranching company.

"The drugs were concealed in horse saddles, and we started getting a lot of them," Dutton said. "But the FBI kept putting me off when I asked for the money to pay the cartels for the drugs. I had to use my own funds. The FBI still owes me thousands of dollars for these out-of-pocket expenses.

"I asked the FBI for help when I started getting threats, but the only thing that happened is that everyone starting running for cover to protect their careers," Dutton said. "One of the FBI agents said politics got in the way, and that they had to close out the investigation and end their relationship with me."

As a state livestock investigator, Dutton made arrests like any other law enforcement officer, collaborated with sheriffs' offices, seized drugs and investigated thefts. He also developed intelligence that drug cartels used cross-border cattle shipments to transport drugs across the border at Santa Teresa.

Zetas cartel

Dutton said other informants told him that the Zetas drug cartel has a high-level member in Las Cruces whose wife holds a non-law enforcement job in the "DA's office," referring to the Doña Ana County District Attorney's Office.

The whistle-blowers also alleged that the corruption they've encountered includes a prominent doctor in El Paso who provides prescriptions for drugs to people who need to pass lie-detector tests.

"The FBI was provided with all this information, and I guess that's why they're now saying that we're crazy," Dutton said.

Dutton and Gonzales said their frustration over the lack of investigations has compelled them to turn to U.S. lawmakers and to Judicial Watch for help.

Judicial Watch is a conservative, nonpartisan educational foundation in Washington, D.C., which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

The organization publishes a list each year of the "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" of both major political parties.

Chris Farrell, Judicial Watch research director, confirmed that Dutton has been in contact with his office.

"These are very serious allegations that should be investigated by law enforcement," Farrell said. "There are too many details and specifics to just ignore them. The threats against them (Dutton and Gonzales) also should be investigated."

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

Henry Kissinger interview, CNN, 13:58, 9/11