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Column 090511 Brewer

Monday, September 5, 2011 Femicide in Mexico and the Tolerance for Violence against Women By Jerry Brewer With many regions of Latin America now exhibiting characteristics as meccas of homicidal mania, Mexico is, and quite possibly unfairly, being consistently labeled as the main purveyor of the tragic phenomenon known as femicide. As equally disturbing to Mexican government officials are the accusations of state toleranceand with a high degree of impunity. While Mexico has sustained an incredible death rate of over 35,000 homicides that are attributed to the drug war; women have been abducted, viciously tortured, raped, murdered, and disposed of as common garbageand the barbaric acts categorized as incidents of femicide. Probably the best definition and description of femicide relates to the context and motives for the crimes as key factors for labeling it as such. The common ingredient in the term encompasses the relationship between the murdered women and their killers. The differential status of power and subsequent motive that exists between the two appears to become a common ingredient in the modus operandi of the killers. More broadly defined, femicide is quite simply any form of gender violence that ends in the death of a woman or girl. The facts are that sexual abuse and violence against women remain prevalent across Latin America from Mexico to Argentina. Although acts of femicide have been common and reported throughout the world, they have reached horrifying extremes in Guatemala and Mexico.

The majority of victims have been described as nearly all young and poorstudents, domestics, and factory workers. Since 2000 more than 3,800 women and girls were murdered in Mexico, and at least 3,000 are still reported missing. Most of all the victims of femicide have been described as virtually unrecognizable, due to torture and sexual mutilation. This form of over-kill and depersonalization of these female 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. A diverse array of media and similar pundits tend to label government and police authorities in Mexico, as well as throughout Latin America, as disinterested, minimizing, and essentially overlooking femicidal murder. Some claim that authorities categorize the victims as fallen women in terms of prostitutes, bargirls, and of lesser virtue. Too, this criticism tends to inflame an enquiring world audience to postulate that these women are a form of variable capital. One obvious and accurate accusation is in the responses from some governments in Latin America, as well as Mexico itself, in simply blaming gang violence and drug trafficking for these deaths. These problems of lawlessness affect everyone, not just women. The difference is graphically in the manner in which the women are raped, tortured, and killed. This rationalization does in fact lend itself to an atmosphere of tolerance. In defense of some government and police organizations within this hemisphere, what is perceived as inattention

or rate of unsolved femicidal murders (or the majority), is the fact that these are random acts with no recognizable or discernible evidence of prior relationships with the victims. In the absence of recognizable modus operandi, along with a deliberate stranger style of approach and attack, the location and apprehension of the offender(s) becomes very difficult. Moreover, the lack of professional evidence collecting and crime scene/forensic processing; along with a systematic approach in competent death scene investigation, exacerbates the efforts. Consequently, few arrests and even fewer successful prosecutions are indeed the sad results. Human life must always have extreme value and each death requires systematic and competent investigation. Women cannot be simply blamed for their own fatal circumstances (as in many rape defenses). There must not be any failure to protect women and their human rights. Honduras and Guatemala have been described as having some of the weakest laws in protecting women. There must be improved justice for women, with cultural image being a non-issue. Bodies left in desert areas, empty lots, sewage ditches, and garbage dumps must be a world outrage. The tragic phenomenon of femicide must end and requires international attention and effort. 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 www.cjiausa.org. TWITTER:

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