[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 92 (Wednesday, July 7, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H5324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I often criticize the media for the things 
that I think are inattentive and improper. Tonight, I would like to 
rise to give tribute to the media where I think good has been done.
  A long-time friend, Rebecca Allen, an editor from the Orange County 
Register, forwarded to me eight articles in a series they printed in 
mid-June. The articles, written by the brave and courageous Yvette 
Cabrera and Minerva Canto, four articles apiece, detailed the 
difficulties that face young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

                              {time}  2230

  My district butts up to the very corner of Juarez, and I have watched 
the problems of hundreds of deaths of young women, but until reading a 
series of articles, it was not personal. The first in the series of 
articles talked about she never came home. Concentrating on Erendira 
Ponce, 17, all that she dreamed of was a life beyond her poor 
neighborhood. At 17 she ended up as one of hundreds of women killed in 
Juarez, Mexico, skull crushed, raped and just thrown down into the 
dirt.
  The second in the series of articles is about the investigator 
Angolee Talavera, 29 years old, the lead investigator who still has no 
one to try for all of the killings.
  The third in the series of articles concentrates on a suspect's wife. 
The police have tried to silence the suspect's wife. The suspect, a 
truck driver, Victor Javier Garcia Uribe, was summarily arrested by two 
men who were dressed with masks over their head and other men that came 
up with Halloween costume masks. Little did they understand that Victor 
had married his wife Mary Ann Garcia when she was still in a wheelchair 
from an accident suffered while they were dating. He nursed her back to 
health, moving in with her, and because of the love and the faith that 
they have built up, she stands by him continuing to provide more and 
more evidence that he is innocent. Yet, he stays in prison today. Her 
persistence is rewarded by three beatings from the local authorities, 
with the admonition that this is a message from the governor, Stop 
making noise.
  The fourth in the series of articles is about a mother's pain. Irma 
Monreal just lives with the loss of her 15-year-old, the one around 
whom her and her family's dreams operated. Her 15-year-old daughter 
just brought the light and life and laughter into their home. Esmerelda 
wanted to rescue her mother from the poverty, getting a job as a 
secretary to pour a new concrete floor in their dirt-floored home. At 
15, she was taken and brutally murdered. Her body was found purple and 
swollen with all of the flesh and even the hair missing, just a blank 
skull on top of her body. What kind of tremendous terror are the people 
in Mexico living with and the authorities unable to solve?
  The fifth series is about an orphan, the inevitable orphans that 
suffer from the loss of moms.
  The sixth is about an activist, the activists who are ignored, who 
are threatened to keep silent, to stop making waves.
  The seventh was about an imprisoned reporter who dared to write about 
the loss of her friend and blame the authorities, and now she sits in 
prison.
  And finally the eighth article is the hope for the future, talking 
about women such as Esther Chavez.
  The one common trait, Mr. Speaker, is the impunity with which these 
young ladies are killed. The common element is the careless violence 
that discards these young ladies as if they had no value.
  Mr. Speaker, I add my voice to those speaking up on behalf of 
justice. We are told in the Bible that the worst sins are those which 
are committed against the poor and the fatherless, against those who 
are innocent and unwilling and unable to provide their own protection. 
Mr. Speaker, these are the people who are suffering in Mexico today. 
These are the people who are suffering in Ciudad Juarez. I commend the 
Orange County Register for printing this bold series of articles and 
drawing to the attention of the United States the difficulties that lie 
just across the border for women who have done no wrong.

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