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Women in the Mexican drug war

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Women in the Mexican drug war have been civilians and participants. Since the beginning of the Mexican Drug War in 2006, female civilians, both Mexican citizens and foreigners, have been victims of extortion, rape,[1][2] torture,[3][4][5][6] and murder,[7][8][9][10][11] as well as forced disappearance, by belligerents on all sides.[12] Citizens and foreign women and girls have been sex trafficked in Mexico by the cartels and gangs.[13] The criminal organizations, in turn, use the profits to buy weapons and expand. They have harmed[14][15] and carried out sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States. The violence against women in the drug war has spread beyond Mexico to bordering and nearby countries in Central America and North America. The number of women killed in the conflict is unknown because of the lack of data.[16] Women officials, judges, lawyers,[17] paralegals,[18] reporters,[19] business owners, social media influencers, teachers, and non-governmental organizations directors have also been involved in the conflict in different capacities. There have been female combatants in the military, police,[20] cartels, and gangs. Women have lost loved ones in the conflict.[21][22]

Female civilians and victims

See also: Violence against women in Mexico

Civilian women, as well as young women and girls,[23] in Mexico have been physically and psychologically harmed in the conflict. A number have had little protection because of corruption, impunity, and apathy. Businesswomen and female farmers and laborers are threatened and coerced to pay taxes to drug gangs.[24] Other women are forced to cultivate or pack drugs.[25] Sex trafficking in Mexico is a significant problem.[26][27] Women have been forced to be mules.[28][29] They have been killed in the crossfire of gun fights and assassinations.[30][31][32] Some women have been killed for refusing the romantic advances of men, witnessing crimes,[33][34] being informants,[35] activists against crime,[36][37] and other reasons. Female police and military officers, as well as federal agents[38] and their family members[39][40][41] have been murdered because of their occupation and or anti-cartel efforts.[42][43][44][45] Female lawyers have been killed too.[46][47] Women have also been murdered for being the grandmothers, mothers, wives, daughters, nieces, sisters, aunts, cousins, coworkers, or friends of persons targeted for assassination.[48][49][50][51][52] Women have been bound and tortured.[53][54][55] Women's corpses have been decapitated and mutilated in other ways.[56][57][58][59] Female bodies have been disemboweled and hung from bridges.[60] The bodies and body parts of women have been displayed in other ways, including being dumped on and along highways.[61][62] The perpetrators sometimes leave written signs with threats and why they murdered the victims.

Women have been raped, tortured, and murdered by Mexican military forces and police.[63][64]

Sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States, many who are escaping the drug war violence, is pervasive.[65]

Female officials

See also: List of politicians killed in the Mexican drug war and María Santos Gorrostieta Salazar

Female officials and their family members have been murdered in the drug war.[66][67][68]

Female journalists and media workers

See also: List of journalists and media workers killed in Mexico, Anabel Flores Salazar, María Esther Aguilar Cansimbe, María Isabella Cordero, Marisol Macías, Miroslava Breach, Regina Martínez Pérez, and Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz

Female reporters and their family members have been murdered in the drug war for writing anti-cartel articles for newspapers or posting messages on the internet.[69][70][71][72][73]

The girlfriends,[74] wives, and daughters of male journalists and media workers have been murdered.[75]

Female participants

See also: Enedina Arellano Félix and Sandra Ávila Beltrán

Women have participated in the Mexican War on Drugs. They have served for all belligerents. Women have been members of cartels and gangs.[76][77] There have been female assassins[78] and drug money launderers.[79] Others have obstructed justice on behalf of the cartels.[80] They have transacted with drug trafficking entities and individuals in other ways.[81] Women have fought against the cartels and gangs as police, military, lawyers, paralegals, prosecutors, activists, and more.[82]

Sex trafficking and rape

Main article: Sex trafficking in Mexico
See also: Sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States

Cartels and gangs fighting in the Mexican War on Drugs have sex trafficked women and girls in order to obtain additional profits.[83][84][85][86] The cartels and gangs also abduct women to use as their personal sex slaves and force them into unfree labour.[87] The sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States by members of these criminal organizations is a problem.

Unreliable causality numbers

See also: Corruption in Mexico

The number of women killed in the conflict cannot be known because the absence of data from corruption, cover-ups, bad record keeping, and failures in interagency communication.[88][89] A number of cases involving murders and disappearances have gone uninvestigated or unsolved because the authorities feared being harmed by cartel or gang members. Some corrupt or coerced authorities have tampered with evidence and documents to conceal information.[90] A great number of bodies of victims have not been found. The criminals have been known to use acids and corrosive liquids, fire, and other methods to dispose of remains and make identification difficult to impossible.[91][92] Criminals have stolen bodies from crime scenes and morgues.[93] Data has been manipulated. Government workers have intentionally underreported violent crimes.[94][95]

References

  1. ^ "Mexico's Narco-Insurgency". Time. January 25, 2008.
  2. ^ "More than 11,000 migrants abducted in Mexico". BBC News. February 23, 2011.
  3. ^ "Bodies of three decapitated police officers found in Mexico". Fox News. January 30, 2017.
  4. ^ "Drug Killings Haunt Mexican Schoolchildren". The New York Times. October 19, 2008.
  5. ^ "Mexican police find 12 bodies in Cancun". Reuters. June 18, 2010.
  6. ^ "Mexican citizen journalist has her own murder posted on her Twitter account". The Telegraph. October 23, 2014.
  7. ^ "Drug traffickers suspected in murders of 154 women". Fox 5 Morning News. January 2, 2020.
  8. ^ "Cartel turf war behind Juarez massacre, official says". CNN. February 2, 2010.
  9. ^ "72 Bodies Found at Ranch: Mexico Massacre Survivor Describes Grisly Scene". CBS News. August 26, 2010.
  10. ^ "Mass graves in Mexico reveal new levels of savagery". The Washington Post. April 24, 2011.
  11. ^ "Bloody Tijuana: a week in the life of Mexico's murderous border city". The Guardian. November 4, 2019.
  12. ^ "Mexican newspaper editor Maria Macias found decapitated". BBC News. September 25, 2011.
  13. ^ "Drugs, oil … women? Mexican cartels turn to human trafficking". Reuters. April 29, 2020.
  14. ^ "Mexico migrants face human rights crisis, says Amnesty". BBC News. April 28, 2010.
  15. ^ "Kidnappers prey with 'total impunity' on migrants waiting for hearings in Mexico". The Guardian. February 18, 2020.
  16. ^ "Mexico sacks 10% of police force in corruption probe". BBC News. August 30, 2010.
  17. ^ "Mexican sex crimes prosecutor killed outside office". AP. November 28, 2017.
  18. ^ "San Antonio paralegal charged with passing information to drug cartels". San Antonio Express-News. May 14, 2020.
  19. ^ "Mexican journalist gunned down in first fatal attack on press of 2020". The Guardian. March 31, 2020.
  20. ^ "Mexico violence: 12 police killed in one week in Guanajuato". BBC News. December 16, 2019.
  21. ^ "The Mexican Mothers Who Make A Grim Yearly Search For Missing Loved Ones". npr. March 5, 2020.
  22. ^ "'The disappeared': searching for 40,000 missing victims of Mexico's drug wars". The Guardian. November 6, 2019.
  23. ^ "Mexico's new drug war may be worse than old one". AP. August 30, 2019.
  24. ^ "Mexico's drug violence leads schools to teach students to dodge bullets". The Arizona Republic. July 8, 2010.
  25. ^ "Drugs, oil … women? Mexican cartels turn to human trafficking". Reuters. April 29, 2020.
  26. ^ "Human trafficking second only to drugs in Mexico". CNN. August 27, 2010.
  27. ^ "Mexican cartels move into human trafficking". Washington Post. July 27, 2011.
  28. ^ "Migrants Say They're Unwilling Mules For Cartels". npr. December 4, 2011.
  29. ^ "Mexico cartels kidnap, kill migrants headed to U.S." Reuters. September 22, 2009.
  30. ^ "Vicious drug turf war turns Mexican border town of Tijuana into a killing zone". The Telegraph. November 29, 2008.
  31. ^ "Drug war bloodshed tarnishes Mexico's richest city". Reuters. October 13, 2010.
  32. ^ "Chicago family recalls young woman killed while on Mexico City trip one year ago". Chicago Tribune. July 6, 2019.
  33. ^ "25 slain in Mexican drug cartel attacks". Boston Globe. September 11, 2010.
  34. ^ "Mexico: Missing journalist Yolanda Ordaz found killed". BBC News. July 27, 2011.
  35. ^ "The Terror". Vanity Fair. October 21, 2010.
  36. ^ "Mexican woman who uncovered cartel murder of daughter shot dead". The Guardian. May 12, 2017.
  37. ^ "Mexican authorities accused of failures over notorious mass murder". The Guardian. June 22, 2017.
  38. ^ "Mexico violence: 12 police killed in one week in Guanajuato". BBC News. December 16, 2019.
  39. ^ "Gunmen Kill Mexican Cop, Family in Home". CBS News. July 29, 2009.
  40. ^ "Gunmen Kill Family of Mexican Drug Hero". CBS News. December 22, 2009.
  41. ^ "The Long War of Genaro Garcia Luna". The New York Times. July 13, 2008.
  42. ^ "Mexican drug cartel murders 12 federal agents". The Telegraph. July 15, 2009.
  43. ^ "7 Mexican Police Killed in Ciudad Juarez". CBS News. April 24, 2010.
  44. ^ "Female Police Chief Murdered in Mexico". ABC News. October 21, 2010.
  45. ^ "Tijuana Police Official, 2 Others Slain". Fox News. November 30, 2006.
  46. ^ "Mexico's 'narco-lawyers' risk everything". Los Angeles Times. September 16, 2014.
  47. ^ "Mexican sex crimes prosecutor killed outside office". AP. November 28, 2017.
  48. ^ "Cartel turf war behind Juarez massacre, official says". CNN. February 2, 2010.
  49. ^ "Families blame Mexico's Calderon over massacre". Reuters. February 2, 2010.
  50. ^ "Massacre at Party in Mexico, 17 Dead". CBS News. July 18, 2010.
  51. ^ "Eight killed in bar firebombing in Cancun, Mexico: owner reportedly refused to pay extortionists". New York Daily News. August 31, 2010.
  52. ^ "The killings don't stop in Ciudad Juarez". Los Angeles Times. September 14, 2010.
  53. ^ "Drug Killings Haunt Mexican Schoolchildren". The New York Times. October 19, 2008.
  54. ^ "Mexican police find 12 bodies in Cancun". Reuters. June 18, 2010.
  55. ^ "Mexico arrests 'mastermind' of Monterrey casino fire". BBC News. January 6, 2012.
  56. ^ "Scattered body parts found in Mexico City". The Seattle Times. April 24, 2011.
  57. ^ "Decoding the Murder Rituals of the Mexican Drug Trafficker". InSight Crime. January 18, 2012.
  58. ^ "Mexican drug cartels targeting and killing children". The Washington Post. April 9, 2011.
  59. ^ "Mexico violence: 12 police killed in one week in Guanajuato". BBC News. December 16, 2019.
  60. ^ "Mexican newspaper editor Maria Macias found decapitated". BBC News. September 25, 2011.
  61. ^ "49 decapitated bodies found in Mexico". CNN. May 14, 2012.
  62. ^ "23 people brutally killed in Mexican border town". CBC News. May 4, 2012.
  63. ^ "Mexico's Narco-Insurgency". Time. January 25, 2008.
  64. ^ "Civilian Victims in Mexico's Drug War". Time. June 28, 2008.
  65. ^ "MEXICO: INVISIBLE VICTIMS. MIGRANTS ON THE MOVE IN MEXICO". Amnesty International. April 28, 2010.
  66. ^ "Maria Santos Gorrostieta: Mexico's mayor-heroine found beaten to death". The Telegraph. November 28, 2012.
  67. ^ "Political Candidate in Mexico Murdered as Elections Near". InSight Crime. March 12, 2015.
  68. ^ "Young, idealistic – and dead: the Mexican mayor gunned down on her second day". The Guardian. January 13, 2016.
  69. ^ "Ana Flores Salazar Was Third Journalist Killed in Mexico in 2016". NBC News. February 11, 2016.
  70. ^ "Mexican citizen journalist has her own murder posted on her Twitter account". The Telegraph. October 23, 2014.
  71. ^ "Mexican journalist gunned down in first fatal attack on press of 2020". The Guardian. March 31, 2020.
  72. ^ "Mexican newspaper editor Maria Macias found decapitated". BBC News. September 25, 2011.
  73. ^ "Woman's decapitation linked to web posts about Mexican drug cartel". The Guardian. September 11, 2011.
  74. ^ "Mexico violence: Two journalists killed in Veracruz". BBC. May 4, 2012.
  75. ^ "Veracruz journalist shot dead in home with wife and son". Reporters Without Borders. June 21, 2011.
  76. ^ "Juárez police, Mexican army arrest 9 suspected members of La Empresa cartel crime group". El Paso Times. March 5, 2020.
  77. ^ "Female cartel boss known as 'Dame of Death' killed in shootout with Mexican state forces". National Post. January 14, 2020.
  78. ^ "Sinaloa cartel's female assassin arrested in Tijuana". Border Report. Apr 8, 2020.
  79. ^ "Leadership Role of Women Often Overlooked in Mexico's Organized Crime Landscape". InSight Crime. January 14, 2020.
  80. ^ "San Antonio paralegal charged with passing information to drug cartels". San Antonio Express-News. May 14, 2020.
  81. ^ "Daughter of alleged Mexico drug kingpin 'El Mencho' arrested trying to see brother in U.S. court in Washington". The Washington Post. February 27, 2020.
  82. ^ "Mexican sex crimes prosecutor killed outside office". AP. November 28, 2017.
  83. ^ "The Mexican Drug Cartels' Other Business: Sex Trafficking". Time. July 31, 2013.
  84. ^ "Tenancingo: the small town at the dark heart of Mexico's sex-slave trade". The Guardian. April 4, 2015.
  85. ^ "Human trafficking survivors find hope in Mexico City". Deseret News. July 17, 2015.
  86. ^ "Hiding in plain sight, a hair salon reaches Mexican trafficking victims". The Christian Science Monitor. April 12, 2016.
  87. ^ "The Mexican Drug Cartels' Other Business: Sex Trafficking". Time. July 31, 2013.
  88. ^ "Mexico sacks 10% of police force in corruption probe". BBC News. August 30, 2010.
  89. ^ "Violence up in Baja – especially for journalists". San Diego Reader. August 6, 2008.
  90. ^ "In Mexican Drug War, Investigators Are Fearful". The New York Times. October 16, 2009.
  91. ^ "51 Bodies Found At Mexico Dumping Ground". CBS News. July 24, 2010.
  92. ^ "Tijuana Families Seek Hope, Closure in Victims' Remains". Huff Post. December 13, 2012.
  93. ^ "Drug war bodies expose flaws in Mexican forensics". Reuters. July 5, 2011.
  94. ^ "All state governments in Mexico manipulate crime data: Mexico Evalua". El Universal. October 31, 2016.
  95. ^ "Mexican officials appear to be telling a misleading story about crime rates in their country". Business Insider. November 1, 2016.
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