Weekly Report - 6 January 2004

The office of the special prosecutor in charge of investigating the notorious Ciudad Juárez femicides has embarked upon an attempt to put these cases into perspective. It is underlining facts that puncture many of the myths that have been circulating about these murders. Manuel Esparza, spokesman for the Fiscalí­a Mixta de Homicidios de Mujeres de Ciudad Juárez, starts with an updated tally of the killings: 328 since 1993 (surprisingly, he does not make the point that this highlights the rarely cited fact that Juárez by no means has the highest rate of femicides in Mexico).