Mexico Closes Probe of 14 Border Killings

Crosses are seen in memory of the women who were raped and strangled in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Tuesday March 14, 2006. Mexican federal officials have quietly closed an unsuccessful, three-year investigation into the cases of 14 women who were raped and strangled in Juarez, leaving little hope authorities will ever solve a string of killings so brutal they attracted worldwide attention and inspired at least two Hollywood movies.(AP Photo/Guillermo Arias) (Guillermo Arias - AP)

Guadalupe Lopez Urbina, the first special federal prosecutor assigned to Juarez, recommended criminal charges against dozens of current and former law enforcement officers for alleged negligence in handling the cases. However, only two state investigators were charged with negligence, and a judge later threw out the cases.

State officials claimed they solve the majority of female homicides, but contended they lack the resources and training to deal with these killings, which appeared related to one another.

"In these cases, it is evident that state authorities were incapable and unwilling to provide justice," said Eric Olson, a Latin America expert at Amnesty International USA. "It is then the federal authorities' obligation to provide safety, security and justice for their citizens."

In January, the Attorney General's Office created a national prosecutor for crimes against women headquartered in Mexico City. The Juarez office became one of three regional offices.

The same day the national office was announced, federal authorities released a final report saying the slayings of women in Juarez were not serial killings and that the city was not even the most dangerous in Mexico in terms of the killings of women.

Critics say the Fox administration is apparently washing its hands of the matter.

"At this point our best bet is to look for international justice," said Marisela Ortiz of Bring Our Daughters Home, a group of victims' relatives.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed in March to investigate allegations that state officials planted evidence and failed to go after the real killers.

"We're back to square one, but I no longer believe the killers will ever be found," said Gonzalez, one of three mothers who filed the accusations with the commission. "If there is no justice here, there will be divine justice."

_____

On the Net:

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: http://www.www.cidh.org

Our Daughters Back Home: http://www.mujeresdejuarez.org/