Customer Reviews

The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a true crime book that is hard to put down; it is chilling. I'm not one to usually read books about murders but this one I couldn't resist. Besides, I have spent time along the El Paso / Ciudad Juarez frontier and I had to get the facts right since I am familiar with some of the details over the years through friends and family who live in El Paso. After hearing rumors and rumblings over the past ten plus years I decided to get it straight. Teresa Rodriguez is a fine journalist from Univision whose credentials speak volumes to her integrity so I was drawn to her version according to her investigative reporting. The book is shocking in regard to some of details of the cases and even more shocking when it comes to the Mexican governments investigation, and ineptitude, of the well over 300 murders(more than 400 bodies recovered and hundreds missing) since 1995 of women along the border, in Ciudad Juarez(it has actually spread to Chihuahua City), usually young women who were either students or maquiladora workers. Journalist and author Teresa Rodriquez, does an outstanding job relating and presenting the gruesome realities to light in a chronlogical manner that is woven with contemporary political highlights, local color, geography and history lessons. The author does a fine job of bringing to life the now dead women as she recounts the victims last days, literally step by step before falling prey to the killer or killers. She also sheds light on the victims familiies struggles to find justice and the many stumbling blocks encountered in their pursuit of justice. There are black and white pictures of the victims, families and major players half way through the book that brings everything into reality and ties everything together; a face to go with a name makes it all the more real and tragic. Many of the stories of the victims families are too tragic for words to convey. The people who have been tried and convicted for the murders seem to be nothing more than scapegoats. The theories as to who is responsible and why the murders are taking place are numerous. Read for yourself and see what you think. The mystery of who is behind the murders, and who was blamed for the murders still leaves lots of question marks that all seem to lead to the corrupt state police officials. Several brave people who tried to find justice instead found an early death at the hands of hit squads or assasins. After reading this book you will just shake your head in disbelief and disgust. This is a true crime with many answers but more questions as to the credibilty of the answers. Somewhere along the southwest desert a coyote howls and a pack is on the loose, a killer or killers are still on the hunt, picking their prey at will as potential victims go to work or school not knowing if they will be another statistic in the border femicide , to be raped, tortured, mutilated and left discarded for the coyote and the desert animals to feast on their remains; meanwhile the cries for justice go unheard and a coyote continues to howl while the pack hunts in the desert. Recommended for all to understand the scope of this horrific problem in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The Daughters of Juarez, by Teresa Rodriguez (with Diana Montané and Lisa Pulitzer), chronicles a series of horrific murders of young women (and teens) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, over the last fourteen years, the law enforcement/governmental response to them, and the myriad theories as to the perpetrator(s). Over this period, a good part of 400 poor women were raped, tortured and killed, then dumped in desert areas and vacant lots around the city. The book details a rich tapestry of police and governmental brutality, corruption, blatant sexual discrimination, disregard for public safety, and just plain incompetence.

Although many suspects have been charged and held, it is doubtful that any of the murders can ever be considered legitimately solved because of this pervasive and persistent institutional dysfunction. In fact, one can say that this is a glaring example of how not to run a criminal justice system. It's heartbreaking to consider that the families of these slain women will never see justice done. Additionally, it must have been so frustrating for those in law enforcement and government who made efforts to run effective investigations, only to be stymied at every turn by the very system they should have been able to trust, forced out of their jobs because they wouldn't falsify results or analyses, or even physically threatened.

Daughters is definitely a compelling, true tale and Rodriguez does a service to those affected by these horrors by airing them for everyone to examine. The book, however, suffers from a lack of organization: Rodriguez bounces around dates, people and events so much so that it's hard to keep them all straight. Also, she makes a point of maudlin over-description of the women and their families so as to make them more sympathetic. This in my mind is unnecessary; most people will find the thought of someone (not to mention hundreds) being subjected to the extreme violence that these women experienced and the grief (on multiple levels) that their loved ones were forced to endure to be inconceivably horrible - no matter who the reader is. I also think Rodriguez could have used some citations to support what must have been years of research and investigation. In the end, I would recommend this book as a real eye-opener, but with these reservations.

Five CHILLING Stars!! Teresa Rodriguez' incisive real-life investigation, "The Daughters of Juarez", details the unprecedented series of serial murders in Juarez Mexico, reaching total numbers of over 400 young women dead, ranging from age 9 to their 20's. All of this happening amid the daily activities of over 2 million law-abiding 'Juarenses' citizens. Ms Rodriguez is an anchor for the Univision TV network and, based on the contents of this fast-paced, page-turner of a book, a relentless investigative reporter and talented writer.

The bustling Mexican border city of Cuidad Juarez, Mexico lies just south of it's sister-city, the U.S. border city of El Paso, Texas, separated by the Rio Grande river, but sharing much historical culture. With a population that had already exceeded 1 million people at the time, the author says Juarez underwent a further population explosion around 1993 to fill tens of thousands of newly created assembly-line jobs in the "Maquiladora" factories, in response to NAFTA. Much of the housing for these new residents was crudely thrown together in dilapidated areas far out on the edges of the city, where substandard "colonias" were actually a step up in housing. Many of the victims came from these types of areas. And then there is the mysterious desert area called "Lote Bravo" which is so central to this story. We Texans have followed this real-life nightmare for years, simultaneously appalled and morbidly fascinated by the events in our highly regarded sister-city.

By 1995, 45 young women had already disappeared on their way to or from work, at night or during the day. Ms Rodriguez puts a face on many victims, such as Silvia Morales & Sagrario Gonzalez, and details the anguish of the parents of some of the victims. "The victims bodies exhibited signs of rape, mutilation, and torture." "All had been snatched from the downtown area, while waiting for a bus or shopping in stores." All of which indicated a degree of boldness that the killer(s) used in going after a particular 'victim profile': young, pretty, petite, full lipped "with flowing black hair". And then things reach a new level of violence, expansion, and depravity. She also investigates the many theories and mentions the various potential suspects, such as the infamous "Egyptian" whose fate we finally learn about, the shadowy "Alejandro", the "chero" (cowboy) "dressed all in black", and others. But this is just the beginning of the mystery as Ms Rodriguez digs deeper and even finds the beginning date of the grisly 'time-line', evidence of taunting telephone calls to the victims' families, and she finds the first official to use the phrase "serial killer". Beyond this, she surveys the various public officials & agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) struggling against tough circumstances, some self-inflicted, to solve the crimes and make the city safe again for young women. Caution: some descriptions are gruesome, but not belabored. The words on posted warning signs all over Juarez, "Be Careful, Watch for Your Life", reverberate across the landscape of this book and the lives of young women in the fascinating border city of Juarez Mexico. Highly Recommended! Five RIVETING Stars!!

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This book is amazingly chilling!!!! It is a must read for those who are intrigued by social justice. This book is an eye opener to the oppression just south of our border. As an educator I believe it is vital to be aware of the many social injustices occurring worldwide; for this is what will endow us with a multicultural acceptance that we shall pass on to our students. I could not put his book down; it was filled with explicit details of the murders of the now 300+ young females in Ciudad Juarez. Women are blamed for their murders and the government is quick to find scapegoats for the ongoing murders of these adolescent females. I was extremely astonished as I learned about the tactics used by the judicial system in Juarez, it is all corrupt.

Juarez, Mexico is located across the city of El Paso, Texas. Juarez, Mexico has an estimated population of over a million. The city has been an entertainment and tourist center since 1913. During the 1940's and 1950's the city attracted many tourist from El Paso, Texas and other cities to its well-known bars, nightclubs, brothels, bullfights and shopping.

Throughout time Juarez grew substantially because of the influx of people moving into the city in search of jobs with the maquiladora industry. The maquiladora factories employ more than 400,000 workers.

Nothing is well in Juarez; nothing has ever been well in Juarez. There has always been poverty, prostitution, and corruption is the breath of life in all segments of society from the typical cabdriver to the officials entrusted to run the government.

Then the devil came to Juarez.

The notoriety of the brothels was replaced by becoming a center of narcotic trafficking linked to the powerful Juarez Cartel, and in 1993 Juarez reached its peak of notoriety with corruption and the unsolved femicide murders of young women. More than 370 young women have been murdered. Most of them were raped, tortured, butchered and their bodies discarded as trash on the city's outskirts and in the central areas of the city as well.

Authors Teresa Rodriguez, Diana Motane and Liza Pulitzer, present a dismal, horror stricken and unbelievable true tale of rape, murder, torture, and butchering young women.

The authors do not directly show who was to blame. In fact, it is incredible that nobody knows. Their novel may be classified as a documentary which guides the reader to the despicable actions of the Juarez and state police including the officials who were supposedly appointed to solve the murders.

According to the authors, the police were not trained in securing murder scenes, they were badly equipped, if at all, and to make matters worse, corrupt to the brim. Many citizens believed the police themselves were the perpetrators of the femicides. Others blamed members of the Juarez Cartel. Still others in the community believed people of influence were the murderers.

The authors document the many incidents of torture by police of possibly innocent people who were made to confess for the crimes and rapes. A lawyer for one of the accused said, "It's not enough to grab a couple of guys and take them forcibly from their home, beat them for five or six hours, burn their genitals with an electric prod, and make them confess to the murders...."

There were many scapegoats. Some died in jail after many years of waiting for trial. They had been caught in a web of injustice, political ramifications, and lies and falsely judged. A lawyer defending a falsely accused victim was killed by members of the state police. The families of the falsely accused were threatened by the police if they continued to fight to prove their falsely accused loved ones were innocent. Meanwhile the murders continued unabated, and unsolved.

The state of affairs was in such a horrible way that not even the `invited' United States FBI could untangle the femicide spree. Not that they lacked professional expertise, but they too, fell in the web of the political strand which pulled every which way but towards the direction of solving the crimes. Not even the president of Mexico or the United Nations could make a dent against the outcries of the citizens of Juarez to solve and stop the rampant femicides.

Much like a heavily soiled dishrag is soaked in Clorox to clean it; the city of Juarez needs to be engrossed in "good" to cleanse it from its corruption, and filthy evil existence.

I recommend this novel if you can stomach injustice both to the accused and the victims.

This is a well-researched and fascinating book. It includes a wealth of information but it's easy to read and hard to put down. Everyone should be aware of the alarming human rights abuses that are detailed in what reads like a thriller but is unfortunately a true story. Highly recommended.

As a woman who grew up along the Texas/Mexico border, I feel that we have in some way let our neighboring sisters down because this could not have possibly happened...not without our knowledge. After reading this book, I had to go back and reread it in order to fully grasp the gravity of the situation. Teresa helps bring a disturbing truth to the surface. This book is a must-read that will leave you saying...if I had only known.

I must admit that I had heard about this topic but until I read this book I had no idea how many women had been killed in Ciudad Juarez. I was shocked at the numbers and the brutality of the crimes, not to mention the apparent indifference on the part of the authorities. The Daughters of Juarez is a must-read for anyone who believes in human rights & justice. This page-turner should not be ignored, it should be a call to action to end the impunity in this border city!

The authors have done a remarkable job of detailing what can only be described as an outrageous crime spree that appears to be continuing just south of the US border in Juarez, Mexico.
I only hope that this book lights a fire under officials on both sides of the border to spare these young victims and their families.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer who said that the story was compelling and important, but the overlong purple prose descriptions of what the families went through and the overly dramatic descriptions of the situations, with speculations on what everyone was thinking mar an important and compelling book.

Some straight crime reporting, an analysis of the facts and maybe some more social analysis (for instance, how do the drug culture, the male dominated hispanic culture, the pervasive corruption of the border towns, etc. contribute to this holocaust against women) would have helped a lot.

Still, there is not much written about this problem, which if it were happening here or in any first world country, would be page one news everyday, so the book is valuable.

So, good subject and investigative reporting marred by overly dramatic writing.

I would recommend it, you can skip over the long emotional descriptions of background, thoughts and other contrived elements.