ABSTRACT
Since 1993, over 500 women, the majority maquiladora (manufacturing operations) workers between the ages of 15 and 20 years, have been murdered in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The majority have been found in the desert, sexually mutilated, raped (often multiple times or in ‘gang’ rapes), tortured (many had their breasts or nipples cut off) and dismembered (Amnesty International 2013). Little effort has been made to solve the crimes, with local attempts thwarted by the suspected complicity of police and state officials. Internationally, the Campo Algodonero landmark case was taken to the Inter-American Human Rights Court (IAHRC) where, in 2009, the court ruled the state of Mexico was accountable for the murders, ordering the government to pay the legal cost of the victims’ families, reopen investigations and investigate government officials accused of obstructing justice. However, little change has come from the case, and today, the deaths continue unabated. This chapter explores the sexual violence and murder of Mexican women within the context of historical and contemporary claims to power by both political and religious elites. Utilising vestigial state theory provides a powerful explanation for the ways in which women’s bodies and agency have been brutalised and used as a mechanism of colonial power by both church and state.
