Mexico Must Reach Out

The numbers coming from the city of Juarez, across the border from El Paso, are staggering:

Number of women killed since 1993 -- 370.

Number of those victims raped -- about 100.

Number of additional women missing -- 70, according to local authorities; 400, according to nongovernmental organizations.

Number of victims not identified -- 75.

Number of murders to result in conviction -- one.

Relatives of the victims, along with Mexican and international human rights organizations, claim that Juarez police have mishandled or destroyed evidence through a mixture of incompetence, corruption and carelessness. A report by the Mexican National Human Rights Commission revealed that police had left investigation documents in an abandoned office that later was invaded by homeless people who, seeking relief from the winter cold, burned the papers.

Bowing to pressure, President Vicente Fox has moved to address this horrifying story. In January, he installed a special prosecutor to investigate the killings. This week, he ordered the creation of a database to be used in an effort to identify victims by matching their DNA with that of relatives.

As good as these actions are, Fox can do much more. For instance, he should heed Guadalupe Morfin, Juarez commissioner on women, and invite teams of foreign forensic anthropologists to help widen the DNA database.

These anthropologists build a personal history of victims with files from dentists who treated their cavities or doctors who mended a broken arm. Even a sample of a dress they wore could help identify a body.

Morfin would like to have a team led by someone like Argentine forensic authority Luis Fondebrider, who has proven his expertise in mass-killing cases in Guatemala and Rwanda. Fondebrider and other international experts have expressed their willingness to help.

People in Juarez believe that the women were killed either by drug dealers or roving bands of wealthy delinquent teenagers called “juniors.” Bringing forensic experts to Juarez could jolt action from police and revive citizens’ trust that the killers will see justice.