Juarez
Wednesday night I viewed Señorita Extraviada, a new film by Lourdes Portillo concerning the unsolved murders of over 260 women in Juárez, México, across the galvanized border from El Paso, Texas.
Her 65 min. film covers angles which have been absent from the very limited mainstream coverage of the murders by the U.S. news/media machine. She discusses the extreme difficulties in finding people with whom to discuss the murders; the correlation to NAFTA and the related rise of the maquiladora culture; U.S. and Mexican government inaction; policies of intimidation, rape and murder on part of the la Policia; and connections to narcotrafficking. Unlike the sensationalistic U.S. news shows which routinely offer display of pile after pile of bones and decaying bodies, Portillo's film serves as an homage to the lives of the slain women connecting their images with names with stories and meaning.
Please visit Lourdes Portillo's site to find out more about the situation in Juarez, how you can help and how you may view this important film.
Her 65 min. film covers angles which have been absent from the very limited mainstream coverage of the murders by the U.S. news/media machine. She discusses the extreme difficulties in finding people with whom to discuss the murders; the correlation to NAFTA and the related rise of the maquiladora culture; U.S. and Mexican government inaction; policies of intimidation, rape and murder on part of the la Policia; and connections to narcotrafficking. Unlike the sensationalistic U.S. news shows which routinely offer display of pile after pile of bones and decaying bodies, Portillo's film serves as an homage to the lives of the slain women connecting their images with names with stories and meaning.
Please visit Lourdes Portillo's site to find out more about the situation in Juarez, how you can help and how you may view this important film.
permalink posted on 4/12/2002 10:20:00 PM
