Are Juarez Murders Really Over?

Women's killers jailed in Mexico

Ciudad Juarez, AP
Saturday January 8, 2005
The Guardian

Two judges in Mexico have found 10 members of two criminal gangs who were already behind bars guilty over the killings of 12 women in the town of Ciudad Juarez, infamous for hundreds of murders in the past 11 years.

Four bus drivers, all thought to be loyal to a criminal gang known as Los Toltecas or the Toltecs, were sentenced to between 40 and 113 years for premeditated homicide, aggravated rape and criminal association in the killings of six women.

Six members of another gang, Los Rebeldes, or the Rebels, received between 24 and 40 years for similar convictions over the deaths of a separate group of six victims, said Rene Medrano, a spokesman for Chihuahua's state attorney general's office.

According to government statistics, more than 300 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since 1993, though human rights leaders say the number is higher.