Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - In a rare act of defiance in this violence-scarred city, hundreds of women - their faces veiled to protect their identities - marched in protest against the murder of a female activist.
The 500 mostly women marched through Ciudad Juarez on Wednesday evening, holding candles and crosses bearing the name Marisela Escobedo. She was shot dead last week outside Chihuahua state government offices as she protested the release from jail of a man convicted of murdering her daughter.
Since Escobedo's killing, drug gangs have apparently sought further revenge against her, with local officials saying on Saturday that gunmen had kidnapped her boyfriend's brother and torched her boyfriend's lumber company buildings.
Activists and relatives of missing women at the march on Wednesday called on the Mexican government to address failures in the justice system that have allowed hundreds of women’s murder and kidnapping cases in Chihuahua state to go unsolved.
Amnesty International estimates that about 400 women were murdered and hundreds more kidnapped in the 1990’s in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's murder capital where drug-related violence has killed more than 3000 people in 2010. - Sapa-AFP