Drawing by Alice Leora Briggs
(On two consecutive mornings in late
August, an unknown woman shot and killed two bus drivers in Ciudad
Juarez. Then a mysterious email showed up at a local newspaper, claiming
to be from someone called, "Diana, Hunter of Bus Drivers." We asked
artist Alice Leora Briggs, who creates elaborate, chilling scenes from
Juarez with a method called sgraffito, to make this image based on the
story of Diana. Zoom in for etching detail. You can see more of Alice's
work at her website and find her book on Juarez here.)
The first murder happened at 7:45 am,
on August 28th, on bus route 4A.
That morning, a woman hailed bus 718, climbed the steps, pulled a gun and shot the driver. The driver jumped out of the bus trying to escape but died on the sidewalk. The killer, witnesses said, was a middle-aged woman with dyed blonde hair -- or maybe it was a wig -- wearing a cap, plaid shirt and jeans. Nobody saw how she escaped. Or at least nobody would say.
The second murder happened twenty-four hours
later, on the same route. A woman boarded the bus downtown and a few
blocks later requested a stop. She walked towards the exit and motioned
as if she were looking for the bus fare, but instead drew her gun, spat
words into the driver's ear and shot him twice in the head -- then fled
the scene.That morning, a woman hailed bus 718, climbed the steps, pulled a gun and shot the driver. The driver jumped out of the bus trying to escape but died on the sidewalk. The killer, witnesses said, was a middle-aged woman with dyed blonde hair -- or maybe it was a wig -- wearing a cap, plaid shirt and jeans. Nobody saw how she escaped. Or at least nobody would say.
One day later, a news website from El Paso called La Polaka, which specializes in covering the political gossip of Juárez, received an email:
"You think that because we are women we are weak, and that may be true but only up to a point, because even though we have nobody to defend us and we have to work long hours until late into the night to earn a living for our families we can no longer be silent in the face of these acts that enrage us. We were victims of sexual violence from bus drivers working the maquila night shifts here in Juárez, and although a lot of people know about the things we've suffered, nobody defends us nor does anything to protect us. That's why I am an instrument that will take revenge for many women. For we are seen as weak, but in reality we are not. We are brave. And if we don't get respect, we will earn that respect with our own hands. We the women of Juárez are strong."The email was signed by someone calling herself "Diana, Hunter of Bus Drivers."
This year marks the twentieth
anniversary of the first disappearances of young women in Juárez. Or, at
least, when people started recording these disappearances, and
considering them as being related, after a 13-year-old girl was
kidnapped and then found dead with signs of rape and strangulation.
After that, the number of women who were killed just kept growing. It
went from dozens of reported murders in a year, to hundreds. So many
women it was hard to count accurately. In 2010, the number peaked: at
least 304 women were murdered that year.
The circumstances of the crimes were eerily similar.
One day, a girl would disappear on the way to work or on the way home,
and if there was any news about her, it would be when her body was found
in the desert or an abandoned lot, often with traces of rape and
torture. Sometimes they were found together in mass graves.(To read the rest of this story, click on the link below.)
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