By: Priscila Néri, Posted: Mar 25 09

Regions: Mexico

Issues: Impunity, Violence against women, Women's rights

Tags: ciudad juarez, Detention, disappearances, dual injustice, feminicide, murder, neyra azucena cervantes, torture, WITNESS

"...since she isn't here, we become the victims.  And we are her voice..." -- Patricia Cervantes, Neyra's mother

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Neyra Azucena Cervantes went missing on May 13, 2003 as she walked home from school in Chihuahua City, Mexico.  Her remains were found two months later and the police - under mounting pressure to find her killer - arrested Neyra's cousin David Meza, despite the lack of evidence linking him to the murder.  David remained in prison for nearly three years, where he was tortured into making a false confession - before finally being released in June 2006.

Neyra is one of more than 470 women that have been violently murdered since 1993 in Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez - two cities in northern Mexico, across the US border with El Paso, Texas.  The phenomenon, known as feminicide, has been aggravated by the lack of proper investigations by local authorities, mishandling of evidence, and the use of torture to obtain tainted confessions. 

WITNESS partnered with the Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos in 2005 to produce today's pick - Dual Injustice - which tells Neyra's story and calls for an end to feminicide in Mexico: 

Today, musician Peter Gabriel joins Neyra's mother - Patricia Cervantes - in Mexico City to hand-deliver a petition signed by thousands of citizens to Mexican President Felipe Calderón.  What do they want?  Justice. 

Follow Rebecca Lichtenfeld's posts from Mexico for the latest updates.