El Diario de Ju\u00e1rez<\/a> published an opinion piece that connected a recent kidnapping to broader concerns about pregnant women being targeted. It recounted how, on August 19, a 21-year-old rideshare driver was abducted in Ju\u00e1rez. His captors demanded ransom before they were arrested, and the victim was rescued by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAccording to the piece, investigators learned during that case of another crime described as \u201cequal to or worse\u201d in nature, allegedly committed by low-level members of the same criminal group operating from inside the state prison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That crime, it said, involved the kidnapping of vulnerable pregnant women who would be held until giving birth, after which their babies would be sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the opinion column cautioned that police had only partial information and several \u201csuspicious\u201d cases, it noted that state investigators and the anti-kidnapping unit had raised alarms while also trying to confront more “conventional” abduction cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials in Mexico have not issued public statements confirming the allegations, and details remain under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The backdrop to these claims is a city long scarred by violence and femicides. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Ju\u00e1rez became notorious for the killings of hundreds of women, many of them young factory workers. Their bodies were often found in the desert or on the city\u2019s outskirts, and the cases drew international condemnation over failed investigations and lack of accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most visible reminders is the Campo Algodonero memorial, where the bodies of eight murdered women were discovered in 2001. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the memorial in its 2009 Campo Algodonero v. Mexico ruling, which held the Mexican government responsible for failing to prevent the murders and for deficiencies in the investigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The site, marked by pink crosses, remains a symbol of Ju\u00e1rez\u2019s femicides and the demand for justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See the full video investigation from journalist Katarina Szulc on Borderland: DISPATCHES.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n