The University News

Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy Google Images

This is the town of Juarez, Mexico, a city on the United States-Mexico border that is now home to approximately 1,000 maquiladoras, or factories.
The factories employ mostly Mexican women and are run by U.S. companies.
In the maquiladoras, the women are mistreated, subjected to toxic chemicals and barely paid enough to survive.
Barbara Martinez Jitner, a filmmaker and human rights activist, made it her mission to expose the truth behind these border town atrocities.
Jitner was at UMKC March 18 as the keynote speaker for the Division of Diversity, Access & Equity's 2nd annual Cesar Chavez Celebration.
Jitner's presentation, "Feminicide at Our U.S. Border: To Be a Woman in Juarez is a Death Sentence," explained how these women are basically enslaved to the maquiladoras. Audience members also got a chance to screen her documentary "La Frontera/The Border."
In 2006, her work became the basis for a motion picture starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas called "Bordertown."
During filming, Jitner received death threats and had her cameras stolen by the Juarez police.
"In 1993, something happened that completely altered the United States and our relationship with Mexico at the border," Jitner said. "And that was the passing of NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement]."
NAFTA eliminated tariffs between the U.S. and Mexico. Many companies found it beneficial to move its production facilities to Mexico where cheaper labor was available.
Many overseas companies, such as Sony or Panasonic, also built factories in Juarez by creating a U.S. affiliate company so they too could take advantage of cheap labor and eradicated tariffs.
"The United States and Canada were going to build factories in Mexico supposedly to build up the middle class, to create industry in Mexico and to bring jobs to the Mexican people," Jitner said. "But what actually happened was a situation that wasn't free trade; it was basically a slave trade."
Another factor that led to the implementation of the maquiladoras was the amendment of the Mexican constitution.
Much like the Native Americans, many Mexican communities received land grants from the government.
These land grants allowed for communal land where citizens could live and continue their traditional lifestyles.
But in 1993, the Mexican government privatized the land with an amendment to their constitution.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools