DECAPITATED BODY AMONG 100 GIRLS, WOMEN KILLED IN JUAREZ IN '09

The decapitated body of a woman left in a public place in Juarez marks
a disturbing development in the violence-ravaged city across the
border from El Paso, two experts said.

"This is the first time a woman has been decapitated and her body
displayed in this manner," said Julia Monarrez Fragoso, a Juarez
professor at the Colegio de la Frontera, or COLEF, who has spent more
than 15 years researching the murders of women in Juarez.

"It is frightening ... the civil society cannot and should not become
accustomed to this kind of violence," said Monarrez, whose new book,
"Trama de una injusticia" (An unjust plot), about the women's murders,
came out earlier this year.

Monarrez said that of last week, 100 girls and women had been killed
in Juarez since the beginning of the year, a record for the border
city. Since 1993, more than 600 women's deaths have been reported. The
overall slaying toll so far this year in Juarez is more than 1,900.

News of Sunday's grisly discovery compelled people on the U.S. side of
the border to ask the newspaper whether the woman with the name
"Claudia" tattooed on her body could be someone they knew. However, as
of late Tuesday, officials for the Chihuahua state attorney general's
office said they were still waiting for relatives to show up at the
morgue to identify the victim.

Passers-by discovered the woman's body at the intersection of Juan
Balderas and Carlos Pacheco. Her head was placed inside a plastic bag
next to the torso, which was covered with blanket. The woman also had
a tattoo of the "santa muerte" (holy death) figure on her lower back.

Sergio Gonzalez Rodriguez, a Mexico City editor for Reforma newspaper,
said there is strong symbolism in the decapitations of recent years.
He is the author of a new book, "El hombre sin cabeza" (The man
without a head), which deals with the beheadings by warring drug
organizations in Mexico. He also wrote the book "Huesos en el
desierto" (Bones in the desert) about the Juarez women's murders.

"Decapitations of women are rare," Gonzalez said. "Beheadings are
associated with the Zetas, enforcers for the Gulf drug cartel, who
aligned themselves with the (Carrillo Fuentes) drug cartel in Juarez.
Officials have found evidence that some Zetas carry out human
sacrifices and beheadings in honor of the "santa muerte."

Images, statues and candles used in shrines or altars to pay homage to
"santa muerte" figures can be found at the Juarez mercado and in El
Paso stores that sell occult and santeria paraphernalia. Tattoos of
the cult figure also are on the increase.

"The santa muerte cult is anti-establishment and appears to glorify
criminal behavior. Although not all members of the cult are criminals,
all live an existence that is dominated by crime," according to a 2004
study published by the U.S. Foreign Military Studies Office in Fort
Leavenworth, Kan.

The cult is a mixture of ancient Mexican pagan deities, variations of
santeria, and a witch doctor's purported vision in Orizaba, Veracruz,
Mexico.

Gonzalez said victims of beheadings may be people who belong to a
rival organization, or members of a drug-trafficking organization who
are suspected of harming the group.

The woman's death in Juarez could also be the work of a copycat killer
who is trying to pass off the murder as another drug-related slaying.

Gonzalez said, "These horrifying crimes represent a disturbing degree
of human degradation that has spread throughout Juarez and other parts
of Mexico, and which contradict the authorities' claims that
everything is under control."