Lourdes
Portillo has directed and produced 14 films to date. The Literary
Ripples project, presented Portillo’s Señorita Extraviada
at the Rio Grande campus’ Little Temple on.
Señorita Extraviada is a documentary about the missing women
in Juárez. Between 1992-2002, 200 to 400 women were reported
missing.
Portillo interviewed family members of the missing women in the film,
to get some insight about their abductions.
Throughout the documentary Portillo received many different answers
from the families concerning their loved ones. The Governor of Chihuahua
and the Mayor of Cuidad Juárez tried to associate all these
kidnappings with drug dealers and prostitutes.
Lourdes
Portillo
In
1998, Suly Ponce was assigned to investigate the missing women’s
cases. Unfortunately, when a murder occurred, the police immediately
contaminated the crime scene. Local authorities arrested a Middle
Eastern emigrant, named Sharif Sharif.
After Sharif was arrested and charged, the murders continued. Local
authorities began questioning and arresting local gang members. This
led to the arrest of the “Rebels” gang. Authorities said
the gang was paid to commit these crimes by Sharif. However, the kidnappings
and murders continued.
The locals then arrested the bus drivers who drove some of the women
to the maquiladoras. This was after a victim eluded the drivers and
identified one of the drivers as the culprit. The police went on to
say that the drivers were also hired by Sharif.
In 1999, agents of the FBI were dispatched to Mexico to search for
these missing women. After discovering only eight bodies, they returned
to the U.S.
A victim that was raped in jail saw photos of what was happening to
the missing women. She said that after pleading with the police not
to violate her, they threw a photo album at her and asked her if she
wanted to be next.
She said these photos were of the officers taking turns raping the
victims vaginally and anally before they strangled the victims and
burned their bodies with gasoline.
Women that were kidnapped leaving the maquiladoras had no chance of
their cases being solved, due to investments the Mexican government
had with the owners.
Portillo has dedicated her career as a filmmaker to Latin American
issues. She has received various honors and retrospectives during
her filmmaking career.
To learn more about Lourdes Portillo, visit her website www.lourdes
portillo.com.
