On Oct. 11, 2003, 20-year-old Claudia Ivette Gonzalez boarded a maquila bus from her home in the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to work at Lear Corporation. When her bus arrived at the factory four minutes late, Claudia was locked out and sent away under a policy barring tardy assembly-line workers. In the middle of the desert, before the sun had risen, Claudia started home on foot. Shortly thereafter her name was added to the list of the past decade's nearly 4,000 unsolved femicides-her body was found along with seven others in an overgrown cotton field across the street from the offices of the Association of Maquiladoras.

Gonzalez's case is not unique. In just over a decade, approximately 4,000 women and girls have disappeared from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Yet little has been done either to solve past disappearances or to prevent future ones from occurring. The Amherst College Juárez Activism Group was one of the first college-level groups to begin an active campaign to fight for justice in Juárez. Last year, the group began a national campaign with Amnesty International to help mobilize college students on this issue and hosted numerous campus and community events.

This year, the Juárez Group will host the second annual Chocolate for a Cause dessert and hors d'oeuvre reception. The event takes place this evening from 6-8 p.m. in Alumni House and features donated goods from local Amherst and Northampton bakeries and restaurants, as well as live music. Admission is $7 with a student ID and $15 for community members. The event not only serves as an entertaining way for students to help raise money for this worthy cause but also gives the group a chance to bring more serious issues to light.

All funds raised from the event will go towards sending Amherst students to Juárez on a fact-finding delegation, as well as towards future local and national events. The delegations are especially important because they work to reveal truths that have long been hidden under the shroud of government corruption. Students in the group feel a certain duty as activists to work through the mystery that has surrounded these murders, and the only way this is possible is to travel to the city itself. Many students do not realize the extent to which the impact of globalization on men and women in border towns like Juárez effects the economy and thus ourselves. Meeting with women's organizations in Mexico gives these students a chance to understand what activists in the area are doing to work for social justice and to resolve the problem, allowing us to follow their example. The delegation runs from March 2-12, and members will be transcribing what goes on in the hopes of getting material published state-side to raise awareness about this human rights issue.

The murders and disappearances of young women in Juárez, and now Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico are not an isolated issue; they occur within the framework of larger social problems. Just five minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, the city of Juárez is caught in the fervor of corporate globalization. It exhibits the negative social and economic consequences that many border towns suffer as a result of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Since 1994 there has been a massive increase in migration from the countryside to border towns. Many Mexicans have moved to Juárez in hopes of crossing into the United States for a better life. Yet most are stuck in Juárez, unable to cross and left at the mercy of American-owned factories to provide them with employment at below poverty level.

Two-thirds of the victims of femicides are factory workers, yet in U.S.-owned sweatshops, called maquiladoras, managers deny responsibility for the security of their female employees. Though U.S. corporations own 80 percent of maquilas on the border, and 90 percent of the goods they manufacture will be sold in U.S. stores, the United States government has failed to take any action to bring justice for the women of Juárez. In a recent lawsuit waged by the Maquila Association against the city of Juárez, a local judge, citing Chapter 11 provisions in NAFTA, ruled that factories are not liable for basic security expenses. Despite the horrific number of female factory workers murdered, most factories have no lights, no security cameras and no action supporting women's security.

Mexican authorities have also turned a blind eye to the murders and disappearances of these women. They have lost evidence and botched DNA tests in many cases, and not a single body of the 400 found was discovered by police investigators. Rather than help resolve the crime wave, officials blame victims for dressing provocatively or for being out too late. The climate of impunity has created an environment against women, where women can be murdered and the perpetrators can go unpunished.

Now, more than ever, it is important that Americans demand the justice that these women deserve. We can no longer ignore these social issues that are so integrally tied to our economy. That women in Juárez continue to disappear every day speaks poorly not only of the Mexican government but of our own neglect in the United States. The time to act is now. The Juárez Activism Group hopes not only to raise awareness but also to rally students around an important cause with global implications.

Sudhakar can be reached at nsudhakar@amherst.edu