Campo Algodonero in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, is the memorial site for hundreds of women who have died during the past two decades.
This memorial site was recently created after the verdict of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against the State of Mexico in regards to the case of the Algodonero field where eight women were found dead.
The memorial site includes a statue of a woman, made by Veronica Leiton, and multiple pink crosses that represent the women who were found.
Campo Algodonero serves as a standing symbol of memory that dwells in the lives of all of the victims’ families who refuse to stay quiet and who are constantly in the middle of controversy.
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed major corporations began the establishment of maquiladoras in Cd.
Maquiladora jobs were usually long shifts that ended late at night when women are vulnerable to sexual harassment, rape and death.
The majority of those murdered and who disappeared are women and girls who work at local retail, students, teachers, and sex workers.
Nearly a decade since the first body was found dead and with signs of torture, the international human rights system responded to public demands for justice.
Moreover, in a marble-encased panel on a wall, the names of the women found at Campo Algodonero were engraved (Claudia Yvette González, Laura Berenice Ramos Monárrez, Esmeralda Herrera Monreal, Maria de los Ángeles Acosta Ramírez, Mayra Juliana Reyes Solís, Veronica Martinez Hernandez, Merlín Elizabeth Rodríguez Sáenz, y María Rocina Galicia).
According to Leiton, "the heart contains the memory of the women’s pain and suffering, which the water flowing onto the fifteen roses is meant to soothe and cleanse.
According to Robin Wagner-Pacifici and Barry Schwartz, each memorial site like Campo Algodonero, are created to "conceived and built by those who wish to bring to consciousness the events and people that others are more inclined to forget.
The relatives of victims did not attend the event because they felt that the memorial site was not finished since the names were not engraved anywhere on-site in order to honor the women and girls.
Campo Algodonero's Twitter account is utilized as the foundation of sources that informs the community when a woman goes missing or is found dead.