Women protest a case of rape in the town of Samalayuca, state of Chihuahua, Mexico, on May 12, 2022. Luis Torres (EFE)
A 31-year-old woman has denounced three employees of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) for rape.
The young woman, called Cynthia, has accused the workers of the plant in Samalayuca, in Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua), of sexually assaulting and mutilating her.
After the attack, according to what she refers to, they abandoned her on a piece of land adjoining the facilities, believing that she was dead.
After hours unconscious, the woman woke up and managed to call a friend of hers, who came to the scene to help.
The events, which occurred in the early hours of April 22, but have now come to light after the family's protests, are being investigated by the Chihuahua Prosecutor's Office.
So far no arrests have been made and only one of the employees has been suspended.
Cynthia's horror story begins in the desert.
Samalayuca is a town, about 40 kilometers from Ciudad Juárez, on the sand.
Founded for the first railroad workers in 1880 and settled with the construction of the CFE power plant and a cement plant, the residents define the place as a strong community among the dunes.
"That violence against Cynthia is violence against everyone," says Leticia Ruiz, from the Frontier Feminist Force collective, which is accompanying the case.
Those involved in the attack also lived in the town of 1,500 inhabitants;
some were natives and others lived there because of the proximity to the thermoelectric plant.
On April 22, a company employee took the woman to the offices of the Single Union of Electrical Workers of the Mexican Republic (SUTERM).
They knew each other from being neighbors of the town.
Three other men were already waiting inside the building.
"It was something absolutely planned," says Ruiz, who clarifies that although at first it was said that the young woman had gone to a party organized by the employees, the family maintains that it was a premeditated attack with the help of an accomplice.
Once inside the facility, the man who had brought Cynthia left and the sexual assault was carried out by the other three workers, according to the complaint.
"She lost consciousness when they were beating her," an aunt of the young woman told
La Verdad de Juárez
, who described the serious wounds and injuries that the aggression left the woman.
The alleged attackers left Cynthia's naked body on a nearby piece of land, between some walls.
They left believing that she was already dead, the family notes.
After hours at night in the open, the woman woke up and managed to call for help.
Paramedics arrived at her place and took her to the Women's Hospital in Ciudad Juárez.
The young woman was able to identify by name and photograph both the man who took her to her offices and the three who allegedly assaulted her, and she filed her complaint for gang rape on April 24.
Five days later, experts from the Prosecutor's Office carried out a search in the area where they located Cynthia and found several pieces of clothing and evidence, the Public Ministry points out to EL PAÍS.
The institution maintains that on May 2, "the victim changed her version of events" and pointed to only one of her aggressors.
For that reason, so far, only one arrest warrant has been requested.
However, the family maintains that it was a gang rape and criticizes the fact that almost a month later no one has been arrested.
All those involved have left the village and their whereabouts are unknown.
Norma Maldonado, the victim's aunt, has denounced that the young woman, mother of three children, is receiving threats.
"Even after what they did to her, still threatening her to withdraw the lawsuit, they say they pay her expenses," she said.
“With that they want to remedy the situation, no, with that they are not going to restore her complete health, she is going to need a lot of psychological attention.
Right now she is receiving medical attention because of how they left her."
Given the lack of answers, the family and feminist groups have organized several days of protests.
During the last one, they cut off road access to the CFE facilities to demand progress.
The parastatal company has assured this Monday in a statement that it is collaborating with the authorities and that it will proceed "with the labor and administrative sanctions that correspond to those who are responsible."
Meanwhile, the tragedy has divided the town.
"Ciudad Juárez is a femicide city, for decades it has had us women in a situation of violence, but Samalayuca had isolated itself from that problem," Ruiz points out, "until now they had managed to free it."
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