The New York City Comptroller is questioning the practices of two multinational corporations that operate in Ciudad Juárez.

The Comptroller’s Office announced that New York City pension funds, as stockholders in Ford Motor Company and Hewlett Packard, would submit resolutions asking both companies to investigate their operations in Ciudad Juárez.

This measure is part of a campaign in response to working conditions in the maquiladora zone along the U.S.-Mexico border, which has been the object of much international concern with reports of terrible working conditions and crimes against workers.

Yesterday, in the course of a press conference called to announce a resolution presented to the City Council in support of the workers of Ciudad Juárez, Soledad Aguilar told the story of her daughter, Cecilia Covarrubias, a young mother of 15 who worked in the maquiladoras and was murdered in 1995.

“My daughter was lost like all of them, in full daylight,” said Aguilar.

She said that when she had gone to report the disappearance, “the authorities’ response was to make a big joke of it... [They said] ‘Ah, why are you crying? She probably ran off with someone.’”

Covarrubias’ body was found in Juárez Valley, but not because the authorities were searching for her; rather a worker found it by accident. The young mother was holding her 24-day-old baby in her arms.

“She was shot twice in the back. She was raped. She was beaten,” said Aguilar. “We’ve been begging for justice for nine years now,” but justice never comes, Aguilar added. She said there are so many murders in Ciudad Juárez (almost 400 in the past ten years) that “for the papers it’s not even news any more. It’s just something that happens in Ciudad Juárez.”

In response to a request from Councilmember Margarita López, the Comptroller’s Office sent letters to 103 businesses in which the pension funds have investments. The two mentioned above have not responded.

Vice Comptroller Eduardo Castell said that what is happening in Ciudad Juárez is “a human rights crisis.” He said that Thompson’s office will present its resolutions within a few weeks. The Comptroller’s Office takes such action some hundred times a year.

Also yesterday, a City Council committee chaired by Councilmember José Serrano presented a resolution of support for the workers of Ciudad Juárez.