t structural problems required its remodeling in the 1970s. The city's population reached some 400,000 by 1970.
Juárez has grown substantially in recent decades due to a large influx of people moving into the city in search of jobs with the maquiladoras. Now more technological firms have moved to the city, such as the Delphi Corporation Technical Center, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, which employs over 2,000 engineers. Large slum housing communities called colonias have become extensive.
Juárez has gained further notoriety because of violence and as a major center of narcotics trafficking linked to the powerful Juárez Cartel, and for more than 1000 unsolved murders of young women from 1993 to 2003. Unfortunately, because of widely alleged police complicity (and perhaps even participation on the part of police and government officials and local elites), the serial murders continue and most of them remain unsolved, though the number of homicides has plunged since 2004 despite the increase of population. As a result of the murders, Juárez (along with the capital of the state, Chihuahua, Chih.) has become a center for protest against sexual violence throughout Mexico. Meanwhile, many continue working to maintain a positive image of Ciudad Juárez. Songs "Juarez" by the music artist Tori Amos and "Invalid Litter Dept." by At the Drive-In refer to Ciudad Juárez and its murdered women. A giant Mexican flag, bandera monumental, was erected in Chamizal Park on June 26, 1997
