Our collection of articles & reports define the scope of this emergency.

The importance of religion, the intense celebration of cultural heritage, the very close interaction between parents, children, extended family, and friends, the minimal importance of racial difference in most Latin countries, and the nearly open inclusion within many Latin American countries of African, Indigenous, Spanish, and other world traditions within the common national culture are mostly very positive lessons which Americans can and should learn more about. 

 Having said that, Latin American cultures also have many deeply- rooted traditions which expose women to severe exploitation in daily life. The heritage of agrarian feudalism, the related exploitation of people based on their social status and position in society, poverty, and the ongoing violence and abuses surrounding the conquest of indigenous peoples continue to work against women's rights.   

The philosophy of machismo, a widely followed male code of honor and conduct, (especially in rural areas) places strict limits on, and very clearly defines, the 'correct' behavior of men and women. Machismo legitimizes the domestic abuse of women and their open sexual exploitation in the workplace and on the street.  Machismo remains a strong cultural force in many Latin American countries.  Machismo fuels the continuing vulnerability of women and children to exploitation.

The negative aspects of machismo are a reality that must be recognized by our Latino brothers in the U.S. and in Latin America.  It is possible for change to occur.  It just takes a decision by societies and people that this exploitation must end.

For Latino culture to thrive, all women and children must be respected and loved.  Everyone knows that in their hearts.  The Los Compadres Network is one of the many national and international organization working to achieve positive change in Latino communities in this regard.  

It would be unfair to single out Latin-America regarding these problems. The author’s purpose here is to assist in our understanding as to why Latin American and Latin American immigrant women and children as a group are vulnerable to such widespread sexual abuse.  

Latin America now ranks with Asia as one of the two most active regions in the world for the criminal sexual exploitation of women and children. 

The world's sex trafficking organizations are now focusing their criminal attentions on Latin America.  They see a rich pool of "raw material" - people, from which they feel free to kidnap, entrap and cajole hundreds of thousands of poor women and children into a life of sexual slavery.  

Once enslaved, these women and children will be transported and sold to brothels in Latin America, Asia, Europe, the United States and Canada.   Sex Slaves have been known to be sold in the U.S. for up to $16,000 each (source: The Protection Project).

Within the U.S., over 100,000 enslaved persons have already been “imported.”  Each year an estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked illegally into the U.S. to be sexually or otherwise exploited as slaves.  An estimated 1/3rd of those 50,000 trafficked persons are from Latin America. 

Part of Latin America's problem with prostitution and the exploitation of children is that most Latin countries regard children as being fully developed in terms of making their own decisions, from the age of 11 or 12.  At those ages, these children are not able to make decisions regarding danger. Adult men and criminal gangs take advantage of that fact, and the lack of codified legal protections to protect children of this age from exploitation.  

In some cases, these girls are put into a position of having to help support their families living in severe poverty.  In many Latin American countries, up to 80% of girl prostitutes were sexually abused at home by a relative.  Widespread child prostitution in Latin America results from poverty and a lack of social support that these children face from their families and societies.  Parental substance abuse is another major factor.

 Within this Latin American social environment, children are exposed to exploitation at a young age.  Many girls and also boys were introduced to prostitution at age 7, 8, 9, 10, 11… Girls as young as 12 also marry adult men in some Latin American countries.

Colombia - Age of consent for sexual activity: females: age 12, males: age 14.  Age of consent for marriage: females: 14, males: 16.   - Interpol  (These are typical ages of sexual consent under Latin American  laws.)

This lack of legal protection for young girls allows sexual exploitation to occur with impunity.  As a Honduran woman immigrant in Washington, DC recently stated the issue (from personal experience): "Adult men marry these young girls and treat them like children" [in terms of power in the relationship].  A Salvadoran immigrant woman in Washington, DC, related how she was kidnapped openly and with impunity at age 12,  was taken to a distant town and was made into the wife of an adult man (a stranger) against her will.  She had nobody to turn to for help. An elder Salvadoran musician in Washington, DC once opined that "the greatest tragedy that I have seen in El Salvador is that young girls, in teenage conflict with their families, get married too young, to adult men.

Law enforcement cannot, or will not protect these young girls from sexual exploitation.  In many areas police run the brothels themselves. With public pressure from non-governmental organizations such as Casa Alianza national governments in some regions of Latin America are just beginning to focus attention on their responsibilities to their children.  Costa Rica, an epicenter of the child sex tourism "trade" is an example of a country that requires constant public pressure and even lawsuits to force it to protect its own children from sexual exploitation.

At the time of this writing a global economic slowdown is causing mass joblessness and increased poverty in many Latin American countries.  In Ecuador, South America, for example, only 25% of the adults have full time jobs and inflation is running at 91%.  The rest of Latin America is straining under similar circumstances.  Under these economic conditions crimes against women and children can be expected to increase significantly. 

The combination of increased organized crime involvement in sex trafficking, increased poverty and the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic will cause the sex trafficking and exploitation of women and children to become an even more critical emergency than it already is.  We must all do our part to help change that reality for the better by taking action now.

Time is of the essence!