Added Nov. 25, 2007

Mexico, Central America

Migración femenina, un viaje que lacera cuerpo y espíritu

One of the largest migrations of women in the world occurs along the Guatemalan - Mexican border. These migrants come mostly from poor communities in Central America, and they travel to the United States, 4,000 kilometers to the north.

The majority of these women are between 16 and 25-years-of-age. They migrate in search of jobs, without visas.  They have little education.

Their health is at constant risk from the change in climate, because of reproductive events, sexual assaults, and their almost complete lack of access to health services and the justice system in Mexico.

Delinquents, especially gangs (maras), subject them to constant [sexual,] physical and emotional abuse. Police officers and immigration agents also subject them to extortion and sexual abuse. In many cases, notes Tania Cruz of the organization Ciesas, these officials consider women migrants to be "nothing more than vaginas."

The risk of contracting HIV infection is great, given that many have to sell sex to survive.

Women often inject themselves with anti-contraceptives, knowing from that throughout the journey, the risk of rape will be great.

Joaquín González, of the Guatemalan organization Prodesa...

 - CIMAC Noticias

Nov. , 2007

Mexico, Japan

Added Nov. 25, 2007

Mexico, Japan

Prometen sueldos atractivos, pero allá les quitan el pasaporte y las prostituyen.

Representatives of the Mexican National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) have denounced the fact that at least 3,000 Mexican women are currently enslaved in prostitution in Japan.

The number could be higher, noted Susana Chiarotti, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CLADEM), given that the sale of people is on the increase in the region.

The problem of enslaved Mexican women in Japan is grave, stated Sadot Sánchez Carreño, coordinator of the trafficking program at Mexico's CNDH. "We weren't aware of this before, but Japan has an especially strong demand for Latina, and particularly Mexican women.

The only information available on this illicit trade comes from the study Basic Aspects of Trafficking in Persons, edited by the IOM, the OAS and the Mexican Institute for Migration. The study notes that each year, 1,700 women [and girls] are kidnapped from Latin America to be sold into sexual slavery in Japan.

Chariotti stated that Latin American women are kidnapped by international trafficking rings using false offers of employment. They are then sold to Japanese crime organizations such as the Yakuza mafia.

Across Mexico City one can find false ads for fantastically high-paying jobs in Japan or Australia posted near telephone booths, especially in locations frequented by young women.

Chariotti went on to say that sex trafficking in Latin America, and particularly in Mexico, is facilitated by the complicity of corrupt officials.

A human trafficking report by the OEA notes that Japan issues 120,000 'entertainment' visas, to mostly female Latin Americans, each year.

Japanese authorities refuse to recognize the majority of these trafficking cases...

- Alianza Por Tus Derechos

Nov. 22, 2007

Added Nov. 24, 2007

Mexico

Succar Kuri: historias de un pederasta

Pedofilia avanza ante leyes anacrónicas

Pedophilia grows in the face of anachro-nistic laws

Perla, one of the first young victims of millionaire child sex trafficker Jean Succar Kuri, was smart enough to pay back her victimizer by secretly recording him in the act of confessing his crimes against children.

In the video tape, Succar Kuri admits his sexual appetite for very young girls. He is shown insisting that, if Perla really loved him, she would go out and entice more young girls to be his victims.

Unfortunately for Succar Kuri, Mexican journalist and women's rights activist Lydia Cacho, in her book The Demons in Eden, exposed the elaborate child sex trafficking network set up by Succar Kuri and his associates.  The story gained widespread international attention given that leading politicians and business leaders were tied to the conspiracy.

An investigation by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) tracked Succar Kuri's network from Mexico to Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Spain.

Eight child victims have recorded testimony in a current case against Succar Kuri, and authorities are aware of another 40 victims who do not dare to testify.

These testimonies detail how Succar Kuri brought girls from poor families to his luxury villas in Cancun, raped them, and forced them to perform sex acts with each other in front of him, his millionaire co-conspirator Kamel Nacif, and, it is alleged, the executive secretary of the National System of Public Security, Miguel Ángel Yunes.

- Cimac Noticias

Mexico City

Nov. 21, 2007

See also:

LibertadLatina

Journalist / activist Lydia Cacho is railroaded by a corrupt legal process for exposing child sex trafficking networks In Mexico.

Peru

Added Oct. 23, 2007

Mexico

San Francisco Ixhuatan - Authorities have recovered the bodies of 15 Central American migrants whose boat capsized in the Pacific Ocean, the Mexican navy said on Saturday [Oct. 20, 2007]. The vessel was believed to be carrying more than 20 migrants.

Survivor Noemi Martinez, 29, of El Salvador, said the boat departed from Guatemala and capsized Tuesday with more than 20 people aboard.

[Undocumented] migrants who used to travel as stowaways on railway freight cars also have been searching for new routes north since train service was interrupted this year on two railway lines.

- Jose Maria Alvarez

The Associated Press

Oct. 21, 2007

Added Oct. 21, 2007

Mexico

Investigan red de pederastas internacionales

Mexican authorities are working to track down members of an international child pornography network after rescuing a 16 year old Colombian victim, according to Mexico's special prosecutor for crimes against women, Alicia Elena Pérez.
Pérez stated that one trafficking route brought victims from the Guatemalan boder, in Chiapas state, to Reynosa on the Texas border. From there victims were taken northward into the United States. Other trafficking routes ended up in Europe, and others took victims to the U.S. and Canada via the Pacific Ocean.

Pérez noted that prosecuting trafficking cases is difficult, because the victims fear for their lives. What the victims want is to save themselves [from slavery].

- EFE News

Utah USA

Oct. 19, 2007

Added Oct. 19, 2007

Mexico

Mexico: Robados o extraviados, 500 mil niños en 5 años: ONG; señala desdén oficial

Sólo han sido encontrados 100 mil, según fundación de padres de menores perdidos

The kidnapping of children in Mexico, most at the hands of sex traffickers and pornographers, has reached heart rendering proportions.

...The foundation Fathers and Mothers of Lost Children (PMNP)... states that 500,000 children have disappeared during the past 5 years, and 100,000 of those children have been found to-date.  Teresa Ulloa Ziaurriz, director of the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking of Women and Children (CATW) agrees...