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Indigenous & Latina Women & Children's Human
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Sexual
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This section was
last updated on May 8, 2008 |
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A Focus on Women's Rights
Activist and Published Author Lydia Cacho
Ribeiro |
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Support Lydia Cacho
Ribeiro!!
Mexico
Mexican Activist and Journalist Lydia
Cacho
Ribeiro |
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This section of LibertadLatina.org contains information
regarding the human rights case of women's
rights activist and published author Lydia Cacho
Ribeiro. For having the moral courage to
stand up to powerful criminals who run child sex
trafficking and sex tourism rings, Ms. Cacho
Ribeiro has been dealt with by employing the
accusation of defamation to silence her.
Defamation is a criminal offense in Mexico and
most of Latin America. We at LibertadLatina
support Ms. Cacho Ribeiro 100%!
We ask you, our
readers, to write letters to the Mexican
officials below, expressing your concern that an
innocent social activist against child sex
trafficking is being railroaded by the judicial
and political system in Puebla state (where the
charges were filed, and where her trial is
taking place).
End impunity
now!
- Chuck
Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Dec.
25, 2004
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Últimas Noticias
/
Latest News
Mexico, Spain
Lydia Cacho
Asegura Lydia Cacho que
premios "no blindan"
Lydia Cacho: Receiving a Prize Does not “Shield Me”
Barcelona, Spain – Mexican
journalist Lydia Cacho today received the House
of Catalonia’s Freedom of Expression Award.
Accepting the prize,
Cacho declared that
winning honors is no protection from the death
threats she faces for denouncing pedophilia
[specifically child sex trafficking] and
corruption in Mexico.
Lydia Cacho:
|
“These awards don’t protect us, they are
not bullet-proof vests shielding us from
the death threats, but they do raise
the ‘price’ a little for those who
would like to eliminate[murder] us." |
Cacho was also
recently honored as the 2008 laureate of this
year’s UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize during a
ceremony in Mozambique.
These prizes honor a
woman who faced torture and jail at the hands of
Mario Marín, governor of the state of Puebla.
Her 2005 book “The
Demons of the Eden, The Power That Protects
Child Pornography” lead to a long series of
acts of retaliation against her by the [child
sex] trafficking network that she exposed.
This year, Cacho has
published “Memories of an Act of Infamy.” In an
intimate, diary-like tone, Cacho recounts, play
by play, the acts of persecution and defamation
that she suffered after publishing Demons of
Eden.
For the past three
years, Cacho has traveled by bulletproof car,
accompanied by a permanent security detail.
Full Translation
-
ElFinanciero.com.mx
(With inputs from
EFE and AYV)
May 06, 2008
Mexico - The World
Lydia Cacho
Photo:
Theresa Braine
Paris - Mexican journalist
Lydia Cacho Ribeiro will be given the UNESCO World
Press Freedom Prize for her work exposing political
corruption and organized crime, the UN cultural body
said Wednesday.
“Through investigative journalism, she uncovered the
involvement of businessmen, politicians and drug
traffickers in prostitution and child pornography”
in Mexico, said UNESCO in a statement announcing the
award.
Her work continued “in the face of death threats, an
attempt on her life and legal battles,” it added,
noting that she had also been the victim of police
harassment...
UNESCO’s director-general will hand over the $25,000
(€16,000) prize to Cacho in a ceremony to be held on
World Press Freedom Day on May 3 in the Mozambican
capital Maputo...
The news came as media freedom campaigners Reporters
without Borders (RSF) condemned the killings Monday
of two young women working for a community radio
station in the south of the country.
RSF expressed its shock at the fatal shootings
Monday of Teresa Bautista Flores, 24, and Felicitas
Martinez, 20, at Putla de Guerrero, in the southern
state of Oaxaca.
Both women worked for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio
(The Voice that Breaks the Silence) a community
radio station serving the Trique indigenous
community...
- Agence France-Presse
April 10, 2008
See Also:
Mexico / The World
2008 UNESCO/ Guillermo
Cano World Press Freedom Prize awarded to
Mexican reporter Lydia Cacho Ribeiro
- UNESCO
April 9, 2008
Added March 14, 2008
Mexico
El Gobierno apoya la
pedophilia
Mexico's
government aids and abets
child sexual exploitation
The recent [February, 2008] four-day
visit to Mexico of Louise Arbour, United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, resulted in
inspired comments about human rights conditions in
the nation.
Among High Commissioner Arbour's
statements:
1 - Arbour asked the government of Mexico to
apply the same level of resources to dismantling
child sex trafficking networks, and protecting
women's rights in 'femicide' plagued Ciudad Juarez,
as it now applies to its war against organized
crime.
2 - During meetings with families of
women and girls murdered in Ciudad Juarez, Arbour heard that none of them have access to
the criminal justice system...
[The article's author:]
This (the above list) is our
international image today.
Mexico protects the operations of the cruelest
international pedophile [child sex trafficking]
networks on earth. This occurs despite the clearest
proof that this activity is occurring, such as in
the case of Puebla governor Mario Marin's
involvement in the abuse of journalist Lydia Cacho.
And in a shame of shames, the Supreme court of
Justice of the Nation (SCJN) itself acted in a
sinister manner to justify these acts...
We say to President Felipe
Calderon... that a great scandal would follow if the
Mexican government ignored High Commissioner Arbour's
recommendations.
|
It is
undeniable that today, both federal institutions and big
business provide assistance to child sex trafficking networks. |
If such a denial of the facts by the
Calderon government lead to a slowing of international
investment in Mexico,
then that would cause [Calderon and
big
business leaders] to tremble [but not the outrage of
allowing uncontested pedophile sex trafficking and
femicide to continue].
- Manú Dornbierer
El Siglo de Durango
Durango, Mexico
Feb. 19, 2008
Added March 14, 2008
Mexico
ONU: Pide a periodista Lydia Cacho dejar México por
seguridad
Mexico City - During
her most recent visit to Mexico, Louise Arbour, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, asked renowned journalist and human rights
activist Lydia Cacho to leave Mexico to avoid additional violations of her basic
human rights.
After the Supreme
Court of Justice the Nation (SCJN) ruled that no grave violations of Cacho's
human rights occurred [during her kidnapping and beating by corrupt police under
the orders of Puebla state governor Mario Marín and accused millionaire child
sex trafficker Kamel Nacif], Cacho declared that she had lost faith in Mexico's
criminal justice system.
Cacho has announced
that she will present her case to the European Tribunal in April, 2008.
During her Mexican
visit the UN's Arbour offered Cacho her complete support to gain political
asylum outside of Mexico and mount a legal case before international judicial
bodies.
On
February 13, 2008, Journalists Without Borders reported that Mexico had the
highest number of murders of journalists (as retaliation for their work) in the
Americas. During 2007 two journalists were murdered, three other communications
workers were killed and 3 journalists 'went missing.'
-
El Semanario
Mexico
Feb. 19, 2008
Mexico
 |
|
Guadalupe Morfín Otero |
Guadalupe Morfín promete
atender violencia contra mujeres y trata
Mexico City - Guadalupe
Morfín Otero, the former head of the Commission
to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women
in Ciudad Juarez, has just taken charge of a new
office defending the rights of women created in
Mexico's department of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).
The Special Prosecutor for Attention to Crimes
of Violence against Women and Trafficking in
Persons (FEDVCMTP) has been created to replace
the former office of the Special Prosecutor for
Attention to Crimes of Violence against Women,
headed by Alicia Elena Pérez Duarte, who
resigned in December, 2007.
The Citizen's Observatory on Femicide (OCF), a
coalition of 40 organizations and 17 "federated
entities" demanded that the Attorney General
present a strategic plan and a plan of
accountability to govern the new office.
Toward that end, the OCF has
requested a meeting with the Commission for
Gender Equality and the the Femicide Commission
of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of
Congress) and the
Attorney General of the Republic, Eduardo Medina
Mora.
The feminists of the OCF insist that the
multiple government agencies set up to address
violence against women must be held accountable
for achieving the goals defined in
their charters.
The newly created entity, FEDVCMTP, expands the
previous
agency's role in fighting violence against
women, to include enforcement of the new federal Law to Prevent and Punish Human Trafficking,
passed by Congress in November, 2007.
Morfín Otero stated that she will work to
reorganize FEDVCMTP to assure an increase in the
prosecution rates in regard to crimes against women.
Morfín Otero noted that she laments the fact
that the Mexican government missed the
opportunity to use the
Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence
Against Women in Ciudad Juarez, which she
headed, to effectively address the issue of
femicide in that city.
Next week Louise Arboure, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, will visit
Mexico.
- Carolina Velázquez
CIMAC Noticias
New for Women
Mexico City
Feb. 03, 2007
Mexico
Special Prosecutor for
Crimes Against Women Alicia Pérez Duarte openly
declares her "indignation and disgust" at the
Supreme Court's recent decision in the Lydia
Cacho case
 |
|
Alicia Pérez
Duarte
Photo:
GenteSur |
Renuncia fiscal por
vergüenza en resolución sobre Cacho
At midday on Friday, December 14th Alicia Pérez-Duarte
resigned her post as director of the [federal]
Attorney General's office of the Special
Prosecutor for Violent Crimes Against Women [Fevim].
Pérez-Duarte's motive was "indignation and
disgust" at the [recent] decision by the
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) in
the case of Lydia Cacho, in which the Court
decided that "no grave" violations of Lydia
Cacho's human rights had occurred.
In a meeting to announce her resignation to her
staff, Pérez-Duarte stated: "If my voice
breaks-up, you will understand why after you
read the content [of my resignation letter]."
One of her staff recounts that during her
statement, Pérez-Duarte declared that:
|
"I
cannot work... where justices of the [Supreme]
Court won't bring justice in cases of grave
violations of human rights." |
Pérez-Duarte went on to harshly criticize the
fact that Mexico, despite being a signatory to a
number of international human rights accords,
does not live up to these standards, and allows
the trampling of human rights in cases such as
that of Lydia Cacho.
Witnesses stated that Pérez-Duarte moved out of
her office to the applause and tears of her
supporters.
Carlos Enrique Badillo, general coordinator of
the office, will be acting special prosecutor
until Guadalupe Morfín, chosen to replace Pérez-Duarte,
takes charge. Morfín was the Special
Commissioner to Prevent and Eradicate Gender
Violence in Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua state
(starting in 2003), and had been named head of
the Human Rights Commission of the state of
Jalisco in 1997.
- Gabriela Gutiérrez M.
El Universal
Mexico City
Dec. 15, 2007
Mexico
Special Prosecutor for
Crimes Against Women Alicia Pérez Duarte resigns
in reaction to the Mexican Supreme Court's
decision favoring Puebla's Governor Marín and
Pedophile Networks
Mexico's director of the special prosecutor's office
for violent crimes against women (Fevim), Alicia
Elena Pérez Duarte has resigned her position in the
federal office of the Attorney General of the
Republic.
During a recent interview with Cimacnoticias, Pérez
Duarte indicated that several recent events
[setbacks in women's legal rights] lead to her
decision. These included: 1) the inability to
prosecute police officers in the city of Atenco, who
raped 26 women (according to the federal Human
Rights Commission) during action to control a street
protest in 2006; 2) the Attorney General's decision
to withdraw participation by her office (Fevim) in
the National System to Prevent, Erradicate and
Sanction Violence Against Women (SNPASEVAW); and 3)
the recent decision by the Supreme Court in the case
pedophile networks denounced by journalist Lydia
Cacho.
Pérez Duarte stated that "these are very worrisome
develop-ments that I could not sit back and see develop
while continuing to earn a paycheck."
"I could not continue inside [of the Attorney
General's Office] and say nothing, and pretend that
I could defend women in the face of these events.
For that reason, I am leaving."
In the Atenco case, 13 of the 26 women raped by
police over two days during street protests in that
city filed federal criminal complaints based on a
theory of torture, as covered by the Istanbul
Protocol. Two of those cases did not meet the
Istanbul standard. The other 13 cases did not
qualify for federal prosecution.
Pérez Duarte said that indeed, the victims had been
tortured in this incident. She has left a
strong case for prosecution in the hands of Attorney
General
Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza.
Pérez Duarte noted that last November 29th she was
notified of a decision by the Attorney General's office
(the PGR), addressed to the [federal] National Institute for Women, which is charged with enforcing
the recently passed national
General Law to Provide
Access for Women to a Life Without Violence...
that Fevim's involvement had been halted. Pérez Duarte:
"If, within the PGR, there exists an entity (Fevim)
that has specialization in crimes against women,
which has been a catalyst to the SNPASEVAW, how can
the AG take that voice away from us from one day to
the next?"
In regard to the Supreme Court's decision in the
Lydia Cacho case, Pérez Duarte state: "I am
resigning because of my concern with impunity.
The gravest impact of the Court's decision is that
it has left the entire world seeing the absolute
defenselessness of women and the absolute impunity
which [criminal] aggressors enjoy.
Pérez Duarte: "There will be time enough for us to
continue generating awareness, to network, and to
organize to fight against this."
- Lourdes Godínez Leal
CIMAC Noticias
Mexico City
Dec. 18, 2007
Added Dec. 08, 2007
Mexico
The
Demons of Impunity: Alive and Well in Mexico
Los demonios de
la impunidad, vivitos en México
...The crisis of
legitimacy facing the three branches of federal
power in Mexico reached a new peak this past
November 29th, when the Supreme Court of Justice of
the Nation (SCJN) opted to exonerate the governor of
Puebla state, Mario Marín, of the Institutional
Revolutionary Party, which governed Mexico between
1929 and 2000.
Lydia Cacho writes...:
"Edith was the first victim to have the strength to
denounce Jean Succar Kuri for rape, corruption of
minors and child pornography. I continue to consider
her to be a heroine. Thanks to her, other victims
have dared to come forward to stop this pedophile,
who opening declared in a secret tape recording made
by Edith and broadcast on television news, that he
liked to rape little girls as young as age four."
...Thousands of Mexicans
have heard... the conversation recorded... between
Governor Marín and [alleged pedophile ring leader]
Kamel Nacif. In that recording, Marín informed his
friend Nacif that: "We have arrested that old bitch
[Lydia Cacho] and beaten her head." In the
recording, Nacif proceeded to thank Governor Marín,
[and] promised him two bottles of cognac...
...Lydia Cacho: "I
consider the decision of the Court to be one that
creates grave consequences for the future." "The
most notable event that occurred during the Court
session... was the smile, the enjoyment, and the
burst of laughter expressed by the Court's president
[chief justice] (Guillermo) Ortiz Mayagoitia, just
minutes after giving his vote. The Court has
shielded [the network of] impunity and corruption
between a state governor and the protector of a
network of pedophiles and child pornographers..."
- Sergio
Rodriguez
Publico.es
Spain
Dec. 5, 2007
Added Dec. 06, 2007
Mexico
La decisión
del 29 de noviembre de la Suprema Corte de
Justicia de la Nación respecto al caso de Lydia
Cacho y Mario Marín produce dos efectos mortales
para un Estado de Derecho: alienta la impunidad
y abre la puerta al autoritarismo más atroz en
perjuicio del pueblo, afirma en un comunicado
Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, presidenta de la
Comisión de Derechos Humanos en el Senado.
**
In a
December 5th, 2007 press release, Rosario Ibarra
de Piedra, president of the Human Rights
Commission of the Senate of the Republic,
declared that the recent decision by the
Supreme Court (SCJN) in the Cacho-Marín case had
created two fatal blows against the rule of law:
first, by giving a new breath of life to
impunity; and second, by opening the door to the
most atrocious form of authoritarianism
possible, one that works against the interests
of the population.
Ibarra de Piedra, a social activist and former
presidential candidate asked:
|
"How
can these [six] justices show their
faces in public? How are they going to
explain that they preferred to leave in
power a ruler [Governor Marín] who had
boasted about his recently committed
abuses? |
-
CIMAC Noticias
Dec.05, 2007
Mexico
a
Mexico City
– The recent Supreme Court decision in the
Cacho-Marín case has effectively shielded Governor
Mario Marin [of Puebla state]. As a result, neither
the Cacho case nor any future request to have the
Court address the issue of criminal child sex
trafficking networks in Mexico will ever be taken
seriously.
In the aftermath, children’s rights organizations,
including the
Red
por los derechos de la infancia
(The Network for the Rights of Childhood in
Mexico), The Center For Social Communication (Cencos),
Catholics for Choice and Common Childhood… have
united to form a new campaign “We Simply Will Not
Accept It.”
...Alberto Athié, of the
Citizen’s Initiative for Democratic Dialogue, said
that the SCJN represented, until its failure a few
days ago, the “the last hope” for access to justice
for Mexicans. Athié said that the Court has grown
distant from citizens, and noted that “State powers
are in the service of the mafia.”
...The activists agree that the
Supreme Court has sent a clear message that impunity
remains intact, and those who dare to denounce child
sex trafficking networks will face danger. The
worst aspect of the case, they noted, is that the
Court has left vulnerable girls and boys who are at
risk of exploitation.
- CIMAC Noticias
Nov. 30,
2007
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