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Indigenous & Latina Women & Children's Human
Rights News from the Americas |
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Latina Women & Children at Risk |
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The Acteal Massacre - December 22,
1997
Acteal, Chiapas State, Mexico
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This Page was Last Updated on
August 28, 2009 |
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45 Mayan
Children, Women and Men Were Ruthlessly Murdered
While Attending Church, for Supporting the Goals
of the Mayan Freedom Movement |
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A Crime Against Humanity in
Modern Mexico |
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This section of
LibertadLatina.org
contains information regarding the intentional use
of murder by pro-government forces to suppress
the legitimate demands for self determination
presented by the Mayan indigenous peoples of
Chiapas, Mexico to the national government.
|
About
the
Acteal
Massacre
-
December
22,
1997
Photos
from the funeral of victims of the
Acteal
Massacre
that occurred on December 22, 1997
On December 22, 1997
paramilitary (state-trained and state-funded
pro-governing party civil defense) forces
surrounded a Catholic chapel in the pacifist
Tsotsil Mayan community of Acteal, Chiapas
state, Mexico. During a period of several
hours, this armed force, with the apparent
consent of local Mexican Army units stationed
not far away, proceeded to surround Acteal's
chapel, and shot to death those inside, and as
many of those who escaped as they could find.
A number of residents survived the massacre.
Those murdered on that day included 15 children,
21 women (four of them pregnant) and 9 men.
Últimas Noticias
Latest
News
Added:
August 28, 2009
 |
|
Mayan
Indigenous women resist a Mexican Army incursion into their
community near the time of the 1997 Acteal Massacre |
Mexico
Acteal assassins released from prison
In an unprecedented ruling on Wednesday
that overturned a lower court on legalistic rather than
constitutional grounds, the Supreme Court released 20 prisoners
serving time for the infamous Acteal massacre in which
paramilitaries gunned down 45 indigenous members of Las Abejas, a
pacifist group, on December 22, 1997. At least 30 additional
paramilitary members will be released in coming days as Justices
complete paperwork.
In its 4-1 decision, the Supreme Court
ignored eye witness evidence from survivors, focusing instead on
mismanagement of the investigation by the Federal Attorney General
and fabrication of evidence by presiding judges. “This tribunal is
not absolving anyone of guilt,” claimed Justice Jose Ramon Cossio.
“We determined that the complainants did not receive due process,
which is not equivalent to a pronouncement of innocence.”
However, dozens of paramilitary members,
many who confessed to their crimes, are now free, and some have
threatened to return to seek revenge against survivors of the
massacre who testified against them. Human rights groups universally
criticized the decision on three grounds: confessed assassins were
released from prison, eye witnesses are now in danger, and the
intellectual authors of the massacre have never been brought to
justice.
Religious leaders
affiliated with both the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and
the [ruling] National Action Party (PAN) [of President Felipe
Calderón] organized the legal defense of the paramilitaries
under the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE). CIDE is
suing the Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center, community leaders from
Mitziton, and Hermann Bellinghausen, reporter from La Jornada, for
defamation of character. The religious leaders are affiliated with
the Eagle’s Wings and the Army of God, evangelical groups who claim
as members the paramilitaries who carried out the Acteal massacre.
Mexico
Solidarity
Network
News
for
August
3-16,
2009
See
also:
Mexico's
top
court
orders
the
release
of
20
men
convicted
in
1997
Chiapas
massacre
Mexico
City
-
Mexico's
Supreme
Court
ordered
freedom
for
20
men
convicted
in
the
1997
massacre
of
45
Indian
villagers
in
southern
Chiapas
state
and
new
trials
for
six
more,
ruling
Wednesday
that
prosecutors
used
illegally
obtained
evidence.
The
bloodshed
in
the
village
of
Acteal
was
the
worst
single
instance
of
violence
during
the
conflict
in
Chiapas,
which
began
when
the
Zapatista
rebels
staged
a
brief
armed
uprising
in
early
1994
to
demand
more
rights
for
Indians.
Paramilitaries
with
alleged
ties
to
government
figures
attacked
a
prayer
meeting
of
Roman
Catholic
activists
who
sympathized
with
the
rebels.
Over
several
hours
on
Dec.
22,
1997,
the
assailants
killed
45
people,
including
children
as
young
as 2
months
old...
Antonio
Arias,
who
was
wounded
in
the
attack,
called
the
ruling
unfair
and
warned
there
could
be
unrest
in
Acteal
if
those
released
return
there.
"We
feel
a
lot
of
pain
in
our
hearts
because
we
think
it's
unfair
that
after
almost
12
years
these
people
are
being
freed
when
we
know
they
are
responsible
because
we
saw
them,"
Arias
said
in
the
nearby
city
of
San
Cristobal
de
las
Casas,
where
members
of
his
community
gathered
to
pray
for
the
continued
imprisonment
of
those
convicted
in
the
massacre.
...Victims'
families
say
the
massacre
resulted
from
a
bid
to
crush
the
Zapatistas,
with
state
officials
providing
weapons
and
paramilitary
training
for
the
attack...
Olga
R.
Rodriguez
The
Associated
Press
Aug.
12,
2009
Acteal:
Comunicado
de
Comunidad
Las
Abejas
Las
“pruebas
verdaderas
que
son
nuestros
testimonios
que
los
vimos
asesinar…”,
declaran
los
sobrevivientes
de
Acteal.
Ante
las
versiones
que
se
han
empezado
a
difundir
en
algunos
medios
de
comunicación
de
que
la
Suprema
Corte
de
Justicia
de
la
Nación
está
a
punto
de
emitir
una
sentencia
que
permitirá
poner
en
libertad
a 40
de
los
paramilitares
responsables
de
la
masacre
de
Acteal
del
22
de
Diciembre
de
1997,
queremos
declarar
lo
siguiente:
Nosotros
y
nosotras
somos
los
integrantes
de
la
Sociedad
Civil
Las
Abejas,
del
Municipio
de
San
Pedro
Chenalhó,
Chiapas
y
con
sede
en
la
Tierra
Sagrada
de
Acteal
de
ese
mismo
municipio.
...Con
el
apoyo
de
la
sociedad
civil
nacional
e
internacional
presionamos
al
gobierno
para
que
castigara
a
los
responsables
de
la
Masacre
de
nuestros
hermanos.
La
primera
detención
de
un
grupo
de
autores
materiales
se
dio
el
mismo
día
en
que
sepultamos
a
nuestros
seres
queridos
ante
los
ojos
de
miles
de
testigos.
Como
una
provocación
los
asesinos
se
paseaban
enfrente
de
los
sobrevivientes
en
un
camión
de
la
presidencia
municipal
de
Chenalhó,
cuando
todavía
estaba
fresca
la
sangre
de
los
mártires.
Ahora
dicen
los
licenciados
defensores
de
los
presos
que
esos
paramilitares
deben
quedar
libres
porque
cuando
obligamos
a
las
autoridades
a
que
los
detuvieran
no
había
una
orden
de
aprehensión.
Y
así
como
ése
son
sus
argumentos
para
liberarlos...
Acteal:
Statement
from
Las
Abejas
Community
on
the
release
of
paramilitaries
...In
1997,
[Mexican
government]
armed
paramilitary
groups
appeared
in
Chenalhó.
Through
force
they
demanded
that
all
the
communities
help
them
buy
weapons
and
attack
the
Zapatistas.
If
we
didn’t
accept
taking
up
arms
against
the
government
would
we
possibly
accept
taking
them
up
against
our
own
indigenous
brothers
and
sisters?
We
refused
to
support
the
armed
paramilitary
groups
that
we
saw
clearly
had
the
support
of
the
government
to
get
weapons,
to
be
trained
and
to
take
violent
actions.
We
were
loyal
to
our
principles
in
spite
of
the
threats
and
when
we
refused
to
support
them,
the
paramilitaries
kidnapped
us,
ran
us
out
of
our
communities,
robbed
our
harvests,
took
our
belongings
and
burned
our
houses.
Because
of
this
we
became
displaced,
but
we
remained
loyal
to
our
principles
of
peace
and
non-violence.
It
was
while
we
were
displaced
that
the
paramilitary
attacked
on
December
22,
1997
and
the
Acteal
Massacre
occurred,
where
45
of
our
brothers
and
sisters
died
while
praying
and
fasting
for
peace...
Today,
five
months
from
the
twelfth
anniversary
of
the
murder
of
our
brothers
and
sisters
we
were
informed
with
great
sadness
and
indignation
that
the
government
is
going
to
free
40
of
these
paramilitaries
through
a
Supreme
Court
of
Justice
decree,
that
more
appropriately
should
be
called
the
Supreme
Court
of
Injustice.
Faced
with
this
news
we
declare
the
following:
1)
It’s
not
true,
as
many
media
outlets
are
saying,
that
the
Supreme
Court
decree
is a
step
towards
achieving
justice
for
Acteal.
Rather
it’s
a
step
back
from
the
little
that
has
been
achieved.
It’s
a
step
forward
for
impunity.
2)
They
are
saying
that
the
PGR
[Federal
Attorney
General’s
Office]
fabricated
evidence
against
the
prisoners
and
that
what
the
Supreme
Court
is
doing
is
just
because
there
is
no
true
evidence
of
the
paramilitaries’
guilt.
This
is
not
true
either.
There
is
and
there
has
always
been
real
evidence
which
is
our
testimony
of
who
we
saw
do
the
killing
and
we
know
the
paramilitaries.
But
the
government
(the
Attorney
General
and
the
judges)
has
weakened
our
evidence.
They
created
holes
in
the
case
so
that
when
this
moment
arrived
the
paramilitaries
would
be
able
to
get
out
through
these
holes
with
the
help
of
their
lawyers
and
Supreme
Court
judges.
It’s
the
same
thing
they
do
so
that
the
narcos
go
free.
The
Supreme
Court
is
not
correcting
the
work
of
the
PGR
as
they
say.
It
is
completing
the
work
they
started
so
that
the
accomplices
of
the
government
can
remain
free.
3)
They
say
that
we
haven’t
presented
proof
of
the
guilt
of
the
paramilitaries.
This
is
not
true
either.
We’ve
presented
proof
not
once
but
many
times.
And
11
years
after
the
murders
in
Acteal
they
continue
calling
on
us
to
present
our
statements,
because
they
tell
the
judge
or
the
public
ministry
that
something
is
missing
from
the
previous
time.
To
the
lawyers
from
CIDE
we
say
that
their
clients
are
not
the
only
victims
of
corruption
in
the
justice
system.
They
have
had
those
witnesses
who
saw
their
loved
ones
die
repeat
time
and
again
the
terrible
story
with
all
the
pain
it
causes
their
hearts.
And
in
the
end
they
say:
“we
need
you
to
tell
us
again
because
the
judge
ordered
a
renewal
of
the
proceedings.”
We
know
that
this
is
called
“psychological
torture.”
4)
The
communities
of
Chenalhó
are
ill
at
ease
because
for
days
rumors
have
been
circulating
that
when
their
friends
get
out
the
paramilitaries
who
have
been
free
this
whole
time
are
going
to
get
those
who
sent
their
friends
to
jail.
We
hold
the
Supreme
Court
and
all
their
accomplices,
from
Mr.
Aguilar
Camín,
the
CIDE
lawyers
and
the
government
of
Felipe
Calderón
responsible
if
the
return
of
these
40
paramilitaries
brings
violence
back
to
our
municipality.
We
hold
them
responsible
for
the
lives
of
the
witnesses
and
any
criminal
act
that
these
paramilitaries
who
they
say
are
innocent
commit.
5)
We
call
on
the
country’s
highest
authorities
to
reflect
on
what
they
are
doing.
If
organizations
such
as
Las
Abejas
Civil
Society,
who
reject
violence
as a
means
to
defend
our
rights,
tell
them
that
the
justice
system
and
state
institutions
are
completely
on
the
side
of
the
government
accomplices,
then,
what
path
does
that
leave
us?
What
hope
do
the
Mexican
people
have?
The
government
says
that
it
is
against
violence
but
daily
we
see
how
it
is
the
first
to
promote
it.
6)
In
spite
of
this,
we,
the
members
of
Las
Abejas
Civil
Society
declare
that
we
are
not
going
to
take
down
our
flag
of
peace
and
justice.
We
are
going
to
continue
fighting
in a
non-violent
way.
But
we
don’t
have
any
faith
in
the
government.
Our
faith
is
in
the
solidarity
of
civil
society,
in
the
blood
of
our
martyrs
which
gives
us
strength
to
not
abandon
the
struggle
and
in
our
god
who
is
not
deaf
to
the
clamor
of
the
poor
and
oppressed.
Yours
faithfully,
The
Voice
of
Las
Abejas
Civil
Society
For
the
Board
of
Directors:
Sebastián
Pérez
Vázquez,
President
Pedro
Jiménez
Arias,
Vice
President
Francisco
Gómez
Pérez,
Treasurer
Francisco
Pérez
Gómez,
Deputy
Treasurer
Translated
by
Scott
Campbell
Las
Abejas
[The
Bees]
Civil
Society
Organization
Sacred
Land
of
the
Acteal
Martyrs,
Chiapas,
Mexico
August
9,
2009
Added Dec. 28,
2006
Mexico
Luego de 9 años,
crean Fiscalía Especial para Acteal
After nine years, the government of the state of
Chiapas has finally appointed a special prosecutor
to investigate the December 22, 1997 massacre of 45
Tzotzil Mayan civilians, who were mostly women,
including pregnant women, and children as young as 2
months old.
Thirty civilians (Mayans supporting the PRI party),
15 civil servants and 11 state policeman had
previously been sentenced for their roles in the
crime.
- CIMAC Noticias
News for Women
Mexico City
Dec. 27, 2006
|
A
Short
History
of
the
Mayan
Freedom
Movement
and
the
Armed
Conflict
in
Chiapas,
Mexico
-
From
a DC
Committee
of
Indigenous
Solidarity
Brochure
-
Fall,
1999
On
January 1st, 1994, poor Indian Peoples in Chiapas rose up not “in arms”
but with their bodies and who during the dark night before the dawn of a
new day occupied 7 towns in the Chiapas highlands including its capitol
city of San Cristobal de las Casas without firing a shot!...
The
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) astounded thousands of
unbelieving Mexicans and inspired tens of thousands around the world,
including many indigenous tribes throughout the Americas...
The
auspicious date of January 1, 1994 was intentionally selected by the
EZLN because on that day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
was imposed upon Mexico. ...NAFTA included the US demand that
Mexico remove the Ejidos from Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution.
Ejidos are communal farmlands set apart for the Indians for their
survival crops. Transnational corporations now want those lands to
exploit (mine) subsoil resources...
...Since February 9, 1995, the Mexican Army and Government have been
carrying out a low-intensity war against the [Mayan] Zapatistas.
This warfare is directed primarily against the 1,111 indigenous
communities in Chiapas who are Zapatista sympathizers.
...A
huge escalation in the use of state security forces and PRI [Mexico's
dominant political party]-allied paramilitary [government paid and armed
civil patrol] groups has caused terrible suffering. Pro-Zapatista
towns have faced harassment, the rape of women, beatings, expulsions,
murders, and the stealing of grain and farm tools.
This
repression escalated significantly in the Summer and Fall of 1997,
culminating in the Acteal Massacre on December 22, 1997 in which 45
Indian women, children and men were killed in addition to 21 severely
wounded, most of whom were children. This criminal act was
perpetrated by 60 local poor Indians recruited by local PRI officials
and armed with AK-47 automatic rifles. At the time (and presently)
over 70,000 Mexican Army troops and hundreds of state security agents
occupied Chiapas...
|
|
From a Investigation by the EZLN into
the
Circumstances
of
the
Acteal
Massacre
12-26-1997
(Four
Days
After
the
Massacre).
...Fifth - The
paramilitary commando unit that carried out the massacre was transported
in vehicles which are property of the PRI [Mexico's then-ruling
political party] municipal president of Chenalhó and his staff.
Sixth - All members of the aggressor
group wore dark-colored uniforms.
Seventh - The vehicles, as well as
the armament, uniforms, and equipment of the aggressors was obtained
with money provided by the federal government--specifically, by the
Department of Social Development (Sedesol).
Eighth - The paramilitaries executed
the wounded they found and cut open the wombs of pregnant women with
machetes.
Ninth - Once the attack was over,
agents of the Chiapas state Public Security Police took up the task of
collecting the bodies and "disappearing them" inside a cave and at the
bottom of a ravine.
Some conclusions from the above are:
1 - This was not a religious
conflict, as both murderers and victims were of the Catholic faith.
2 - This was not an ethnic conflict,
as both the dead and those who killed them were indigenous Tzotziles [a
Mayan sub-tribe].
3 - This was not a battle (as the
federal and state governments have tried to present it). The dead were
unarmed, the attackers had high-powered weapons. There was no armed
clash. It was, simply and plainly, an execution.
4 - The objective was to finish
everyone off, to not leave accusatory witnesses and to "clean the
evidence". The government's plan was for the deed not to fall into the
domain of public knowledge. The authorities first denied the massacre,
then minimized it, and now they want to confuse public opinion regarding
the true motive of the crime... |
|
December
22, 2005 Commemoration
Miles indígenas recuerdan en misa
VIII aniversario matanza Acteal
México, 22 dic 2005 (EFE)
Alrededor de
dos mil
personas
recordaron
hoy en una
misa el
octavo
aniversario
de la
masacre en
Acteal, una
comunidad
del estado
sureño de
Chiapas,
donde fueron
asesinados
45
indígenas,
en su
mayoría
mujeres y
niños.
Approximately 2,000
Mayan indigenous people gathered at a mass to
remember the 45 indigneous victims of a massacre in
Acteal, Chiapas state, on December 21st, 1997.EFE
News Service
Centro
de Derechos
Humanos Fray
Bartolome de
las Casas.
(Friar
Bartolome de
las Casas
Human Rights
Center.)
Caso
Acteal
(The
Case of Acteal)
Reiteran:
Ruiz Ferro, culpable de la matanza de Acteal
(Ruiz
Ferro is guilty of organizing the Acteal Massacre.)
A
ocho años de la matanza de Acteal, aún no hay
justicia.(Eight
years after the Acteal Massacre, and still, there is
no justice.)
|
December
22,
2004
Commemoration
Relatives of victims of the Acteal massacre
carry
photos and pray during a memorial at their burial
site in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico, Wednesday, Dec. 22,
2004. Residents of the community are commemorating
the Acteal massacre in which paramilitaries killed
45 people, mostly women and children. (Associated
Press Photo/Hugo Santiz)
December
22,
2004
Acteal Massacre
Commemorated in Chiapas, Mexico
(Associated
Press) |
|
| |
|
RESISTING IMPUNITY
This web page provides
a brief history of the Acteal massacre in
pictures and links to news articles and other
reports.
Several years ago
the author had the opportunity to meet three
small children, victims of the Acteal Massacre.
All three children had been shot during the
massacre and left for dead.
One girl, Zoraida, became blind after being shot
in the head.
The children came to Washington, DC for medical
treatment at the Georgetown University Hospital.
These victims are no different than the victims
of thousands of similar massacres and other acts
of impunity that indigenous people have endured
during the past 500 years. Armed violence
continues to govern relations between states and
indigenous peoples in several regions of Latin
America.
|
Americas:
Indigenous People at High Risk
"Intimidation, harassment and violent attacks
against indigenous communities are frequent
occurrences in countries including Honduras,
Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and
Venezuela"...
From a News
Release Issued by the International Secretariat
of Amnesty International - Aug. 9, 2001
|
This report in being presented on the seventh
anniversary of the Acteal Massacre. May
the deceased victims rest in peace. May
the survivors achieve justice for this outrage.
Seven years after
the event, no trial has ever brought the known
perpetrators of the Acteal massacre to justice.
We demand
justice for the victims of the Acteal
massacre!
Chuck Goolsby,
December 23, 2004
- LibertadLatina
|
|
| |
|
How
things
were
(and
are)
in
Mayan
Lands...
January 17,
1998
"Ellas,
pequeñas, diminutas, armadas con esos brazos, con
esas manos, los detuvieron en X'oyep"
"These
women, small of stature, armed only with those arms,
with those hands, detained the Army incursion into
the Mayan town of X'oyep.
La
Jornada
Newspaper,
Mexico D.F.
Foto/Photo:
Pedro
Valtierra
Mujeres
refugiadas en el campamento de X'oyep, impidiendo el
acceso a militares dentro de la comunidad.
-
Global Exchange
Women
war refugees in the camp of X'oyep, blocking the
military from entering their community.
Mujeres de La Galeana
corren a los soldados de su comunidad. -
Global Exchange
Mayan women from La
Galeana town chase Mexican Army soldiers from their
community.
View
a
Larger
Image
of
this
Picture
Mujeres de Amador Hernandez
defiendan
a su
comunidad
durante
una
ocupación
militar
en
Agosto
1999.
Mayan
women
from
Amador
Hernandez
town
resist
Mexican
Army
occupation
in
August,
1999.
(The
Mayan
women
wear
masks
to
prevent
their
being
targeted
by
military
and
paramilitary
forces.)
Links about
the Acteal
Massacre
Survivors of Mexico's Acteal massacre still
looking for justice
December
22, 2003
(c)
Associated
Press
|
TUXTLA
GUTIERREZ,
Mexico,
Dec 22,
2003 --
Survivors
of a
massacre
on
Zapatista
sympathizers
in
southern
Mexico
six
years
ago said
Monday
that
authorities
have
failed
to
pursue
those
believed
to have
organized
and
carried
out the
attack.
"We have
spent
2,190
days
waiting
for
justice,
but we
still
haven't
received
a
complete
response,"
said
Roberto
Perez
Santis,
spokesman
for the
survivors
of the
Acteal
massacre
on Dec.
22,
1997.
Paramilitaries
with
close
ties to
government
figures
attacked
a prayer
meeting
of Roman
Catholic
activists
who
sympathized
with
many
Zapatista
goals
but not
their
methods.
Over
several
hours,
the
assailants
killed
45
people,
including
children
as young
as 2
months
old, in
the tiny
settlement
of
Acteal
in
southern
Chiapas
state.
Perez
said
police
still
have not
carried
out
arrest
warrants
against
those
believed
to be
responsible,
and he
criticized
authorities
for
refusing
to
question
then-governor
of the
state,
Julio
Cesar
Ruiz,
and
then-Mexican
Interior
Secretary
Emilio
Chuayffet,
current
congressional
leader
for the
opposition
Institutional
Revolutionary
Party,
or
PRI... |
11/28/2000
Para-Military
Repression & Impunity in Chiapas, Mexico
|
Rights
Action
[formerly
Guatemala
Partners]
supports the
"Chiapas
Network of
Community
Human Rights
Defenders"
(Red de
Defensores
Comunitarios
por Los
Derechos
Humanos) and
"Proyecto
169" that
are working
to denounce
and end
systematic
impoverishment
and
repression
against
Mayan
campesinos
in Chiapas,
Mexico. |
12/24/2001
Acteal
Honors its Victims & Continues its Struggle
for Justice & Survival - indymedia.org
2000
2000 Acteal
Commemoration Photos
July 1998
Chiapas state, in
southern Mexico.
|
Since
1994,
there
are 684
documented
assaults
on women
and
girls,
including
over
300
rapes
mainly
by
government
forces.
"Before
the
massacre
at
Acteal
those
who
organize
the
Priistas
[government
forces]
told us:
'The
daughters
of
Zapatistas
will be
raped.
First
the
wives,
then the
daughters.'"
The
whole
community
of
Taniperlas
has been
threatened
with
rape if
the men
who
escaped
military
attack
do not
return. |
December 18,
1998
The Acteal
Massacre - One Year On and Still No Justice
- Amnesty International
June, 1998
A La
Ofensiva:
Intesificada
Ocupación Militar a Seis Meses de la Masacre
de Acteal - Una investigación especial
reportada por Global Exchange
On The
Offensive:
Intensified
Military
Occupation
in Chiapas
Six Months
Since the
Massacre at
Acteal
- A special
investigative
report by
Global
Exchange
April 29,
1998
Tucson
Weekly: Wall Street's Latest War
March 13,
1998
Acteal
Attack Well Planned - Associated Press
(c) 1998
Associated Press
|
BY JOHN
RICE
Associated
Press
Writer
MEXICO
CITY - A
pro-government
vigilante
group
plotted
an
attack
on the
hamlet
of
Acteal
for more
than two
months
before
gunning
down 45
people
there,
the
federal
attorney
general’s
office
reported
Thursday.
In a
preliminary
report
on the
massacre
in the
southern
state of
Chiapas,
the
agency
said
some
state
police
officers
apparently
helped
the
attackers
by
transporting
automatic
weapons
in
police
vehicles.
The new
report
indicates
the
conspiracy
to carry
out the
massacre
was
broader
and more
longstanding
then
officials
had
previously
reported.
More
than 150
arrest
orders
have
been
issued
in
connection
with the
Dec. 22
slayings
in
Acteal,
according
to the
report
read at
a news
conference
by
Deputy
Attorney
General
Jose
Luis
Ramos
Rivera... |
February 22,
1998
La matanza
de Acteal, reflejo de violencia y la
impunidad que aún perduran en México
por Joel
Solomon «*»,
publicado en
Proceso
No. 1112, el
22 de febrero de 1998
December
1997-January
1998
|
The massacre
victims were
members of
"las Abejas"
- a pacifist
Christian
movement
working to
improve the
plight of
Mayans in
Chiapas,
Mexico.
This is the
organization's
first
declaration,
made just
after the
massacre in
Acteal. |
December
1997-January
1998
Photos from
Some of the First Protests Against the
Massacre at Acteal |
|
|
| |
|
December,
2004
COMMENTARY
Compañeros
y
compañeras,
Once
again,
the
annual
holiday
festivities
are
upon
us.
It
is a
special
time
for
many
-
time
for
family,
for
reconciliation,
for
renewal,
and
for
joyful
celebrations
within
our
communities.
Sadly,
it
is
no
longer
any
of
this
for
45
members
of a
small
Tsotsil
[Mayan]
community
in
Acteal,
Chiapas.
It
is
not
now
nor
will
it
ever
be
thus
for
those
45
brothers
and
sisters
who
seven
years
ago
were
cut
down
in
the
midst
of
their
communal
prayers
for
peace.
It
will
never
again
be a
time
for
such
festivity
for
those
ripped
from
their
families
by
the
bullets
of
those
cowardly
assassins.
There
is
no
more
time
left
for
those
15
children,
no
more
time
for
those
21
women,
four
of
them
pregnant,
no
more
time
for
the
9
men.
Nor
will
it
ever
be
the
same
for
their
families
who
mourn
their
unbearable
loss
now,
and
who
will
continue
for
the
rest
of
their
lives
to
grieve
over
the
emptiness
left
by
the
absence
of
their
beloved
brothers,
sisters,
sons,
daughters,
mothers,
fathers,
grandmothers
and
grandfathers.
How
many
still
suffer
for
such
blind
and
murderous
brutality,
for
such
beastly
hatred,
for
so
much
denial
of
one
simple
dream
that
promises
us
that
another
world
is
possible
- Is
this
dream
so
dangerous
as
to
make
it
necessary
to
murder
entire
communities
in
order
to
extinguish
it?
Who
are
those
so
terrified
of
this
dream?
Those,
who
on
that
December
day,
seized
the
lives
of
women,
men
and
children
with
such
total
impunity,
will
one
day
be
required
to
answer
these
and
many
more
questions.
They
and
their
masters,
their
governors,
their
imperialist
lords
will
be
required
to
answer.
We
must
assure
ourselves
of
this
truth.
One
day
soon
justice
will
be
done.
And
for
so
much
barbaric
inhumanity,
for
so
much
crime
against
the
people's
dignity,
for
so
much
injustice
against
the
basic
rights
of
humans,
we
all
suffer.
If
we
think
this
through,
and
search
the
depth
of
our
hearts,
we
discover
that
we
all
suffer
because
of
this.
We
are,
after
all,
them,
and
they
are
us.
We
are
one
in
the
past,
in
the
present
and
forever;
sharing
victories,
failures,
dreams,
love
and
struggle;
life
and,
too
often,
also
untimely
death
at
the
hands
of
assassins.
Some
of
us
pay
with
our
lives
for
demanding
our
right
to
dream,
to
love,
and
to
pray
for
peace.
Let
us
never
forget
those
men
and
those
women
who
died
for
those
rights.
For
them,
so
cruelly
massacred
at
Acteal
on
December
22,
1997,
and
for
many
more
stricken
by
hatred
and
for
so
much
more
suffering
let
us
cry.
For
they
have
earned
our
tears,
companeros
and
companeras.
Without
shame
nor
fear
let
us
cry
together.
Not
out
of
terror
nor
because
of
weakness,
but
rather
because
of
strength
itself.
Let
us
cry
out
in
hunger
for
justice.
Let
us
cry
out
for
the
struggle
that
catches
fire
in
every
loving
tear
that
believes
in
all
that
can
be
possible.
Let
us
cry
lest
we
forget,
so
that
we
can
go
on
dreaming,
and
go
on
struggling.
We
owe
this
much
to
the
fallen.
Forever
live
their
memory!
Long
live
the
struggle
for
the
dignity
of
the
people,
for
humanity
and
against
neoliberalism!
Committee
of
Indigenous
Solidarity
(CIS)
-DC
Zapatistas
Also
by
CIS:
A
Short
History
of
the
Mayan
Freedom
Movement
and
the
Armed
Conflict
in
Chiapas,
Mexico
- DC
CIS
|
|
| |
|
Who
Are
the
Martyrs
of
Acteal?
Lucia Mendez Capote, 13
Vicente Mendez Capote, 5
Manuel Santiz Culebra, 57
Alonso Vazquez Gomez, 46
Loida Ruiz Gomez, 21 years-11 months-28 days
Victorio Vazquez Gomez, 22
Graciela Gomez Hernandez, 3
Guadalupe Gomez Hernandez, 2
Roselia Gomez Hernandez, 5
Miguel Perez Jimenez, 40
Antonia Vazquez Luna, 27
Rosa Vazquez Luna, 14
Veronica Vazquez Luna, 20
Margarita Vazquez Luna, 3 years-2 months
Juana Vazquez Luna, 8 months
Ignacio Pukuj Luna, (adult: unknown age)
Micaela Pukuj Luna, 67
Alejandro Perez Luna, 16
 (snapshot, Alejandro at work)
Juana Perez Luna, 9
Silvia Perez Luna, 6
Maria Luna Mendez, 44
Nanuela Paciencia Moreno, 35
Maria Perez Oyalte, 42
Margarita Mendez Paciencia, 23
Daniel Gomez Perez, 24
Susana Jimenez Perez, 17
Josefa Vazquez Perez, 27
Maria Capote Perez, 16
Martha Capote Perez,12
Micaela Vazquez Perez, 9
Juana Gomez Perez, 61
Juan Carlos Luna Perez, 1 year-11 months-27 days
Antonia Vazquez Perez, 30
Lorenzo Gomez Perez, 46
Sebastian Gomez Perez, 9
Daniel Gomez Perez, 24
Juana Perez Perez, 33
Rosa Perez Perez, 33
Marcela Luna Ruiz, 35
Maria Gomez Ruiz, 23
Catarina Luna Ruiz, 31
Marcela Capote Ruiz, 29
Marcela Capote Vazquez, 15
Paulina Hernandez Vazquez, 22
Juana Luna Vazquez, 45
|
|
|
| |
|
Related
Indigenous
Issues
Indexes
|
More
Articles
About
Chiapas
Mexico
LibertadLatina.org's
Indigenous
Latin
America
Index
|
Indigenous Americas - "In
situations of armed conflict, abuse against
indigenous or other minority group girls and
women tends to be particularly cruel. In
periods of armed conflict in Latin America,
violence against women - especially rape -
has been rampant..."
"In Guatemala, political violence
left 150,000 [mostly Mayan] dead and 50,000 disappeared during
the 1980s, as well as 200,000 orphans, 40,000 widows, and
between 400,000 and one million displaced."
..."In many parts of the world,
rape is being used as a weapon of war to terrorize the civil
population. In Mexico, during the first years of conflict in
Chiapas, 50 rape cases against indigenous women were reported."
From:
UNICEF and the AIDS Information Exchange Newsletter
Note: Chiapas, Mexico and
Mayan Guatemala are one continuous region.
|
About this
Crisis - The
indigenous
of Latin
America -
Index - El
Salvador
The El Mozote Massacre (El Salvador):
The women were disposed of next. "First they
picked out the young girls and took them
away to the hills," where they were raped
before being killed, Amaya reported. "Then
they picked out the old women and took them
to Israel Marquez's house on the square. We
heard the shots there."
The children died last. "An order arrived
from a Lt. Caceres to Lt. Ortega to go ahead
and kill the children too," Amaya observed.
"A soldier said 'Lieutenant, somebody here
says he won't kill children.' 'Who's the
sonofabitch who said that?' the lieutenant
answered. 'I am going to kill him.' I could
hear them shouting from where I was
crouching in the tree." |
About this
Crisis - The
indigenous
of Latin
America -
Index - Peru
About this
Crisis - The
indigenous
of Latin
America -
Index -
Guatemala
|
El
Rio
Negro
(The
Mayan
Community
of Black
River,
Guatemala)
Massacre
"The
soldiers
and the
(paramilitary
civil
defense)
patrollers
started
grabbing
the
girls
and
raping
us,"
recalls
Ana, one
of a
handful
of
survivors
of the
massacre.
"Only
two
soldiers
raped me
because
my
grandmother
was
there to
defend
me. All
the
girls
were
raped."
In
total,
177
women
and
children
died
that
day. The
village,
one of
the most
far
flung of
Rabinal
municipality
in Baja
Verapaz
province
[Guatemala],
disappeared.
|
The
Indigenous
Crisis
within
Canada
The
indigenous
of the
United
States |
Other
Related
Issues
in
the
Americas
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
LibertadLatina
News /
Noticias |
|
|
|
Updated:
March 10, 2010
|
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Mexico
 |
|
Jean Succar Kuri (left) |
Exhortan Diputados a Reforzar Lucha Contra Explotación Infantil
Ciudad de México.- Un exhorto a las procuradurías de justicia de
los estados y del Distrito Federal hizo la Cámara de Diputados
para que redoblen sus esfuerzos en el combate a la explotación
sexual infantil, a la trata de personas, así como para que
capaciten constantemente a su personal…
Congressional Deputies Call for a
Redoubling of Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking
Mexico City – A recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies [lower
house of Congress] lead to a unanimous vote on a non-binding
resolution calling upon the nation’s federal and state
prosecutors to redouble their efforts to fight against the
sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking. The
legislators also asked that the Courts establish permanent
professional training on human trafficking law for their
employees.
The non-binding resolution also asks criminal justice entities
to coordinate with other government agencies with expertise in
human trafficking, such as the Special Prosecutor for Violent
Crimes Against Women and Human Trafficking
(FEVIMTRA).
The resolution specifically asks that prosecutors charge
defendants with trafficking crimes where such action is merited,
and that the punishment be commensurate with the crimes
committed.
National Action Party (PAN) deputy Rosi Orozco called upon the
authorities in charge of the Cancun Penitentiary to take
preventive measures to insure that [convicted millionaire child
pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri does not escape during his
upcoming transfer [from a maximum security prison in Mexico
state to the Cancun minimum security facility]. Deputy Orozco
also called for psychological studies to be performed and
re-education be carried before prisoners like Succar Kuri are
released back into society.
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) deputy Pedro Avila
Nevares asked that members of the Chamber put their political
divisions aside and work as one to defend the wellbeing of the
children of Mexico. PAN deputies Agustín Castilla Marroquín y
Guillermo Zavaleta Rojas declared that Mexico must have a “zero
tolerance policy for pedophiles, regardless of whether they are
wealthy, politically connected or are members of a religious
cult.”
Members of the Chamber agreed that recent child sexual
exploitation scandals such as those of Father Rafael Muñiz
Maciel, [child pornographer] Jean Surcar Kuri and the Casitas
del Sur case [in which a dozen or more children were trafficked
from a network of children’s shelters with possible links to
Succar Kuri’s sex trafficking network] should never be repeated
in our nation. “These are examples of behaviors that are indeed
embarrassing to all Mexicans.”
El Sol de México
March 05, 2010
Haiti, Bolivia
Haitian Children Rescued From Traffickers
Authorities in Bolivia have rescued 19 children and teenagers thought to have been kidnapped in Haiti by human trafficking gangs.
A state prosecutor says the children are now being looked after by the Bolivian government and a search is continuing for at least eight others.
The 19 children who are now being looked after in a safe house in Santa Cruz were in a party of 88 Haitians who entered Bolivia from Peru on tourist visas in January.
It is not clear when they left Haiti, but one report indicates they set off on their journey - which took them through the Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru - two days before the earthquake which devastated large parts of Haiti on January 12.
Prosecuting authorities in Bolivia suspect the children were being trafficked for sexual exploitation and three people have been arrested - two Haitians and a Bolivian.
ABC News
March 10, 2010
Mexico
Desarticulan banda de trata de personas en México
Una banda de trata de personas, incluyendo menores de edad, fue desarticulada en Puebla, centro de México, dijo la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE).
La banda operaba en San Pedro Cholula, una población del estado de Puebla.
Agentes del Ministerio Público y Policía Ministerial de la entidad aseguraron a 11 integrantes de una célula delictiva, que operaba en el bar "Las Vías del Amor" .
Los detenidos fueron identificados como Salvador Anatolio Ramírez Cortés, de 60 años de edad, dueño del lugar; Salvador Ramírez Sosa, de 23
años, hijo del dueño, y Edna Ruth González, de 41 años, encargada del bar.
La PGJE dijo que además fueron arrestadas Carmen Cajica Rodríguez de 33 años, Javier Sánchez Morales, de 33 años; Leonel Mena Sánchez, de 30, y Héctor Manuel Becerra Fernández, de 56 años.
Human Trafficking Ring is Broken Up in Puebla
A human trafficking gang that included underage members has been disbanded in
the state of Puebla, according to the state Attorney General's office.
The gang operated in the town San Pedro Cholula, in Puebla.
Police agents from the Public Ministry and the Ministerial Police detained 11
subjects who ran the ring from the the bar "Las Vías del Amor" (the paths of
love).
Those arrested include Salvador Anatolio Ramírez Cortés, age 60, the bar's
owner, Salvador Ramírez Sosa, 23, the bar owner's son, and Edna Ruth González,
41, who was in charge of the bar.
The Attorney General's office also mentioned the arrests of: Carmen Cajica Rodríguez,
age 33; Javier Sánchez Morales, age 33; Leonel Mena Sánchez, age 30; and Héctor Manuel Becerra Fernández,
age 56.
United Press International (UPI)
March 08, 2010
Mexico
Buscan crear banco de datos sobre la trata de personas
La Junta de Coordinación Política de la Cámara de Diputados exhortó a la Comisión Intersecretarial para Prevenir y Sancionar la Trata de Personas (conformada por instituciones del gobierno federal) a integrar un acervo especializado que contenga un banco de información particular sobre la trata
de personas...
Congress Seeks to Create a National Human Trafficking
Database
The Political Coordinating Committee of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of
Congress) has asked President Calder ón's
[recently formed] Inter-Agency Commission to Prevent and Punish Human
Trafficking (composed of federal agencies) to create a computerized human
trafficking database system.
The
Coordinating Committee also requested that the anti-trafficking
commission coordinate the development of the project with
experts in the field. The Chamber of Deputies would like to see
the project developed in a timely manner. The purpose of the
project is to utilize the collected data to assist in the
analysis of human trafficking with the objective of supporting
efforts to prevent and punish human trafficking, as well as
improve services for victims.
The National Institute of Statistics and
Geography (INEGI) says that each year between 16,000 and 20,000
children are sexually exploited in Mexico. The Special
Prosecutor's Office for Specialized Investigation of Organized
Crime (SEIDO) has detected 14 child sex trafficking networks
just in the state of Guerrero.
Roberto Garduño
La Jornada
March 06, 2010
Mexico
Preocupan a EU trata de personas, drogadicción y violencia aquí: Pascual
Zacatecas, Zac., 8 de marzo. El embajador de Estados Unidos en México, Carlos Pascual, aseguró que el gobierno de Washington está preocupado por tres problemas sociales relacionados con el narcotráfico y el crimen organizado que ocurren en este país:
La trata de personas, sobre todo de mujeres jóvenes y adolescentes; el alto porcentaje de “muchachos” que en muchas ciudades han desertado de sus escuelas hasta en 70 por ciento y luego caen en el uso de drogas, y en tercer lugar, la “batalla” que estos jóvenes libran todos los días “por el control de una esquina...
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Expresses
Concern About Human Trafficking, Drug Addiction and Violence
During an event held in Zacatecas city in Zacatecas state to
celebrate International Women’s Day, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Carlos Pascual has expressed his concern about three social
problems with ties to narcotics trafficking and violence that
occur in Mexico.
The problems mentioned were: 1) Human trafficking, and
especially that which affects women and youth; 2) the high
levels of school dropouts - which reach up to 70% of students in
some regions – that drives youth drug addiction; and 3) the
street battles that these youth unleash every day in their
efforts “to control a street corner.”
Ambassador Pascual: “We can’t allow these youth to become the
model for the future. We have to find a way to rescue those who
have already fallen.”
The Ambassador added that is important that we support drug
rehabilitation programs for addicts, as well as job creation and
the taking back of public spaces.
Ambassador Pascual went on to note that “we are also
responsible, and therefore we are doing everything possible to
reduce the demand for drugs” in the U.S., by means of a federal
prevention and rehabilitation program funded at 5.6 billion
dollars.
Pascual said that the U.S. is doing what is possible to reduce
the flow of arms and dollars, which crime networks send to
Mexico from the U.S.
Ambassador
Pascual also discussed immigration reform, noting that the Obama
Administration will continue to seek to pass a comprehensive
immigration reform package that will benefit the more than 12
million Mexicans who reside in the U.S. He added that
understanding migration is a priority, because what it signifies
for the future of both sides of the border.
Alfredo Valadez Rodríguez
La Jornada
March 09, 2010
Costa Rica
United States Announces Initiatives in Costa Rica to Curtail Human Trafficking
The United Nations estimates that more than 250,000 people from Latin America are forced into labor as a result of human trafficking at any given time.
Though the extent of trafficking in Costa Rica is not known, the country has been recognized as both a feeder country and a destination for forced labor. A March, 2009 report issued by the United States said that Costa Rica fell short of the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Girls from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Russia and Eastern Europe have been identified here as victims of forced prostitution. Officials are also aware of trafficking going the other way. According to the United States, Costa Rica needs to intensify efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses and improve data collection regarding trafficking crimes, among other changes.
To help Costa Rica meet minimum benchmarks, the United States government announced Monday that it would be backing two initiatives with a collective $350,000 grant.
“Make no mistake, human trafficking is a real example of modern-day slavery,” said U.S. Ambassador Anne Andrew. “That is why the United States Government is intent on supporting the fight against human trafficking.”
Part of the grant will go to Fundación Rahab to promote prevention as well as protection of adults and adolescents who are victims of trafficking. The other piece will go to the country's Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) to improve investigation and response to forced labor.
“Trafficking of persons is a phenomenon that has no place in the 21st century; not in Costa Rica, not in the U.S. and not in our world,” Andrew continued. “It is our duty as human beings to fight against this evil.”
According to Andrew, Costa Rica has taken steps towards addressing the problem by changing some of its laws and improving the tools used to fight illicit trafficking. She said that traffickers frequently recruit people through fraudulent advertisements, promising legitimate jobs as models, hostesses, or work in the agricultural industry. When they accept, they find themselves trapped in jobs in a foreign country.
One way Public Security Minister Janina DelVecchio plans to confront the issue of trafficking is by “putting police where we have people” so that cases of forced labor are better detected.
Chrissie Long
Tico Times
March 09, 2010
California, USA
Illegal Immigrant Wanted on Sexual Molestation Charge Arrested Near Calexico
An illegal immigrant charged with sexually molesting a child in the Bay Area was arrested near Calexico after trying to sneak back in the United States from Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.
The man was arrested Sunday nine miles west of Calexico with four other immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said. His name and age were not released.
A records check by federal officers showed that the man was wanted on an outstanding warrant in Marin County on a charge of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under 14, the department said.
The man was being held by the Imperial County Sheriff's Department pending extradition to Marin County, according to the department. The four others were processed and returned to Mexico.
Robert J. Lopez
Los Angeles Times
March 9, 2010
Mexico
 |
|
Ciudad Juarez |
Sin cubrir “una mínima” parte la sentencia de CoIDH por Campo Algodonero
Critica organización civil “política simulatoria”de autoridades
México.- En materia de justicia, el gobierno mexicano mantiene una "política simulatoria", que solo se vale de grandes "distractores" para impactar. Esa es la razón por la que hoy se publican en el Diario Oficial de la Federación, los párrafos ordenados por la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CoIDH) sobre la sentencia del caso "Campo Algodonero"...
Mexico Has Not Complied With "Even the Minimum" of the
Inter-American Court's Sentence in the Juarez Cotton Fields Case
In matters of justice [for women], the government of Mexico uses a false front that relies upon large distractions to create public impact. This is the reason why today a statement ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in the 'Cotton Fields' case in Ciudad Juarez was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
Marisela Ortiz, the co-founder of the organization May Our Daughters Return Home
[Nuestras
Hijas de Regreso a Casa], told CIMAC News that the fact that the Mexican State has complied
with paragraph 15 of the Court's order, requiring the publication as a "recognition of the true history" of the case, does not mean that Mexico is actually bringing about justice in the case.
Ortiz went on to say that the Government wants to show that it is doing something, but to date,
'we haven't seen any actions by them that come from a true concern to see justice done in the case, because the Government lacks the political will to repair the damage that
has been done.'
The reality
from our point of view, Ortiz says, is that Mexico has not complied with even the minimum requirements of the sentence published by the International Court. The only thing that they have done is to meet with the three families who brought the case to the IACHR. The Cotton fields case involved 8 women who's tortured bodies were found in a cotton field in Ciudad Juarez in 2001. The families of three victims participated in the IACHR case.
A clear example of the lack of appropriate government response to the case involves the fact that the authorities have stopped the small payments that they were making to the three families who brought the case…
Now, more than ever, the government is using a false front in
addressing the issue of femicide in Ciudad Juarez. The
authorities have not taken into consideration the mothers of the
other mothers of femicide victims, and today, government
officials never mention anything about the femicide murders.
They have blame cases of femicide in Ciudad Juarez on the narco-traffickers.
Ortiz: “That is not a policy.”
Ortiz: “We will now have to be more vigilant in our demands that
the Mexican Government compy with the requirements of the
IACHR’s sentence.
In addition, we will continue in the struggle to bring justice
to all of the other femicide cases, until we oblige the Mexican
State to take responsibility for not guaranteeing safety for
women, providing reparations for victims and for the prevention
future crimes [as called for in the Court’s sentence]…
Ortiz declared that reparations for the damages done to the
victims is not about money, it is about justice, about a public
apology from the government, and later, it will be about seeing
results to efforts to provide a better quality of life those who
have been affected.
In commemoration of International Women’s Day, May Our Daughters
Come Home expressed the need to do away with the idea that
giving us a flower, of telling us that it is “beautiful to be a
woman” and giving hypocritical accolades to distinguished women
– is somehow the equivalent of their having an awareness of
gender equality and justice.
Women in
Cuidad Juarez continue to be murdered, and the machismo-driven
attitudes of the government continue to foment impunity.
Marisela
Ortiz:
|
“We dedicate this day to the women who have been the
victims, and we rededicate ourselves to the fight
against femicide.” |
Laura Romero Gómez
CIMAC Women's News Agency
March 08, 2010
The Americas
|
 |
|
Indigenous girls in Mexico - always
at risk from sex traffickers and a government that
does not care. |
LibertadLatina
Statement for International
Women's Day,
2010
Government and NGO
anti-trafficking efforts must be held accountable for
Taking
effective
action
March 8, 2010, International Women's Day,
represents
LibertadLatina's
9th anniversary. We wish all women and girls around the world
happiness and success on this day.
During the past year, we at
LibertadLatina have redoubled our
efforts to end gender oppression in the Americas. We thank our
readers for their many expressions of support.
We have presented the true facts about the severe oppression facing
Indigenous, African descendent and other Latina and Caribbean women and girls
today.
These are populations that remain severely under-represented in deliberations by those
with the power to act at the governmental and NGO level to stop
modern human slavery, and the many other forms of exploitation
and injustice faced by these women of color.
We do not exclude any group in the war against gender
oppression. With limited available resources, we have focused on
populations and on issues that have been neglected by the
mainstream ‘movement’ – and therefore need urgent attention.
We believe that our energies are best spent
by bringing focus to the
various forms of mass gender atrocity that are increasingly plaguing Mexico.
Mexico is the ‘bottleneck’ for mass migration from South and
Central America to the United States. Mexico’s long standing
traditions of severe machismo, political corruption, a tolerance
for impunity and the influence of billions of dollars in drug
cartel money has lead to women and children, and especially
those who are indigenous, being targeted for kidnapping, rape,
sex and labor trafficking and even murder. Taken together, these
cases add up to tens of thousands of
victims per year.
We have constantly insisted that the press, authors, academics
and government officials end the virtual embargo on discussion
of Latin America as one of the very top crisis areas globally
for human trafficking. In 2010 the exclusion of
Latina, Indigenous and Afro-Latina and Caribbean victim issues
from public policy discussion, planning and action is an
unacceptable fact in this movement.
Racial prejudices
and preferences within Latin America’s educated elites,
and similar traditions within the United States and Canada
appear to be the motivating factors that cause this movement to
avoid mention of Latin America and the Caribbean, where, by some
estimates, approximately 50% of global sex trafficking activity
takes place. We work continuously to provide the facts that will
empower people of conscience to break the glass
ceiling and provide ‘Little
Brown Maria in the Brothel’ – our metaphor for these
voiceless victims, an equal place at the table of decision
making and provision of services.
Their voices must be heard!
We believe that our work is setting an example,
and is a model to all of the many factions within the movement
against human trafficking and exploitation. Because the
movement, in it various forms (non governmental organizations,
national and local government – and international agency
organizations) has evolved largely
from an academic base, the approach to fighting human
trafficking has centered on many intellectually sound approaches –
including efforts to raise awareness, petition government, pass laws, empower law
enforcement and NGOs, give victims access, provide them shelter
and space for recovery, and reduce demand for prostitution.
These are all legitimate activities,
and yet human trafficking continues to expand exponentially, far
beyond the current capacity of our institutions to respond...
The disappointing example of Mexico’s
effort to pass human trafficking legislation, and President
Calderón’s two year effort to block and disable that important
law, shows that the anti-trafficking movement cannot simply rely
upon academic approaches to fighting trafficking that appear, on
their surface, to be effective.
We must hold the governments of the region responsible for
enacting and enforcing truly effective laws against human
trafficking. For that reason, we support the efforts of
those countries who are working
through the United Nations to insist upon a new, Global Plan of
Action to finally organize an effective global fight against human
trafficking.
Néstor Arbito Chica, Ecuador’s
Minister of Justice and Human Rights, has been an articulate
leader in this effort. Minister Arbito Chica:
"National and regional efforts are not
enough to cope with this global problem." "That’s why we call on
the U.N. to take action."
We will continue to report on the developing story of the growth
in impunity, and the movement to push back against that impunity.
Those who are at risk, and those who are enslaved and exploited
today, deserve our urgent attention, empathy, support and effective
direct action to defend them from a life of torture leading to
an early death.
We will continue to give that attention, and we will continue to
press for government accountability in response to well
advertised but as-yet ineffective actions to defend
and rescue women and girls who
face impunity without defense.
End impunity now!
Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
March 8, 2010
Read the complete essay
Illinois, USA
|
 |
|
DePaul University College of Law research fellow
Jody Raphael presents her study of prostitution in
Chicago - in 2008.
Video:
WLS
TV |
‘Sex Trafficking’ Not Just a Problem Abroad
Juvenile Delinquency ‘We’ve got to punish men who are buying sex from children’
One of the first things Jody Raphael will tell you about child prostitution is this:
These children are not prostitutes. They're victims of abuse.
They're girls mostly, as young as 12, thousands of them, pimped out in hotels and apartments, often via the Internet, from the suburbs to the outskirts of Midway Airport and on down to Springfield, especially when all sorts gather for a legislative session.
The practice is officially known as sex trafficking, though the word "trafficking" often gets paired with "international" and conjures images of girls from foreign places.
The abuse of those girls – from Eastern Europe, Cambodia, Thailand – is what most often makes news and the plots of prime-time crime shows.
"International trafficking has excited a whole lot of interest," says Raphael, a research fellow at the DePaul University College of Law. "We've been trying to say for years: We have the same thing happening to girls born and bred in Chicago."
The plight of local girls got some publicity last week when Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez testified at a U.S. Senate hearing on domestic trafficking. That hearing relied partly on Raphael's research, so on Friday I asked her to paint a picture of what goes on in Chicago.
Our girls, she said, are mostly poor, which means disproportionately African-American and Hispanic. Almost all were sexually abused before they entered the trade.
Some girls are "put out" by a mother or a brother as a way to make money for the family. Some run away from an abusive home, only to be preyed upon by "recruiters..."
Raphael works with various groups, including the Cook County Sheriff's Office and End Demand Illinois, a new campaign funded by Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation.
Targeting the traffickers, she believes, won't solve the problem.
"You have to make it very expensive and unhappy for the customer," she said. "We've got to punish men who are buying sex from children. We have to stop normalizing it.
"That means going after the customer and making it clear that here in Chicago we're not going to put up with this."
Mary Schmich
The Chicago Tribune
Feb. 28, 2010
See also:
Domestic Sex Trafficking of Chicago Women and Girls
[PDF
file] [Overview]
Jody Raphael and Jessica Ashley
May, 2008
See also:
Studies Look at Prostitution in Chicago
[The linked article includes a
video report.]
WLS
May 07, 2008
Added: Mar. 7, 2010
Mexico
|
 |
|
Jean Succar Kuri (left) is escorted in a straight jacket by federal
agents
Photo:
Crónica |
PRD, PRI, PAN y PT unen fuerzas para que no se beneficie al pederasta Succar Kuri
“Esta Cámara no tolera a los malditos pedófilos; para ellos mano dura”, afirma Leticia Quezada
The Party of the Democratic Revolution, the Institutional
Revolutionary party, the National Action Party (PAN) and the Labor Party (PT)
Unite to Prevent Pedophile [Kingpin] Jean Succar Kuri From Benefiting From the
'System.'
Deputy Leticia Quezada:
"The Chamber of Deputies will not tolerate
these evil pedophile; throw the book at them."
La Cámara de Diputados aprobó un exhorto al Poder Judicial para revertir la decisión del juez Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz de trasladar a una cárcel de Cancún al pederasta Jean Succar Kuri, y que en caso de cumplirse su cambio de prisión se ejerza una vigilancia especial para evitar que escape.
En la sesión de ayer, diputados de todos los partidos lamentaron que Succar Kuri, sentenciado por abuso a menores de edad en Cancún, Quintana Roo, sea enviado a una prisión de mínima seguridad, aun cuando fue catalogado en el proceso judicial como reo de alta peligrosidad.
En todos los tonos, legisladores de los partidos Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Acción Nacional (PAN), de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) y del Trabajo (PT) reprocharon las facilidades que el juez García Lanz concede a Succar Kuri...
The Chamber of Deputies have passed a non-binding resolution that calls upon he
Judiciary to reverse a decision by Judge Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz that will
permit the transfer of [millionaire child pornographer] pedophile Jean Succar
Kuri to a minimum security prison in the city of Cancún. The resolution also
call for extreme vigilance to be used in the case that Succar Kuri is
transferred, so that he is not allowed to escape.
In a plenary session of the Chamber, all of Mexico’s political lamented the fact
that Succar Kuri, who was convicted and sentenced to prison for the sexual abuse
of children in Cancún, is scheduled to be transferred to a minimum security jail
when he had previously been categorized during the judicial process as a
dangerous prisoner. The Party of the Democratic
Revolution(PRD), the Institutional Revolutionary Party(PRI), the National Action
Party (PAN) and the Labor Party (PT) all denounced the special access that Judge
García Lanz is permitting Succar Kuri to have.
From the podium of the Chamber, PRI deputy Pedro Ávila Nevárez decried “the evil
intentions that this man [Succar Kuri] had against Mexican children. If
possible, the Army should pick this individual up, but don’t allow him to be
taken to Cancun as if he had just won a prize. Send him instead to the
Marias Islands or some other place that he can’t escape from!”
PAN deputy Guillermo Zavaleta stated that the crime committed by Succar Kuri
should be punished by the death sentence. “He doesn’t deserve to see even the
light of day tomorrow” stated Deputy Zavaleta from the podium. “Nonetheless, the
political system guarantees him that he will be allowed to live.”
PRD legislator Emilio Serrano also spoke, saying that the transfer of Succar
Kuri involves an attempt to allow his escape. “What can we say, now, to the
‘precious gover’ [a nickname used by Succar Kuri accomplice Kamel Nacif, heard
in secretly recorded phone calls, where he refers to Governor Mario Marín of
Puebla state by this term]? That he take Succar Kuri to Puebla, because he would
be protected there – a place where Miguel Ángel Yunes and Emilio Gamboa Patrón,
and other [wanted] men hide, men who are in the same business and have the same
tastes as Sucar Kuri?”
Labor Party deputy Gerardo Rodolfo Fernández stood to propose an end to the
sheltering of pedophiles. “Often special privileges are offered to those who are
rich and influential, those who have the protection of politicians, such as in
the case of this person, Jean Succar Kuri. That is what the cases of Succar
Kuri, Miguel Ángel Yunes and Emilio Gamboa have in common, that they are gravely
serious and related cases of impunity.
The Party of the Democratic Revolution’s spokesperson in the Chamber, Leticia
Quezada Contreras, upon voting for the resolution stated: “This Chamber will not
tolerate these perverted pedophiles who want to hide between the gaps in the
law. Throw the book at them!”
The Chamber also approved a
proposal by Labor party deputy César González Yáñez, that Deputy Rosi Orozco, in
her role as Chair of the newly created Special Commission to Fight Human
Trafficking, personally present the resolution to the Judiciary, and
specifically to Judge García Lanz.
Enrique Méndez and Roberto Garduño
Periódico La Jornada
March 05, 2010
[Note: In the above article,
Miguel Ángel Yunes, who until Feb. of 2010 was head of the federal Secretariat
of Public Security, and Emilio Gamboa, a legislator in the National Action
Party, are referred to as having ties to Kamel Nacif, a collaborator of Jean
Succar Kuri.
These ties are briefly described in several articles
posted on our
page dedicated to the Lydia Cacho case.
The below article from IPS also describes these
allegations. - LL]
See also:
Mexico
Ties Between Elites and Child Sex Rings "Beyond Imagination"
Mexico City - The complicity in Mexico between child sex rings and the political and business elites "goes beyond what we can even imagine," says activist Lydia Cacho, who faces death threats and was even thrown briefly into prison for revealing those ties in a book...
The number of Mexican politicians and businessmen involved in child pornography and sex rings "would shock us if we knew the real extent of the phenomenon," said Cacho.
In one of the illegally taped conversations broadcast Tuesday, which apparently date back to 2004, the governor of the state of Veracruz, Fidel Herrera of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Emilio Gamboa, head of the party's bloc in the lower house of Congress, can be heard talking on friendly terms with textile mogul Kamel Nacif.
Nacif, a Mexican of Lebanese origin, who in the obscenity-laced conversation can
be heard asking Gamboa to block a gambling bill to be debated by Congress, is
suing Cacho for libel.
In her 2004 book "Los Demonios del Edén" (The Demons of Eden), Cacho - who is a
journalist and writer as well as the director of a women's shelter in Cancún -
links Nacif with Jean Succar, a Lebanese-born hotel owner who is in prison
facing charges of arranging pedophile parties in that Mexican resort town...
The two PRI politicians, Herrera and Gamboa, denied having any illegal ties with
Nacif, and said they did not even know Succar. From their point of view, the
airing of the tapped phone conversations was a low political blow aimed at their
party...
So far, no direct link between politicians or prominent businessmen and child porn or sex rings has been proven. But there are suspicions, which are fuelled by Nacif and his web of contacts.
Cacho, who has been under police protection since last year, when she began to receive death threats, was referred to in earlier leaked conversations, between Nacif and Mario Marín, governor of the state of Puebla, near the capital.
In the tapped conversations, Marín, a member of the PRI, can be heard telling Nacif that "I just gave a bump on the head to that old witch"
[Cacho].
The two men also discussed how they had the activist arrested and thrown into a cell with "nutcases and dykes (lesbians)," so that she would be raped - something that did not occur, because in the prison, "the prisoners themselves and the guards protected me," the writer said in an earlier conversation with IPS...
But when the news of her arrest broke, the rights watchdog Amnesty International, the World Organization Against Torture, the Inter-American Press Association and other international groups raised an outcry, and Cacho was released on bail.
After the scandal triggered by the leaked phone conversations in February, in
which the governor of Puebla and Nacif - who owns factories in that state - are
heard discussing actions to teach Cacho a lesson, the Supreme Court initiated an
investigation to determine whether or not Marín had engaged in criminal
activity.
[Note: Since this article was written in 2006, press
reports have revealed that Kamel Nacif's wife, who was then in a divorce
process, had secretly recorded her husband's conversations with politicians and
co-conspirators including Jean Succar Kuri. She anonymously released these tapes
to the press in 2006. - LL]
Diego Cevallos
Inter Press Service (IPS)
Sep. 13, 2006
Mexico
|
 |
|
National Action Party (PAN)
legislator
Guillermo Zavaleta
speaks from the podium in the Chamber of Deputies to
denounce judicial favoritism shown to child
porn kingpin Jean Succar Kuri |
La Cámara Baja Exige al Poder Judicial Combatir Eficazmente la Pederastia
El pleno de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó por unanimidad, un punto de acuerdo para exhortar al Poder Judicial, a la PGR y a las procuradurías de Justicia de todo el país a combatir con eficacia la pornografía infantil y el abuso sexual a menores.
Diputados de todas las fracciones parlamentarias coincidieron en que se trata de delitos cada vez con mayor incidencia en México.
La propuesta fue presentada por la legisladora panista Rosi Orozco...
Chamber of Deputies Passes Non-binding Resolution
Requesting That the Attorney General's Office and State Prosecutors Across
Mexico Effectively Combat Child Pornography and the Sexual Abuse of Children.
Daniel Blancas Madrigal
Crónica
March 05, 2010
See also:
Added: Mar. 7, 2010
Mexico
Avala Pleno de Diputados Punto de Acuerdo para que la SSP Evite Traslado de Succar Kuri
México, D. F. Palacio Legislativo.- El Pleno de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó un punto de acuerdo de urgente y obvia resolución para exhortar a la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) para que a través de la Dirección General de Traslado de Reos y Seguridad Penitenciaria se tomen todas las medidas de seguridad necesarias para evitar el traslado de Jean Succar Kuri a una prisión de Cancún, Quintana Roo. Lo anterior porque es procesado por un delito sumamente ofensivo para la sociedad –pederastia y pornografía infantil- y se pretende trasladarlo del penal de máxima seguridad del Altiplano, de Almoloya de Juárez, al centro penitenciario municipal de Cancún, el cual ha sido catalogado como uno de los más inseguros del país...
Chamber of Deputies Passes Non-binding Resolution
Requesting that the Secretariat of Public Security Not Transfer [Millionaire
Child Pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri to a Minimum Security Jail in Cancún that
is known as one of the most insecure facilities in the nation.
See also:
Mexico
Víctimas Apelan Reubicación de Kuri
Victims Appeal
Succar Kuri’s Relocation to a Minimum Security Jail in Cancun
The city of Cancun in Quintana Roo state – The administrators of
the Cancun municipal jail have announced that Jean Succar Kuri,
who have been prosecuted for heading-up a child pornography ring
and engaging in child sexual exploitation, may be relocated from
a high security prison to this minimum security prison, as a
result of orders from the Second District Court in this city...
The
announcement of the return to prison in Cancun came four years
after the detention of writer and journalist Lydia Cacho, author
of book The Demons of Eden, which exposed the activities of a
pedophile ring.
Cacho, who was
arrested in Cancun in December 2005 and taken to Puebla state
under a criminal charge of defamation, considers that there is a
very high probability that, once in Cancun, Succar Kuri will use
his influence to live a comfortable life, and will escape and
exact revenge against his victims.
Cacho, “Succar Kuri promised
that he would return to Cancun to get revenge on girls who
denounced him and, of course, to take revenge on me."
Adriana Varillas Corresponsal
El Universal
Feb. 16, 2010
See
Also:
LibertadLatina
Special Section
Journalist / Activist
Lydia Cacho
is
Railroaded by the
Legal Process for
Exposing Child Sex
Networks In Mexico
Colorado, USA
Western Union to Pay $94 Million in Mexico Transfer Settlement
Denver – Western Union will pay $94 million to settle a legal battle with the state of Arizona over whether the company allowed its money transfers to be used to send proceeds from human trafficking and drug smuggling to Mexico, officials said Thursday.
The settlement includes $50 million that will help law enforcement operations in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California battle money laundering and the smuggling of immigrants, drugs and guns along the 2,000-mile border.
"Attacking the flow of illicit funds from the United States to smuggling cartels in Mexico is fundamental to our goal of crushing the cartels," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.
Joseph Cachey, Western Union's chief compliance officer, said the company has improved its monitoring of transfers and screening of agents.
As part of the settlement, Western Union will provide law enforcement officials with unprecedented access to records of wire transfers.
Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press
Feb. 12, 2010
Texas, USA
|
 |
|
Heriberto Zaragoza III |
Fugitive Arrested in Connection With Sexual Assault of a Child
Belton - Police arrested a man Thursday who had been a fugitive since 2007.
Heriberto Zaragoza III was charged with Sexual Assault of a Child in connection with incidents in the summer of 2007, involving a girl in her mid-teens.
The investigation led to a warrant being obtained in November of that year, but by then Zaragoza had disappeared. Police believed he had gone to Mexico.
The warrant remained active, however, and when detectives got word he might be returning to town, they watched for him and took him into custody.
Zaragoza is also charged with Failure to Identify Himself As a Fugitive With Intent to Give False Information...
Louis Ojeda
KXXV
March 05, 2010
New Mexico, USA
Adult Charged After Teen Found Pregnant
Las Cruces - A 23-year-old Las Cruces man has been indicted on child-sex charges after he allegedly impregnated a 14-year-old girl.
Austin Villado was indicted on eight felony child sex charges for having sex with the high school student at her home while the girl's mother was at work.
Court documents say the 14-year-old girl met Villado in September and they began
having sex within weeks. Less than a month later, she was pregnant...
The teenager broke up with the alleged gang member in December because he began dating someone else.
Villado was on probation for a burglary conviction at the time he was arrested so is not eligible for bond.
The Associated Press
March 01, 2010
Pennsylvania, USA
|
 |
|
Jose David Castillo |
Five in Montgomery County Charged in Drug, Prostitution Ring
Try as he might, alleged drug and prostitution ringleader Jose David Castillo
couldn't keep Montgomery County authorities and his own children in the dark.
Castillo, 36, gave it his best shot, though, cops say. He and his cohorts set up
a shrine with spiritual symbols - including the Santa Muerte, or angel of death
- to ward off law enforcement in the hope that investigators wouldn't notice the
two brothels and the cocaine-trafficking operation he ran in Norristown,
authorities said.
But when Montgomery County investigators finally entered his home on Green
Street with a search warrant last May, after a year of surveillance and
investigation, one detective had a question for his daughter: "What does your
father do for a living?"
"All I know is that he had a whorehouse," the girl answered, according to an
affidavit of probable cause. When detectives asked her what her father said
about the place, she answered: "Just rumors around town . . . My friends would
tell me that he was selling women," the affidavit said.
Castillo, known by his underlings as "Gordo," or "fat guy," and four other
defendants were charged yesterday with corrupt organizations, prostitution and
drug and related offenses.
The others charged were Victor Castillo (J.D. Castillo's brother) Alfredo
Hernandez Garcia, Louis Manuel Gonzalez-Sosa and Eduardo Lalo Guzman-Hernandez.
All are Mexican nationals in the country illegally. Castillo has been arrested
twice, once in California and once in Norristown, and has been deported twice to
Mexico...
One brothel and the house that served as base for the cocaine operation were
across the street from Gotwall's Elementary School, the affidavit said...
Three women who allegedly were working as prostitutes when the warrants were
served are in protective custody of the Department of Homeland Security and have
been cooperating with investigators.
"The women were brought to the United States illegally, and they were brought in
with promises of a better life, promises of employment," District Attorney Risa
Vetri Ferman said at a news conference. Instead, she said, they were forced into
prostitution "and physically beaten if they did not comply."
They were threatened with abandonment in the United States or, worse, "they
would be taken back to Mexico to be killed so they could not be able to share
this information with authorities," Ferman said.
Such women would work for Castillo for one week in Norristown while always being
watched by one of his men, according to the affidavit.
"The operation here was part of a circuit of prostitutes who were routinely
routed from Mexico to New York into New Jersey, Philadelphia and the Norristown
area," Ferman said...
Regina Medina
Philadelphia Daily News
March 5, 2010
Mexico
Piden Partidos Políticos Evitar Traslado de Succar Kuri a Cancún
México, DF.- Llaman partidos políticos en San Lázaro a la Secretaría de
Seguridad Pública (SSP) a que tome las medidas necesarias para evitar el
traslado del pedrastra Jean Succar Kuri a una prisión de Cancún, Quintana Roo,
al tiempo que exhortaron a procuradurías a redoblar esfuerzos contra la
explotación sexual.
Durante la sesión de la Cámara de Diputados de este jueves fue aprobada una
iniciativa para integrar un banco de datos sobre la trata de personas.
Al respecto, fue ampliamente criticada la decisión del juez Alfonso Gabriel
García Lanz, de trasladar de un penal de máxima seguridad del Estado de México,
a una cárcel de mínima seguridad, al pederasta Succar Kuri, quien fue catalogado
en el proceso judicial como un reo de alta peligrosidad.
Legislators Ask That Jean Succar Kuri Not Be Transferred
to Cancún
Mexico City - Legislators from across Mexico's political parties have asked the
Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) to take all necessary measures to avoid the
transfer of [millionaire child pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri to a jail in
Cancún, in Quintana Roo state. They also called for prosecutors to redouble
their efforts against sexual exploitation.
During the March 4th session of the Chamber of Deputies [lower house of
Congress], a bill was passed that will create a national
human trafficking database.
During the session, judge Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz was widely criticized for
his decision to allow child pornographer Succar Kuri to be transferred from a
maximum security prison in Mexico state to a minimum security jail in Cancún. A
pervious assessment of Succar Kuri during the judicial process had identified him
as a dangerous, high risk prisoner.
CIMAC Women's News Agency
March 05, 2010
Latin America, The United States
Hillary Clinton Urges Latin America to Fight Drug Corruption
Mexico City - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for Latin America
to fight drug corruption in a regional swing that ended Friday in Guatemala,
days after that country's drug czar and national police chief were jailed on
suspicion of leading a police ring that stole cocaine from drug traffickers.
The arrests underscored Guatemala's vulnerability to traffickers, whose billions
of dollars in profits and bribes are undermining a fragile country still
recovering from years of military rule and civil war.
"Organized crime has infiltrated all aspects of the Guatemalan state, and now
rivals it in terms of power and influence," said Andrew Hudson, senior associate
at Human Rights First in New York.
Drug czar Nelly Bonilla was arrested Tuesday, along with Police Chief Baltazar
Gómez. They were accused of leading a criminal police gang that stole 1,500
pounds of cocaine.
They were the latest in a string of police officers alleged to have crumbled
before the lure of drug profits.
The previous national police chief was jailed in 2009on suspicion of stealing
$300,000 from drug traffickers. A previous drug czar, Adan Castillo, was caught
on tape accepting $25,000 from a Drug Enforcement Administration informant as
payment for overseeing narcotics shipments through Guatemala. He was invited to
a DEA meeting in 2005 and arrested when he arrived in Virginia.
Clinton has said that despite increased cooperation in the region against drug
traffickers, the Obama administration wants governments there to work harder to
confront corruption.
Upon arriving in Guatemala, she praised the arrests and called on officials to
"weed out corruption." Congress has authorized $1.6 billion for fighting drug
trafficking in Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti under
the three-year Merida Initiative.
"We're going to be asking more of a lot of our friends,"
Clinton said earlier during a stop in Costa Rica. "A number of them are not
respecting democratic institutions. A number of them are not taking strong
enough stands against the erosion of the rule of law because of the pressure
from drug traffickers."
Guatemala has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. Drug
traffickers and gangs have revived insecurities in the impoverished people, who
are recovering from a 36-year civil war that killed 200,000 people, most of them
civilians.
A United Nations crime-fighting team, the International Commission Against
Impunity, spearheaded the investigation that led to the arrest of the police
officers. The team was created in 2007 to compensate for the inability of the
Guatemalan judicial system to solve crimes often found to be committed by
moonlighting members of the security forces.
[The above-described realities have important
implications for the ability of Latin American nations to organize any serious
effort to combat human trafficking. - LL]
Anne-Marie O'Connor
The Washington Post
March 6, 2010
See also:
Central America
Centroamérica: Territorio Común Para los Feminicidios
La escalada de homicidios de mujeres o femicidios cometidos en la región, ha
experimentado un preocupante aumento, según el estudio denominado "Femicidio en
Centroamérica", que se presentó a finales del año pasado en San José, Costa
Rica, en el marco de una reunión del Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de
Centroamérica (COMMCA). Este documento comprende una investigación cuantitativa
y cualitativa sobre las manifestaciones extremas de la violencia contra las
mujeres.
Dicho estudio fue desarrollado en Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, Panamá y República Dominicana por el Centro Feminista de Información
y Acción (CEFEMINA) con el apoyo del Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de
Centroamérica (COMMCA), el Fondo de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para la
Mujer (UNIFEM) y la Organización Canadiense de Cooperación Horizontes.
A pesar de que la preocupación por los femicidios es reciente el estudio pudo
cerciorarse de que, en realidad, el problema ya tiene décadas de estar enraizado
en la sociedad centroamericana.
Los hallazgos encontrados indican que este fenómeno se manifiesta en toda la
región y de manera particularmente alarmante en Guatemala, Honduras y El
Salvador. Así mismo, identifica los escenarios en que se producen los femicidios,
analizando algunos de ellos con estudios de caso...
Central America: Common Territory for Femicide
The number in homicides of women, or femicides, committed in the region has
experienced an alarming increase, according to the study “Femicido en
Controamerica” (Femicide in Central America) which presented its findings from
last year in San Jose, Costa Rica, at the meeting of the Consejo de Mujer de
Centroameria (Council of Women’s Ministries of Central America). The document is
comprised of a quantitative and qualitative investigation of the extreme
manifestations of violence against women.
The study was conducted in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic by the Centro Feminista de Información y
Acción de Centroamérica (Feminist Center of Information and Action in Central
America), el Fondo de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para la Mujer (The UN
Development Fund for Women) and la Organización Canadiense de Cooperación
Horizontes (Horizon Organization for Cooperation of
Canada).
Although the concern for femicide is has grown in recent years, the study found
that in reality, the problem has been taking root for decades in Central
American society.
The findings indicate that this phenomenon has manifested itself in the entire
region and most alarmingly in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The study
identified the situation in which femicide is produced, analyzing some with case
studies...
The study also makes clear that in countries like El Salvador and Honduras, the
phenomenon of gangs is generating a greater number of murders of women when
compared with that produced by the couple and former partners.
The above includes deaths provoked by sexual exploitation, revenge between men
and mafias connected with prostitution. Femicides have taken place in the
street, public places, streams, beaches, vacant lots, among other places. The
majority of femicides are committed with guns and knives...
...El Salvador has seen a greater increase in female deaths than male deaths.
Murders of men have increased by 40% while femicides have increased by 111%.
In Guatemala, these figures are higher. Femicide is growing by 183% while
murders of men is growing by 100%... The principal people responsible for
femicides are significant others, ex-partners or other people within the family
like fathers, brothers, stepfathers or cohabitants. Gangs are also responsible
for many femicides.
...Illegal practices connection with organized crime such as arms proliferation,
mafias, international trafficking networks are also responsible for femicides.
The study only intended to analyze figures from past years. Although there have
been advances in causes to help end femicide like the passing of the Law Against
Femicide or the Law Against Human Trafficking in Guatemala- the figures keep
climbing. The increase in violence against women is due to structural
deficiencies that the State must reform to stop these crimes from continuing.
Mario Cordero
La Hora
Jan. 19, 2010
New Jerey, USA
Police, Feds Investigate Human Trafficking in [Trenton]
Trenton - City police and federal agents have been investigating human
trafficking in Trenton's Latino community since late last year, top police
officials said yesterday.
Young women from Guatemala and Mexico have been brought into the city to be used
in an illegal network of bars and social clubs as part of a trade that is
spiking in urban areas across the county, said Police Director Irving Bradley
Jr.
Bradley said the department and its federal partners are building a strong case
against the traffickers and sex-club operators, both of whom may have
connections to Latino street gangs.
"We don't want to do a Band-Aid approach," Bradley said. "We want to shut them
down permanently."
The investigation began when an informant spoke up about high drink prices last
fall, Special Operations commander Capt. Michael Flaherty said.
"We got a complaint that one of the bars was charging $20 for a beer," he said.
"We found that when you paid $20 for a drink, you also got the company of a
person."
From there, police followed the nexus of alcohol, money, and sex through the
South and East Wards, Bradley said. They found violence was sometimes added to
the mix...
The clubs' customers are Latino men, many of them separated from their families
and some in the U.S. illegally. The combination of their immigration status and
cash income makes them tempting targets for both johns and robbers, police say,
as well as potentially being unwilling to report a crime.
The women, who may provide dancing, sexual favors, or simple companionship, are
often deceived by the traffickers.
NJ.com
March 06, 2010
Maryland, USA
|
 |
|
Arash Koraganie Ghulam Abbas |
Montgomery County Police Accuse Six of Human Trafficking, Prostitution
More than a dozen women are ready to testify against a Germantown man accused of
luring them into prostitution, police say.
Arash Koraganie Ghulam Abbas, 31, was arrested Feb. 26 at his home in the 17800
block of Cormorant Lane and charged with four counts each of human trafficking
and running a prostitution business, said Montgomery County Police Department
Cpl. Dan Fitzgerald.
Abbas was one of six arrested in a recent Montgomery County Police investigation
into people being forced into labor or sexual exploitation, also known as human
trafficking.
The investigation led to the disruption of three such trafficking operations in
Montgomery County, authorities said.
"These pimps, what they do, is put these girls in a world they don't know,"
Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said the women who worked as prostitutes for Abbas answered
advertisements on Web sites like craigslist.org and backpage.com for quick
money.
"With the economy the way it is, he was posting things like, ‘Who needs a sugar
daddy?'" Fitzgerald said.
The other five arrested, according to Montgomery County Police, were:
- Deangelo A. Bynum, 24, of Washington, D.C. He was charged with solicitation of
a minor for prostitution after being arrested in Gaithersburg by an undercover
officer posing as young girl, police said. Bynum had attempted to recruit the
girl on facebook.com, requesting photos and money before she could work for him,
police said.
- Rodney Hubert, 34, of New York. He was charged with human trafficking of a
15-year-old female for prostitution. The teen was advertised on craigslist.com
after she arrived in Maryland from New York.
- Christy Elmes, 23, of the Bronx, N.Y. She was charged with human trafficking,
sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree child abuse.
- Katherine Mateo, 19, of the Bronx, N.Y. She was charged with human
trafficking, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree child abuse.
- Tomika Powell, 21, of Montgomery, Ala. She was charged with human trafficking,
sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree child abuse. Powell was also wanted
for desertion from the U.S. Army, police said...
Andre L. Taylor
The Gazette
March 2, 2010
Mexico
Demandarán Mujeres Indígenas de Guerrero Recursos y Servicios
Más de 800 mujeres indígenas del estado de Guerrero se reunirán este sábado 6 de
marzo en la comunidad de Xalatzala, municipio de Tlapa y el domingo 7 de marzo
en la comunidad de Tejocote, municipio de Malinaltepec, para marchar después a
Tlapa con el objetivo de demandar el cese al hostigamiento a mujeres líderes y
de organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos y laborales.
Las manifestantes demandarán el diseño de políticas públicas de acuerdo con las
necesidades de las mujeres indígenas de la entidad.
La marcha forma parte de los actos por el Día Internacional de la Mujer,
organizados por la Unión Regional de Mujeres de la Montaña “Francisca Reyes
Castellanos”, presidida por Jacqueline Balbuena Ramírez, la Unión Nacional
deMujeres Mexicanas y la Unión Regional de la Montaña.
Indigenous Women From Guerrero Demand Resources and
Services
More than 800 Indigenous women from Guerrero state will gather on Saturday,
March 6th in the community of Xalatzala, in Tlapa municipality, and on March 7th
in Tejocote, Malinaltepec municipality, to be followed by a march to Tlapa. The
event is a protest that will demand an end to the harassment of women leaders of
human and labor rights organizations in the region. The women will also demand
that public policies be developed that address the needs of Indigenous women in
the region. The march is being held as part of International Women's Day
activities, and is being organized by the Francisca Reyes Castellanos Regional
Union of Women of la Montaña - headed by Jacqueline Balbuena Ramírez, The
National Union of Mexican Women and the Regional Union of la Montaña.
CIMAC Women's News Agency
March 5, 2010
California, USA
|
 |
|
Barstow Mayor Joseph Dennis Gomez Jr. explains his
legal problems to the Barstow City Council. He is
charged with willfully touching the intimate parts
of a woman against her will for purposes of "sexual
arousal, sexual gratification and sexual abuse." |
Barstow Mayor Charged With Sexual Battery
Barstow - Barstow Mayor Joseph Dennis Gomez Jr. has been charged with sexual
battery for allegedly assaulting a police officer's wife at a December party.
Gomez was charged Monday with a misdemeanor that involved touching the woman
against her will. The San Bernardino County district attorney's office says he
faces up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted.
Gomez allegedly assaulted the woman on Dec. 18 but investigators have not
released details of the incident.
Gomez hasn't been arrested. His arraignment is scheduled for April.
At a City Council meeting earlier this month, Gomez said the allegation was
false and he intended to
fight it.
The Associated Press
Feb. 23, 2010
Mexico
|
 |
|
Imprisoned child pornographer Jean Succar Kuri
photo-graphed with one of his 200 child victims (Now older, the victim
was interviewed for a documentary on the repression
of journalist Lydia Cacho by associates of Succar
Kuri.) |
Piden operativo para evitar fuga de Jean Succar Kuri
México.- Por unanimidad el pleno de la Cámara de Diputados exhortó a las procuradurías General de la República y General de Justicia del Estado de Quintana Roo a implementar un operativo de seguridad para evitar la fuga del pederasta Jean Succar Kuri, cuando éste sea trasladado al centro penitenciario de Cancún.
La Cámara de Diputados también solicitó la intervención de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, para que a través de la dirección general de traslados de reos y seguridad penitenciaria adopte las medidas necesarias para impedir que el pederasta pudiera ser liberado durante el viaje a la prisión local…
Lower Chamber of Congress Unanimously Calls for Special Security
Measures to Prevent Child Pornographer Jean Succar Kuri's Escape from Prison
Mexico City - The Chamber of Deputies (lower house) of Congress has unanimously passed a non-binding resolution that requests that the Attorney General of the state of Quintana Roo mount a security operation to insure that convicted millionaire child pornographer Jean Succar Kuri does not escape during his upcoming transfer from a maximum security prison to a minimum security jail in Cancún.
The Chamber of Deputies also requested the intervention of the federal Secretary of Public Security, through its directorate for prisoner transfers and security, asking that they take all possible precautions to prevent any escape attempt by Succar Kuri.
The vote on the non-binding resolution was held with a sense of urgency and obvious determination. It was supported by all political parties. The resolution was presented by National Action Party (PAN) congressional deputy Rosi Orozco, who is Chair of the newly formed Special Commission to Fight Human Trafficking in the Chamber of Deputies.
The resolution also calls upon federal agencies and state governments to redouble their efforts to eradicate and prevent child sexual exploitation, and asks that they find and prosecute more cases like that of pedophile Jean Succar Kuri.
From the Chamber of Deputies all of Mexico's political parties attacked pedophilia and stood in favor of defending the rights of Mexican children.
Nonetheless, Emilio Serrano, a deputy from the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) asked the Chamber why they were 'tearing their clothes
up' about this issue, given that the same institution, Congress, had previously protected pedophiles and human rights violators. He recalled the case of Puebla state governor Mario Marín, and his collusion with millionaire businessman Kamel Nacif, who himself is linked to Succar Kuri.
[See the below link to the Lydia Cacho case for
additional context to this statement. - LL]
Mónica Romero
W Radio
March 04, 2010
See
Also:
LibertadLatina
Special Section
Journalist / Activist
Lydia Cacho
is
Railroaded by the
Legal Process for
Exposing Child Sex
Networks In Mexico
Mexico
 |
|
New Alliance Party deputy Elsa María Martínez Peña |
Impulsarán cambios culturales para resolver cultura machista
Comité del Centro de Estudios para el Adelanto de las Mujeres
México, DF.- Diputadas integrantes del Comité del Centro de Estudios para el Adelanto de las Mujeres y la Equidad de Género (CCEAMEG), coincidieron en la necesidad de crear nuevas estrategias de desarrollo en favor de las mujeres del país, y en particular de las indígenas y rurales.
Durante la instalación del Comité, las legisladoras convinieron en impulsar la igualdad tanto en las diferentes instituciones de gobierno, como en las políticas públicas y en los distintos ámbitos de la sociedad...
Congressional Leaders Push for Social Changes to Resolve
the Problem of Mexico's Culture of Machismo
Congress creates a committee, and the Center for Studies for the Advancement of Women
Women congressional deputies from several political parties, who are members of the newly created Committee for the Center for Studies for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (CCEAMEG), are in agreement that new, pro-women development strategies must be created in Mexico, and these efforts must focus in particular on the problems of Indigenous and rural women.
During the Committee's inaugural ceremony, women legislators convened to promote gender equality both within government institutions and among the many sectors of society.
In response to the constant expansion of poverty that affects women, the inequality and the lack of access to basic needs such as education, healthcare and development, among other forms of discrimination which women endure in Mexico, the LIX (59th) Legislature of the Chamber of Deputies has created the CCEAMEG Center.
The Center will be the first of its kind in Latin America. It is founded on the principles declared at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China in 1995. The Beijing Declaration requires all of the world's governments to implement mechanisms to guarantee solutions to gender inequality.
New Alliance Party deputy Elsa María Martínez Peña stated that the work of the Committee and the Center should contribute to consolidating a gender based perspective in regard to the legislative process. It should involve a scientific, analystical and political vision about the interrelationships of women and men that proposes to eliminate the causes of gender oppression.
Labor Party deputy Jaime Cárdenas García added that the problem of a culture of machismo in Mexico cannot be resolved through laws alone. "Changes in our culture and our economic model must also take place."
CEAMEG director Maria de los Ángeles Corte Ríos said that on March 10, 2010, the Chamber of Deputies with present a forum, "Advances and Setbacks in Human Rights for Women."
Gladis Torres Ruiz
CIMAC Women's News Agency
March 03, 2010
The United States
|
 |
|
Convicted child rapist Jeremias Chagala-Mil
|
Why Are So Many Children Falling Prey to Criminal Aliens?
In April 2009, in a Charlottesville, VA courtroom, Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire sentenced Jeremias Chagala-Mil for the repeated rape of a local middle-school girl. Last November, he pleaded guilty to the crime, and admitted that he had sex with her many times.
In April 2008, the girl’s mother discovered what he was doing with her daughter and reported him to police. Since his arrest, he has expressed his desire to marry the 7th grader.
The 32-year-old Mexican national has continued to defend his actions to police, by maintaining that his behavior would not be a crime, and actually quite common throughout his own country.
Charlottesville Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Claude Worrell said of Chagala-Mil: “He said this young girl, who was 12 at the time, looked like she was sexually mature to him. He said in Mexico, any girl who looks sexually mature is fair game to have sex with.”
While Hogshire sentenced Chagala-Mil to 30 years in prison, he suspended all but six of those years. After completing his prison sentence, he will be deported back to Mexico.
Unfortunately, the claims that Chagala-Mil makes about Mexico are true.
Another example of this attitude can be found in Mexican national Diego Lopez-Mendez, who pled guilty in 2006 to sexually assaulting a 10 year old West Virginia girl. Through an interpreter, he told the court: "In the pueblo where I grew up girls are usually married by 13 years old….I was unaware of the nature of the offense or that it was a bad crime."
The crime of kidnapping a woman for the purpose of rape and marriage against her will, or "rapto" as it is known in Mexico is actually seen as a minor crime and rarely prosecuted.
...A Mexican legislator actually even called the practice "romantic."
While rape is a serious crime in the United States, many Mexican nationals cannot understand why they are prosecuted on this side of the border. Often, a small payment of $10 to $20 to the victim's family will settle the matter back in Mexico.
Of course, it is also common for all charges to be dropped against the accused rapist, if he offers to marry his victim in front of the judge, even if the girl refuses, the court acknowledges that he has made the offer.
But perhaps, the most troubling and telling reason behind the growing epidemic of child molestation at the hands of Mexican illegal aliens, is the fact the age of sexual consent throughout much of Mexico is 12...
In addition to Mexico City, the age of consent is 12 years old in 19 Mexican states...
Dave Gibson
The Examiner
March 03, 2010
See also:
In Mexico, an Unpunished Crime
Rape Victims Face
Widespread Cultural Bias in Pursuit of Justice
...Mexico is struggling to modernize
its justice system, but when it comes to punishing sexual
violence against women, surprisingly little has changed in a
century. In many parts of Mexico, the penalty for stealing a cow
is harsher than the punishment for rape.
Although the law calls for tough
penalties for rape -up to 20 years in prison- only rarely is there
an investigation into even the most barbaric of sexual violence.
Women's groups estimate that perhaps 1 percent of rapes are ever
punished...
...In the country that made the term
"machismo" famous, where women were given the right to vote only
in 1953, women's rights advocates said rape and other violence
against women are still not treated as serious crimes. And they
said police, prosecutors and judges often show indifference or
hostility toward women who claim rape...
"In 90 percent of the cases of rape, the Mexican police blame
the women," ... "In the few cases where they know the man is
guilty, they let him 'fix' it with money." ...
...A "machismo culture," instilled
through what is learned in the home, school and church, has
allowed many men to "believe they are superior and dominant, and
that women are an object." ...That mind-set has contributed to
making many men-including policemen, prosecutors, judges and
others in positions of authority-believe that sexual violence
against women is no big deal.
...A review of criminal laws in all
31 Mexican states showed that many states require that if a
12-year-old girl wants to accuse an adult man of statutory rape,
she must first prove she is "chaste and pure." Nineteen of the
states require that statutory rape charges be dropped if the
rapist agrees to marry his victim...
In the southern state of Oaxaca last
summer, the one-year-old, government-funded Oaxacan Women's
Institute persuaded the legislature to pass heavy criminal
penalties against a practice known as "rapto." Laws in most
Mexican states define rapto as a case where a man kidnaps a
woman not for ransom, but with the intent of marrying her or to
satisfy his "erotic sexual desire." The new law championed by
the women's group established penalties of at least 10 years in
prison.
But in March, the state legislature
reversed itself and again made the practice a minor infraction.
A key legislator -a man- argued for the reduction, calling the
practice harmless and "romantic."
Human rights groups disagree. They
say it is not charming for a man to spot a woman he fancies
sitting in a park, pick her up and carry her away to have sex
with her. Yet to this day, that is still how some women meet
their husbands. The attorney general's office said there have
been 137 criminal complaints of rapto in the state of Puebla
since January 2000.
Mary Jordan,
The Washington Post
June 30, 2002
See also:
Central America and Mexico
María de Jesús Silva, Jackeline's mother
Trata de blancas en
Centroamérica
For non-governmental
organizations, the child kidnapping and sex trafficking case of
11-year-old Jackeline Jirón Silva fom Nicaragua is emblematic,
as the case shows clearly how the third most profitable criminal
enterprise in the world operates.
...Jackeline has been forced to work in brothels all over
Central America. Her pimps now have her in Tapachula, in
Chiapas state [near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala].
María de Jesús Silva [Jackeline's mother, who searched all over
Central America and southern Mexico for her daughter]: "I saw
things that I never imagined existed... The brothels are full of
children, sold by traffickers and abandoned by their parents. I
saw them prostitute themselves and wished that any one of them
would have been my daughter. I settled for caressing the hair of
these girls, and I imagined that in the 'next' brothel, I was
going to find my daughter. Everything that I have suffered
through is nothing compared to what my girl is going through."
...According to Ana Salvadó, executive director for Mexico,
Latin America and the Caribbean for
Save the Children:
"the panorama for childhood in Latin America is growing more
bleak over time, and child trafficking is growing rapidly in
each of these countries..."
…Save the Children has identified the border region between
Guatemala and Mexico as being the largest hot spot for the
commercial sexual exploitation of children in the entire world.
Ana Salvadó: "It is a bottleneck, because many children attempt
to migrate from Central [and South] America to the United
States, and they never get past [southern] Mexico…
…A study by the international organization
ECPAT… made public
ithree weeks ago in Guatemala City, reveals that over
21,000 Central Americans, mostly children,
are prostituted in 1,552 bars and brothels in Tapachula, Mexico…
Traffickers sell these child victims to Tapachula's pimps for
$200 each.
More that 50% of these children are from [indigenous]
Guatemala. The rest are Salvadorans, Hondurans and
Nicaraguans. They range in age from eight
to fourteen-years-old.
...In 2006, the
International Labor
Organization conducted a survey of adult attitudes in
Mexico, Central America and South America, where it is quite
easy [for men] to engage in sexual relations with children.
|
Some 65% of respondents stated
that they don't see any problem, and they don't feel any
sort of conflict or fear in regard to having sex with
boy and girl children, and "they don't feel that there
is anything wrong with doing it." |
...Mexico has been converted into a paradise for pimps and a
living hell for thousands of Central American girl children like
Jackeline Jirón Silva, whose captors have prostituted her during
the past 32 months. It is known that during half of that time,
Jackeline has been held in the southern Mexican state of
Chiapas.
Ana Lilia Pérez
Revista Contralínea
Oct. 22, 2007
California, USA
Sacramento Man Facing 15 Child Molest Felonies Involving Girlfriend's Daughters
Sacramento - Bail has been set at $5 million for a Sacramento man accused of multiple acts of sexual assault against the daughters of his girlfriend, say police.
Omar Alejandro Valdivia Mendoza, 29, was booked into Sacramento Main Jail Monday evening on 15 felonies accusing him of oral copulation; and violence, force or duress during the commission of sexual conduct, rape and lewd acts.
Sacramento police served an arrest warrant on Mendoza Monday. Sgt. Norm Leong said detectives began an investigation late last year when the alleged crimes were reported. The first report was made after Valdivia Mendoza was no longer living with his girlfriend, Leong said.
The molestations had begun when the victims were 9 and 10 years old and had been going on for several years, according to the investigation. Valdivia
Mendoza's first court appearance was scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, in
Sacramento County Superior Court.
KXTV
March 02, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
|
 |
|
Gian Carlos Mirabel |
Police: Child Rape Caught On Videotape
Lowell Bus Driver Faces Charges
The abuse of a Lowell student at the hands of her bus driver was caught on videotape, police said.
Gian Carlos Mirabel, 22, of Lawrence, was arrested late Sunday night and arraigned on two counts of forcible child rape.
An employee of the North Reading Transportation Bus Co. was reviewing security footage of a bus that was involved in a minor accident on Feb. 25. While reviewing the footage, the employee observed suspicious activity between the defendant and a student on the bus, officials said.
"The time that (the driver) was stating that the accidents happened, there was a student on the bus and this child should have been at school," North Reading Transportation President John McCarthy said. "There was enough questions to what was going on that we couldn't answer..."
The victim, in 7th grade at the time, first met the defendant in the spring of 2009 when he was assigned to bus route, police said. In the fall of 2009, when the victim was in the 8th grade, the defendant allegedly began to ask the victim to remain on the bus after he dropped the other students off.
The victim told police that she did not want to be on the bus with the defendant and he physically prevented her from leaving the bus at least once. Officials said Mirabel told the victim not to tell anyone about the alleged encounters...
TheBostonChannel.com
March 02, 2010
California, USA
San Jose State Police Investigate Groping Attacks
San Jose - Authorities in the South Bay Wednesday night were investigating three separate incidents of sexual battery that happened within about two hours of each other near San Jose State University earlier in the day, a police spokesman said.
San Jose police Officer Jermaine Thomas said it appears all three victims are females who attend the university.
The first incident happened shortly after 9 a.m. at North Eighth and St. James streets.
"The subject approached the victim from behind, hugged her and touched her inappropriately," Thomas said.
He said similar incidents happened at about 11:05 a.m. at East San Carlos and South 12th streets and at 11:13 a.m. in the 400 block of East San Fernando Street.
The suspect in all the incidents was described as a Hispanic man, 20 to 30 years old and 5 feet 8 inches tall. He is clean-shaven with short hair and was wearing a black jacket.
Authorities issued a warning Wednesday for women on or near the campus to watch out for the groping suspect. Officers said sexual battery is a serious offense and they were determined to find the man responsible.
KTVU
March 03,2010
Florida,
USA, Guatemala
|
 |
|
Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy |
Immokalee Man Accused of Using Teens as Sex Slaves
Investigators call it one of the worst cases of sex slavery in Southwest Florida.
Francisco Domingo is charged with human trafficking. But court documents detail horrible accounts of what happened to a 16-year-old girl behind closed doors.
The victim was brought to Immokalee illegally in 2008 from Guatemala. Investigators say the girl was held against her will and Domingo was taking the money she made in the farm fields.
Court documents go on to state that on several occasions, Domingo took pictures and videos of the 16-year-old victim having sex with several men against her will.
The victim said that would happen several times a week.
"Human trafficking or slavery - it doesn't get more serious because the people who bring the slaves over know exactly what slaves are getting into. This is a high priority of our office, the Unites States, the Department of Justice and the FBI," said Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy.
Domingo will be back in court next week for a bond hearing and officials we spoke to say more charges may be filed.
Stacey Deffenbaugh
WBBH
March 03, 2010
Mexico
 |
|
Deputy Rosi Orozco |
Es peligroso trasladar a Succar Kuri al penal de Cancún, advierten diputados
La Comisión Especial de Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas de la Cámara de Diputados presentará este jueves un punto de acuerdo ante el pleno legislativo, con la finalidad de exhortar al juez federal Gabriel García Lanz “para que entienda” que tener al pederasta Jean Succar Kuri, El Johnny, en el penal municipal de Cancún, Quintana Roo “es sumamente peligroso”, no sólo porque podría fugarse, sino “fundamentalmente porque las niñas, niños y jóvenes que fueron sus víctimas recibirían un golpe emocional y sicológico terrible, irreparable, al saber que su victimario estaría otra vez tan cerca de ellos”.
La diputada federal y presidenta de esa comisión, Rosi Orozco, buscó este miércoles a La Jornada para informar, directamente, que “esta comisión especial que presido ha decidido de último minuto presentar un punto de acuerdo, exhortando al juez (García Lanz) para que reconsidere su decisión”.
También “exhortaremos a la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) federal para que si ya no queda otra cosa más que trasladar a esta persona a Cancún, las autoridades garanticen que no se fugue durante o después del traslado, y que cuiden que (Succar) no atente contra la seguridad de sus víctimas”.
Congressional Leaders: Transferring Imprisoned Millionaire
Child Pornographer Jean Succar Kuri to Cancun is Dangerous
On Thursday, March 4, 2010, the
Special Commission
to Fight Human Trafficking of the Chamber of Deputies in Congress will present a
non-binding resolution before the Chamber, with the objective of calling upon
federal magistrate
Gabriel García Lanz "so that he will understand" that the
pending transfer of Jean Succar Kuri, "El Johnny," from a maximum security
prison to a minimum security jail in Cancún is "an extremely dangerous move." It
is a danger not only because of the risk that Succar Kuri may flee [he is a
millionaire based in Cancún], but because his transfer will subject the [200]
children and underage youth in Cancún who were his victims to an irreparable
psychological blow from knowing that their victimizer has been moved back to
Cancún.
Deputy Rosi Orozco, Chair of the Commission, noted that the resolution also asks
that the head of the federal security secretariat assure that, in the case that Succar
Kuri is transferred, he is not allowed to escape during the transfer process.
Alfredo Méndez
Periódico La Jornada
March 4, 2010
Nicaragua
Nicaraguan University Students Rescued from Potential Human Trafficking Scenario
Free for Life International, a U.S. anti-trafficking organization, met last week with Nicaragua's new Ministry of Families Director Marcia Ramirez Mercado to discussed the issue of human trafficking in Nicaragua. Director Mercado stated at that time that Nicaragua is stepping up their efforts in the fight against human trafficking. Evidence of this fact appeared two days later when a couple was arrested in Managua for attempting to sex traffic several University students from Nicaragua into Guatemala and Mexico. The girls, primarily minors, were lured with the promise of appearing in several of Latin America's most prominent magazines.
Director Marcia Ramirez Mercado has recently been appointed Ministry of Families Director in Nicaragua. In this position a key part of her duties will include the oversight of governmental efforts against human trafficking in Nicaragua. Colette and Dr. Daniel Bercu, founders of Free for Life International, along with directors of Nicoya & Friends Mission were honored to meet with her last week to talk about their work concerning human trafficking. The discussion included the future placement of minor victims into the shelter, efforts the Nicaraguan government is making in the fight against trafficking, and a potential collaboration concerning awareness and victim services with Free for Life International.
Free for Life International, a Tennessee based 501c3 nonprofit organization, has made it their mission to partner with those around the world in the rescue, restoration and reintegration of trafficking survivors. Nicoya and Friends Mission, a shelter for minor age trafficking victims in Nicaragua, is one of these shelters. They are one of the only designated shelters in Nicaragua set up for minor sex trafficking victims and are providing a place of love and restoration for these young women....
Press Release
Free for Life International
March 2, 2010
Texas, USA, Mexico
|
 |
|
Gerardo Salazar - was wanted by the FBI for the sex trafficking of
children |
Accused Cantina Sex Ring Operator Arrested in Mexico
A nearly five-year run from justice is over for the alleged leader of a depraved sex-trafficking ring accused of using beatings, threats and rape to force young immigrant women into slavery in Houston, according to Mexican authorities who captured him.
Gerardo “El Gallo” Salazar, whose nickname is Spanish for The Rooster, was snared in his hometown in the tiny state of Tlaxcala, outside Mexico City.
He was apparently first arrested on counterfeiting charges, but later confessed to being wanted in Houston, according to a news release Monday from Mexico's federal attorney general's office. He also tried to offer Mexican agents a bribe of a house and car not to extradite him, the statement continued.
Salazar, 45, was known to not only hoodwink his victims with lies of love, but mark them as his property with a tattoo of a rooster.
He would later strike them with belts, wooden spoons and cables, according to a federal indictment on file in Houston. In one beating described in the document, he ordered a teenager to get on her knees and beg for forgiveness for defying him.
Pending his positive identification and other hurdles, Salazar will likely be subject to a request for extradition to Houston to face charges including sexual assault of a child and sex trafficking.
“I never thought they'd catch the guy,” said Sgt. Michael Barnett, of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, which was part of the team that broke up the ring that forced victims to work as prostitutes from the back of Houston bars...
Salazar is accused of running a gang that specialized in using fancy trucks and full wallets to romance small-town women and teenagers in Mexico, then lure them to the United States as girlfriends...
During the day, Salazar and his fellow gangsters kept them locked in apartments and homes, authorities say, and at night, they were taken to Houston cantinas and sold over and over to customers, sometimes for as little as $5.
They were beaten into submission, according to an affidavit filed in court by FBI agent Maritza Conde-Vazquez, and captors knew to keep the bruises in places that would not show.
Among the many allegations against Salazar is an instance in which he told a teenager she had to earn at least $3,000 a week and that if she ever thought about leaving him he would kill her parents back in Mexico...
Dane Schiller
Houston Chronicle
March 2, 2010
Added: Mar. 3, 2010
Mexico
Vigilen a Esos Jueces
Las y los legisladores expusieron dos casos ejemplares que nos permiten entender lo que en realidad sucede en los juzgados de este país
Las y los diputados del PRD, PAN y PT, se pronunciaron en el Congreso para solicitar una supervisión detallada de las actuaciones de jueces que estén a cargo de casos de pornografía y explotación sexual de menores de edad. Llamó la atención el silencio del PRI y del Verde. Está claro que éste es un tema que indigna y enoja a cualquiera que sea incapaz de disfrutar con los abusos de infantes. Justo por eso resulta vital recordar que México ha avanzado en este tema y debe seguir haciéndolo. Las y los legisladores expusieron dos casos ejemplares que nos permiten entender lo que en realidad sucede en los juzgados de este país.
Watch Those Judges
Members of Congress have proposed a closer look at two cases that allow us to understand exactly what goes on in our nation's courtrooms.
Congressional deputies from the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Labor Party (PT) have called for a detailed review of the actions of judges in two cases involving child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children. The absence of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Ecological Green Party (Verde) in this announcement was notable.
It is clear that these topics outrage all who are incapable of abusing children. For that very fact it is important to note that Mexico is making progress in regard to this issues, and it should continue its efforts to change.
The criminal case against Father Rafael Muñiz demonstrated how the public prosecutor's office in Veracruz state engaged in a mediocre effort to formulate charges against the priest. Later, a federal judge asked the Veracruz court to improve its legal arguments. But the local court ignored the law and allowed Father Muñiz to be freed on bail. Two days after his recent release from jail, he was making crosses from ashes to celebrate his freedom.
Although the truth is that Father Muñiz is only free on bond and his case is being reviewed, he is enjoying the fruits of a judicial decision that has resulted from ignorance, fumbling and pressure from the Archdiocese of Veracruz. Judge Martín has taken no specialized training in child sexual exploitation. He therefore continues to make judicial decisions as if this were the year 2000, when Mexico didn't have the precise legal instruments and judicial arguments that exist today, which permit serious sentences to be handed down.
In the case of [millionaire accused child pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri, the self-confessed "pedophile of Cancun," he was never charged with child sex trafficking, because he was extradited from the United States on charges of child pornography and the corruption of minors. It has been six years since Succar Kuri was arrested in Arizona. His many attorneys, despite not having done a spectacular job in defending him, have won a victory recently in the fact that Succar Kuri will be transferred from a [maximum security] federal prison to a local [minimum security] jail in his home town city of Cancún. According to authorities, Succar Kuri was one of the planners of a prisoner escape by 103 inmates in 2006.
The magistrate in the case made it clear that federal prosecutors had a responsibility to submit a request for revocation of the judicial order that will send Kuri to a local jail in Cancún, and instead, the prosecutors had submitted an appeal of the judge's order. This is equivalent to saying that a given person went to the hospital for a kidney translation and was offered a liver transplant. As yet we don't know if the prosecutor in this case made an intentional error. It is incompre-hensible that such an error could occur
when this case is being scrutinized by the U.S. Justice Department, which
had extradited Succar Kuri under an agreement that President Calderón's government would bring him to justice.
Succar Kuri will arrive in Cancún this week. His return to this city will be watched by many.
Judge Martin is also being closely watched. This week we will find out whether Father Muñiz received special treatment. It is clear that there is an urgent need in Mexico to train judges and prosecutors on the law as it applies to sex trafficking cases.
To feel outrage at these developments is essential, but it is not a sufficient response. Only through professional training and oversight of the judiciary will we be able to eliminate the ignorant excuses and the faulty interpretations of the law that allow corruption into the process.
The message that we send out to the millions of boys and girls who are exploited each year must be clear: child pornography is a crime, and the judiciary will protect children.
Lydia Cacho
www.LydiaCacho.net
March 01, 2010
See
Also:
LibertadLatina
Special Section
Journalist / Activist
Lydia Cacho
is
Railroaded by the
Legal Process for
Exposing Child Sex
Networks In Mexico
Jamaica
Chief Justice Says Jamaica Dealing With Human Trafficking
Kingston - Jamaica's Chief Justice, Hon. Zaila McCalla O.J., has commended efforts being made by stakeholders, at various levels of the society, to combat human trafficking in Jamaica.
Speaking at a two-day workshop hosted by the Ministry of Health at the Mona Visitors' Lodge and Conference Centre, University of the West Indies (UWI),
St. Andrew, Mrs. McCalla cited the efforts and input of the legislature, judiciary, security forces, human rights activists, women's groups and faith-based organizations.
She alluded to a "fairly recent disclosure" in a human trafficking report prepared by the United States State Department, which lists Jamaica at an "unacceptable"' Tier 2 level on its watch list.
She pointed out that this signaled that it is felt by the authorities there, that Jamaica has not fully complied fully with the minimum standards. She said that, on the contrary, Jamaica had made "significant efforts" to deal with the problem.
Citing that the existing laws in any country to punish perpetrators of the crime is necessary for the cultivation of a social conscience in that society, the Chief Justice highlighted the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act, legislated in 2007, as a direct effort to stamp out human trafficking.
"So far, the courts have been working to ensure that the objectives of the Act are complied with, and we will continue to do so in an effort to prevent and stamp out this style of criminal activity. The existence of legislation in Jamaica to confront the problem is a significant step on which we should continue to build," she stated...
South Florida Caribbean News
March 2, 2010
South Carolina,
USA
14-year-old Girl Was State's First Human Trafficking Case
Columbia - ...Tucked away in a trailer park just a few miles outside the Columbia city limits was the center of South Carolina's first human trafficking case.
Inside was a child, smuggled into the US, then trafficked to a pimp and forced to service dozens of men a day in the Midlands.
"I told my agents, I said, 'We're going to treat this little girl like she's our daughter and we're going to hunt this little girl down and get her out of this trailer,'" said Ken Burkhart, an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Burkhart got a call from Mexican authorities in February 2007 about a 14-year-old runaway who called her sister in Mexico for help and gave a vague description of the trailer on Sharpe Road.
ICE agents put the trailer under surveillance. On Feb. 27, 2007, the agents moved in.
"Wasn't really seeing anything and with a minor being involved, I didn't want to wait much longer, so we made the decision to simply knock on the door. When I knocked on the door the 14-year-old answered the door," said Burkhart. "I was shocked. I didn't expect that, I expected anybody else but my girl to answer that door."
Unaware of who was inside, Burkhart knew he had to act fast.
"I told her we had been in contact with her sister and shook her hand and just gently led her right out of the door and I had several agents, along with officers from the Richland County Sheriff's Office who assisted, and just kind of passed her right over to those agents," said Burkhart.
It took days, Burkhart says, before the girl agents called "AR" could trust them.
"They have been trained not to trust law enforcement, that we're the bad guys, that we're really not there to help them, so initially AR would tell me that everything was fine, she was okay; she was in no danger," said Burkhart.
When she opened up, AR told investigators she was smuggled in from Mexico in July 2006 by Jesus Perez-Laguna.
Perez-Laguna ran a sex trafficking ring in Charlotte where he pimped AR and several other girls out around the area for several weeks, pocketing the money the girls made.
AR told investigators she was then traded out to Guatalupe Reyes-Rivera, also known as Mama Martina, who lived in Columbia.
"She actually liked her because she didn't beat her like the man in Charlotte did," said Burkhart.
AR told investigators a third pimp, Ciro Bustos-Rosales, pimped her out at Columbia's Mauldin Village Apartments on Mauldin Avenue, a few miles away from Columbia College. The girl was forced to have sex with dozens of men a day...
Both Perez-Laguna and Bostos-Rosales pleaded guilty in 2007. Perez-Laguna is serving a 14-year sentence, Bostos-Rosales is serving five-and-a-half years.
The penalties for trafficking carry up to life in federal prison, and in some cases, qualifies for the death penalty.
WIS News 10
March 1, 2010
Added: Mar. 2, 2010
Mexico, The United States
|
|
|
Gerardo Salazar - was wanted by the FBI for the sex trafficking of
children |
Mexico Arrests Sex-traffic Suspect Wanted by FBI
Mexico City - Federal police in central Mexico have captured a man wanted by the FBI for allegedly trafficking women and minors for prostitution in the United States.
The Attorney General's Office says police acting on an anonymous tip captured Mexican suspect Gerardo Salazar on a highway in the central state of Tlaxcala.
The office says Salazar is being held for attempted bribery and possible extradition to face the U.S. charges. It said in a statement Monday that when police stopped Salazar, he offered them a house and a car to let him go.
The FBI alleges Gerardo Salazar used beatings, threats and deception to force Mexican women and girls to work as prostitutes in the Houston, Texas, area in 2004 and 2005.
The Associated Press
March 01, 2010
Arizona,
USA
|
 |
|
Santana Batiz-Aceves |
'Chandler Rapist' Suspect Admits Attacking Young Girls
A 39-year-old Valley man who authorities say stalked and raped six young girls in Chandler agreed Monday to a prison sentence of 168½ years as part of a plea agreement.
Santana Batiz-Aceves, dubbed the "Chandler Rapist," was charged with 47 counts, including child molestation, sexual conduct with a minor, kidnapping, aggravated assault and burglary. Police say he attacked girls from June 2006 to November 2007.
Batiz-Aceves pleaded guilty to 12 counts, including attempted sexual conduct with a minor and molestation. Sentencing is scheduled for April 2 before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Kristin Hoffman.
The case left the city on edge for two years and received significant media attention. On April 9, Judge Theresa A. Sanders denied Batiz-Aceves' request to have the trial moved out of Maricopa County...
Originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, Batiz-Aceves began living in the United States illegally in 1988 and lived in Sacramento for nearly 16 years, where he worked for a construction company.
Three of the victims were students at Andersen Junior High School, police said.
In all but one of the cases, police believe, the rapist followed the victims for weeks, targeting single-parent homes.
In the incidents, the rapist studied the parent's routine, developed a quick escape route and then struck, police said.
Megan Boehnke
The Arizona Republic
March 1, 2010
Texas,
USA
Fake Doctor Gets 68 Years In Prison
Dallas - A jury in Dallas has ordered 68 years in prison for a man convicted of sexual assault in an attack on a 12-year-old girl as he pretended to be a doctor.
Jesus Garza testified Monday, during the penalty phase, that the girl and her mother had lied about the allegations.
Prosecutors say the woman in June took her daughter, who has a skin condition, to Garza's Grand Prairie apartment for an examination. Garza allegedly had claimed he had a clinic that was being painted.
The mother says she could not see what the 64-year-old Garza was doing because he covered the girl, whose name was not made public as a sexual assault victim, was doing to her.
Three adult women testified that they also were molested by Garza when they sought treatment from him.
The Associated Press
Feb. 16, 2010
California,
USA
Daycare Provider Stops Attempted Kidnapping
Parents are on edge in Lompoc, after a man reportedly tried to kidnap a 2-year-old from Ryon Park, Friday morning.
According to police, the man allegedly grabbed the child and tried to leave the park.
A day-care provider was able to free the child from the suspected abductor, who is described as a 40 to 50 year-old Hispanic male.
Witnesses say the man spoke Spanish and broken English. At the time of the crime, he was wearing a dark blue windbreaker, with a pink and yellow logo on the front.
The subject was last seen leaving to park towards Ocean Ave.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Lompoc Police Department.
Christina Heller
KEYT
March 1, 2010
0
North Carolina,
USA
|
 |
|
Cruz Luis Antonio Cruz |
Man Arrested For Having Sex With Minor Over 8-year Period
The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man for having sex with a girl for 8 years since she was only 10 years old.
Luis Antonio Cruz, 42, of Howard Gap Road in Hendersonville was charged with four counts of second-degree rape, two counts of attempted second-degree sex offense, indecent liberties with a child and one count of felony child abuse, all of which are felonies.
“Mr. Cruz was identified by our 287(g) unit as being in the country legally, but not a citizen,” Sheriff Rick Davis said. “Persons in this category, after completion of a sentence, are deported as an aggravated felon and returned to their country of origin.”
Cruz was processed at the Henderson County Detention Center where he was placed under a $280,000 secured bond.
Blueridgenow.com
Feb. 27, 2010
Added:
March 1, 2010
An activist's letter speaks the truth from the front lines of
the battle to save children from impunity
Mexico
Breaking Chains Update...lots of action....almost more than we can handle.
Lots of action but it is taking its toll……
In the last 2 weeks we have successfully rescued 2 new daughters both of whom have extraordinary testimonies…I will share Monica’s in a bit. We also through the US Dept. Of Homeland Security successfully shut down a child porn site that had more than 500 videos involving hardcore acts with children many of whom have yet to reach 5 years of age.
I don’t think you can understand until you have seen this stuff the depth of evil that exists in mankind and while the acts are one thing what is causing me what may be more pain than I can handle is the faces of these children during the acts. I keep seeing them over and over in my mind. I find myself now at times in the middle of the day and night just stopping and crying. I can handle a lot as most of my work keeps me in the midst of hell but the enemy may have found the way to take me out of this battle.
On top of that we have identified 3 different middle schools in Baja California where girls yet to reach 16 years of age and many of whom are only 12 are willingly selling themselves not out of force but for money to buy things like cell phones, chips and soda, and the latest fashions. Many of the clients are Americans who either live here or come down specificially seeking these children.
Through an ongoing operation in the red zones of Tijuana we have also identified 42 minors who are being prostituted blatantly with seemingly no repercussion from law enforcement…yeah they do go in and arrest them from time to time but the next day they are back on the streets. It is a helpless feeling to see all this and only be able to act on a miniscule fraction.
We have been waiting for help from Mexico City for a long time now and are pretty much resigning ourselves that it is not coming. It is not like they don’t have other things to do…this country is in the midst of a full blown war that makes Iraq look like a playground. There are armed groups attacking each other daily and many of the attacks are happening in the middle of civilians and even in the middle of town squares. The numbers are staggering and it seems like the daily reports of multiple homicides at the hands of AK 47’s and AR 15’s are just another story. The US has shut down the consulate in Monterrey where the Zetas and Gulf Cartel have engaged in a full blown war.
In the middle of all this I often find myself asking God…where are you?????? I know He is here as my faith has not been completely stolen but those little 3 and 5 year old faces from the videos sure bring legitimacy to the question...
Now would be a good time to pray brothers and sisters…it is a season of almost unbearable pain. We need you now more than ever…we need your prayers, we need your financial support and we need more people to get off their butts and start doing something. There is a war going on …a war which is reaching a level of evil most of you cannot fathom or at least that you choose not to. I don’t have that luxury I have been called to fight for these kids and the images of those tiny faces is a double edged sword…it makes me want to quit and at the same time won’t let me.
In Christ
Steven T. Cass
Breaking Chains Ministry
Feb. 28, 2010
Steven - be strong!
We support your important efforts to save children!
Keep up the great work, hard as it may be. Those who are
defenseless depend upon your tireless efforts to stand tall in the face of
impunity.
-
Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
March 1, 2010
Video of Mexican Interior Secretary
Fernando Gómez Mont's presentation at the Feb. 23rd and 24th, 2010
congressional Forum for Analysis and Discussion in Regard to
Criminal Law to Control Human Trafficking.
[Ten minutes - In
Spanish]
Deputy Rosi Orozco
On YouTube.com
Feb. 26, 2010
See also:
LibertadLatina
Commentary
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Chuck Goolsby |
| |
/ Welcome
