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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 True Story of the
Sexual Exploitation
with Impunity of Latina
Immigrant Women and Children in
Washington, DC and its
Maryland and Virginia
Suburbs
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This
Section Last Updated: May 3, 2008 |
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A Focus on Washington, DC and
Montgomery County, Maryland
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A
crisis of rape with impunity and sexual slavery severely impacts the
lives of Latin American immigrant women and girls in Greater Washington,
DC |
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 This
section of
LibertadLatina.org
contains information
regarding the exploitation and
abuse of Latina immigrant women and children in
the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC and
within the greater Washington, DC region.
These factual materials document
a human rights crisis that has
in the past been hidden from
public view by a combination of
anti-immigrant apathy and
hostility and by a code of
silence within the affected
Latino communities. The
most dire result of this
disturbing pattern of reactions
has been that Latin women,
children and men victims of
criminal abuse and civil law
violations have often been
ignored, underserved and
at-times they have been openly
intimidated by government
institutions that their taxes
pay for, institutions that
should defend them!
From the author's experiences in participating
in and hearing first, second and third person
case histories in this region for 24 years,
including over 65 case stories and taking 6
Latina cases before the local U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC)
processor (now called the Montgomery County
Human Rights Office) and one Latina case
intervention before criminal court as a lay
advocate, it is clear that a problem exists.
Latina immigrant women and girls continue to be
sexually exploited largely because local
government agencies do not respond to this
crisis, and the perpetrators of criminal abuses
and civil sexual harassment law violations see
this and know that they can continue with
impunity. Other advocates (see social
worker's letter below) have come to the same
conclusion.
The children, women and men
victims of this illegal
exploitation deserve equal
protection under the law!
Let us all work together to make
that dream a reality soon!
Chuck Goolsby, September, 2003
- LibertadLatina
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Click on each topic to jump to it...
-
The
Challenges
of
Advocacy
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Sex
Trafficking
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Labor
Slavery
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Workplace
Sexual
Exploitation
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The
victimization
of
Latina
Children
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The Rape
of Adult
Latinas
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Youth
Gang
Violence
and
Sexual
Exploitation
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Hold
Government
Accountable
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Before
LibertadLatina,
Chuck
Goolsby's
Human
Rights
Newsletter
-
Discrimination
in
Healthcare
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About
the
Montgomery
County,
Maryland
Commission
for
Women
-
Federal
Immigration
Reform
and
Latina
Human
Rights
Links:
U.S.
Community
Exploitation
for coverage
of community
exploitation
issues
within the
U.S.
U.S.
Workplace
Exploitation
for
coverage
of
workplace
exploitation
issues
across the
United
States
All of our reports and
commentaries: 1994 to present
More
about / Mas
sobre
Chuck Goolsby
and
LibertadLatina.org
"I
stand with other men who have made a decision that enough is enough, and
have decided that the brutal men who act with impunity, subjecting women
and children to kidnapping, rape, torture, domestic violence, murder and
sex trafficking with impunity will not continue to get away with it. We
will stand up and take these guys on and defend the
innocent. Our grandmothers, living and gone, our mothers, our sisters and
daughters deserve more than the sexist apathy that currently plagues
many male attitudes about these severe forms of gender oppression..."
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Dec. 10,
2005
See also:
A
snapshot of the Latin music history of Washington, DC, by
Chuck Goolsby |
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During 1999 and 2000, previous to starting the
LibertadLatina.org
project,
Chuck Goolsby provided an e-mail based newsletter of
important community issues related to the right of
Latina women and children to live free from sexual
harassment, rape and enslavement.
Here is text from one
example...
Detailed
information
on Latin
Women
Worker/Harassment
& Other
Exploitation
Issues
(A copy of this e-mail was sent to the U.S. Justice Department, Civil
Rights Division on 12/02/1999.)
Excerpt...
E-Mail
Date: 12/02/99 10:04:28
Hello friends of human rights,
I wanted to present some background on the issue of sexual harassment
and the particular dynamics involved when the victims are Latin-American
Women and Girls.
At the local level, especially in Montgomery County, anti-immigrant and
anti-Latino sentiment blocks police, human relations commission and
social services staff from doing anything about these abuses.
I have documented over 50 cases since 1986, just from my
exposure to Latino workers in corporate and government office buildings
as I move around doing computer work.
This problem exists at severe levels in virtually every office
building, restaurant and hotel in the Washington, DC area.
The victim and potential victim community represent a form of
'underclass' who literally may be harassed, coerced, touched and raped,
while the perpetrators, be they Latino, White or Black, or foreign born
business owners and managers of other ethnicity's... can operate with
confidence that the victim community is too scared, and too pressured
socially (to keep
quiet) to cause any trouble for these criminal perpetrators.
As you likely know, Latino immigrants are afraid of government in
general, afraid of the police, and are afraid of bosses on the job.
They are forced to work harder than "Americans" who know their
rights, and they are used to the exploitation.
I hear this from Central American immigrants almost every time I meet
someone.
In fact I heard it yesterday in a building I just started working
in.
In addition to sexual harassment and assault, illegal retaliatory
reprimands and firings occur, wages are withheld (CASA of Maryland, in
Takoma Park [Maryland], has a list of over 400 Washington, DC area cases
documented where Latino workers have not been paid by employers),
workers are sometimes actually physically beaten by managers, and other
such outrages occur.
These events are normal in much of Latin America.
And government agencies, employers, human rights activists and community leaders have done virtually NOTHING to prevent or
respond to these issues.
Getting victims to come forward is going to require some intervention
from advocates like us.
In the past, very few victims have been willing to go through the
tedious, long duration hassle that bringing a case involves.
And those who have gone through the process have been virtually
spit upon time and again by the legal system.
I know this first hand because I've been there as de-facto legal
assistant and interpreter and negotiator many, many times.
The system will not listen to these victims...
- Chuck Goolsby
Dec. 02,
1999
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An Overview
Latina prostitution slavery exists
in almost every neighborhood in greater
Washington.
It
is well-known that many of
the women and girls involved are forced to
work against their will, and that the
traffickers transport in new groups of them to each
apartment-based brothel every two weeks from New York City,
New Jersey, Atlanta, and other major
prostitution markets.
Another source of women in
prostitution involves local Latina women and
girls who are subjected to severe sexual
harassment and rape by gang members and other
men. Some of these victims are pressured
into participating in prostitution, and others
actively choose what local Central American
Latinas call: "La vide facil" (the easy life).
Additional
Analysis
LibertadLatina's
Analysis of
the
Impunity and
Prostitution
in Langley
Park, MD,
Where
Brothels
Earn Many
Tens of
Thousands of
Dollars
Weekly.
Shut Down
Langley
Park's
Mega-Brothels!
Prostitution dynamics in the Langley Park Latin American immigrant
community
Excerpt #1...
In working class
barrios around Washington, DC such as Langley Park, prostitution
operations are commonplace. It is 'traditional' for many men to
‘use’ adult and underage prostitutes in Latin America, and especially in
Mexico and Central America where most Langley Park immigrants came from.
As an example, one Salvadoran friend, now an evangelical lay pastor,
told me that his father took him to a brothel to be with three
prostitutes, when he was 12 years old.
The fact that
these communities are also gender imbalanced, with many more men than
women being present, creates a large-scale demand for prostitution.
The exploding
criminal industry of sex trafficking provides the 'supply' - women and
underage girls, that the market demands. In this case, criminal
sex trafficking networks from Mexico, Los Angeles and New York City have
for years saturated the Washington, DC region with adult and underage
prostitutes working against their will. A 1994 Washington Post
story describes how such networks rotate prostitutes in and out of the
Washington, DC region from New York City. That pattern continues
to exist 11 years later in 2005.
In 2003 I had a
conversation with a local Latino personality who frequented Latin
American immigrant brothels in both Washington, DC and in the suburban
city of Gaithersburg, Maryland. He described the fact that young
women from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Central America were
sent to Gaithersburg from New York City. The trafficking networks
involved ‘rotated’ these women out every two weeks. The source
noted that these women had told him that they were being ‘exploited’
[forced into prostitution].
During a Spring,
2005 trip to New York City to speak to the group Latinas United for Justice
at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a Latina student who
formerly worked as a cabbie related to me how cab customers all over New
York constantly asked to be taken to the Latin American immigrant
brothels that she noted are “everywhere” in New York. The student
stated that all of the cabbies know about these brothels, and she knew
that the women ‘working’ in them were working against their will.
This New York source of women in prostitution slavery supplies at least
part of the demand for prostitutes in the greater Washington, DC region.
In addition to
forced prostitution, thousands of women and girls in the Latin American
immigrant communities of the greater Washington, DC region engage in
prostitution of their ‘own free will’ (arguably). It is perhaps
more accurate to state that women and teenage girls are forced to engage
in prostitution because:
·
They have grown up in sexist cultures where intimacy was
forced upon them as children, youth or young adults.
(An estimated 80% of child prostitutes in
many Latin American nations were sexually abused
at home before fleeing into a life of street
prostitution.)
·
A
'machismo' based environment instilled in them the concept that their intimacy
is a commodity, that is meant to be sold;
·
They
live in immigrant communities where they are constantly barraged with
unwanted, severe sexual harassment, and are propositioned on a daily
basis; something that some women and underage girls 'give in to.'
·
The
expansion of extremely violent Latin American immigrant gangs into
Langley Park and other communities in the region are creating
environments where women and underage girls are being subjected: to rape
with impunity; severe sexual harassment; pressure to join gangs, leading
to a gang-rape initiation; forced prostitution and coercive pressure on
women and girls to work in prostitution.
·
Immigrant women and girls who complain to the police, and want to press
charges for various levels of sexual assault and other forms of physical
aggression are often turned away by the indifference, anti-immigrant
hostility or bureaucratic rules of the law enforcement community.
·
Strictly enforced rules bar undocumented women and teens
(and especially mothers) from receiving public assistance, forcing them
into prostitution as their only means of survival.
This
factor is a critical point to understand during times of recession in
the United States. Thousands of Latina women literally face a
life without income due to a poor economy and increased
immigration enforcement! How can they and their children survive?
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Aug. 16, 2005
LibertadLatina
Commentary
Undocumented Women and Girls Who Are Caught
Between Increasing
Immigration Law Enforcement And Recession Face
Sexual Exploitation
Prostitution, quid-pro-quo work arrangements
and non-reporting of rape result from a bad
economy and tougher federal, state and local
immigration enforcement.
...Ms.
undocumented Latina finds herself with no
relief from
comprehensive immigration reform,
no green
card, no work permit, no job (especially in this recession), little understanding of
the details of federal, state and local laws, no protection from crime,
protection
that should be provided by police
forces that today may arrest and deport her, no way to feed herself and her children,
and no access to the social services that could help
to alleviate those desperate circumstances.
In that situation, Ms. Latina
will not report rape to police. She will not say "no!" to a
potential or current employer who says (in violation of the law) that
sex is the price she must pay for employment, and she may not say
"no!" to
a pimp or sex trafficker who offers her 'la vida facil' (the easy
life) as a prostitute.
If she goes home to Bolivia, Peru,
Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico or the Dominican Republic, she will face
exactly the same conditions of life, except for the fact that she will
not be able to support her family...
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Mar 29, 2008
Shut Down
Langley
Park's
Mega-Brothels!
Prostitution dynamics in the Langley Park Latin American immigrant
community
Excerpt #2...
Mega-Brothels in Langley Park, Maryland
In 2004 a U.S.
federal law enforcement official informed me that, much to his surprise,
a Latin American immigrant brothel operation existed in Langley Park
that was raking in $60,000 per week. The agent stated that such
sums of money are usually earned only through large-scale illegal drug
operations.
At perhaps $30.00
per act of prostitution, the above figure breaks down to an estimated
2,000 acts of prostitution per week. That is the volume that just
one of perhaps several Latin American immigrant prostitution operations
is earning.
The agent had
called seeking resources for women victims of these brothel operations
who wanted to leave prostitution. I referred the caller to
Washington, DC's principal non-profit working in direct intervention for
the rescued victims of trafficking.
Given that Latino
prostitution operations are typically run by gangs, it would not be
surprising to find additional prostitution networks operating in Langley
Park on a large scale.
Do they transport
Puerto Rican, Dominican and Salvadoran women en-mass to and from New
York City, as brothel operations in nearby Gaithersburg, Maryland do?
Do they transport Mexican and Central American women en-mass to Langley
Park from Los Angeles, California, by way of gang connections there?
These are
questions that only U.S. law enforcement authorities are capable of
answering for the public.
Regardless of the
origins of the women and girls trapped in prostitution in Langley Park,
federal, state and local law enforcement have an obligation under both
criminal and moral law, to act to shut down these criminal enterprises
and rescue this large community of victims from prostitution.
A year after
being told of this giant Latina 'rape-factory' in Langley Park by a
federal agent, I have yet to see a news report or a prosecutor's
announcement stating that this major criminal enterprise has been shut
down, the victims have been rescued and the perpetrators have been given
a date to see a judge.
Federal
government officials in the current administration often talk about the
need to rescue and restore trafficking victims. Well, here, just
10 miles directly north of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, is a good place to
start...
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Aug. 16, 2005
Additional
Sex
Trafficking News and
Analysis
from the
Washington,
DC Region
Added April 30, 2008
Washington, DC USA
Ricky Martin at the
April 29th Inter-
American Develop-
ment Bank (IADB)
event kicking-off the
"CALL AND LIVE"
campaign in
Washington, DC
El cantante Ricky Martin ha
decidido extender su lucha contra el tráfico de
personas a Estados Unidos, donde se calcula que hay
unas 20 mil personas [nuevas cada año] que son
retenidas o han sido desplazadas contra su voluntad.
El artista, que
desarrolla esta labor a través de la Ricky Martin
Foundation (RMF) , presentó hoy en Washington la
campaña "Llama y Vive"...
La campaña consta de
anuncios de radio, televisión y prensa escrita, en
los que el cantante promociona una línea telefónica
de información y asistencia contra el tráfico de
personas en la capital estado-unidense...
"Si estás lejos de casa
y te están explotando sexual o laboralmente, eres
víctima de trata" rezan los tres comerciales
dirigidos a la población latina...
"No están solos" dijo
Martin dirigiéndose a los latinos de Washington. "Vamos
a llamar a sus puertas si es necesario, para
preguntarles si necesitan nuestra ayuda"...
- EFE / El Universal
April 29, 2008
Ricky Martin campaigns against human trafficking [in
Washington, DC]
Latin heartthrob Ricky Martin is
using his star power to launch "Llama y Vive" or "Call and Live", a campaign to
prevent human trafficking from Latin America and also provide services for
victims.
"Call and Live" has already been
implemented in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Peru, and Nicaragua. Now, it's
expanding to five more Latin American countries.
Martin has partnered with the
Inter-American Develop-ment Bank and Ayuda [a local Latino legal services
agency] to launch "Call and Live".
Ricky Martin on human trafficking
says: "My dream right now is all about seeing abolition, abolition of a new era,
abolition of what we call a modern day form of slavery which is human
trafficking and I'm not going to give up."
The campaign works to prevent human
trafficking from Latin America and provide protection services to Latino victims
in Washington, D.C. including offering a confidential victims' hotline...
- TimesNow.tv - with material from
Reuters
India
April 30, 2008
LibertadLatina
commentary:
The Llama y Vive / Call and Live kick-off event in Washington, DC on April 29,
2008 was an historic occasion and was well-attended. Human trafficking, in its many forms, has
long-existed in the Washington, DC region. Ten and twenty years ago when I
began seeking help from Latino agencies and the local press for exploited
Latinas, few people and organizations in a position to help answered the call.
The
LibertadLatina
project and this web site came into existence as a
result of those efforts, dating back to 1986, to bring assistance to the victim
community.
I salute Ricky Martin, his foundation, the Ayuda legal services agency, the
Washing-ton DC Office of Latino Affairs, other collaborating agencies and local
Latino media outlets for working to address the issues of human trafficking and
exploitation head on.
¡Mil gracias!
A thousand thanks!
The victim community awaits our serious and substantial efforts to help them!
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
April 30, 2008
Added March 14, 2008
Virginia, USA
Immigration-Linked
Prostitution Cases Pose Challenge
[Woodbridge - South of Washington, DC
-] The business cards handed to men at a North
Woodbridge grocery store didn't say much. Just a first name, a cell
phone number
and the phrase Casa de Carne, or House of Meat.
But their simplicity
made clear the illicit purpose: sex.
Authorities say the
cards solicit customers for highly organized prostitution rings that cater to
Hispanic immigrants and chauffeur women from out of state. Although prostitution
crosses ethnic and racial lines, these immigration-related cases raise complex
questions about the interplay of local and federal law and are likely to pose
special challenges for Prince William County police in the push against illegal
immigration that began this week...
"A lot of girls
we've interviewed don't even know what city they are in or what state they're
in," said 1st Sgt. Daniel Hess, commander of a street crime unit that has
handled several of the prostitution cases...
"These detectives
who have this training now understand the nuances of immigration law and how we
can protect victims of human smuggling," Deane said. "The goal of these cases
really should be the people who are running these operations, the people who are
making the money."
In the prostitution
cases uncovered locally, law enforcement officials say women get about $30 for
15 minutes and are allowed to keep half of that.
"They are called las
treinteras," after treinta, the Spanish word for 30, said Dilcia Molina, a human
rights advocate. "In the world of sex work, they are usually the cheapest and
the poorest. They are the ones who are usually on the periphery."
-
Theresa Vargas
The
Washington Post
March 06, 2008
U.S. Department of Justice
Announces Human Trafficking Task Force in the
District of Columbia and Grants for Law
Enforcement to Fight Human Trafficking and
Assist Victims
Excerpt...
The D.C. Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, part of a broader push by
the Department of Justice and other federal agencies, concentrates the
resources of the Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions of the Department
of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the
FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department on the problem of human
trafficking in the District of Columbia.
The Task Force will work
closely with community organizations and support groups committed to
helping the victims of this crime. The Task Force effort is in
conjunction with Operation Innocence Lost, a program sponsored by the
FBI Crimes Against Children Division, the Child Exploitation and
Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Criminal Division and the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Innocence Lost,
announced in early 2003, is a nationwide initiative to focus on child
victims of interstate sex trafficking in the United States.
- The Washington Post
Nov. 23,
2004
About the
important work of
the Polaris
Project
See:
www.PolarisProject.org
Derek Ellerman,
Co-Executive
Director of Polaris
Project in
Washington, DC
Presents Testimony
to Congress on
Anti-Trafficking
Work and Polaris
Project's
Identification of
Numerous Latin and
Asian Network Run
Brothels Within
Blocks of the White
House in Washington,
DC.
(Link
to a U.S. Congress
web site is now
broken)
U.S.
House of
Representatives
July 8, 2004
From Derek
Ellerman's ground-
breaking interview
with National Public
Radio News
Excerpt...
Mr.
Derek Ellerman
(Co-Executive Director, Polaris Project):
This is what we call our war room.
This is the main room where our task force is based.
NPR's Libbie
Lewis: Derek Ellerman
is co-director of Polaris.
Mr. Ellerman: What we
have on the walls are maps of the greater DC area, and we have pins
that mark the locations of what we consider high-risk brothel
locations, where trafficking either does take place or where
we believe it may take place...
Mr. Ellerman: If you
look just in the area around the White House, we have probably 20
different locations in this radius stretching up to about Dupont
Circle and over just about to the Capitol. Most of the customers of
those brothels are people who work in the area. They're
professionals.
NPR's Libbie
Lewis: They work in
government?
Mr. Ellerman: Lots of
government officials. All the time we see men walking into the
brothels, sometimes even wearing their government tags. They'll walk
straight out of their offices, around the corner and in wearing
their government tags. We see people with diplomatic plates all the
time go in. And then people just from around will come into the
downtown area.
NPR's Libbie
Lewis: In the 18
months it has been in existence, Polaris says it's helped identify
victims in some state criminal cases, but no federal trafficking
cases yet. The DC police work with Polaris on a local task force on
human trafficking.
- National Public
Radio
All Things
Considered
June 13, 2004
LibertadLatina
commentary
Around 1982, when I was working as the conga drummer for one
of Washington, DC’s oldest Salsa bands, La
Orquesta de Tulio Arias, I ran into one of
these brothel operations in the Connecticut Ave
and ‘K’ Street area, the center of DC’s legal
and association industries.
Our band had been called to perform during a weekday happy
hour, at a small restaurant owned by a Colombian
man.
I arrived at the gig and observed
at least 20 women,
all white Americans,
all scantily clad or naked. The place was filled
with businessmen with drinks in their hands.
They seemed quite happy.
I concluded that the women were prostitutes. I immediately
picked up my drums, walked out, and went home.
My fellow band members
stayed to perform. They
later
told me that the police had raided the place
that night.
Apparently, what was happening in the
early 1980's continues today, on a larger
scale. Now it is Latina and Asian women who
predominate as the prostitutes.
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
May 3, 2008
Note:
The criminal
networks
that traffic
young Latina
women to the
Washington,
DC suburbs
in Maryland
and Virginia
described in
the below
Washington
Post story
continue to
exist in
identical
form in the
year 2004.
Enslaved
Latin women
and girls
are moved in
and out of
Latino
neighborhood-based
brothels in
Gaithersburg,
Maryland,
Washington,
DC,
Arlington,
Virginia and
within the
other Latin
communities
of the
region. Little
has changed
since 1994
for women
and girls
exploited in
prostitution.
- Chuck
Goolsby
2004
String of Latino
Brothels Found in
Va., Md. Suburbs:
Police Say Women
Come from New York
A growing number of
brothels catering to
Latino men are
opening in the
Washington suburbs,
and police say a New
York prostitution
ring may be
responsible.
The brothels
mostly employ Latino
women from the New
York area, according
to investigators.
Court records
indicate that
virtually all charge
the same rates -- $
30 for 15 minutes of
sexual intercourse
-- and advertise
using the same kind
of business cards in
Spanish. They also
have the same
operating
procedures:
Prostitutes punch
playing cards or
score sheets to
tally each day's
customers. "Every
jurisdiction from
Arlington to
Montgomery County is
seeing the same
thing," said
Alexandria police
detective Harold
Duquette, a member
of the city's vice
squad, which is
investigating two of
the alleged
brothels.
-
Washington
Post - 09-21-1994
Slavery
Happens Here
Back on June
11 Colbert
I. King used
his op-ed
column to
discuss
violence
against
women, but
he
highlighted
only the tip
of a jagged
iceberg.
Violence
against
women in
Washington
takes many
ugly forms,
including
slavery and
forced
labor.
- Michelle
Clark
Opionion/Editorial
The
Washington
Post
October 13,
2002
-- Michele
Clark is
[a former]
co-director
of the
Protection Project
at the Johns
Hopkins
University
School of
Advanced
International
Studies
(SAIS).
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LibertadLatina.org
founder Chuck Goolsby conducted the rescue of
two Colombian women
domestic workers in Montgomery County, Maryland.
These women were subjected to virtual slavery and the
terrorized labor conditions described here below in this accurate
Washington Post article. Both women successfully started new lives
in the Washington, DC area and legalized their immigration status.
Among the experiences of the principal victim were: working from 6 AM
until Midnight every single day; cutting the grass of a huge yard (and
shoveling the huge driveway in Winter alone, by hand) while
simultaneously caring for three children, washing, cleaning and cooking
for a family of five; putting up with the all-day screams and verbal
insults of the wife in the diplomatic family; not being permitted to
ever leave the house alone; not being permitted to go anywhere on her
weekend time off unless she was accompanied...
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Around 2000
'Modern-Day Slavery'
Prompts Rescue Efforts
...For nearly two years, she had worked 80-hour weeks cooking, cleaning and
baby-sitting for an Ecuadoran official of the Organization of American
States. For that, her attorneys said, she was paid little more than $2
an hour. She had worked for the same family in Ecuador, but since
arriving, she said, her employer had taken her passport, she had no
money and she was afraid that if she left, she would lose her visa and
police would come for her.
Stories like hers are increasing among the thousands of women who are
recruited every year from impoverished countries as live-in domestic
help, according to law enforcement officials and advocacy groups. Now, a
growing number of organizations are reaching out to mistreated domestic
workers, helping them leave their employers and providing emergency
housing and legal advice...
-
Lena H. Sun
The Washington Post
2004-05-03 |
|
|
|
|
Working To Make
a Difference for Working Latina Women and
Girls
The work of
LibertadLatina.org
grew out of 2 decades of effort focused on
providing Latina and Latina Indigenous women and girls in
Montgomery County, Maryland (a suburb just north of
Washington, DC)... with advocacy against rape and
retaliatory firings (for not giving in to rape) that were
and are the daily reality in the low-wage workplace.
The abuses commonly encountered include those described
outrages in the Laurel, MD EEOC case (see below), and
included actual cases of rape and coerced sexual
exploitation. Latina and Indigenous women and girls in
the U.S. face an epidemic of rape in their workplaces and
communities.
The legal system does not now
effectively protect these women and children from criminal
sexual assault.
LibertadLatina.org's
work within the Washington, DC region has
documented the fact that the dynamics of historic patterns of
anti-female exploitation with impunity that target Latina and
Indigenous women and girls are merging with other, existing
forms of local criminal sexual predation in the U.S.,
subjecting immigrant women and children to open sexual assault
with impunity in low-wage workplaces and on the streets of their
communities.
The below employment abuse
cases document the sexual assault, coercion and severe
sexual harassment events that the I have witnessed
first-hand, second-hand and through third-hand stories from
dozens of immigrant women and girls since the 1980's.
Convincing abused
victims to come forward and pursue long-term
legal actions (cases typically take two years to
resolve) is difficult. Case duration
combines with justified immigrant women's
fear of the judicial system's possible
prejudices and fear of the known terror tactics
of their supervisors to often convince victims
to either keep quiet and submit to rape in the
workplace, or to face retaliatory reprimands,
demotions, shift changes and firings for not
submitting to the sexual demands of their
supervisors and managers. These events
occur every day in the U.S.
Latina immigrant women and
girl workers are typically unaware of the laws against
sexual harassment and sexual coercion on the books.
When
I distributed the translated version of the
Montgomery County Women's Commission's Sexual Harassment
brochure to Latina women workers in the mid 1990's, for
example, it was read with astonished surprise that such laws
existed in the United States. When I noted to
the Montgomery County Women's Commission during a May, 1994
presentation to them on these issues that... more brochures
needed to be printed, and that I could effectively
distribute them (I did Latin event promotions at the time),
several commission members shook their heads in disbelief
and my request was denied. That simple action still,
nine years later in 2003, needs to be taken in Montgomery
County, MD and across the U.S.
The effective communication
by advocates to Latina victims of their rights and abilities
to pursue criminal, civil and EEOC legal cases will be a
critical part of the education process needed to break the
code of silence surrounding these acts of blatant impunity
in the U.S. workplace.
Our first report on these issues - from 1994
In response to repeated failures to get the legal
and press establishment of Montgomery County and the
greater Washington, DC area to respond positively to
the urgent needs of Latina victims of workplace and
community sexual assault, I
wrote the below
report and have distributed it to many local police,
press and advocacy organizations during the past 9
years. -
Chuck
Goolsby
Montgomery
County,
MD
-- 1994
Charles M. Goolsby,
Jr.'s
1994 Report on the
Sexual Exploitation of
Latina immigrant Women
and Girls in Montgomery
County, Maryland
Excerpt...
...All
of
my
work
in
Latin-American
immigrant
victim-advocacy
has
resulted
from
victims
having
approached
me
seeking
help.
Repeatedly,
the
official
reaction
of
cleaning
contract
companies
working
within
Montgomery
County
to
my
polite
raising
of
these
issues
has
been
to
do
the
following:
1)
silence
any
discussion
of
these
issues
by
the
use
of
gross
intimidation
against
the
victims
and
myself,
2)
fire
or
force
the
victims
out,
and
3)
back-up
the
actions
of
the
perpetrators,
protecting
them
from
legal
trouble.
Latin-American
immigrant
women
have
thus
gotten
the
message
loud
and
clear
on
many
occasions
that
they
have
become
a
cheap,
disposable
resource
in
the
American
work-place,
underpaid,
overworked,
and
often
forced
into
sexual
submission
while
government
and
commerce
knowingly
turn
their
backs.
At
this
time
I
have
found
it
necessary
to
write
this
report.
Since
1988
I
have
formally
presented
this
information
to
many
persons-in-authority.
Time
after
time,
these
well-educated,
well-paid
officials
of
public
and
commercial
organizations
have
said
"SO
WHAT!"
This
report
is a
substitute
for
the
muffled
CRY
OF
RAPE
from
victims
who
are
tired
of
having
become
the
sexual
'cannon-fodder'
of
America...
-
Charles
M.
Goolsby,
Jr.
February,
1994
Added 02/19/
2005
Latina
Immigrant
Women
Domestic
Workers in
Montgomery
County,
Maryland
Plea to
Montgomery
County
Council for
an End to
Workplace
Exploitation.
Added
May
17,
2004
Latin
American
Immigrant
Women
Cleaning
Workers
Face
Sexual
Harassment,
Sexual
Coercion
and
Retaliatory
Firing
in
Arlington,
Virginia
Federal
Office
Building
(U.S.
National
Science
Foundation).
-
LibertadLatina.org
Gaithersburg,
Maryland
Latina_Assaulted
by
Manager
At
Major
Gaithersburg
Restaurant
08-31-2004
Rockville,
Maryland -
September,
2002
Latina
Female
Workers,
including
several
pregnant
women and
one elderly
woman, faced
repeated
violent acts
of physical
intimidation
and illegal
firings at
the Derwood
area Wendy's
Restaurant
in
Rockville,
Maryland
Laurel, Maryland
-- June, 2002
The below case from
Laurel, Maryland, a city on the Route !-95
corridor in Prince Georges County, just East of
Montgomery County, has defined in a formal legal
setting exactly the types of sexual coercion and
severe sexual harassment that the
I have
fought against in neighboring Montgomery County,
Maryland since the 1980s. Even pregnant
Latina women and girls are routinely pressured
for sexual favors by their managers and
supervisors in the low-wage workplace.
|
Workplace Rape:
Rockville, Maryland - Case
# 3:
"One of the complainants, having been fired
after putting up with daily unwanted
fondling, was, at the time, pregnant. She
was told to come back after the pregnancy
(when she could be exploited sexually)."
|
The U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today
announced a $1 million settlement of a class
action lawsuit against Grace Culinary Systems,
Inc. and Townsend Culinary, Inc. alleging
egregious sexual harassment of 22 Hispanic women
at a food processing plant in Laurel, Maryland.
The suit charged the companies with routinely
subjecting the female workers, all recent
immigrants from Central America who spoke
limited English, to unwanted groping and
explicit requests for sexual favors by male
managers and co-workers over several years.
...The sexual harassment was
widespread with managers routinely subjecting women to groping and
crude and explicit requests for sexual favors over a period of
years. The harassers were managers and male co-workers...
|
One
woman
was
locked
in a
freezer
by her
supervisor
after
she
turned
down his
sexual
request.
Two
other
women
who were
pregnant
at the
time
were
pressured
for sex
and
subsequently
demoted
and
fired
following
their
refusal
to
comply
with the
advances.
Other women at the plant were
given menial or difficult work
assignments for rejecting requests for
sexual favors by plant managers.
|
- U.S.
Equal Employment
Oportunities Commission
, Laurel Maryland Case
Washington, DC
-- 1997-1998
Julia Chávez, a Bolivian
domestic worker employed
by an
Organiz-ation of
American States (OAS) official from
July 1997 through
October 1998, alleged in
a civil complaint that
her employer and his
wife required her to
work when she was sick
and, despite her
repeated requests for
medical treatment,
refused to take her to
see a doctor, telling
her that doctors were
expensive and the family
could not afford to pay
her medical bills.
Chávez also alleged in
her complaint that after
she told her employer
and his wife that she
was sexually abused and
raped by an acquaintance
of the family in August
1998, they denied her
medical treatment and a
forensic exam, though
Chávez allegedly
"exhibited . . . signs
of physical and
emotional trauma" and
"repeatedly explained to
them that she was very
sick and preferred to
die." Responding to her
complaint, Chávez'
employer and his wife
denied these allegations
and asserted "no
knowledge" of Chávez'
claim that she was
raped.
Human
Rights Watch
|
True
Cases from the Frontlines of Impunity
The below three
workplace sexual and physical abuse cases are
all 100% factual. The case narratives
speak for the victims, and they document the
voiceless cries of tens if not hundreds of
thousands of working women and girls across the
United States who face rape and coercion with
impunity largely because anti-immigrant
hostility and apathy from government
agencies allows it to happen,
That must change!
Only public awareness and public expressions of
outrage to elected officials, police
administrators and local prosecutors will lead
to improvement. Nothing else seems to
motivate change.
Deliberate Inaction was the official government
and corporate response in all of
these cases... |
|
 |
Workplace Rape with
Impunity
Rockville, Maryland
-
Case 1
A major
corporation working on defense and civilian
U.S. government contracts permits
quid-pro-quo sexual demands, sexual coercion
and retaliatory firings targeted at Latina
adult and underage
cleaning workers. |
|
Workplace Assault and Battery
with Impunity
Rockville, Maryland -
Case 2
A Nicaraguan
indigenous
woman
cleaning
worker was
slapped across the chest
and knocked to the floor by
her manager in
the Rockville offices
of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).
The local Maryland
State's Attorney's Office repeatedly
pressured the victim to drop her insistence
on having her assailant prosecuted. |
|
Workplace Rape with
Impunity
Rockville, Maryland
- Case 3
About One
Central Plaza
Over a dozen
women were illegally fired for not giving in
to the sexual demands of three Latino
cleaning crew managers who forced women and
underage girls into quid-pro-quo sexual
relationships as a condition of retaining
their jobs.
Some women were forced to
commit acts of prostitution in this office
building housing Maryland state government &
other offices.
A medical
doctor who rented office space there filed a
formal complaint with the building owners
and stated that
he
was finding his
patient examining
tables
dirtied by sexual activity after-hours
(cleaning managers has keys to access the
offices they clean).
A pregnant woman was
severely sexually harassed, and was fired
and told to come back after her child was
born, when she could be sexually exploited.
The Montgomery County,
Maryland County Human Relations commission
in 1995 literally buried the officially
filed casework of this pregnant woman and
another victim.
A (now
former) Latina Washington Post reporter
refused to do a story. After
requesting first a copy and then the
original of a tape recoding of one of the
complainants defending herself from a 20
minute attempted sexual assault by one of
these assailants, the reporter intentionally
'lost' these tapes, which were investigatory
materials in the Human Relations Commission
case.
During one
phone conversations with this reporter, she
stated to me: "After all, you are
accusing these guys of felonies" - as if
there was something wrong with me exposing
this criminal sexual assault of Latina
women and underage youth. It was
obvious that her loyalties were with the
rapists.
This
reporter also told me that "The Washington
Post does not send reporters into dangerous
situations." I said then, as I say
now: If it is dangerous, then, is it not
news!!
I met with
a total of four Washington Post reporters
about this case. No story was ever
written.
I
mentioned this case a senior female
detective and sex crime investigators at the
Montgomery County Police Department, where I
worked part-time as a civilian computer
programmer.
Nothing
was ever done.
When I
called the cleaning company, they refused to
answer questions, and later apparently moved
and shut their phone off.
The dam
finally broke when a brave Mexican cleaning
woman rebelled against these three rapists,
yelled and screamed at them on the job, and
got enough people in positions of power to
be aware of these crimes to get the head
manager fired. The two assistant
managers, also perpe-trators, kept their
jobs. |
|
|
Using the Pen to Fight Back Against
Impunity
In response to repeated failures to get
the legal and press establishment of
Montgomery County and the greater
Washington, DC area to respond
positively to the urgent needs of Latina
victims of workplace and community
sexual assault, I
wrote the below report and distributed
it to many local police, press and
advocacy organizations during the past 9
years.
The organizations that have received
this report in-person from
me have
included:
-
Montgomery County Police Department
-
The
U.S. Department of Labor, Women's
Bureau staff and attendees at their
1995 Low Wage Workers Conference
-
he
Montgomery County Commission for
Women (1994).
-
The
report was sent by mail to the U.S.
Department of Justice, Worker
Exploitation Task Force in 1999.
LibertadLatina.org
is the evolution of that
1994 report over time. The issues
remain the same, and the severity of
this crisis is now worse than it was in
1994. Public pressure is still
needed to change the environment of
sexual exploitation with impunity facing
U.S. immigrant women and girls every
day.
-
Chuck Goolsby
September, 2003
|
Montgomery County, MD
-- 1994
Charles M.
Goolsby, Jr.'s
1994 Report on the Sexual Exploitation
of Latina immigrant Women and Girls in
Montgomery County, Maryland
Excerpt...
...All of
my work in Latin-American immigrant
victim-advocacy has resulted from
victims having approached me seeking
help. Repeatedly, the official reaction
of cleaning contract companies working
within Montgomery County to my polite
raising of these issues has been to do
the following: 1) silence any discussion
of these issues by the use of gross
intimidation against the victims and
myself, 2) fire or force the victims
out, and 3) back-up the actions of the
perpetrators, protecting them from legal
trouble.
Latin-American immigrant women have thus
gotten the message loud and clear on
many occasions that they have become a
cheap, disposable resource in the
American work-place, underpaid,
overworked, and often forced into sexual
submission while government and commerce
knowingly turn their backs.
At this
time I have found it necessary to write
this report. Since 1988 I have formally
presented this information to many
persons-in-authority. Time after time,
these well-educated, well-paid officials
of public and commercial organizations
have said "SO WHAT!" This report is a
substitute for the muffled CRY OF
RAPE from victims who are tired of
having become the sexual 'cannon-fodder'
of America...
- Charles M. Goolsby, Jr.
February, 1994
|
|
Presentation to the Commission for Women
A Letter from the Montgomery County, MD Women's
Commission
responds positively to Charles Goolsby, Jr.'s May
27, 1994 presentation before the Commission that
detailed many of of the
workplace abuse cases listed on the
LibertadLatina.org
web
site and specifically on this page).
My 1994 report on conditions
facing Latina immigrant women was well received.
Despite
over a decade of effort, both the abuse with
impunity faced by working Latina women and girls and
the apathy and inaction of police and judicial
authorities continue to be an ongoing horror in this
county.
|
|
|
|
Underage Latina girls face rape, coercion and severe
sexual harassment with impunity in the greater
Washington, DC area
See Also:
A
Police
Officer's
View of
Violence in
Langley
Park.
A Latina
Teen: "I
Can't
Go
Out...
Because
there are
Young People
Who Like to
Bother a
Young Girl.
Protection;
We Need
that."
Added Dec. 03, 2007
Virginia, USA
Centreville -
Mynor Andres Gonzalez Estrada, 23... was accused
of sexually assaulting four children at the
Centreville Regional Library.
In one incident, July 31, a
10-year-old Centreville girl told police she was
looking at books when a man squeezed her
buttocks.
Police said the child walked
away to another book aisle and saw the same man
exposing himself. She told her mother who called
the police. After investigation, police charged
Estrada with this incident and two others.
- Bonnie Hobbs
The Connection Newspaper
Nov. 27,
2007
Montgomery
County: Rapist
Stalks
Young
Teen
Girls
After
School
-
The
Washington Post
Nov. 24,
2004
Peruvian Dentist Dr David Fuster
Rapes a 15-Year-Old Patient
-
May 21, 2003
Officials, Activists Deplore Remark by
Montgomery [County] Judge: 'Takes Two to Tango' Called Ill-Advised
Maryland lawmakers and children's advocates joined
yesterday in criticizing a Montgomery County judge who said an 11-year-old girl
was partly to blame for a 23-year-old man sexually molesting her because the
girl invited him into her bedroom and "it takes two to tango."
Durke Thompson, a Circuit Court judge for six
years... ordered Vladimir Chacon-Bonilla, of Alexandria, [Virginia] to serve 18
months in the county jail for a second-degree sex offense. The judge suspended
the rest of a five-year state prison sentence and ordered Chacon-Bonilla to
serve three years of probation and get alcohol abuse treatment.
- The
Washington Post
January 6, 2000
Female Legislators Seek Probe of Md. Judge
- The Washington Post
February 3, 2000
Md. Judge Ready to 'Fight Back'
- The Washington Post
March 27, 2002
A
Washington,
DC-
Latina
Social
Worker and
Community
Center
Director's
Letter - 1999
EXCERPT
"Over the past two
years, I have been
observing a systemic
pattern of violence
committed against
girls and young
women in our
community. This
violence involves
the sexual
abuse/assault
against girls as
young as 10 years
old...
...There
have been incidents
of date rape, gang
rape, abductions,
drugging, threats
with firearms, etc.
The incidents are
just as you
described in
your
[Mr. Goolsby's below
NCMEC]
letter
and have been met
with the same level
of indifference and
dismissal of legal
(never mind moral)
responsibility on
the part of civil
institutions --
the police
department, public
schools, etc."
...While
some do say
this is
culturally
accepted
behavior,
the reality
is that many
families --
mothers and
fathers
alike -- are
enraged and
wanting to
pursue
prosecution
of the
perpetrators,
but they
find
themselves
without
recourse
when the
police won't
respond to
them, when
they fear
risking
their
personal
safety,
and/or when
their legal
status
(undocumented)
prevents
them from
believing
they have
rights or
legal
protection
in this
country.
Many girls
and young
women's
families are
threatened
and harassed
by the
perpetrators
when it
becomes
apparent
that the
family is
willing to
press
charges for
statutory
rape/child
sexual
abuse.
...The use
of
intimidation
and violence
to control
girls and
their
families
results in
the
following:
1)
parents/guardians
back off
from
pressing
charges, 2)
relatives do
not inform
the police
or others of
sightings of
girls and
young women
who have
been
officially
reported as
"missing
juveniles,"
and 3) the
victims of
sexual
violence
refuse to
participate
as "willing
witnesses"
in the
prosecution/trial
process.
- From a
letter by a
Latina
Social
Worker
and girl's
community
center
director
working with
young Latina
girls in
Washington,
DC's largest
Latino
neighborhood.
Gaithersburg,
Maryland
Our letter to The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children
(NCMEC) about child abuse and exploitation in
Gaithersburg, MD, and past official inaction in
response. (The above social
worker's letter responds to this letter). The
NCMEC did refer this letter to the Gaithersburg city
government.
EXCERPT
In 1997 I reported the ongoing, daily sexual
harassment of an 11 year old Latin immigrant girl
from El Salvador by an adult man, to the
Gaithersburg City Police Department. The first
visits by a patrol officers on two occasions
involved (first visit) a [Gaithersburg City Police]
officer who didn't care at all and took no action;
and (second visit) [by one Gaithersburg, and one
Montgomery County officer] a lack of willingness to
follow up on the case when the harasser was found
not to be home (I served as translator for these two
officers). During the second incident, the officers
had me translate for a ROOMMATE of the harasser, and
never came back to talk to the harasser at all.
These two officers told me in a matter of fact way
that they could not respond to what the county
Police Academy had taught them (in cultural
sensitivity classes there) was just a part of Latino
culture.
The next year, 1998, I again approached the
Gaithersburg City Police Force to report that the
same adult man was now sexually involved with this
now 12 year old girl. The officer whom I spoke with
at the city's police station stated to me that "We
can't just pick him up, he might sue the city."
I demanded to know from this officer whether there
were laws against pedophilia and statutory rape in
Maryland or were there not? I had to assert myself
in the face of this apathy and disinterest, to the
apparent approval of the female clerk working at the
city's police station, where this conversation took
place.
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
Dec. 05, 1999
Greater Washington,
DC
-- 2002
Report on the
recently formed
Child Sexual Abuse
Task Force in
Washington, DC.
The report addresses
the rampant sexual
abuse of children by
adults in
Washington, DC, the
daily sexual
exploitation of 12
year old Latina
girls by adult men,
cultural issues and
parental fear of the
law. (This
Task Force responds
in part to the
important efforts of
the Latina social
worker who authored
the above letter
about girl rape with
impunity in DC.)
From: WAMU-FM,
88.5 FM - American
University Radio (a
National Public
Radio station) -
Show: Metro
Connection
|
|
|
|
|
Added April 12, 2008
Maryland, USA
A Montgomery County man,
sentenced to two life sentences for rape Thursday,
posed as a police officer and preyed on the fears of
illegal immigrants, revealing what State’s Attorney
John McCarthy called a growing trend among
criminals.
John Robert Lay, 51, whose criminal history
stretches back more than 30 years, is already
serving time in a Virginia prison for sexually
assaulting an [undocumented] Hispanic woman in
Fairfax County in 2001. He was convicted of that
crime in 2006.
In both cases, prosecutors said, Lay played on the
fear of deportation held by many illegal immigrants
by flashing a fake police badge at his victims and
demanding identification.
When the women said they had none, he put them in
his car, brought them to secluded areas and forced
them to perform sexual acts...
“This is a pattern we’re seeing too often in our
community. … On a regular basis criminals are
targeting Hispanics, believing they can act with
impunity,” McCarthy said, encouraging witnesses and
crime victims, regardless of immigration status, to
step forward...
“Preying on vulnerable victims; targeting Latino
women is an aggravating factor, and so is
impersonating police,” [Judge David] Boynton said.
“You’re a lifelong criminal with offenses in every
walk of life and in every location you’ve been in …
this is to protect the community from you.”
- Freeman Klopott
The DC Examiner
April 11, 2008
Added March 14, 2008
Maryland, USA
Police are searching for a suspect who raped a woman
Monday morning near a stairwell in an apartment building.
The 44-year-old
woman was taking a walk around 11:30 p.m. Sunday when she was approached by the
male suspect who had a knife. The suspect led the woman to a lower stairwell
landing in an apartment building... and forcibly raped her...
The suspect is
described as a Hispanic male, 39 or 40 years old, 5’11” to 6’0” tall, weighing
approximately 220 pounds. He was wearing his black hair pulled back in a pony
tail...
-
WLJA TV
March 12, 2008
Arlington,
Virginia
Pleas in Sex-Crimes Case
A widely known Latino activist will spend a year in jail for the sexual battery
of four women under a plea agreement worked out last week in Arlington County
Circuit Court.
Marcos A. Capriles, 37, entered an Alford plea on five sex-related misdemeanor
charges in exchange for prosecutors' dropping rape, sodomy and other sexual
assault charges against him. Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Kendrick handed him a
one-year prison term for each charge, to be served concurrently. Capriles, a
Bolivian living in Arlington, will be deported after he serves his sentence.
Capriles, a former Spanish-language reporter and newspaper owner, was arrested
in April for the alleged rape of a 32-year-old Latino woman from Falls Church
who agreed to pose for photographs after seeking his help in preparing tax
returns...
-
The
Washington Post
March 12, 2008
Added
Aug.
16 2005
Langley Park
- The
State's
Largest
Latin
Community is
Besieged by
Violent
Crime
and
Severe
Sexual
Harassment.
Four Throats
Slashed and
One Hand
Nearly
Severed in 5
Day Period.
Women say they won't walk to the
store alone, and some won't leave their homes at night. They
won't wear short skirts, they say, because
the
men
will
ask
them,
"How
much?"
June
23,
2004
Rapes in
Montgomery
County,
Maryland
jumped
nearly 40
percent
in the first
three months
of this
year, but
the county
police
department
withheld
this
information
from the
public of
all but one
rape.
(Plus -
LibertadLatina
Commentary
on
Rape
with
impunity
in
Montgomery
County,
Maryland)
Gaithersburg,
Maryland -
August,
September
2003
Direct advocacy
assists Latina woman
victim of attempted
street sexual
assault in
Gaithersburg,
Maryland. One
of three assailants
was convicted.
- LibertadLatina |
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Extensive work needs to be done to educate local
officials, and to monitor police and judicial
actions to assure that Latinas receive equal
protection under the law.
Immigrant women and girls do not usually
receive such equal protections now. |
The crisis
described
here below
is what is
really
happening to
Latina women
and girls in
greater
Washington,
DC, the
capitol of
the United
States.
How do we,
as concerned
communities,
individuals,
immigrant
and victims
advocacy
organizations
and
government
agencies
effectively
address
these
blatant
violations
of the law?
Our work in
Montgomery
County,
Maryland and
the work of
the Latina
social
worker in
Washington,
DC, quoted
below,
identify the
fact that
Latina adult
and girl
victims of
sexual
assault and
abuse are
usually
underserved
by local law
enforcement.
The below
1999
statement by
the U.S.
Justice
Department
on
underserved
victims of
crime also
recognizes
this fact.
Extensive
education of
first
responders
and judicial
officers is
needed to
raise
awareness of
the "facts
on the
ground"
regarding
the impunity
with which
Latina
immigrant
girls and
women face
sexual
assault,
coercion and
harassment
from
perpetrators
who know
that the
criminal
justice
system will
often ignore
the pleas of
"Ms. Latina"
for equal
enforcement
of her legal
rights to
the simple
ownership
and sanctity
of her own
human
body.
We encourage
the public
to raise
these issues
with your
local
elected
officials,
police
departments
and
prosecutors.
When I began
direct, lay
victim
advocacy
before the
local
criminal
justice
system in
1988, no
victim
services
existed for
Latina
victims of
criminal
abuse.
In that
first case
(Workplace
Rape:
Rockville,
Maryland -
Case 2),
the
following
happened:
-
The
court
commissioner
who
received
the
criminal
complaint
from the
victim
(that I
had
translated)...
laughed
out loud
in front
of the
victim
when he
read the
complaint.
He said
"gee,
this guy
[the
perpetrator]
must
have had
a bad
day."
-
An
investigator
for the
Maryland
State's
Attorney's
office
for
Montgomery
County
repeatedly
called
me and
virtually
begged
me to
convince
the
Nicaraguan
victim
of a
physical
beating
by her
cleaning
company
supervisor
at a
local
federal
office
building
to...
not
press
charges
against
the
assailant.
-
No
victim
services
were
offered
whatsoever.
-
The
victim
felt
intimidated
by the
perpetrator
and
unsupported by
the
Maryland
State's
Attorney's
Office'
actions
in
trying
to get
her to
back out
of
insisting
upon the
prosecution
of her
physical
assailant.
-
As a
result
of these
actions
by the
Maryland
State's
Attorney's
Office,
the
victim
backed
down and
did not
appear
at the
trial.
-
In a
Montgomery
County,
Maryland
Human
Relations
Commission
hearing
(they
are the
local
processor
of U.S.
EEOC
cases),
during
which I
represented
the
interests
of the
victim
for 9
hours,
the
victim
and her
co-worker
eyewitness
could
not
convince
the
commissioners
that a
violation
of
worker
discrimination
law had
taken
place.
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The above
case
occurred in
1988.
The below
case
intervention
occurred in
late 2003.
Not much has
changed for
the better
in terms of
police
responses,
although the
Maryland
State's
Attorney's
Office did
process the
case
professionally,
while
continuing
to omit any
victim
services
whatsoever
for the
Latinas
involved in
these two
cases.
Why?
In my most
recent
intervention,
on August 4,
2003,
(Direct
advocacy
assists
Latina woman
victim of
attempted
street
sexual
assault),
the
following
happened:
-
Police
at the
scene of
an
attempted
sexual
assault
were not
at-first
interested
in
making
any
arrests
of the
three
perpetrators
of an
attempted
sexual
assault.
-
When the
victim
heard
this
from one
of the
responding
officers,
she
began
crying.
-
I later
presented
my
LibertadLatina
business
card to
several
officers.
At that
point,
and
after
bringing
the
shift
sergeant
to the
scene to
translate
for the
victim
(being
fluent
in
Spanish
I
translated
initially),
charges
were
filed,
but only
against
one of
the
three
assailants.
-
The one
charged
perpetrator
was
convicted
in
September,
2003 and
was
sentenced
to 15
days in
jail.
-
The
judge
asked
with
curiosity
during
the
trial
why only
one
suspect
was
arrested?
-
No
victim
services
were
ever
offered
to the
victim
whatsoever.
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These two
cases typify
the
experiences
of immigrant
women in
similar
cases that
I have been
involved
with in
Montgomery
County,
Maryland.
These
responses
from police
and
prosecutors
are also the
daily
experience
of most
Latin
American
immigrants
in the
Washington,
DC region.
The stories
told here
are just a
small
fraction of
the events
that I have
seen & heard
about over
the years.
My hat is
off to the
responding
officers for
their swift
response in
this case
and their
final
decision to
arrest at
least the
one most
aggressive
perpetrator,
who was
convicted of
second
degree
assault.
These
officers
have a
dangerous
job to do.
The
responsibility
for changing
how local
police
officers
respond to
Latina adult
and child
victims of
sexual
assault and
related
crimes lies
directly
with local
government
and police
department
executives.
They have a
moral and a
legal
responsibility
to address
these
issues. Officers
on the
street
cannot act
without the
local police
department
leadership
(in any
jurisdiction)
approving
the needed
changes in
provision of
policing
services to
women,
children and
also men in
the Latin
immigrant
community.
The
motivation
for doing
that should
go without
saying.
The judicial
system,
local school
systems,
social
services and
other
agencies who
interact
with Latina
immigrant
victims all
have the
same
responsibility
to treat
these women
and girls
with
equality and
fairness.
Certainly,
expressions
of concern
from the
public (we
the people)
are critical
to making
real change
happen.
It is up to
the general
public to
insist that
local
governments
and criminal
justice
systems
across the
U.S. address
these
issues.
Help us make
that change
happen!
Many Latina
immigrant
women in the
Washington,
DC region
face
attempted
kidnappings,
rapes and
worse at the
hands of
sexual
predators of
all
ethnicities
who know
that petite
Ms.
Latina
typically
feels
powerless to
respond by
seeking
legal
redress
against
criminal
impunity.
I still
remember a
20 year old
Salvadoran
woman
telling of
how she and
her husband
witnessed
the
kidnapping
from a bus
stop of a
Latina
immigrant
woman in
Prince
Georges
County,
Maryland, by
three
non-Latino
men.
This
kidnapped
Latina woman
was later
raped and
murdered by
her captors.
These
witnesses
refused to
testify for
fear of
retribution
and the
suspects
were not
convicted,
according to
the
Salvadoran
female
witness.
Let's all
work to
change this
tragic and
barbaric
reality in
the daily
lives of
immigrant
and all
other women
and children
now!
- Chuck
Goolsby
September,
2003
Former
Civilian
Office
Systems
Programmer
for the
Montgomery
County
Police
Department
from 1992 to
1995.
What does
the U.S.
Department
of Justice
Say?
The below
statement
directly
addresses
several
important
components
of the
above-defined
problem in
victim
services:
...COMPASSION
AND
SINCERITY
..."There is
no
substitute
for
compassion
as the
foundation,
and
sincerity as
its
expression,
for carrying
out victim
services
equally and
fairly.
Although it
is not
possible to
feel the
same
compassion
for all
victims,
providers
have the
responsibility
to provide
the same
compassionate
service to
every
victim.
Compassionate
and sincere
advocacy
knows no
borders.
The plight
of
undocumented
residents or
illegal
aliens, for
example,
involves
complex
issues of
personal
prejudices
and
international
politics.
Sentiments
among
Americans
regarding
the
clandestine
migration of
those who
seek a
better life
here, mostly
from Mexico
and Central
America,
range from
compassion
for the
safety and
dignity of
those
fleeing
poverty and
war to
border
vigilante
hunts and
savage
beatings.
Once in the
United
States,
undocumented
aliens
become easy
prey for
employment
exploitation,
consumer
fraud,
housing
discrimination,
and criminal
victimization
because
assistance
from
government
authorities
is attached
to the fear
of
deportation.
There is an
epidemic of
sexual
assaults,
for example
committed
upon
undocumented
Latinas.
Their
immigration
status,
however,
does not
mean that
they should
receive less
protection
under
America's
criminal
laws or less
right to
victim
services"...
From:
The United
States
Department
of Justice -
1999
The 1999
National
Victim
Assistance
Academy
Chapter 7 -
Responding
to
Underserved
Crime
Victims -
Respecting
Diversity
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Before
LibertadLatina.org:
Chuck Goolsby's
Email Dialog on the
Human Rights Issues
Facing Latinas in
the Washington, DC
Region
Using
e-mail to
begin a
local
community
dialog
about
the sexual
exploitation
of Latina
immigrant
women &
girls
in
greater
Washington,
DC
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Previous to the
LibertadLatina
project
I provided an e-mail based newsletter of
important community issues related to the right of
Latina women and children to live free from sexual
harassment, rape and enslavement.
The below
list contains some of the more important of these
e-mail conversations to people of consciousness in
the greater Washington, DC region and elsewhere. |
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Rockville,
Maryland
From Charles
Goolsby's
E-mail
Advocacy
Newsletters
09/29/1999 -
Discrimination
against
Latin Women
in Health
Care
An
Ecuadorian
indigenous
woman,
who was
about
40
years old,
was told by
two Latino
doctors in
Montgomery
County that
the lumps in
her breasts
were not
cancer, she
should not
worry about
it, and that
the lumps
were just
concentrations
of calcium.
This friend
was told the
same thing
in Ecuador
by another
doctor.
After being,
finally,
correctly
diagnosed as
indeed
having
Breast
Cancer,
Matilde died
about a year
and a half
ago.
Nobody ever
had to
answer for
the
injustice
that this
friend
faced.
Another
friend, from
Guatemala,
told me of
how a
sister-in-law
went to our
local
hospital,
Shady Grove
Adventist
Hospital...
She
was also an
Indigenous
woman. She
was having
sever
abdominal
pains.
She
was examined
and was told
to go home
and take
aspirin.
After being
taken by
ambulance to
another
local
hospital,
Holy
Cross
Hospital,
this woman
was told
that she had
a tubal
pregnancy,
and was
properly
treated.
(A male
relative of
this
Guatemalan
indigenous
woman also
went to
Shady Grove
Hospital
with stomach
pains, and
was
misdiagnosed
and sent
home.
I turned out
after
returning to
the hospital
later with
severe pain
that he had
appendicitis)
An
Ecuadorian
woman
took her
baby to
Shady Grove
Hospital and
the doctor
prescribed
the wrong
diaper rash
cream, which
another
pediatrician
recognized
as being
something
that
would actually
inflame the
baby's
diaper rash
condition.
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The Montgomery County Commission for Women must play
a strong advocacy role in ending immigrant women and
girl's exposure to impunity and, most importantly,
in ending the local criminal justice system's apathy
& hostility toward Latinas.
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In
May of
1994
I made
a 45 minute
presentation
to the
Montgomery
County
Women's
Commission
covering the
issues of
immigrant
women and
girl's
exploitation
in
Montgomery
County
communities
and
workplaces
that are
detailed on
LibertadLatina.org.
The author's
1994 Report
(35 pages)
was
distributed
to the 15 or
so assembled
commissioners
and was well
received.
In 2001 I again
contacted
the
Commission
and
encouraged
them to act
to resolve
these
issues.
The
Montgomery
County
government
web site
currently
highlights a
seminar
series that
the
Montgomery
County
Women's
Commission
has created
to increase
their
visibility
in response
to the
crisis
facing
immigrants
in this
county.
The below
statement is
from the
commission's
new, 2003
seminar
series for
immigrant
women.
LibertadLatina
commends the
Montgomery
County
Women's
Commission
for taking
this
important
step.
Much more
work needs
to be done,
because a
climate of
official
apathy and
hostility
continues to
affect how
immigrant
women are
served when
faced with
impunity.
During
recessions,
acts of
impunity
become
blatant as
jobless
women and
girls are
subjected to
sexual
quid-pro-quo
work
arrangements
with bosses,
and other
stressors
aggravate
community
based sexual
exploitation.
- Chuck Goolsby, September, 2003
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Montgomery County Women's Commission
401 N. Washington Street, Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20850
For information and to contribute your
comments, please call 240-777-8330.
"U.S. Census 2000 indicates that
Montgomery County has by far the largest
population, and percent, of foreign born
residents of any jurisdiction in
Maryland. The Maryland Department of
Planning reports that Montgomery
County's foreign born population
approaches 233,000 residents (26.7% of
the county's total population).
...It is often the immigrant woman who
faces the most serious challenges. All
too often, she is employed in low wage
jobs, with no benefits, little knowledge
of the laws protecting her rights as an
employee, and no access to that
information or to agencies that could
help.
...She may be afraid to seek help from
the police, health, or social services
agencies, should that become necessary,
and if she does seek help, language may
present still another barrier. Women in
these situations are far more vulnerable
to abuse, harassment, discrimination and
worse.
...The Commission for Women will host a
series of four seminars, offering the
experience, insights and recommendations
of experts on these issues."
2003 MCCW Latina Issues Seminar Series
Flyer
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A Letter from the Montgomery County, MD Women's
Commission
responds positively to Charles Goolsby, Jr.'s May
27, 1994 presentation before the Commission that
detailed many of of the cases listed on this page as
well as cases detailed on our
Workplace
Exploitation Page. |
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To
achieve
real
change,
your
voice
(no
matter
where
you
live)
needs to
be heard
by
government
officials.
Make
your
voice
heard.
Contact:
The
Montgomery
County
Executive
and the
County
Council
have
recently
signed a
resolution
rejecting
Maryland
Governor
Ehrlich's
recent
public
remarks
that
were
construed
as
hostile
to Latin
American
immigrant's
and
their
supposed
lack of
English
language
skills.
Maybe
they are
in a
mood
to
reform
anti-immigrant
abuses
here.
- Chuck
Goolsby
|
Excerpt...
Past
political
hostility
towards,
and
support
for
Latino
immigrants
in
Maryland
by
politicians...
On a
Baltimore
talk
radio
show,
[Maryland
Governor
Robert]
Ehrlich
voiced
his
opinion
that
immigrants
should
learn
English
and
adopt
American
culture.
“I
reject
the
idea
of
multicultural-ism.
Once
you
get
into
this
multiculturalism
crap,
this
bunk,
you
run
into
a
problem...."
According
to a
Takoma
Park
Gazette
article
on
May
12,
Ehrlich
refused
to
answer
calls
for
him
to
apologize
for
his
comments
and
continued
to
defend
his
position.
Meanwhile,
on
May
11,
the
Montgomery
County
Council
unanimously
voted
for
a
resolution
that
expressed
concern
about
Ehrlich’s
“ill-chosen
remarks"
and
suggested
that
he
apologize. |
Silver
Chips
May 13,
2004
County
Executive
Isiah
Leggett
Elected 2006...
and a
good guy!
Executive
Office
Building
101
Monroe
Street
Rockville,
MD 20850
Phone:
240-777-2500
Fax:
240-777-2517
Montgomery
County
Council
- 2008
Phil
Andrews
(District 3
| Democrat)
Roger
Berliner
(District 1
| Democrat)
Marc Elrich
(At Large |
Democrat)
Valerie
Ervin
(District 5
| Democrat)
Nancy
Floreen
(At Large |
Democrat)
Mike Knapp
(District 2
| Democrat)
George
Leventhal
(At Large |
Democrat)
Marilyn J.
Praisner
(District 4
| Democrat)
Duchy
Trachtenberg
(At Large |
Democrat)
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January
7,
2003
President
Bush
Proposes
Immigration
Reform
While
the
true
fairness
of
his
plan
has
yet
to
be
seen...
Thank
you
President
Bush
for
giving
global
coverage
and
mainstream
respect
to
the
plight
of
Latin@s
and
other
immigrants
who
face
the
severe
crime
&
workplace
exploitation
issues
that
we
struggle
daily
to
document,
organize
against
and
overcome.
We
encourage
law
enforcement
and
the
judiciary
across
the
U.S.
to
follow
the
President's
leadership
and
provide
real
and
equal
assistance
to
victims,
ending
the
crisis
in
immigrant
victimization
with
impunity
and
tepid
local
government
response
to
that
ongoing
emergency.
That tepid local government response to
the sexual, community and workplace
exploitation of immigrant women,
children and men is thoroughly described
on this page and in our
U.S. Latin immigrant crisis and
Workplace Latin Immigrant Crisis
sections.
We strongly encourage local governments
in the Washington, DC region and across
the United States to actively remove the
restrictions to access to the law
enforcement, judicial and civil legal
institutions that immigrant workers
desperately need access to (as president
Bush noted clearly in his January 7,
2004 address).
Local Washington, DC regional
communities such as Mount Pleasant in
DC, Gaithersburg, Maryland and others
have faced racially motivated terror and
institutional hostility long enough.
That hostility is described here below.
-
LibertadLatina.org
(See
our
additional
commentary
and
links
to
press
articles
in
regard
to
this
issue.)
Return
to
Index |
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LibertadLatina
News /
Noticias |
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Updated:
March 10, 2010
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Latest News
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
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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
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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.
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