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2011 DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk on the National Mall in Washington, DC was a great success, with over 1,600 people having registered for the event.

We were encouraged to see more Latina / Latino participation at this year's gathering.

Thanks to everyone to spoke with us at our information table!

Chuck Goolsby

Oct. 24, 2011

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2011 DC Stop Human Slavery Walk and Rally

National Mall

Washington, DC

On Saturday, October 22, 2011, thousands will unite for the 2011 DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk on the National Mall to celebrate human rights, raise public awareness about human trafficking and raise funds for non-profits working to end the practice. The event includes a 5K walk around the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, resource fair, children's area, live music and luminary speakers, including survivors of trafficking. Last year's walk attracted over 2,000 walkers and raised over $100,000.

At the 2010 march and rally, Libertad Latina provided the only info table among those of 30 or so NGOs to address the Latina, Afro-descendent & indigneous aspects of the human trafficking issue.

For 2011, we are glad to see that vetern Latin@ legal services NGO Ayuda, Inc. is a co-sponsor of this important event.

For those who can attend, We look forward to meeting you there!

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

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Ayuda Seeks Supporters for Walk to Stop Modern Slavery

Ayuda, Inc., a provider of legal and social assistance for low–income immigrants in the Washington metropolitan area, is looking for supporters to participate in the 2011 DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk taking place on October 22 at the National Mall.

Ayuda will cosponsor the event, which will include a 5–kilometer walk, an anti–trafficking resource fair, guest speakers, and live music.

Human trafficking is an issue that Ayuda regularly addresses. Through legal and social services, the organization has helped hundreds of men, women, and children who have been enslaved in the United States.

Those wanting to participate can do so by either joining Team Ayuda on the walk (the team will have at least 25 walkers) or making a donation online. Ayuda will receive 80 percent of all funds raised.

For more information, contact Casey Tyler at casey @ayuda.com, or visit DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk.

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Indigenous and Latina Women & Children's Human Rights News from the Americas

Latin America - Sexual Exploitation

Forced Child Prostitution in Brazil

Little Girls of the Night

By: Gilberto Dimenstein

Adapted from his book "Meninas da Noite"

Translation: NACLA Report on the Americas

May/June, 1994

http://www.NACLA.org

See also related noted on Brazil's Crisis in child exploitation and child sex auctions in Brazil

On the night of September 23, 1991, the São Bartolomeu--one of the small steamboats that ply the Amazonian rivers--sails to Laranjal do Jari in the northern reaches of Brazil. The voyage lasts three days and two nights.

The passengers lie in hammocks hooked up to poles. Besides passengers, the boat transports goods through the riverine regions. This voyage, however, has a shipment of special merchandise: a lot of girls who, without knowing it, are destined to become prostitutes. Such a shipment is special, but not truly exceptional for the boats that navigate these rivers.

Twelve girls--among them, Ana Meire Lima da Silva, age 15, and Miriam Ferreira dos Santos, 14--make up part of the cargo. They were persuaded to go with promises of work in a restaurant or luncheonette.

These girls were naive," says Elaine, a more experienced prostitute who was involved in the ruse but is convinced that she did nothing bad. "They knew nothing."

A terrible reception awaited them. Bucho de Bode ("Goat Belly"), a brothel owner, met them at the port. As the ship docked, Ana Meire remembers hearing catcalls from men on the footbridges: "Hmm, some fresh meat... She's for me... She turns me on... I'm going to suck you up whole."

This welcome is part of a ritual. Each time that girls debark at the port, there is a true festival. That night, all the men argued among themselves over who would have the privilege of being the first to eat the "fresh meat." New arrivals are highly valued by clients. In this unhealthly atmosphere, prostitutes rapidly lose value, which, in the words of one pimp, demands a constant "resupply of goods." When clients tire of a product, the moment has arrived to sell the girls according to the rule of "transfer." The girls move, therefore, from one region to another, from one garimpo-- mining community--to the next.

I invite the reader to share with me the voyage along these routes of trafficking in people, which will lead us into the secrets of child prostitution found throughout Brazil. The Brazilian Center for Childhood and Adolescence (CBIA) of the Ministry of Social Services estimates that there are 500,000 girl prostitutes in the country.

The setting of this particular voyage is exotic, unknown and largely inaccessible: the legal Amazon in the northwest of Brazil, which comprises close to 61 percent of the national territory. The Amazon has been a magnet for migration, which has changed the face of the region with extraordinary speed. Men and women with fair skin and blonde hair, from the South, mix with Amazonian mestizos, producing a mixture of skin colors, foods and expressions. Most of these migrants are looking for land; others are attracted by gold. According to the most recent census, Amazonia registered the highest rate of population growth in the country: the state of Roraima (9.1 percent), Rondônia (7.9 percent), Mato Grosso (5.4 percent), and Pará (3.4 percent).

Protected by nature and difficult to access by land or by air (there have been countless airplane accidents), the Amazonian jungle creates states within a state. The law is dictated there by those who are the boldest, the best armed, and have the best pistoleiros (hired guns). The traffic in girls forced into prostitution is testimony to the chaotic and inhumane character of this migration.

The girls are attracted by the promise of licit employment, but then are sent to work in night clubs in these faraway, inaccessible places, and kept captive like prisoners. Even the more experienced girls, who are not new to prostitution, are tricked. By contrast with the more naive girls, they know that they are going to sell their bodies, but they have little idea of the regime of slavery that awaits them.

Everything rests upon the debt--a bottomless pit. From the moment the girl arrives at the club, she is told that she owes money: her plane or boat ticket, which can be as much as $100. She cannot leave until this debt is paid off. The debt grows with the purchase of clothes, perfumes, medicine and food furnished by the club owner at an arbitrary price.

Without the girls realizing it, the owner keeps track of their expenditures using as a base the value of a gram of gold. The debt snowballs, especially when the girls fall sick--a common occurrence in this region ravaged by malaria. During the time they cannot "work," the debt piles up. Money from clients does not pass through the girls' hands; it goes, instead, directly to the cashbox.

In the majority of cases, the debt cannot be repaid, and escape attempts are severely punished. The girl regains her freedom only if she is sick, pregnant, or can no longer attract clients. Occasionally, a client will pay for a girl's release. Luísa Ribeiro Soares, a prostitute in Laranjal do Jari, received help from a lover who wanted to live with her. He helped pay her debt by buying back her "transfer," the equivalent of the certificate of emancipation given to slaves in the last century. In this milieu, the power to buy freedom bestows great importance on the pimps.

Many paths lead to prostitution. "Misery pushes the girls into the street," says Lurdes au Bar Jardim, the director of the Group of Female Prostitutes of the Center of Belem (GEMPAC). "They have nothing to sell. They don't know how to read or write or cook. They can sell the only valuable thing they possess: their body."

At times, the first step is linked to drug trafficking. A number of girls have become addicted to "mela," a kind of crack cocaine. "The girls are used as formiguinhas (little ants)," says Captain Luiz Cláudio Azambuja, head of the Department of Children and Adolescents of the military police of Rondnia. "They carry the drugs to protect the adults." The girls start by becoming addicted, and then they are used as formiguinhas and prostitute themselves to feed their vice and to try to wipe out an endless debt.

Another road to prostitution: a girl falls in love with someone whom her family does not accept. As a consequence, the family kicks her out. Without any skills, she has no alternative but to sell her body to survive. This is what happened to Adriana Pereira Lima, who works at a brothel in Laranjal do Jari. Her family rejected her after she lost her virginity. The street recovered her. Today, Adriana asks herself: "My dream is to have a husband, kids and a job. But where can I work since I didn't go to school?"

Family problems drive many girls onto the street. Of the 53 girls and adolescents that I interviewed, 50 came from broken homes. Here are some numbers: 80 percent have no contact with their father; the parents of 30 percent of the girls are dead; 35 percent say they have suffered sexual abuse in the home and point to the step-father as the principal abuser; and 50 percent say that alcoholism is a problem in their family. The girls all dream of a happy family, but their hopes are poignantly modest. When I asked one young girl to describe her ideal father, she thought a long time before replying: "This father would only hit me at certain times."

Francineide Luiza Cavalcanti, 14, is a product of the disintegration of the family. "I left my home because of my step-father," she says. "Each time my mom went out, he wanted to kiss me. I complained to my mom, but she did nothing. So I left and didn't come back. I prefer the street."

Indeed a number of girls consider prostitution an avenue to freedom. They are fleeing the oppression of a patriarchal household, where it is not uncommon for the family to be in conflict and often violent. In some cases, the girls are trying to escape boring, poorly paid jobs. They are seduced by the dream of having a room of their own and earning more money.

Claudia Amaral, age 13, came to Beiradão to work as a maid for a couple. She stayed in the city as a maid during the daytime. At night, however, she came to the night club to realize her deepest desire: to dance. Claudia convinces me that she truly doesn't want to leave the brothel. She is happy dancing and meeting new people, all of which gives her a sense of freedom. It is better, she says, than the tiring work of a maid.

But the street is not an easy school. The girls are obliged to submit to the depravations of their clients and the blackmail of police officers who demand sex from the girls without paying.

The girls sorely lack information. Of those 53 girls I interviewed, barely 15 percent use contraceptive methods and just 5 percent regularly use condoms. Most of the girls did not have the least idea how their bodies function or of the risks of pregnancy. Forty percent had already self-induced abortions by the most rudimentary methods--such as blows to the stomach, knitting needles, or inappropriate medicine (such as quinine for malaria). Others had abandoned their newborns in the hope that someone would pick the infants up and care for them.

Violence is a common reality. Students at the Federal University of Pará did a study in the garimpo zones in 1991. Their report contains the testimony of a man from Santare'm who frequented the brothels during his travels. He describes the violence he encountered: "The girls are submitted to all kinds of torture and exploitation, regardless of their skin color. When they refuse, they are mistreated--violently beaten, their hair cut with a machete, and sometimes even killed. One girl demanded money from a john with whom she'd just slept. She died from two gunshots in the vagina."

Ins Pinho de Carvalho, from the Pastoral Office of Minors in Santarém, can no longer recall how many girls she has helped liberate nor how many families have come to her in search of their children. One case in particular made a strong impression on her. Ins helped to free Lúcia Figueira, age 13, who was sent to the garimpos in the Itaituba region.

After her release, Lúcia told Ins what had happened to her. The night club owner was angry at her because of her escape attempts. One day when he was more furious than usual, he tied her to the back of his car and dragged her through the streets. "That wasn't enough for him," Lúcia confided in Ins. "Afterwards, he put lemon on my wounds."

This violence is sometimes turned inwards. Self-mutilation--a cry for attention--is a common form of self-punishment. Students from the Faculty of Pedagogy at the Federal University of Mato Grosso did a study of the girls of Praca do Porto in Cuiabá, under the direction of the psychologist Katia Marques. "When a girl falls in love with a boy," says their report, "he becomes her gigolo. She shares her earnings with him. However, the girls don't know how to master their frustrations when they are in love and are treated badly. For this reason, they beat themselves. They become totally masochistic."

In this route of human trafficking, a virgin is worth more than others. Maria Dalva Bandeira, a former teacher who studied in her adolescence to become a nun, organizes a well- known auction of virgins at La Casa da Dalva, a brothel in Imperatriz that specializes in virgins. When a girl arrives who is still "sealed"--to use the expression of the trade-- the whole city is told about it. The person who pays the most has the right to be the first.

The men gather in the salon. Dalva then presents the girl, who has been dressed up in new and seductive clothes, and has had her face made up and her hair styled. Immediately after the presentation, the girl returns to her room.

The auction then begins. The highest bid is usually placed by a son of the fazendeiros--the rich landowners. The following day is a big event for these rich young men. To deflower a virgin is a mark of social status.

Along the row of brothels where the Casa da Dalva is located, most of the prostitutes are young girls. The reason is simple: by age 18, a prostitute is a finished woman, eaten away by illnesses. It's necessary, then, to bring in new labor.

The garimpeiros--the gold diggers--call women over 18 years "chickens," and younger girls "chicks." The psychologist Maria Luiza Pinheiro, from the Brazilian Center for Childhood and Adolescence, frequently travels the routes of this traffic. She has often heard the men who chase the "chicks"say, "I had myself one of 15 kilograms (33 pounds). It was good."

Just as I'm about to go home after talking to some girls on a street in downtown Manaus, a child comes up to me and tugs at my shirt sleeve.

"Mister, aren't you going to interview me?" she asks. It is then that I realize that she is a little girl. Scarcely 12 years old, she already has a nom de guerre--Cristiane--like the other prostitutes. Her real name is Edvalda Pereira da Silva. Like most of the girls of the street, she has already been beaten up by the police. She says that one of them kicked her in the stomach because she had called him a "son of a bitch."

Edvalda knows what a condom is, but she doesn't use them. "They say that if you don't use them, you'll catch a kind of AIDS," she says, "but I don't believe it."

Edvalda has already learned some of the tricks of the trade. Another girl has explained to her that she must be paid in advance. Her price is 7,000 cruzeiros (nine dollars) a ve question: "Little one, have you already done programs?"

Edvalda bursts out laughing. She says that her mother works in Itamaraca'--a red-light zone--and she doesn't care if Edvalda turns tricks. "I am different than the other prostitutes," she adds. "Do you know why?"

I tell her that I don't have the faintest idea.

Her response takes me by surprise. She lifts up her blouse, which is so big that it functions as a dress, and says laughing: "I don't have breasts yet."

Edvalda and other girls I interviewed confirm the suspicions of specialists, even though statistical studies have not yet been done: the average age of the girls who fall into prostitution is dropping. They are becoming younger at the same rate as the total number of street kids is growing. Sex becomes an occasional source of revenue even for children.

One obvious result is the girls' total ignorance of the risks they run. The Ministry of Social Services carried out a study in Manaus of women from 16 to 40 years old. They found that 80 percent of the women didn't know their own bodies and didn't understand how one becomes pregnant or how to avoid it. One imagines, then, how little is known by young girls like Edvalda.

To escape requires courage and above all imagination. One war-like operation succeeded in freeing Maria Madalena Costa de Oliveira. Her misadventure began on April 28, 1991, in Altamira, when a couple, Walmir and Marisa, invited her to come work as a domestic employee in Itaituba. She was told she would earn 30 grams of gold per month.

On May 4, she arrived at the Miranda Hotel in Itaituba. There she met five other girls. An unpleasant surprise was not long in coming. Early in the morning, Walmir told the girls that they would not be staying in the city, but would go to the garimpo. If they wanted to bail out, it wasn't a problem. But first they had to pay the debt they had incurred for their plane ticket and lodging. The girls resigned themselves to going. They flew to Cuiú-Cuiú, where the pimp Tampinha was waiting for them on the runway.

Then they encountered the second unpleaant surprise of the trip: they had to work in the Matador night club. "Those were infernal nights," recounts Maria Madalena. "They forced us to sleep with several men. They made us perform homosexual acts and pose for photos."

Three months later, Maria Madalena--accompanied by her friends Tânia and Maria de Fátima--escaped with the help of two garimpeiros. After two nights and a day on the run, they were hungry and exhausted. They arrived at the plantation of Edmar Pereira, where they asked for food. It was a bad idea: the landowner returned them to his friend Tampinha for 49 grams of gold.

Maria Madalena didn't lose hope. In a letter to her sister in Altamira, she detailed her predicament and called for help. A sick prostitute left for Altamira with Maria Madalena's letter hidden in her luggage. With this letter in hand, her sister Raimunda Holanda looked for the judge Vera Araújo de Souza and for the federal police.

On November 25, with the judge's court order, a police commissioner left to look for Maria Madalena in Cuiú-Cuiú. As she was leaving, Tampinha threatened the girl. "He said to me that if I told anything, he would kill me," she says. "He said that if he wanted to, he could kill me right there and bury me. That all he had to do was give some gold to the police commissioner and everything would be forgotten." The story of Maria Madalena sums up the climate of impunity that envelopes the trafficking and slavery of women forced into prostitution.

Sister Dineva, from the Center for the Defense of Minors in Cuiab&aaucte, the capital of Mato Grosso, gives me an example of the cruelty of these power games: Jociane Silva dos Santos. Jociane is just nine years old. She is an orphan. Her mother had already passed away when her father died in December, 1991. At night, Jociane sleeps in a government home for abandoned children in Mato Grosso. The home is not very safe. Pimps keep watch in front of the building, waiting for the girls with offers of "protection and money." In the daytime, Jociane wanders around the plaza.

The street educators and Sister Dineva are worried about Jociane. She is already hanging out with an older girl who has decided to "sponsor" her. For all practical purposes, Jociane is ready to enter the "market," negotiating what she has of highest value: her virginity, an expensive commodity.

"I don't know how much longer we can maintain control," laments the nun, as she points a finger at the girl who is sponsoring Jocaine.

Jociane approaches us. I ask the usual questions: the names of her father and mother, place of birth, workplace, childhood memories, perception of violence, how she feels among these girls.

I ask her if she knows what AIDS is. She answers yes. I persist: "What is it?"

"It's a sickness that comes from the river," Jociane replies. "They tell people not to drink this water because of AIDS."

Mixing up AIDS and cholera highlights the ignorance of children like Jociane and their inability to manage not only their sex, but also their entire life. They collect trauma after trauma, rejection after rejection.

I heard an utterance that best expressed the deep scar left by child prostitution when I was doing research for an earlier book at the Casa da Passagem, a shelter in Recife. After telling her story, which was a tissue of trauma, frustration and violence, a young girl asked: "Is it possible to be born a second time?" For the little girls of the night, their first passage on this earth has been a tale of misery.

###

Gilberto Dimentein is a Brazilian reporter for Folha de São Paulo. He is author of Brazil: War on Children (Latin Ameria Bureau/Monthly Review Press, 1991). This article is adapted from his book Meninas da Noite (Editora Atica S.A., 1992). Translated from the Portuguese by NACLA.

See also related noted on Brazil's Crisis in child exploitation and child sex auctions in Brazil

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Updated:Oct. 24, 2011

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LibertadLatina

Key new special sections

About the crisis of forced prostitution of minor girls and young women in the largest center for organized sex trafficking in Mexico: Tlaxcala state.

The war against indigenous women and girls in the Americas

The crisis in the Dominican Republic

The crisis in Paraguay - including coverage of the important work of anti trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez and the unjust retaliatory impeachment that she is now facing

Latest News

Últimas Noticias

Added: Oct. 24, 2011

Mexico, New York, USA

Lydia Chacho (right) has received the 2011 Civil Courage Prize

Leading Figures in the fight against sex trafficking win 2011 Civil Courage Prize

New York, New York - Lydia Cacho Ribeiro of Mexico and Triveni Acharya of India will receive the 12th annual Civil Courage Prize in New York on October 19. The Prize of $50,000 will be divided between the two women in acknowledgement of their leadership roles in the fight against the abuse of women and children…

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro is one of Mexico's best known investigative journalists and a prominent women's rights activist. She is the founder of the Women's Assistance Center in Cancún, which provides free legal, psychological and medical services to women and child victims of domestic and sexual violence and trafficking, as Mexico is a top destination for sex trafficking from other countries in the region.

Following the 2005 publication of her book, The Demons of Eden, in which she implicated a number of influential businessmen and politicians in a child pornography network, she was wrongfully arrested, detained and ill treated before being subjected to a yearlong criminal defamation trial. She was cleared of all charges but continues to be a target of harassment and threats to her life for her continued work on behalf of abused women and children.

Many have suggested that she leave Mexico as a safety precaution. She has replied, "I am not going away. I am not going anywhere other than forward, to shed light on everything. Those, the corrupt, the evil are in reality very few. We men and women, on the other hand, keep being the majority, and so I do not lose the hope that Mexico can change."

A Sorbonne graduate and linguist, Cacho is the author of seven books, most recently Slaves of Power: A Journey to the Heart of World Sex Trafficking of Women and Girls (2010). Currently a columnist for the Mexico City newspaper, El Universal, she has spoken about how many lesser known journalists feed her information that they are too afraid to publish under their own name.

Triveni Acharya is President of the Rescue Foundation, an organization devoted to the rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation of women and children who have been victims of kidnapping and sex trafficking. The victims, who are from India, Nepal and Bangladesh, are sold into forced prostitution in India...

The Train Foundation

(PDF file)

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Added: Oct. 24, 2011

New York, USA

Lydia Cacho Blasts Facebook

Mexico’s most prominent human-rights activist says the site has become a tool for sex predators—and isn’t doing enough to combat the problem. Facebook says otherwise.

A prominent human-rights advocate has accused Facebook of becoming the stomping grounds for sex predators, traffickers, and child pornographers.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, a Mexican journalist and activist known for busting pedophile rings, made the comments in New York on Wednesday night, while accepting the Civil Courage Prize from the Train Foundation, an organization that awards an annual $50,000 prize to activists. Cacho Ribeiro challenged [keynote speaker] United Nations Under-Secretary General Michelle Bachelet [head of UN Women] and 130 others in attendance to join her new campaign to pressure Facebook to take serious action against child abusers.

“If anyone has the power to do it, talk to the owners and CEO of Facebook to stop child pornography that is going on Facebook every day,” she said. “We are seeing thousands of children—babies from 2 and 3 months old to girls from 7 to 10 years old—that are being sold, and having pictures taken by guys, predators, on Facebook,” she continued. “Stop Facebook. Tell them to stop child pornography.”

Facebook strongly denied the accusations when contacted by The Daily Beast. Joe Sullivan, the company’s chief of security, said Facebook’s security software constantly searches the site’s pages for evidence of sexual predators and child abusers. Every picture uploaded by Facebook users is run through a program called “Photo DNA,” he said, to look for possible matches with offenders. The company saves the data, he said, and makes referrals to law-enforcement agencies…

Cacho Ribeiro first gained international attention as a journalist and activist in the '90s in Cancun, Mexico, where she established a high-security shelter for female victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. In her book, Demons of Eden, published in 2004, Cacho exposed a high-profile businessman and politicians involved in a child pornography ring. Now an award-winning author of seven books, she recently accused the Mexican drug cartels of smuggling underage girls to the U.S. for prostitution…

Newsweek

Oct. 21, 2011

Added: Oct. 23, 2011

Congressional anti trafficking leader acknowledges that 1.2 million victims of sex and labor slavery exist in Mexico

Mexico

Deputy Rosi Orozco is the president of the Special Commission to Combat Human Trafficking in the Chamber of Deputies in the Congress of the Repiblic

México, quinto lugar en AL en trata de personas

México. D.F. México ya ocupa el quinto lugar en América Latina con el mayor número de víctimas de la trata; se estima que un millón 200 mil personas son explotadas sexual y laboralmente en territorio mexicano. Y la cifra de víctimas va en aumento, mientras federales, estatales y municipales, poco o nada hacen para combatir ese delito.

Así lo advirtió la presidenta de la Comisión Especial de Lucha contra la Trata de Personas, diputada federal, Rosi Orozco, quien alertó que en todo el territorio nacional continúan despareciendo niñas y niños, con la consecuente angustia y desesperación al interior de las familias afectadas.

Señaló que uno de los casos representativos de este delito, es el de Georgina Ivonne Ramírez Mora, de 22 años de edad, quien trabajaba en un casino situado en el municipio de Atizapán, y desapareció el 30 de mayo de 2011, días después de manifestar a una de sus compañeras de trabajo su intención de renunciar a dicho empleo.

Aclaró la legisladora que la Procuraduría mexiquense tiene conocimiento de este caso y sin embargo no se ha avanzado en la investigación.

Por ello, propuso que la Cámara baja haga un llamado tanto a los gobernadores, como a las procuradurías estatales para que, en el seno de la Conferencia Nacional de Gobernadores (Conago) den a conocer los resultados de los operativos en contra de la trata de personas, así como las estadísticas reales de menores recuperados.

Mexico holds fifth place in human trafficking in Latin America

[Deputy Rosi Orozco declares that 1.2 million victims exist across the nation]

Mexico City – According to Deputy Rosi Orozco, who is the president of the Special Commission to Combat Human Trafficking in the Chamber of Deputies [lower house of Congress], Mexico currently has the fifth highest number of human trafficking victims among Latin America nations, with an estimated 1.2 million victims of sex and labor exploitation. The numbers of victims continue to increase as federal, state and local authorities do little or nothing in response, said Deputy Orozco.

The anti trafficking leader in warned that girls and boys continue to disappear across Mexico, which has a devastating impact on their loved ones.

Deputy Orozco discussed a representative case, that of Georgina Ivonne Ramírez Mora, age 22, who worked at a casino located in the municipality of Atizapán. Ramírez Mora disappeared on May 30, 2011, just days after she mentioned to one of her coworkers her intentions to resign from her job.

The attorney general’s office for Mexico state has opened an investigation in the case, but no progress has been made toward resolving it.

Deputy Orozco has recently proposed that the Chamber of Deputies issue a call to the nation’s governors and state prosecutors, calling upon them to use the forum of the National Conference of Governors to share their state statistics in regard to the numbers of enforcement operations being carried out in their states.. She added that state leaders should discuss [and be honest about] the actual numbers of minors who have been rescued in their respective states.

Alfredo Plascencia Sánchez

Diario Portal

Oct. 17, 2011

Added: Oct. 23, 2011

Paraguay

Harvard Law School graduate James H. Thessin was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Paraguay by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on September 8, 2011

Embajador de EEUU en Paraguay, preocupado por desafuero de fiscala Teresa Martínez

El embajador de Estados Unidos en Paraguay, James Thessin, manifestó su preocupación sobre el desafuero de la fiscala Teresa Martínez al fiscal general del estado, Rubén Candia Amarilla, según comentó a la prensa este último.

Durante una visita protocolar que realizó este viernes el embajador estadounidense Thessin al Ministerio Público, se reunió con el fiscal general Candia Amarilla a quien le expresó su preocupación por la decisión que tomó el Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados (JEM), de desaforar a la agente Teresa Martínez.

El desafuero ocurrió luego de que la agente fiscal fuera denunciado por difamación, calumnia e injuria, por haber allanado una casa de citas, en donde según una denuncia de la Secretaría de la Niñez, explotaban a una adolescente.

Anastasio Gómez, el dueño de la casa de citas, querelló a la fiscala Teresa Martínez, que finalmente fue desaforada por el JEM.

Ambassador expresses U.S. concerns about the impeachment of anti trafficking procescutor Teresa Martínez to Paraguay's Attorney General

The U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, James Thessin, has expressed concern about the the impeachment of federal prosecutor Teresa Martínez to Paraguayan Attorney General Ruben Candia Amarilla.

During a diplomatic visit that took place this past Friday at the Public Ministry, Ambassador Thessin expressed his concerns in regard to the decision by the Trial Jury for Magistrates (JEM) to impeach prosecutor Martínez.

The impeachment process began after Martínez was sued for defamation, libel and insult in the aftermath of a raid by authorities on a brothel where, according to the Secretariat for Children, an adolescent girl was being exploited.

Anastasio Gomez, the owner of the brothel, filed the lawsuit against Martínez, resulting in the impeachment charges being brought by the JEM.

Última Hora

Mexico

Oct. 21, 2011

Added: Oct. 23, 2011

North Carolina, USA

Man accused in Charlotte human trafficking operation

Charlotte - A human trafficking operation was going on inside a southwest Charlotte home, according to investigators. They said a man who is in the country illegally sold women for sex...

Filemon Guzman-Martínez is charged with human trafficking and forcing women into prostitution.

Court documents said agents found business cards with pictures of women posed in a sexually suggestive manner and the phrase “What do you have to lose” written in Spanish.

In a bedroom of the house he rented, they found a bulk package of condoms and a woman with a suitcase. Almost all of the clothing, agents said, consisted of lingerie.

“It's a growing problem,” said Del Richburg, a special agent with Charlotte's Homeland Security Office. “It's a problem we've seen on the rise.”

Richburg said human trafficking is bringing a steady stream of victims from Mexico and Central America to Charlotte on the promise of jobs that don't exist.

“Might be as a nanny or working in a restaurant -- where they're brought up here and forced into prostitution,” Richburg said...

Neighbors said they hope federal agents won't stop investigating now.

“Just the tip of the iceberg -- there's four more houses of them,” Ronald Caldwell said.

Federal agents wouldn’t comment on whether they're looking at other houses in that neighborhood, but said new victims are being moved in and out of Charlotte every week.

Martínez, who was apparently in the country illegally, will make a first appearance in federal court on Thursday.

WSOC-TV

Oct. 12, 2011

Added: Oct. 23, 2011

Mexico

Youth Career Initiative pilots human trafficking awareness training for hotel staff in Mexico

Press Release

The Youth Career Initiative (YCI), a six-month education program that provides disadvantaged young people with life and work skills in leading hotels, launches its first training workshop in Mexico this week for hotel staff working with participants who have survived human trafficking. Course attendees include General Managers, HR and training managers, representatives of YCI’s local coordinating partners, and staff of local shelters.

The half-day training program is also aimed at representatives from other partner organizations in the target locations for this project. This workshop is conducted with partial support from the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP).

The training has two main aims: to raise awareness about the complex issue of human trafficking, particularly within the context of the hotel industry; and to enable hotel staff coordinating the YCI program to better support participants who have survived human trafficking. Facilitated by a team comprised of human trafficking experts, as well as hotel staff, the training workshop offers a general overview of the issue before delving into particular challenges within the hospitality industry. It also provides an insight into the victims’ experience including the rescue and recovery process, while encouraging discussions about how to support the re-integration of survivors.

The training course was developed with input from a range of local shelters, anti-trafficking organizations, governmental organizations and hotel companies. Leading hotel companies participating in this Mexico pilot include InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International Inc., and NH Hoteles.

As a new adaptation of the YCI model, this pilot project aiding the re-integration of survivors of human trafficking will initially run in three pilot countries (Mexico, Brazil and Vietnam). The first pilot is currently running in Mexico City with 45 young people, 15 of whom are survivors of human trafficking. The eventual aim is to scale up the project to involve all 11 participating YCI countries.

3BL Media / theCSRfeed

Oct. 21, 2011

Added: Oct. 21, 2011

Mexico

Soledad Griensen

Hallan pruebas de trata de personas vs Griensen

El Ministerio Público que sigue la investigación sobre el caso de Soledad Griensen, dio a conocer que existen elementos de prueba suficientes para consignarla ante un juez de Garantía por los delitos de trata de persona, cuya pena máxima llega a los 24 años de prisión.

La investigación se fortaleció luego de que agentes investigadores realizaron un cateo en el refugio Mujeres Unidas Contra la Violencia ubicado en el cruce de las calles Delicias y Jiménez de la colonia 9 de Septiembre.

"Ahí se encontraron documentos y una serie de evidencias que llevaron al Ministerio Público a solicitar dos órdenes de aprehensión", dijo ayer el fiscal Jorge González Nicolás, quien rechazó dar a conocer las identidades, sin embargo trascendió que se trata de la misma Griensen y un familiar cercano.

El propio gobernador del estado, César Duarte Jáquez, refirió durante un evento celebrado ayer en Cibeles que se buscará la pena máxima para esta mujer al tiempo que llamó a los representantes de distintas organizaciones sociales a no utilizar la bandera de organizaciones para intereses mezquinos.

El fiscal Jorge González, manifestó que el albergue Mujeres Unidas Contra la Violencia, estaba dentro de un grupo de ocho organismos a los que se canalizaba a personas que eran víctimas de la violencia, entre ellas mujeres y niñas.

"Desde luego que se canalizaron a personas a ese lugar, pero a partir de este año, Gobierno del Estado ya no apoyaba a este albergue económicamente, además de que del estudio que se hizo se determinó que no se cumplía con ciertos requisitos", reconoció el funcionario estatal.

Añadió que lamentablemente existe un vacío en la ley que no permite una supervisión constante a este tipo de centros, pero por ello mismo, este año no se otorgó ningún tipo de subsidio por parte del Estado.

"Hay un gran vacío, pero en cuanto a la comisión de un delito, definitiva-mente que existe responsabilidad por parte de la Fiscalía para investigarlos tan es así que ya está detenida esta persona", señaló.

Dijo que la Fiscalía escuchó en declaración a las cinco mujeres que fueron víctimas del maltrato por parte de la señora Soledad Griensen pero además de la trata de personas, incurrió en la privación ilegal de su libertad.

Félix A. González

Norte Digital

Oct. 21, 2011

See also:

Added: Oct. 21, 2011

Mexico

Owner of Juarez Women’s Shelter Being Investigated for Abuse, Human Trafficking

Soledad Griensen Porras being investigated for abuse, human trafficking

A battered women’s shelter in Mexico is at the center of a human trafficking, abuse, and forced prostitution investigation, where a woman thought to be “a charitable soul” has been accused of abusing the women of the shelter.

Soledad Griensen Porras, 55, is being accused of forcing a number of women into prostitution and holding them against their will at the Mujeres Unidas contra la Violencia (Women United Against Violence). Some even claim Griensen punished them by putting chile on their private parts.

Many in the community are shocked to hear these allegations, as Griensen is known to donate food and blankets to those in need, and is said to regularly fight for women’s rights.

However, according to police, while everything looked copacetic, the women say men routinely came to the shelter soliciting sex, for which Griensen requested payment. Others claim they were forced to pay her in order to leave the shelter.

When officers searched the shelter, they say they found pornographic material, though it is unclear what exactly was found.

A neighbor who asked to remain anonymous told the El Paso Times she knew the community saw Griensen as the woman who gave the less fortunate groceries, blankets and toys, but she saw how Griensen was when in or around the shelter, which not only helps battered women, but is said to help those with substance abuse issues.

“I’m not going to tell you she was a nice person,” she told the Times. “Outside, she helped a lot, but she didn’t treat well the people inside.”

The unnamed neighbor said she once heard from one of the girls in the shelter that the place was “hell” and once had her hair shaved off for misbehaving.

But while this neighbor is not entirely surprised by the accusations against Griensen, others are having trouble believing them.

Irma Casas, director of the women’s rights organization Casa Amiga, said she was in the shelter about four months ago and did not see anything out that would lead her to believe anything sinister was going on.

Casas said the shelter was well kept and clean. Adding that a woman she had recently conversed with from the shelter did not report anything like what is being claimed.

However, Casas did suggest police look at all the shelters in the area to ensure nothing like this was happening elsewhere.

“This is a symptom of the little or null political and social intervention in this topic,” she said. “We should evaluate if in the case of Mrs. Griensen there had been an inspection of the spaces and who was in charge of them.”

So far, four of the five women who spoke to police have filed complaints against Griensen with state authorities.

Authorities say Griensen is currently being held and is facing human trafficking charges, and may face additional charges for threats, injuries, and deprivation of liberty.

Hispanically Speaking News

Oct. 20, 2011

Added: Oct. 19, 2011

Mexico

Nueve mexicanas eran obligadas a prostituirse en un refugio para mujeres

Ciudad Juárez (México), 18 oct (EFE).- Nueve mujeres de Ciudad Juárez (norte de México) fueron rescatadas hoy por agentes de la Policía Municipal de un refugio para víctimas de violencia donde eran obligadas a prostituirse, informaron fuentes oficiales.

Las mujeres denunciaron que el lugar funcionaba como una "casa de citas", donde acudían hombres invitados por la directora del refugio, señaló Adrián Sánchez, portavoz de la Policía.

Las nueve víctimas aseguraron que también varios niños que vivían en el refugio fueron igualmente obligados a prostituirse.

La directora del refugio Mujeres Unidas contra la Violencia, Soledad Griensen, de 53 años, fue detenida y presentada ante el Ministerio Público, dijo Sánchez a Efe.

Ciudad Juárez cobró notoriedad en la década de 1990 por la muerte de cientos de mujeres, principalmente jóvenes trabajadoras de empresas maquiladoras (de ensamblaje). Muchos de estos crímenes, cometidos por miembros de la delincuencia organizada, asesinos seriales o imitadores de estos, no fueron esclarecidos.

Las autoridades locales han expresado su preocupación por el alto índice de trata de personas en esta urbe fronteriza con la estadounidense El Paso (Texas).

Women and children are forced into prostitution at women's shelter

Police in the city of Cuidad juarez in Chihuahua state today rescued nine women and several children from a domestic violence shelter where the victims had been forced into prostitution.

Those rescued reported that the shelter [effectively] functioned as a brothel, where the female director invited men [to exploit the shelter’s residents], said Adrian Sanchez, spokesman for the police.

The nine adult victims also claim that several children who lived at the shelter were forced into prostitution.

The director of the Mujeres Unidas (Women United) shelter against Violence, Griensen Soledad, age 53, was arrested and brought before the local prosecutor’s office, Sanchez told EFE.

Ciudad Juarez gained notoriety in the 1990s due to the death of hundreds of women. Those victims were mostly young maquiladora (assembly plant) workers [those with indigenous characteristics were especially targeted]. Many of the crimes had been committed by organized crime members, murderers and serial imitators…

Local authorities have expressed concern about the high incidence of human trafficking in this city, which sits adjacent to El Paso, Texas.

EFE

Oct. 18, 2011

Added: Oct. 17, 2011

Mexico

Policías agreden sexualmente y torturan a mujer indígena

La detuvieron en Tulum luego de que fue asaltada en un bar

Tulum, Cuatro policías de este municipio de Quintana Roo fueron suspendidos por haber cometido los delitos de lesiones, abuso de poder y violación en grado de tentativa, contra una trabajadora de origen maya en el interior de la cárcel municipal.

Dos policías son mujeres –participaron en la detención– y dos más varones, quienes custodiaban la cárcel en el lapso en que ocurrieron los hechos. Se trata de Gisela Morales Reyes, Selena Torres Hernández, Liborio May May y Martín López Dorantes.

Sin embargo, otros cuatro elementos policiacos –de quienes se desconoce sus nombres y están en libertad– estarían implicados en la agresión contra Gabina Pat Díaz, de 24 años de edad y cocinera en un hotel de la Riviera Maya, quien fue obligada a desnudarse ante la presencia de seis agentes que la acariciaron y uno de ellos la presionó para tener relaciones sexuales a cambio de su libertad.

La indígena maya fue detenida por supuesta alteración del orden público, la cual es una falta administrativa de acuerdo con el Bando de Policía y Buen Gobierno Municipal.

Díaz relató a los medios de comunicación que los policías la insultaron y la colgaron esposada y desnuda contra los barrotes de los separos durante tres horas, tiempo –acusó– en el que fue torturada física y psicológicamente.

Los hechos se asentaron en la averiguación previa 845/2011 del Ministerio Público del Fuero Común en este municipio por violación en grado de tentativa y lesiones. Se informó que la investigación está en curso y que en breve se darían a conocer avances de la misma.

Los cuatro policías municipales identificados fueron suspendidos como una medida administrativa, pero no fueron detenidos ni arraigados por lo que se teme que haya impunidad en el caso.

La Comisión de Derechos Humanos del estado de Quintana Roo (Cdheqroo) ya atrajo también el caso con la apertura del expediente 151 por abuso de autoridad y trato cruel y degradante.

Gabina Pat Díaz fue detenida por los uniformados a las 5 de la mañana del pasado 8 de octubre, cuando se encontraba con unos amigos adentro de una discoteca.

Personal de seguridad del local llamó a la policía municipal luego de que Díaz decidió buscar por cuenta propia su bolso que –alegó la mujer– le sustrajeron en ese negocio. Ahí guardaba sus documentos personales, tarjeta bancaria y dinero en efectivo.

La agraviada narró que dos policías mujeres y un varón la sometieron con lujo de violencia, tirándola al piso, para luego subirla a rastras a una patrulla y trasladarla a la cárcel municipal.

Police torture and sexually assault Indigenous woman

The victim had been arrested in the city of Tulum after being assaulted in a bar

Four police officers friom [the tourist center and Mayan cultural site of] Tulum, in the state of Quintana Roo have been suspended after they were accused of attempted rape, assault and abuse of power. The victim was an indigenous Mayan woman who had been detained on disorderly conduct charges after she had been assaulted in a bar. The sexual assault took place in the city’s jail.

Two female officers who had participated in the arrest and two male guards who were on duty at the jail during the sexual assault were accused in the case. Gisela Morales Reyes, Selena Torres Hernandez, Liborio May May and Martin Lopez Dorantes were suspended from duty.

An additional four police officers, who’s identities and whereabouts are not known, are also implicated in the assault of 24-year-old Gabina Pat Díaz, who works as a cook in a hotel in the Riviera Maya tourist area.

While in custody, Díaz was forced to strip naked in front of six of the officers. She was then handcuffed to the bars of her cell as the officers put their hands on her. One of the officers pressured the victim to have sex with him in exchange for her freedom.

The victim had been arrested for disorderly conduct, which is an administrative charge in the city’s criminal code.

Diaz told the media that the officers insulted her and hung her naked and handcuffed to the bars of her holding cell for three hours, during which time she says that she was tortured physically and psychologically.

The facts were documented during a preliminary investigation conducted by prosecutors in Tulum. It was reported that the investigation is ongoing. The results will be announced shortly.

The four officers who have been identified were given administrative suspensions, but they have not been arrested or arranged, leading to fears that the case will be left in impunity [the case will be covered up].

The Human Rights Commission of the state of Quintana Roo (CDHEQROO) plans to open an investigation into abuse of authority and cruel and degrading treatment.

Gabina Pat Diaz was arrested at 5 am on Oct. 8, while she was with friends in a nightclub.

The club’s security staff had called police after Díaz decided to search on her own for her purse, which had been stolen in the club. Díaz stated that two female and one male police officer threw her to the ground and dragged her to their patrol car before taking her to the city jail.

Eduardo Cocom Sosaya

CIMAC Women’s News Agency

Oct. 13, 2011

Added: Aug. 04, 2011

Peru

Huánuco region in central Peru

CHS organiza talleres contra la trata de personas en Huánuco y Tingo María

Dirigido a autoridades y líderes indígenas

Con el objetivo de generar un espacio de reflexión sobre las funciones y obligaciones de los operadores de justicia en el tema de la trata de personas y la vulnerabilidad de la población indígena frente a este delito, la organización Capital Humano y Social Alternativo (CHS Alternativo) realizará talleres en Tingo María y Huánuco, ciudades de captación y de tránsito para la trata de personas con fines de explotación sexual a mujeres menores de edad.

Se informó que el taller en Tingo María se realizará el miércoles 12 de octubre en el Hotel Madera Verde, en tanto que el taller en Huánuco será el viernes 14 de octubre en el Grand Hotel Huánuco.

En dichos eventos se presentarán asimismo los resultados del análisis de expedientes sobre trata de personas en la región, el último suceso ocurrido en Madre de Dios y el documental “La noche de Jhinna”, reciente caso de explotación sexual presentado en el nightclub La Noche, en Piura.

Ambos talleres son auspiciados por la fundación alemana Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) y cuentan con el apoyo de la Defensoría del Pueblo, Paz y Esperanza y de la Federación Departamental de Comunidades Campesinas y Nativas – Región Huánuco (FEDECCANH).

ONG conducts workshops against human trafficking in Huánuco and Tingo María

Training is designed for indigenous leaders and authorities

With the aim of creating a space for reflection on the roles and responsibilities of criminal justice workers in regard to the issue of human trafficking and the vulnerability of indigenous peoples to this crime, the organization Human and Social Capital Alternative (CHS Alternativo) will present workshops in in the cities of Tingo Maria and Huanuco, which are known as locations where traffickers entrap and transport underage girl victims for purposes of sexual exploitation.

The workshop in Tingo Maria will be held Oct. 12^th at the Hotel Madera Verde, while the Huánuco workshop will be held on Oct. 14th at the Grand Hotel Huanuco.

The events will include discussion of an analysis performed of trafficking cases in the region, the most recent of which occurred in the city of Madre de Dios. The documentary "The Night of Jhinna" will also be shown. The film presents a recent case of sexual exploitation at a nightclub in the city of Piura.

Both workshops are sponsored by the German foundation Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and have the support of the office of the [federal] Ombudsman of the People, Peace and Hope, and the Departmental [State] Federation of Peasant and Native Communities for the Huánuco Region (FEDECCANH).

InfoRegión

Peru

Oct. 11, 2011

Added Oct. 15, 2011

Paraguay

Hero: Internationally recognized Praguayan anti-trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez is currently facing impeachment based on defamation complaints brought by suspects whom she had actually investigated.

Hero: Patricia Villamil - former consul for Honduras in Chiapas state on Mexico's southern border, was removed from her post in mid-2011 in retaliation for her criticism of Mexican officials' failure to respond to the mass sex trafficking of Central American women and girls into Chiapas.

Hero: Lydia Cacho lives with continual death threats in the aftermath of her 2005 jailing and trial that was concocted by corrupt authorities in retaliation for her work to expose a wealthy child sex trafficker in the resort city of Cancun.

Hot spot:

Paraguay is located in the "Triple Frontier" region of South America, where its border converges with that of Argentina and Brazil.

The Triple Frontier is one of the very largest sex trafficking marketplaces in South America.

Libertad Latina

Commentary

Effective anti trafficking activists face retaliation across the Americas

Currently, Libertad Latina is providing coverage of the impeachment process that anti-trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez is facing in the South American nation of Paraguay. We have aggregated and translated several important news articles on the subject.

We regard the actions of the Paraguayan Trial Jury for Magistrates in bringing the impeachment charges against Teresa Martínez to be highly suspect. We agree with the conclusions of Paraguayan congressional deputy Aída Robles, who is the chairwoman of the Commission on Equality and Gender, that the decision to impeach Martínez is the result of the actions of powerful, unseen individuals who seek to bring an end to effective anti-trafficking prosecutions in that nation. The Paraguayan Association of Prosecutors and the Inter-agency Roundtable for Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Paraguay - made up of more than a 20 federal agencies and NGOs - have both released press statements in support of Martínez.

To paraphrase the statement released by the Paraguayan Association of Prosecutors, since when in western jurisprudence can a criminal suspect bring defamation charges against the prosecuting attorney in their case, and then have that complaint accepted by a judicial body as grounds for the impeachment of that prosecutor?

Paraguay is a poor nation. It also has a large indigenous population that has been subjected to sexual oppression for centuries. All poor and young Paraguayuan women are at risk of being sex trafficked to supply the voracious forced prostitution markets that thrive in the neighboring wealthy nation of Argentina. A recent press article noted that 80% of all women and girls who are sexually exploited in Argentina are from Paraguay.

Dozens of news stories have discussed the work of Teresa Martínez. They show that Martínez has been an effective leader in waging the nation's war against sex trafficking. Paraguay is located in the "Triple Frontier" region, where the borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil intersect. For over a decade, the Triple Frontier has been one of the largest centers for criminal sex trafficking activity in the Americas. The challenges faced by Teresa Martínez in confronting the multi-billion dollar drug-and-sex trafficking cartels (both local and global) that are active in the region are daunting. Martínez has committed only one offense, that of daring to challenge the status quo that today allows poor indigenous and other Paraguayan women and children to be sex trafficked en-mass with impunity.

The impeachment action taken against Martínez follows a pattern of behavior that has been seen in other nations in the region. These underhanded responses have in common the fact that they are acts of retaliation that are designed to punish both public officials and private citizens who have become 'too' effective in their efforts to fight modern human slavery. Other victims of that scenario have included anti child sex trafficking activist, women's center director and journalist Lydia Cacho, who was jailed and tried for defamation (the same change being levied against Teresa Martínez) in Mexico in 2005 after publishing the book 'The Demons in Eden" - that exposed child pornographer Jean Succar Kuri and his corrupt associates in government and business - and, during 2011, Honduran Consul to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, Patricia Villamil, who was removed from her post for speaking out publicly in regard to the fact that Mexican officials in Chiapas state were not taking action against the sex traffickers who were expoiting the many Honduran women and girls who had been lured to the region (we note that Chiapas state has been identified by Save the Children as being the largest zone for the commercial sexual exploitation of children - CSEC - in the entire world).

Recently, Libertad Latina has spoken with anti sex trafficking advocates who are active in Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Like Paraguay, the Dominican Republic is a major source nation for sex trafficking victims who are destined to arrive in Argentina, where they will be sexually exploited. From Argentina, a number of these victims - as well as Argentine women and girls - will be resold into the global sex market.

Our sources inducate that government entities as well as certain non-governmental agenices in the region actively work to cover-up sex trafficking cases. These include organizations that receive U.S. funds. The U.S. State Department is fully aware of these allegations through complaints that have been submitted to them.

The cases of Teresa Martínez, Lydia Cacho and Patricia Villamil represent part of a disturbing but not unfamiliar pattern. Although Latin America has moved away from its past traditions of authoritarian rule and political repression as its standard response to unconventional viewpoints, some of those in power continue to use such tactics when they find it convenient to achieving their more sinister goals.

Mexico and the Triple Frontier region in South America are two of the most critical hot spots for sexual slavery in the world. Any prosecutor or activist who dares to stand-up and defend the innocent children, adolescents and women who are victimized by this multi-billion dollar criminal business can expect to face retaliation. In other cases, such as those involving the mass sex trafficking of women and girls from the Dominican Republic to Argentina and other global destinations, the corrupt practices that allow these tragedies to continue to occur are not-yet clearly visible to the general public.

We who engage in anti-trafficking analysis work and news coverage will continue to bring these little-known dynamics to light.

There is an important lesson to be learned by the anti-trafficking movement and government entities working in the field in regard to this theme. The fact is that not everyone with official powers actually wants to see human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women and children with impunity ended. Whether they are driven by greed and payoffs, or by the fact that their worldview is based on a sexist machismo that condones exploitation, or whether it is because they themselves exploit victims, many politicians and law enforcement authories across the Americas do not support the effort to stop the modern day slavers in our midsts.

Acknowledging that fundamental reality must become the first step to re-building the currently less-than-effective global strategies that are in-use for tackling traffickers and shutting them down for good.

A global campaign of condemnation that denounces the retaliatory action taken against Teresa Martínez must also be organized. A similar effort was highly effective in rescuing Lydia Cacho from unjust imprisonment in Mexico. People of conscience must make that happen once again. This time, it is Teresa Martínez who needs our help.

Finally, we call upon U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director of the Trafficking in Persons office at State to provide all necessary support for Martínez in her time of need.

We say: End impunity now!

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

Oct. 15, 2011

See also:

Added: Oct. 15, 2011

Paraguay

Deputy Aída Robles, chairwoman of the Commission on Equality and Gender in the Congress of Paraguay

Preocupación por desafuero de la fiscala Teresa Martínez

La diputada Aída Robles (PPC-Central), titular de la Comisión de Equidad y Género, en conferencia de prensa, manifestó su preocupación por la Resolución del Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados, relacionado al desafuero de la Agente Fiscal, abogada Teresa Martínez, de la Unidad Especializada contra la trata de personas y explotación sexual de niños, niñas y adolescentes. El documento que involucra a la afectada fue caratulado por difamación, calumnia e injuria.

"Estamos muy preocupados por la situación de la fiscala Teresa Martínez, porque es una de la que ha demostrado una capacidad de lucha contra la trata de personas, explotación sexual de niños y niñas en nuestro país. La fiscala recibe esta mañana (viernes 30 de setiembre), la notificación de desafuero, aparentemente por dos casos específicos; uno de ellos, se refiere al caso de Tacumbú, sobre pornografía infantil y el otro por realizar allanamiento de un lupanar", explicó la parlamentaria Robles.

Finalmente, la diputada Aída Robles, informó que desde la comisión que preside, realizarán las investigaciones correspondientes para esclarecer el caso, teniendo en cuenta la labor que desempeña la fiscala Teresa Martínez, contra la trata de personas y la explotación sexual de menores.

Congresswoman expresses concerns in regard to the impeachment of Teresa Martínez

Congressional deputy Aída Robles of the PPC-Central Party, who is also the chairwoman of the Commission on Equality and Gender, held a press conference to express her grave concerns in regard to the recent resolution of the Trial Jury for Magistrates, in which that body moved to impeach Teresa Martínez, who is Paraguay’s anti trafficking prosecutor within the Attorney General’s special unit to combat human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Martínez was charged [by a subject that she was investigating for child exploitation] with libel, slander and insult.

Deputy Robles, “We are very worried about the situation facing Teresa Martínez, because she has demonstrated that she has the ability to lead the struggle against human trafficking and child sexual exploitation in our nation. Prosecutor Martínez received the decision in regard to her impeachment on the morning of Sep. 30^th, 2011. The charges refer to both a child pornography case that occurred in the Tacumbú barrio of the capital city of Asunción, and also to a raid on a brothel.”

Deputy Robles also announced that the congressional Commission on Equality and Gender will conduct hearings to clarify the events in this case in the context of the work that Teresa Martínez carries out against human trafficking and child sexual exploitation.

La Presna

Paraguay

Sep. 30, 2011

See also:

Added: Oct. 15, 2011

Paraguay

La Diputada Aida Robles dijo que la fiscal Teresa Martínez es perseguida por gente poderosa

Deputy Aída Robles declares that prosecutor Teresa Martínez is being persecuted by powerful individuals

During a press conference organized in response to the impeachment of prosecutor Teresa Martínez, Paraguayan congressional deputy Aida Robles declared that the anti trafficking prosecutor is being persecuted by powerful people.

Deputy Robles noted that it is critically important that Paraguay have a point person in charge of anti trafficking prosecutions. She added that it would not be possible for the impeachment of Martínez to have occurred without the [behind the scenes] influence of powerful people being involved. She added that these forces want to see an end to the prosecution of human traffickers in Paraguay.

(Audio - In Spanish)

Radio Cardinal

Paraguay

Sep. 30, 2011

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Added: Oct. 15, 2011

Paraguay

Diputada Aida Robles lamenta influencias en relación con el desafuero de fiscala Teresa Martínez

Paraguayan Congressional deputy Aida Robles laments that external influences have cause the impeachment case against anti trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez to come about.

(Audio - In Spanish)

Radio Ñanduti

Paraguay

Sep. 30, 2011

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Added: Oct. 15, 2011

Context from 2010

Paraguay

U.S. Embassy cable on human trafficking conditions

...Most trafficking victims depart Paraguay via land border crossings near Ciudad del Este, Asuncion, and Encarnacion. The Women's Secretariat provided direct aid to 19 women in 2009. Of these, two were trafficked domestically, while the others went to Argentina (53%), Bolivia (31%), Japan (8%), and Spain (8%.).

Anecdotal evidence suggests that each year several thousand women, children, adolescents, and trans-gendered prostitutes (taxi boys) are trafficked internationally. An estimated 80 percent of victims are young women and adolescent girls. The Women's Secretariat (SMPR) estimated in January 2010 that 95 percent of TIP victims are exploited for commercial sexual purposes and that 52 percent of victims were minors.

...Paraguayan women, adolescent girls, and children are most at risk of being trafficked, primarily for purposes of sexual exploitation. Many street children are also trafficking victims. Studies show that most victims worked as street vendors when traffickers targeted them and that 70 percent of victims had drug addictions. Poor indigenous women living in the interior are also at significant risk. Argentine authorities speaking at seminars in Paraguay noted they frequently require translation assistance from Paraguayan consulates to interview TIP victims who speak only [the indigenous language] Guarani...

U.S. State Dept.

Feb. 17, 2010

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Added: Oct. 15, 2011

Context from 2005

Paraguay

U.S. Embassy cable on human trafficking conditions

TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Senior Reporting Officer Linda Brown visited Paraguay as part of a four-country tour of South America. In meetings with Embassy officers, governing party officials, and representatives of NGOs, Brown discussed Paraguay's progress in combating trafficking in persons…

Brown had a number of meetings with various officials and NGOs, raising a number of issues in Paraguay's efforts to combat TIP.

Minister for Children and Adolescents Mercedes Britez de Buzo

--The Minister described efforts to combat the trafficking in children, pointing to participation in Embassy Montevideo's regional project, participation in the Embassy's bilateral project, and efforts to criminalize child pornography...

-- She spoke of the need to prosecute traffickers but conceded, based upon her own experiences as a prosecutor and judge, that it is not career enhancing in the judicial system to focus on trafficking or children's issues.

Attorney General Oscar Latorre and Prosecutor Teresa Martínez

--Latorre offered general remarks about the importance of stopping trafficking, but was not positive about prospects for the creation of a specialized unit of anti-trafficking prosecutors.

--Martínez described the history of TIP prosecutions in Paraguay, observing that the issue was unknown just 18 months ago, and is now an important focus in the Public Ministry (prosecutor’s office)...

Martínez described the difficulties in getting victims to cooperate, and the Attorney General's lack of legal authority to investigate independently.

Independent Women's Rights Activist and Consultant Andrea Cid

--The discussion primarily dealt with Paraguayan culture and the ways in which it complicates both government and NGO efforts to fight trafficking. In the eyes of many here, prostitution is not a bad thing in and of itself. Given the levels of stark poverty in the country, many feel that prostitution is a legitimate way to earn a living. Many families, she said, knowingly sell their own daughters into prostitution abroad in the hope that the girls will send money home.

--The legal culture in Paraguay complicates efforts to stop trafficking. She described the Penal Code and the entire judicial system as lenient, with laws prescribing mild penalties for crimes such as trafficking. The authorities are unable to stop traffickers from threatening victims who file complaints with prosecutors.

U.S. State Dept.

Jan. 04, 2005

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Added: Aug. 04, 2011

Paraguay

Mujeres indígenas van perfilándose cada vez más como víctimas

La trata de personas es un delito que tiene como principales víctimas a personas de sectores vulnerabilizados en sus derechos, en particular cada vez más, a la población indígena.

La trata de personas es un problema sin visibilidad en las comunidades campesinas e indígenas, lo que constituye un negocio de pocos que nos desafía a todos.

El 14 de julio, en algunos medios de prensa, se publicó un caso de explotación de niñas indígenas del Chaco (como por ejemplo en el Última Hora Digital).

En la ocasión, realizamos la siguiente reflexión:

Es preciso estar cada vez más atentos ante el flagelo de la explotación sexual comercial, la explotación laboral, la servidumbre doméstica y el comercio de niños y niñas.

La trata de personas es un delito que tiene como principales víctimas a personas de sectores vulnerabilizados en sus derechos, en particular cada vez más, a la población indígena, que inmersa en situaciones de desigualdad y abandono, fácilmente escucha y accede a promesas de una mejora de vida hecha por personas inescrupulosas.

Las mujeres, más aún cuando son niñas y no hablan español, son muy proclives a ser engañadas. En este caso, se trató de niñas indígenas totalmente indefensas (que por razones de feria judicial en Argentina, todavía no han logrado retornar). En efecto, las jóvenes, niñas y adultas mujeres, al ser traficadas, una vez en el lugar de destino, ya se topan con un entorno desconocido, no cuentan con posibilidades de contacto familiar, ningún tipo de soporte, lo cual las coloca en una situación de desamparo total. Esta vez, el accionar de ambos Estados estuvo de su lado ¿pero, y el resto de casos denunciados y no denunciados? ¿y la trata interna de mujeres indígenas?

Paraguayan Indigenous women are increasingly being targeted as victims of human trafficking

Human trafficking is a problem without visibility in rural and indigenous communities. It is a business run by a few but which impacts many.

On July 14^th a number of media outlets published reports about the case of the exploitation of indigenous girls in the nation’s Chaco region.

On occasion, we have made the following observation: We must be increasingly vigilant against the scourge of commercial sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, domestic servitude and the trade in children.

Human trafficking is a crime whose main victims are people from sectors of society whose rights are vulnerable. This includes, increasingly, the indigenous population, which continues to be immersed in [a social condition of] inequality and neglect, which makes them at-risk to going along with the false promises of a better life to which they are subjected by unscrupulous people.

Women, and especially girls who do not speak Spanish, are very much at-risk of being deceived. This case involved two completely defenseless indigenous girls (who for reasons of the justice process in Argentina have not yet been returned [to their families]).

Young women, girls and adult women who have been trafficked are, once they reach the [trafficker’s intended] destination, faced with an unfamiliar environment. They have no access to family or other forms of support, which makes them helpless.

In this particular case, the actions of both states (Argentina and Paraguay) stood with the victims. But what about the [many] cases that go unreported. And what about the problem of the internal trafficking of indigenous women?

Base-IS

July 20, 2011

Added: Oct. 12, 2011

Paraguay

Teresa Martínez

Fiscales denuncian violación de Constitución en desafuero de Martínez

A través de un comunicado, la Asociación de Agentes Fiscales del Paraguay refiere que la decisión del Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados, de levantar los fueros a la fiscala Teresa Martínez, es una flagrante violación de los artículos 255 y 270 de la Constitución Nacional, como una garantía del agente fiscal para el ejercicio independiente de su rol constitucional.

“Esta decisión establece un preocupante precedente que atenta en contra de la independencia en el ejercicio de las funciones de los Agentes Fiscales; pudiéndose llegar al absurdo de que el imputado en una causa penal podrá promover una querella por calumnia contra el funcionario fiscal encargado de la investigación con la finalidad de separarlo de la misma, con lo cual todo agente fiscal se encuentra expuesto a este tipo de acciones temerarias”, refieren.

En el texto, los fiscales instan al Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados, a la rectificación inmediata de la medida tomada; a los Magistrados Judiciales, a valorar y fundar debidamente sus resoluciones en este tipo de casos, más aún teniendo en consideración la naturaleza y gravedad de los hechos punibles investigados por la fiscala Teresa Martínez, vinculados a la trata y explotación sexual de niños, niñas y adolescentes.

El viernes 30 de septiembre, el Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados resolvió desaforar a la fiscala de la unidad de Trata de Personas, Teresa Martínez, a pedido del juez Manuel Aguirre, para ser juzgada por una acción de difamación, calumnias e injurias.

Durante la misma jornada del viernes, la Mesa Interinstitucional para la Prevención y Combate a la Trata de personas en el Paraguay solicitó a los miembros del Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados reconsiderar la postura y las medidas respecto al desafuero de la fiscala Martínez.

Prosecutors denounce the impeachment of Teresa Martínez as a violation of the Paraguayan Constitution

The professional association of prosecutors in Paraguay has issued a press release in which they declare that the recent decision by the Trial Jury for Magistrates to impeach anti trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez is a flagrant violation of Articles 255 and 270 of the Constitution, which guarantee the independence of prosecutors in the exercise of their constitutional role.

"This decision sets a disturbing precedent which threatens the independent exercise of the prosecutorial function. The decision could result in the absurd scenario where a defendant in a criminal case could initiate a defamation lawsuit against the prosecutor in their case, with the intent of removing them. All prosecutors would then be exposed to such reckless actions,” said the statement.

Prosecutors urged the Trial Jury for Magistrates to take immediate action to rectify the decision made to bring prosecutor Martínez to trial, especially taking into consideration the nature and severity of the offenses that are investigated by Martínez, which involve cases of human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.

On Friday September 30, the Trial Jury for Magistrates ruled in favor of a request by judge Manuel Aguirre to bring Martínez to trial on charges of defamation, libel and slander.

On the same day, the Inter-agency Commission for the Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Paraguay [a federal inter-agency coordinating committee] also asked the members of the Trial Jury of Judges to reconsider their decision to impeach prosecutor Martínez.

ABC Color

Paraguay

Oct. 03, 2011

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Added Oct. 13, 2011

Paraguay

Jurado deja sin fueros a fiscala Martínez

El Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados resolvió desaforar a la fiscala de la unidad de Trata de Personas, Teresa Martínez, a pedido del juez Manuel Aguirre, para ser juzgada por difamación, calumnias e injurias.

El Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados finalmente resolvió desaforar a la fiscala de la unidad de Trata de Personas, Teresa Martínez, luego de que Anastacio Gómez Romero la denunciara ante el juez Manuel Aguirre.

La fiscala Teresa Martínez expresó a ABC Digital que el Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados no le había notificado, y que recién a las 10 del viernes le enviaron una notificación.

“Es algo muy grave. Voy a contratar un abogado y defenderme. Tengo que pedir una copia de la denuncia. Es la primera vez en 30 años que recibo una denuncia”, expresó Martínez a nuestro medio…

La fiscala expresó que sus casos están concluyendo, y lamenta profundamente que no la hayan escuchado antes de tomar la medida.

Jurists remove Teresa Martínez’s prosecutorial authority

The Trial Jury for Magistrates has resolved to impeach Paraguay’s human trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez. Judge Manuel Aguirre requested that Martínez be tried for libel, slander and insult.

The decision was made after Anastacio Gómez Romero had filed a complaint against Martínez before Judge Aguirre.

Martínez told ABC Digital that the Trial Jury for Magistrates had not notified her of the decision until 10 AM on Friday.

Martínez, "This is very serious. I will hire a lawyer and defend myself. I have to ask for a copy of the complaint. This is the first time in 30 years that I have received a complaint...”

Martínez said that her cases [active human trafficking prosecutions] are concluding. She said that she deeply regrets that the cases were not heard before the action against her was taken.

ABC Digital

Paraguay

Sep. 30, 2011

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Added Oct. 13, 2011

Paraguay

Fiscala Teresa Martínez respecto a su desafuero y proceso por difamación

Prosecutor Teresa Martínez speaks out in regard to the defamation case against her

(Audio - In Spanish)

Radio Ñanduti

Paraguay

Sep. 30, 2011

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Added Oct. 13, 2011

Paraguay

Dr. Manuel Aguirre aclara sobre recepción de desafuero a fiscala Teresa Martínez

Judge Manuel Aguirre explains his actions in requesting the impeachment of prosecutor Teresa Martínez

(Audio - In Spanish)

Radio Ñanduti

Paraguay

Sep. 30, 2011

Added: Oct. 12, 2011

Paraguay

Paraguay's anti trafficking prosecutor - Teresa Martínez

La Fiscal Teresa Martínez enfrenta jucio por difamación

Boletín de Prensa

Mexico City - La Fiscal Teresa Martínez es desaforada para ser juzgada por difamación, calumnia e injurias, por defender el caso de una adolescente de 16 años que estaba siendo explotada sexualmente.

La Abogada y fiscal de Paraguay, que desde hace tiempo ha desarrollado un intenso trabajo a favor de las víctimas de trata de personas y de explotación sexual en Paraguay, será enjuiciada como defensora de derechos humanos

El caso de la Abogada Teresa Martínez, fiscal de Paraguay, que desde hace tiempo ha desarrollado un intenso trabajo a favor de las víctimas de trata de personas y de explotación sexual en Paraguay, quien también ha llevado casos en las investigaciones con sus países hermanos de Chile y Argentina en donde se han encontrado casos de trata.

En esta ocasión, Teresa llevaba un caso en el que estaba defendiendo a una chica de 16 años que estaba siendo explotada sexualmente. Por esta razón, le han demandado bajo los cargos de difamación, injurias y calumnias lo que ha llevado a su desafuero.

No podemos permitir que defensores que han estado trabajando en la impartición de justicia queden sin protección del estado y que sean incluso encarcelados por cumplir con su deber…

El resultado de su trabajo ha permitido la penalización y desarticulación de grupos dedicados al delito de la traía de personas en Paraguay y países colindantes.

Este desafuero resulta suspicaz ya que interfiere con algunas investigaciones en curso.

Repudiamos este desafuero que obstaculiza el combate a la trata de personas.

Solicitamos se reconsidere el desafuero de la fiscal, teniendo en cuenta la. trayectoria Teresa Martínez en la lucha contra la trata de personas, reconocida a nivel Nacional e Internacional.

Teresa Martínez es punta de flecha en el combate a la trata de personas a nivel Latino-americano, puntal en las operaciones de investigación y persecución para la desarticulación de las bandas delictivas e individuos que comercian con los seres humanos en todas sus modalidades.

Decisiones como ésta, exponen a los defensores de los Derechos Humanos frente a los delincuentes e impiden que puedan ejercer sus funciones como operadores de justicia quedando expuestos a denuncias que buscan evitar la aplicación de la Ley por parte de delincuentes.

Anti trafficking prosecutor faces impeachment for defamation in relation to her work

Press Release

Mexico City - Paraguayan human trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez will face a lawsuit on charges of defamation, libel and insult as a result of her work to defend a 16-year-old victim of sexual exploitation.

Martínez has a long history of advocating for the rights of human trafficking and sexual exploitation victims in Paraguay. Her investigations have involved the neighboring nations of Argentina and Chile [which are destinations for trafficked Paraguayan women].

She will be tried for actions taken in her role as a defender of human rights. The trial is set for Sep. 30, 2011.

Martínez was defending a 16 year old girl who was being sexually exploited when a lawsuit was brought against her on charges of defamation, libel and slander.

We cannot allow human rights defenders who have been working in the administration of justice as public employees to remain unprotected, and even risk imprisonment for doing their duty…

Martínez’ [extensive history of advocacy] has led to the and dismantling of human trafficking rings operating in Paraguay and neighboring countries.

The charges being brought against her are suspicious because the trial interferes with certain ongoing investigations.

We condemn this trial as an outrage that hinders the fight against human trafficking.

Teresa Martínez’ work in the fight against trafficking in persons has been recognized nationally and internationally.

We ask that the public good being done by Martínez be considered in this case.

Martínez is the tip of the arrowhead in the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking in the Latin America. She has lead investigations and prosecutions aimed dismantling criminal gangs and individuals who engage in all forms of the trade in human beings.

Decisions like this expose human rights defenders to the whims of criminals who would like to avoid effective application of the law by preventing their targets from exercising their duties as judicial officers.

Myra Rojas

Published on RosiOrozco.com

55112349

0445527382795

Oct. 07, 2011

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Added: Oct. 12, 2011

Paraguay

Protest sign says, "We simply will not accept the impeachment of Teresa Martínez"

Organismos se manifiestan contra el desafuero a la fiscal Teresa Martínez

Los integrantes de la mesa interinstitucional para la prevención y combate a la trata de personas en el Paraguay solicitaron, a los miembros del Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados, la reconsideración de la postura y las medidas adoptadas con respecto al desafuero de la fiscal Teresa Martínez.

A través de un comunicado, los integrantes de dicha mesa, que incluye tanto al Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Ministerio del Interior, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, Ministerio de Salud y la Secretaría de la Niñez y la Adolescencia, solicitaron al jurado que “recapacite”.

La mesa coordinadora aprovechó para hacer un llamado a la opinión pública, a las entidades oficiales y a la sociedad civil a elevar sus voces en contra de procedimientos que buscan inhibir las acciones de profesionales, según manifestaron en un comunicado.

La mesa se reunió para analizar la situación que afecta a la fiscal Martínez, especializada en Trata de Personas y Explotación Sexual Infantil.

En la ocasión, mencionaron el porqué la profesional no puede cesar la labor que actualmente desempeña.

“Teniendo en cuenta que la abogada tiene una lucha contra la trata de personas reconocida a nivel nacional e internacional, además es integrante activa de esta Mesa interinstitucional y coordinadora de la Subcomisión de Investigación y de Legislación, desempeñando un rol fundamental en la investigación de un gran número de casos, actividad ésta que no puede cesar ante el crecimiento y visualización del problema que aqueja a miles de compatriotas en el país y en el exterior”, aseguraron en el escrito.

Finalmente, expresaron que consideran que decisiones como éstas exponen a los operadores de Justicia e impiden que puedan ejercer sus funciones quedando de esta manera expuestos a denuncias que buscan evitar la aplicación de la ley y la protección a las víctimas.

El Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados resolvió desaforar a la fiscala, el viernes pasado a pedido del juez Manuel Aguirre, para ser juzgada por difamación, calumnias e injurias.

Agencies speak out against the impeachment trial of anti trafficking prosecutor Teresa Martínez

The members of the inter-agency roundtable for the prevention and combating trafficking in Paraguay asked, members of the Jury for the Prosecution of Magistrates to reconsider their position and measures that have been taken to date with regard to the impeachment of prosecutor Teresa Martínez.

In a press release the members of the inter-agency board asked the jury to reconsider its position. The Board includes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Children and Adolescents.

The board took the opportunity to appeal to the public, to government entities and to civil society to raise their voices against procedures that seek to inhibit the actions of [officers of the Court].

The board met specifically to discuss the situation involving prosecutor Martínez, who specializes in human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.

During their session, the Board discussed the reasons why Martínez cannot stop the work that she is now carrying out.

The Board’s press release stated that, "Martínez is waging a fight against human trafficking that has been recognized nationally and internationally. She is an active member of this Board and its Subcommittee on Research and Legislation. Martínez plays a key role in the investigation of many trafficking cases. This work cannot cease in the face of the growth and growth in this crime, one which affects thousands of compatriots at home and abroad."

The statement concluded by pointing out that decisions [such as the action to prosecute Martínez] expose [officers of the Court] to to having their work impeded through the use of complaints that have as their actual motive avoidance of the application of the law to protect victims.

The Jury for the Trial of Magistrates decided to impeach Martínez last Friday at the request of Judge Manuel Aguirre. She will be tried for slander, libel and insult.

La Nación

Paraguay

Oct. 03, 2011

Added Oct. 09, 2011

The Indigenous Americas

LibertadLatina

Commentary

Chuck Goolsby

A Call to Action

During the past ten years the Libertad Latina project has called attention to the crisis of large scale sexual exploitation and trafficking that continually plagues Latin America, the Caribbean and indigenous and African descendent peoples from across the Americas.

One of our core focus areas has been to highlight the fact that indigenous children and women are uniquely targeted by criminal sex traffickers and rapists within the larger societies that they live in. This occurs in Latin America, the United States and in Canada. The documentary evidence for this proposition may be found in the archives of our publication.

Historically, indigenous children and women have been sexually exploited by men of the dominant society. Those abuses occurred 500 years ago across the Americas, and they occur today.

Within the United States, women and girls from the indigenous population suffer 3.5 times the rate of sexual assaults compared to other groups of women. Some 80% of the perpetrators in those cases are white U.S. men. They often get away with their crimes without being prosecuted.

In Canada, 90% of children in prostitution are of indigenous (first nations) ethnicities, which is a direct result of the condoned sexual abuse of native children at the hands of priests and others in the nation's now-closed mandatory native boarding school system.

The figures for abuse in Latin America are many times higher, by comparion, given that governments and civil society have no need to hide their continuing racial hostility toward indigenous peoples.

The most highly concentrated waves of atrocities perpetrated against Latin American indigenous women during the modern era have occurred during the past 30 years. They include:

1) six wars in Central America that entangled indigenous communities, leading in the most horrific case to the deaths of 50,000 mostly Mayan women in Guatemala, the orphaning of 200,000 children and the rape of almost all Mayan women and girls of any age during the 1970s and 1980s;