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Indigenous & Latina Women & Children's Human
Rights News from the Americas |
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Latin America - Sexual Exploitation
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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.
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See also related noted on Brazil's Crisis in child exploitation and
child sex auctions in Brazil |
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See also a translation of part of Gilberto Dimenstein's book on the
exploitation of indigenous girls and women in Brazil |
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LibertadLatina
News /
Noticias |
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Updated:
July 21, 2010
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California, USA
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Norma Lopez |
Body found in Moreno Valley near area where girl, 17, vanished
A partially decomposed body was found in a desolate, grassy field in Moreno Valley on Tuesday afternoon, just two miles from where a 17-year-old girl disappeared last week on her walk home from summer school.
Riverside County Sheriff's Department officials said they have not determined if the remains are those of Norma Lopez, who authorities believe was abducted Thursday, triggering a massive search throughout central Riverside County.
A local resident doing yard work found the body around 3 p.m. about a mile south of the 60 Freeway, just off Theodore Street, on the eastern outskirts of the city in an area surrounded by wheat fields, horse ranches and jagged hills. The remains, which have yet to be identified as male or female, were found in the tall grass and near a line of trees but were not otherwise concealed, said Sgt. Joe Borja, a Sheriff's Department spokesman.
"I know you're all interested in finding out whether this is Norma Lopez or not, and honestly we do not know," Borja told reporters gathered several hundred yards from the crime scene. "No matter which way it is, it's still a tragic event. There's someone out in the field who is dead." ...
Norma was reported missing about 12:30 p.m. Thursday by her older sister, Sonja, after she failed to return home from summer school. She was out of class at Valley View High School by 10 a.m. and had plans to meet her older sister and another friend, authorities said.
Investigators said they found some of Norma's belongings, and signs of a struggle, in a vacant field along Cottonwood Avenue. They are also looking for the driver and passengers of a newer-model green SUV seen near the dirt field at the time of her disappearance.
After the body was found, deputies roped off the area and waited for coroner's officials to arrive and examine the remains. FBI investigators, assisting the Sheriff's Department in the case, also went to the scene.
"It could take as short as one day to a week to determine who that person is," Borja said...
Authorities urged anyone with information about the case to call (877) 242-4345,
or
e-mail [the Riverside Sheriff's office].
Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times
July 21, 2010
Mexico
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Chamber of Deputies Special Commission to
Fight Human Trafficking president Deputy Rosi Orozco |
Piden penalizar pornografia en Internet
La presidenta de la Comision Especial contra la Trata de Personas en la Camara de Diputados, Rosi Orozco pidio penalizar el consumo, intercambio y almacenamiento de pornografia infantil por Internet.
Agrego que debido a los vacios legales aunado a la rapidez con que evolucionan las tecnologias de la informacion, este delito se ha incrementado de manera alarmante en el pais.
En entrevista, la legisladora del Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) senalo que la pornografia infantil es el tercer delito mas comun en Internet despues fraude y las amenazas.
Explico que Mexico ocupa el primer lugar en apertura de paginas web de pornografia infantil, y tiende a incrementarse mas de cinco por ciento la distribucion de videos de imagenes de abuso a recien nacidos.
Por ello, considero que se debe incorporar a las redes de telecomunicacion en las legislaciones y penalizar el consumo, almacenamiento e intercambio de pornografia infantil.
"Porque hoy estas lagunas facilitan que los pederastas y quienes comercian con ella escapen a la justicia", sostuvo.
Orozco comento que a traves de reformas al articulo 202 del Codigo Penal Federal, mismas que analiza la Comision de Justicia, se busca inhibir y evitar el almacenamiento, arrendamiento y compra de material que contenga pornografia infantil.
En ese contexto, subrayo la importancia de que se castigue con penas de siete a 12 anos de prision y de 800 a dos mil dias de multa, a quien para obtener un beneficio de cualquier indole o con animo de lucro o sin el, produzca, distribuya o venda material pornografico.
Rosi Orozco calls for increased penalties for Internet
Child Pornography
National Action Party (PAN) congressional deputy Rosi Orozco, who is the
president of the Special Commission to Fight Human Trafficking in the Chamber of
Deputies (lower house of Congress), has called for legislative action to
increase penalties for those who commit the crimes of consuming, exchanging and
selling child pornography via the Internet.
Deputy Orozco explained that, due to gaps in current legislation, caused in-part
by the pace of changes in information technology, these crimes have increased in
an alarming manner across Mexico. Orozco added that child porn related crimes
are the third largest category of criminal activity on the Internet after fraud
and threats.
Deputy Orozco noted that Mexico holds first place globally in the number of
accesses to child pornography web sites. [Authorities have also registered] a
recent 5% increase in the distribution of pornographic videos of recently born
babies.
Due to these conditions, Deputy Orozco has called upon Congress to pass
legislation that includes communications networks, and that controls the
consumption, exchange and sale of child pornography via the web.
Orozco: "Because of the gaps that continue to exist in our laws, pedophiles and
those who commercialize [child pornography] escape justice."
Deputy Orozco seeks to bring about changes to Article 202 of the Federal Penal
Code, which is currently being reviewed by the Commission on Justice in the
Chamber of Deputies. She added that the proposed legislation will seek criminal
penalties of 12 years in prison and 800 to 1,000 days of salary [typically
minimum wage salaray is used to define these types of fines], for anyone
associated with the production, distribution or sale of illicit pornography.
Notimex
July 01, 2010
New York, USA
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U.S.
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca (second from left) and other
presenters at UN / Brandeis conference |
Hidden in Plain Sight: The News Media's Role in Exposing Human Trafficking
The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University cosponsored a first-ever United Nations panel discussion about how the news media is exposing and explaining modern slavery and human trafficking -- and how to do it better. Below are the transcript and video from that conference, held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on June 16 and co-sponsored by the United States Mission to the United Nations and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Take a look as some leading media-makers and policymakers debate coverage of human trafficking. What hinders good reporting on human trafficking? What do journalists fear when they report on slaves and slavery? Why cover the subject in the first place? What are the common reporting mistakes and missteps that can do more harm than good to trafficking victims, and to government, NGO, and individual efforts to end the traffic of persons for others' profit and pleasure?
Among the main points: Panelists urged reporters and editors to avoid salacious details and splashy, "sexy" headlines that can prevent a more nuanced examination of trafficked persons' lives and experiences.
Journalists lamented the lack of solid data, noting that the available statistics are contradictory, unreliable, insufficient, and often skewed by ideology.
As an example, the two officials on the panel -- Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, head of the U.S. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and Under-Secretary-General Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime -- disagreed on the number of rescued trafficking victims. Costa thought the number was likely less than half CdeBaca's estimate (from the International Labour Organization) of 50,000 victims rescued worldwide...
Read the transcript
The Huffington Post
July 15, 2010
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Chuck Goolsby |
LibertadLatina
Note:
In response to the above article by the Huffington Post, on the topic of press
coverage of the issue of human trafficking, we would like to point out that the
LibertadLatina
project came into existence because of a lack of interest
and/or willingness on the part of many (but not all) reporters and editors in
the press, and also on the part of government agencies and academics, to
acknowledge and target the rampant sexual violence faced by Latina and
indigenous women and children across both Latin America and the Latin Diaspora
in the Untied States, Canada, and in other advanced economies such as those of
western Europe and Japan.
Ten years after starting
LibertadLatina,
more substantial press coverage is taking place. However, the crisis of ongoing
mass gender atrocities that plague Latin America, including human trafficking,
community based sexual violence, a gender hostile living environment and
government and social complicity (and especially in regard to the region's
completely ignored indigenous and African descended victims - who are especially
targeted for victimization), continue to be largely ignored or intentionally
untouched by the press, official government action, academic investigation and
NGO effort.
Therefore we persist in broadcasting the message that the crisis in Latin
America and its Diaspora cannot and will not be ignored.
End impunity now!
Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
July 15, 2010
Maryland, USA
Montgomery County Man Sentenced to 37 Years in Prison in Sex Trafficking Conspiracy
Underage Girls Drugged and Threatened
Baltimore - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Lloyd Mack Royal, III, a/k/a “Blyss,” “B,” and “Furious,” age 29, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, to 37 years in prison followed by 10 years supervised release for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking; sex trafficking of a minor; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence; conspiracy to distribute drugs; and distribution of drugs to persons under 21, related to a scheme to prostitute three minor females. Judge Williams also ordered that after his release from prison Royal must register as a sex offender where he lives, works, or goes to school. Royal was convicted at trial on March 25, 2010.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department.
“Maryland’s human trafficking task force follows a policy of zero tolerance for child prostitution,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Anyone who pays for or profits from sex with children should understand that we are standing by to send them to federal prison.”
“The defendant violently preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Assistant Attorney General Perez. “He sought out troubled young girls and through physical violence, drugs, guns, and lies, coerced them into prostitution for his own benefit. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute these cases.”
According to testimony at the two week trial, from April to May 2007 Royal and his co-conspirators coerced a minor girl to engage in sex for pay. In addition, witnesses testified that Royal: coerced two additional minors to engage in sex, for which he was paid; threatened to harm the girls and their families; struck the girls; and held one of the girls at gun point. In order to assert his authority over the girls, Royal would forbid them from contacting certain individuals and forced them to kiss his pinky ring. Royal drove the girls to hotels in Gaithersburg, Maryland, or caused them to be transported from Maryland to the District of Columbia, to have them engage in sex.
On several occasions, testimony showed that Royal gave the girls illegal drugs before forcing them to engage in sex with him in order to test the girls’ sexual aptitude. Royal and his co-defendants provided the girls with cocaine, “dippers” or “ciga-wets” (cigarettes dipped in phencyclidine liquid known as PCP), marijuana and alcohol before coercing them to engage in sex with customers, and sometimes sold cocaine to customers. Witnesses testified that Royal gave the girls instructions on pricing for different sexual acts and instructed the girls to lie about their ages.
Paul Raymond Green, a/k/a “PJ,” age 25, of Washington, D.C., and Angela Samantha Bentolila, age 27, were sentenced to 52 months and 15 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the sex trafficking conspiracy.
The case was investigated by the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members. For more information,
see the
Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, web site.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez commended former Assistant United States Attorney Solette A. Magnelli and Trial Attorney James Felte, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, who prosecuted the case.
United States Attorney's Office
District of Maryland
July 19, 2010
New Jersey, USA
Sentencing for N.J. man found guilty in human trafficking case is delayed
Newark - A judge has postponed the case of a Togolese citizen living in New Jersey who was due to be sentenced today for his role in the smuggling of girls and young women who were forced to work at hair braiding salons.
Geoffry Kouevi was found guilty in August of visa fraud.
U.S. District Judge Jose Linares says additional documents are needed to settle a dispute over how much prison time Kouevi should get.
Prosecutors say at least 20 people were brought from Togo using fraudulent visas and forced to work for no pay.
Lassissi Afolabi was sentenced in July to more than 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring with his ex-wife and her son to commit forced labor.
Afolabi's ex-wife faces sentencing in September. Her son received a 55-month prison term.
The Associated Press
July 20, 2010
California, USA, Mexico
Boy left behind with body of dead sister; family flees
Arrest warrants have been issued for a Southern California couple who may have fled to Mexico after abandoning their 4-year-old nephew with the battered body of his 3-year-old sister.
A relative found the 4-year-old boy sleeping in one room of a home in southwest Bakersfield; the body of his sister, identified as Serenity Julia Gandara, was found on the floor of another room, police said. The two children had been living with Alberto Garcia and Carla Torres Garcia, both 26, whom authorizes believe may have crossed the border into Mexico along with their own three children after Serenity's death.
Bakersfield Police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said arrest warrants were issued, charging the couple with murder and felony child abandonment. They also face federal charges for unlawful flight.
DeGeare said investigators believe the couple was already in Mexico when Torres called her sister to inform her of the death.
DeGeare said the two children exhibted signs of abuse.
"Both of these children had injuries, old and new," she said. "They had scars and marks in various stages of healing, including recent injuries."
The death and abandonment surprised neighbors, who described the couple as caring and preoccupied with the well-being of their children.
"I never saw any cruelty there to any of those children," neighbor Patty Clemons told ABCNews.com. "I feel it must have been an accident."
Police said Serenity had trauma to her head and torso, and that both she and her brother had injuries that were still healing. An autopsy was performed on Monday but the exact cause of death was pending. The boy, whose name was not released, was placed in foster care.
The children were apparently being adopted by the couple. Alberto Garcia did auto body work, which enabled him to stay home with the children and do repair jobs outside, according to neighbors. Carla Garcia cleaned homes.
"The guy was very nice and always very happy," said another neighbor, who asked not to be identified by name. "You wonder why this happened. They were very nice people."
Neighbors said Carla Garcia called her sister Sunday morning and asked her to come to the home in southwest Bakersfield. The sister found Serenity's body on the floor in one room while her brother slept in another room. The Garcias and their three young children – ages 4 to 10 – were gone. Maria Garcia, the maternal grandmother of the foster children, told television staton KGET in Bakersfield that she had warned a child protective services social worker about abuse in the Garcia household but nothing was done. "I told her many times something happened with these kids," Maria Garcia told the station.
The two children belonged to Alberto Garcia's sister, but he and Carla were in the process of adopting them, according to neighbors.
Clemons said she never witnessed the abuse although Serenity and her brother were rarely seen outside. "I never saw cruelty to any of those children," she said. "Now all these people are coming out of the woodwork saying these children were abused. I never saw it but I don't know what happened behind closed doors."
Clemons said the Garcia and Torres were pleasant neighbors who sometimes stopped by with plates of Mexican food. Alberto Garcia occasionally rode the younger children on a red wagon when he picked his children up from school. "They always made sure all the children got ice cream," Clemons said. "The children were always well dressed. She worked all day cleaning and then came home and always cooked for the family. I used to tell them you guys need some time for yourselves."
The FBI was assisting in the investigation. The family vehicle was described as a white Ford Eddie Bauer Expedition, license plate 5FLC681.
Ray Sanchez
ABC News
July 20, 2010
Texas, USA
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Steven Perez |
Man Accused Of Sexually Abusing Baby
Steven Perez, 24, was arrested in Galena Park Thursday on a charge of super sexual abuse of a child.
Investigators said the attack happened while the 1-year-old's mother was in the shower at a southeast Houston home in May.
A warrant for Perez's arrest was issued this week. Detectives said he was arrested at his new girlfriend's home.
KPRC
July 16, 2010
New Jersey, USA
Lakewood man pleads guilty to sexually abusing 8 girls
Toms River - A Lakewood man is facing up to 60 years in prison after admitting that he sexually abused eight children, between the ages of 4 and 9, said Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford.
Cirilo Cholula Maranchel, 19, of Woehr Avenue pleaded guilty to six counts of aggravated sexual assault on six children, and two counts of sexual assault on two more children, Ford said.
The abuse took place between January and June of 2009, when the defendant was 17 and 18. Although Maranchel was a minor when he committed the offenses, he was prosecuted as an adult, Ford said in a prepared statement.
Maranchel entered his guilty plea Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels.
The defendant admitted acts of sexual penetration — digital as well as sexual intercourse — with six of the victims, who were between the ages of 6 and 9, said Senior Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Laura Pierro. He admitted molesting another child in front of yet another child who was 4, Pierro said.
All of the victims are girls who are known to the defendant, Ford said.
The abuse was revealed after one victim, age 6, came forward to her parents, who contacted Lakewood police on June 13, 2009, Ford said.
That girl told investigators she had witnessed other children being sexually assaulted by Maranchel, leading them to seven other victims, Pierro said.
Ford said the special victims unit of her office worked with Lakewood Detective Leroy Marshall and other Lakewood officers to identify the other victims and arrest Maranchel.
"The young victims of these crimes have been courageous in cooperating in this investigation," Ford said.
Ford said the arrest of Maranchel, an illegal immigrant, followed an intensive investigation and hunt for him.
"At the time of his arrest, it appeared the defendant was attempting to board public transportation and escape criminal responsibility for his actions," she said.
Maranchel faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of 60 years when he is sentenced following an evaluation at the state Corrections Department's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, Ford said. He will be held at the Ocean County Jail until then, with his bail set at $2 million.
Maranchel will be deported to his native Mexico after he serves his prison term, the prosecutor said.
Kathleen Hopkins
APP.com
July 08, 2010
California, USA
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David Mosqueda |
Sun Valley man accused of raping 4-year-old girl
A Sun Valley man was arrested today on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old California girl nearly a month ago.
David Mosqueda, 22, was booked about 4 p.m. into the Washoe County Jail on charges of sexual Assault of a child under the age of 16 and lewdness with a child under the age of 14 and held on $27,500 bail, Deputy Armando Avina said in a news release.
On June 21, deputies answering a domestic disturbance report found Mosqueda had locked himself in a bathroom with a knife and had self-inflicted injuries to his neck, wrist and stomach region. After an investigation, Mosqueda, a previously convicted sex offender, was taken into custody, Avina said.
RGJ
July 14, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
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Edilzar Mazariegos |
Illegal alien sought in rape of 4-year-old girl
Springfield Police Dept.Police in Springfield, MA, are looking for an illegal alien from Guatemala, who they say brutally raped a 4-year-old girl on Saturday.
Springfield Police Sgt. John M. Delaney told reporters the suspect, Edilzar Mazariegos is wanted on a charge of aggravated rape of a child with force.
The tiny victim, whose name is being withheld, was found by her mother, after returning from work, crying and bleeding. She rushed her daughter to Mercy Medical Center, but because of the “severe trauma” she suffered, she was transferred to Baystate Medical Center, where she remains in serious condition.
Another illegal alien, Angel Santizo, 20, who was babysitting the girl at time of the rape, has been charged with of permitting serious bodily injury on a child while being a caretaker.
Sgt. Delaney said: “He was the caretaker of this child while somebody else there raped her.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on Santizo, who is also from Guatemala.
Mazariegos (aka Edy Gonzales), is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall with a stocky build. He is driving a blue Dodge Durango with two white racing stripes on the hood and roof, with a South Carolina license plate of FSX-544.
Mazariegos is employed as a farm worker in Connecticut. He is known to have ties in West Palm Beach, FL, as well as in Massachusetts.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mazariegos is asked to call the police Special Victims Unit at (413) 787-6352.
Dave Gibson
The Examiner
July 06, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
Illegal alien charged with child rape
One man is under arrest, accused of raping his 4-year old family member. The little girl is now hospitalized at Baystate Medical Center with what police describe to be serious but non life-threatening injuries.
Detective Mike Chapin told 22News the victim was sexually assaulted at her home at 693 Carew Street sometime Saturday evening.
The girl's mother called police and arrested 19-year old Angel Santizo at the home without incident. Santizo is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. He is being held and will be arraigned Tuesday.
U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs has been notified, since the suspect is an illegal alien.
Police are looking for a second suspect in connection with the crime.
Anthony DiLorenzo
WWLP
July 04, 2010
Texas, USA
Police: Illegal Immigrants Raped 14-Year-Old Texas Girl at July 4th Party
A pair of illegal immigrants raped a 14-year-old Texas girl at July 4th party in Texas, where the teen was later found sitting naked in a bathtub, police said.
The victim told police that she went to an Independence Day party with her cousin in Horseshoe Bay, Tex., about 40 miles northwest of Austin, where she was left in a room with Anibal Escobar, 19, and Anael Martinez, 22, MyFoxAustin reported.
The two Honduran natives, who told police they are in the U.S. illegally, made advances at the victim and then raped her, she told police. The victim’s cousin discovered her in the bathtub and brought her home.
Escobar and Martinez were arrested early in the morning on July 9 and face felony charges of aggravated sexual assault, MyFoxAustin reported. Local investigators contacted Texas Rangers to assist in their investigation and translate, as none of the witnesses at the party or the suspects spoke English.
Fox News
July 13, 2010
Nevada, USA
‘Beauty and the Beast’ sticker leads to arrest in sex assaults
A 27-year-old man who police say assaulted five women in his car in the past two months was arrested Tuesday night during a traffic stop in the western Las Vegas Valley. Police said a “Beauty and the Beast” sticker on his car that was described by the alleged victims helped them nab the man.
Antonio Farias was booked into the Clark County Detention Center in connection with two counts of attempted sexual assault and two counts of first-degree kidnapping tied to five sexual assaults, the first of which allegedly occurred May 9.
Police said Farias approached women at bus stops in the area of Flamingo Road and Arville Street. Some of the women got into his car voluntarily and others were threatened and forced inside, authorities said.
He appeared friendly to gain their trust and would drive them to different areas in western and northern parts of the valley to sexually assault them, police said.
Police Lt. Christopher Carroll said at a news conference Thursday that officers were able to link Farias to the assaults during a traffic stop at Valley View Boulevard and Viking Road on Tuesday night. He said officers stopped the vehicle and noticed a “Beauty and the Beast” Disney sticker on the car's dashboard, which some of the alleged sexual assault victims had described.
Carroll said Farias also matched descriptions given by victims. He said Farias is currently facing charges in four cases, but additional charges are possible.
“In our discussions with him, we’re more confident that other people are out there,” Carroll said...
Tiffany Gibson
The La Vegas Sun
July 15, 2010
Argentina
Cardinal Bergoglio denounces sexual slavery
“This city is too much,” said the Cardinal Primate of Argentina, Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, who denounced the South American republic’s capital city as a “meat grinder that destroys the lives of these people and breaks their dignity.”
Moreover, said the prelate during a Sunday July 11 homily in the Constitucion neighborhood of Buenos Aires, there are “mafias” that have turned the city into a “slave workshop” dedicated to “human trafficking.” He reflected on the mafias as criminal organizations that “corrupt and destroy, including with drugs, and later throw people to the side of the road.” The mafias control “dens of slavery” that operate openly, having bribed the police and other authorities in one of the largest cities of the Americas.
“Please,” said the clergyman to his listeners, “let us not wash our hands, since otherwise we become accomplices in slavery!”
In May 2010, Nancy Miño, a Paraguayan woman who worked with Argentina’s Federal Police corps, provided testimony that the police in charge of controlling human trafficking and vice were receiving payoffs from the owners of brothels. Prostitution is legal in Argentina, for the most part. However, pimping and the profiting from prostitution is illegal and ostensibly controlled. For its part, the Federal Police has denied Miño’s claims and says that she is currently on medical leave for the treatment of a mental disorder.
Martin Barillas is a former U.S .diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America.
Martin Barillas
Spero News
July 13, 2010
Peru
Niega Perú justicia a mujeres víctimas de esterilización forzada
Recibe CIDH demanda de 2 casos emblemáticos en gobierno de Fujimori
La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), recibió una demanda contra el Estado peruano, interpuesta por la negación del acceso a la justicia para mujeres víctimas de esterilizaciones forzadas, durante el gobierno de Alberto Fujimori.
La organización feminista “Estudio para la Defensa y los Derechos de la Mujer” (Demus), informó en un comunicado que el 11 de junio pasado, presentó la demanda ante la CIDH, con dos casos de esterilización forzada, calificados como emblemáticos, porque revelan lo ocurrido a más de 200 mil peruanas, en su mayoría pobres de zonas rurales y urbano marginales en los años 90.
Información proporcionada a Cimacnoticias por Mariela Jara, integrante de la organización peruana, precisó que lejos de que el gobierno hiciera justicia y reparara los daños ocasionados a las mujeres, dejó impune el delito, que se considera de lesa humanidad.
Una investigación presentada en 2002, por organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos de las mujeres en el país revela que entre 1996 y 2000, se realizaron 215 mil 227 ligaduras de trompas y 16 mil vasectomías.
Diana Portal, abogada del caso señaló que acudieron al sistema regional de protección de derechos humanos, ya que ante la instancia nacional, se agotaron los recursos para obtener justicia.
“Es fundamental que el Estado peruano reconozca su responsabilidad internacional, al haber violado de manera sistemática y generalizada los derechos reproductivos de miles de mujeres peruanas, que termine la impunidad, y que las víctimas reciban una reparación integral por los daños irreversibles sufridos”.
Los casos presentados ante la CIDH son el de una mujer que murió en julio de 1997, a consecuencia de la operación realizada en el hospital de Piura, a donde llegó tras el incesante acoso del personal de salud.
Así como el de una mujer migrante andina quechuahablante de la zona periférica del distrito La Molina, que fue convencida de practicarse una ligadura de trompas a la que finalmente se negó al observar el abundante sangrado en otra paciente. Fue entonces llevada a la fuerza a la sala de operaciones del hospital Hipólito Unanue y amarrada para proceder con la intervención...
Peru denies justice to [hundreds of thousands of
indigenous] victims of forced sterilization
The Inter American Human Rights Commission has received two cases that are
emblematic of the abuses faced by women under the rule of former president
Alberto Fujimori...
Gladis Torres Ruiz
CIMAC Women's News Agency
July 16, 2010
Mexico
Urge ombudsman para combatir trata
El presidente de la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, llamó a todos los sectores sociales y a los tres niveles de gobierno a conjuntar esfuerzos para combatir y castigar la trata de personas.
El ombudsman nacional denunció que la falta de armonización legislativa en el sistema jurídico mexicano amplía la brecha de impunidad y dificulta la acción coordinada de las autoridades encargadas de la seguridad pública y la procuración de justicia.
Otro obstáculo para combatir ese flagelo, que alcanza proporciones alarmantes en algunas partes del país, es la carencia de instrumentos y políticas públicas para dar protección y asistencia adecuada a las víctimas.
Ello debido a que la reparación del daño a que tienen derecho las personas afectadas no llega, porque no resulta fácil denunciar al tratante, ni luchar contra las inercias legales, dijo.
De acuerdo con un comunicado del organismo, Plascencia Villanueva destacó, durante la instalación del Comité Regional contra la Trata de Personas Zona Occidente (Colima, Jalisco y Nayarit), que la erradicación de ese delito plantea muchos retos y sólo en un marco de colaboración se podrá avanzar en el tema...
Human Rights Ombudsman Calls for More Effective
Legislation to Combat Human Trafficking
Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, president of Mexico's National Human Rights
Commission, has called upon all sectors of society and government to join forces
to improve the nation's efforts to fight human trafficking. Plascencia
Villanueva denounced the lack of synchronization between various state laws,
stating that the lack of a homogenous legal framework nationwide is leaving the
door open for impunity, buy, for example, making the coordination of interstate
law enforcement efforts exceedingly difficult [states jurisdiction predominates
over federal law in the case of the current national anti-trafficking law].
An additional obstacle to effective efforts to halt human slavery, which is
reaching alarming proportions, is the lack of adequate services provided to
victims...
Notimex / El Universal
July 14, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
Springfield police search for suspected rapist of 4-year-old girl
Springfield – Investigators continue to search for a man suspected of raping and assaulting a 4-year-old girl on Saturday.
Although detectives with Special Crimes Unit initially charged Angel Santizo, 20, of 693 Carew St., with the rape, they now believe that a second man was responsible, Sgt. John M. Delaney said.
“He was the caretaker of this child while somebody else there raped her,” Sgt. John M. Delaney said of Santizo. “We are looking for the guy that did.”
Santizo’s charges have been amended to permitting serious bodily injury on a child while being a caretaker, Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.
The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs has also put a detention order on Santizo, who is from Guatemala, police said.
Delaney said the girl, who required surgery, remains at Baystate Medical Center.
Police have to release any information regarding the second suspect.
George Graham
The Republican
July 06, 2010
Texas & Arizona, USA
Man Wanted In Child Rape In Juarez Arrested In Phoenix
El paso, Texas - Detectives say a man wanted for the rape of a child has been deported to Mexico after being arrested in Phoenix, according to ABC-15 in Phoenix.
Miguel Manuel Hernandez-Beltran, 29, was arrested in Phoenix last month and deported to Mexico on June 28. He allegedly molested his 7-year old nephew approximately fifteen times in 2005 in Juarez, according to the US Marshals Office.
Shortly after law Mexican law enforcement became aware of the alleged molestation, authorities believe Hernandez-Beltran entered the United States illegally near El Paso and eventually traveled to Phoenix.
"Persons wanted for crimes in Mexico cannot find a safe haven in the United States," United States Marshal David Gonzales said in the ABC-15 report. "The United States Marshals Service places a high priority on arresting those accused of sex crimes, particularly cases involving children. By two federal agencies working together, an accused child predator was arrested which now allows him to face justice."
KVIA
July 9, 2010
Ohio, USA
Man accused in rape of young girl indicted
Lebanon - A Texas man in jail with a $1 million bond was indicted on rape charges.
The Warren County grand jury on Friday, July 2, returned indictments for rape, attempted rape and abduction against Armando Bautista Hernandez, 27, of Houston, Texas.
Hernandez is accused of raping a 16-year-old female at the Red Roof Inn in Deerfield Twp. on June 4.
The prosecutor’s office also asked the grand jurors to consider kidnapping charges, but they returned a “no bill” verdict, meaning they didn’t think there was sufficient evidence to prove the charge. Kidnapping is a first-degree felony, abduction is a third-degree felony.
Hernandez’s attorney Tim McKenna asked for a lower bond, saying the high bond would be appropriate if he stood charged with a special felony or murder. He said his client has a family back in Texas and he was here working on a water tower project.
If found guilty on all charges, Hernandez faces 46 years in prison. Because there is an Immigration and Customs Enforcement holder on Hernandez, Assistant Prosecutor Matt Nolan said it is likely he would be deported following legal proceedings or if he is convicted and serves time in prison..
Denise G. Callahan
The Dayton Daily News
July 06, 2010
Europe, Latin America, Africa
United Nations: Human traffickers make $3 billion a year in Europe
Mardrid, Spain -Traffickers who subject women and children to prostitution and forced labor are engaged in one of Europe's most lucrative crimes — a euro2.5 billion a year, modern-day slave trade whose victims are growing by 50 percent annually, a United Nations agency said Tuesday.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that more than 140,000 people are currently controlled by organized gangs. Many victims are tricked into leaving lives of poverty in eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America with bogus promises of work.
"Europeans believe that slavery was abolished centuries ago. But look around — slaves are in our midst," UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said in a statement accompanying the report.
Costa said one big problem is that governments in industrialized countries have only recently passed tougher laws to crack down on trafficking in people.
"It is a very recent recognition of a very old problem," Costa said later to the Associated Press, adding that arrests and convictions of traffickers are rare. "I could count them on one hand."
Worldwide, his agency estimated several million people have fallen victim to traffickers.
American actress Mira Sorvino, who serves as a goodwill ambassador for the UN agency, said she met in Madrid with women who have been rescued from trafficking gangs in Spain and their stories were heartbreaking.
One Romanian woman was beaten so badly while being smuggled to Spain that her ribs were broken. Despite the injury, she still had to service clients in a roadside brothel while she recovered, Sorvino said.
Another woman, from Nigeria, was fooled into traveling to Spain with a promise of work so she could support her daughter back home. After traveling to Spain in the cargo hold of a ship, and seeing several travel mates die along the way, the woman learned there was no work waiting for her. She ended up as a prostitute and was told she had a euro50,000 debt to pay off.
People back in Nigeria who had promised to care for her daughter instead had a chilling new message.
"If you do not pay, we will kill your daughter," Sorvino quoted the woman as recalling.
And when the woman called home periodically to speak to her daughter, traffickers would beat the little girl while the mother listened. As the Nigerian told her story, Sorvino said, "she cried a little. I cried a lot."
The UN report said that 51 percent of victims in Europe come from the Balkan countries or the former Soviet Union, with another 13 percent coming from Latin America, 7 percent from Central Europe and 5 percent from Africa.
Damiel Woolls
The Associated Press
June 30, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
Accused Serial Child Rapist Behind Bars
Accused Rapist May Have Attacked Dozens Of Kids
The I-TEAM has discovered that a man sitting in the Worcester County Jail may be one of the worst child rapists in the state.
Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve has been digging and he says it's a shocking case shrouded in mystery.
His name is Juan Nazario. The 33-year-old Leominster man was arraigned in Leominster District Court last month on two counts of child rape. But it's what police found inside his apartment on Pleasant Place in downtown Leominster that now has investigators county-wide very concerned.
More victims may be out there
Court documents obtained by the I-TEAM indicate Nazario recorded his "assaults via a video camera" and that photographic evidence along with a detailed personal diary clearly indicates there were far more than two victims.
In fact, sources tell the I-TEAM that the Worcester County District Attorney's Office now believes perhaps dozens of children were raped by Juan Nazario over the past 15 years.
As many as 20 investigators are now working this shocking case. District Attorney Joe Early spoke exclusively to the I-TEAM and was asked by Shortsleeve if there were multiple victims.
"It may bring us there. Yes. I am not at liberty to say how many victims there are, but I can tell you we have got a lot of people working on this right now, and we want to get it right," Early said.
WBZ
July 23, 2009
Virginia, USA
Marine Charged in Second Arlington Attack
Arlington County police have charged a Marine in connection with the abduction and rape of a woman who was left badly injured in Prince William County on February 27.
Jorge 'George' Torrez, 21, had previously been charged in connection with a similar attack on Feb. 10.
In the Feb. 27 incident, two women walking in the Ballston area where abducted at gunpoint. One victim was taken to Prince William County where she was attacked.
Torrez was indicted on 14 charges regarding this incident, including abduction with intent to defile, rape, forcible sodomy, robbery, and six counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Torrez remains in custody at the Arlington County Detention Center. The trial for this case is currently set to begin on July 26, 2010.
Markham Evans
WJLA
June 25, 2010
Wisconsin, USA
New London Man Arrested for Alleged Sexual Assault
Police in Menasha arrest a 23-year-old New London man for allegedly having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Authorities say it happened Tuesday morning inside a vehicle parked on Coldspring Road at Schlidt Park. A detective with the Town of Menasha Police Department was making rounds at the park when he noticed a van parked in the rear parking lot.
The detective went up to the vehicle and noticed 2 people engaged in a sexual act in the backseat. After making contact, the detective identified the 2 occupants as Jose Muniz and a 13-year-old female.
Police indicate the suspect and the teen met on a social networking site and had been seeing each other for several months. Muniz is currently in the Winnebago County Jail facing a felony charge of second-degree sexual assault of a child.
WTAQ
June 24, 2010
New Jersey, USA
Hunterdon police search for man who physically assaulted jogger in N.J. park
West Amwell Township - An unknown man assaulted a Lambertville woman as she jogged along the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park towpath, but the victim was able to fend off her attacker, authorities said.
The 47-year-old was treated and released from an area hospital following the attack that occurred between 8 and 8:15 p.m. Thursday, said Dan Hurley, chief of detectives and spokesman for the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office. "Her actions in defending herself were heroic and may have saved her life and prevented additional crimes from occurring to her," he said today.
The woman was jogging along the West Amwell Township portion of the towpath when the man dragged her into a wooded area. No weapon was used, but the victim suffered numerous injuries, Hurley said.
The attacker is described as a Hispanic male, between 5-feet, 6-inches, and 5-feet, 8-inches tall and between 140 and 160 pounds. He was 20 to 30 years old, had olive skin and brown, flat-top style hair and was wearing a dark polo shirt, Hurley said. It is believed the suspect was sitting on a bench as the victim passed. He fled the scene by running south along the towpath...
Jennifer Golson
The Star-Ledger
July 02, 2010
Texas, USA
Texas Supreme Court: Kids in Prostitution Are Victims, Not Criminals
The case of a 13-year-old girl who was prosecuted for prostitution (while her 32-year-old pimp got away) in Texas was decided by the Texas supreme court this week. And they've said categorically that children in the commercial sex industry aren't criminals, they're victims of child sex trafficking. This decision is significant not only for the children of Texas, but for kids around the country as more and more states may begin to see child prostitution for what it is: a crime against children.
On the one hand, declaring that children in prostitution are victims as opposed to criminals sounds like a no-brainer. Every state has an age of sexual consent that prohibits children of a certain age from consenting to sex. Why should the fact that a financial transaction is involved suddenly make children and young teens able to consent to sex? But Texas, like almost all states, never provided an age limit on the crime of prostitution. So it was legally possible for a 13-year-old to be a victim of the crime of statutory rape, but a perpetrator of the crime of prostitution -- both for the same act!
The Texas Supreme Court decision is poised to change that -- not just in Texas, but across the country. The ruling sets an important precedent by stating that children in the commercial sex industry are victims of a crime and should be treated as such. Will other states take this ruling and use it in their own cases, aiming to protect children from sexual exploitation? Will this lead a new movement to decriminalize minors in prostitution while placing the onus for their abuse on their pimps and the men who buy them? Only time will tell.
If this does mark the beginning of a new trend, then one thing is abundantly clear: we need some place to put these girls. One of the major reasons the Texas 13-year-old was prosecuted in the first place was the D.A. argued that jail was safer than the streets, and in juvenile detention she'd have access to social services she couldn't get elsewhere. And the sad thing is in many areas, the only safe place off the streets is juvenile detention. But locking up victims (aside from being wrong) can traumatize them even more. So if we as a country follow Texas's lead and say teens in prostitution are victims, then we need to build them shelters and safe houses, not jails...
Amanda Kloer
Change.org
June 24, 2010
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Texas, USA
Loophole closed for illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes
They are accused child rapists, drug dealers and thieves. And because of major reforms in the justice system
- spurred by a News 8 investigation - those people now face prosecution.
As recently as November, because of a loophole in the law, many would have simply been set free without ever going to trial.
Until it was fixed, the loophole allowed for the deportation of accused criminals
- and a breakdown in the justice system.
We introduced you to "Sylvia" back in November. While she is an American citizen, her husband, Jose Salvador Tinajero, is Mexican.
He had just been deported instead of prosecuted for molesting her two children.
"There is no justice," Sylvia said last year, "especially for my girls, my family. There is none."
Today, she is simply overwhelmed at the progress that's been made.
News 8 first broke the story that more than 1,000 illegal immigrants who were charged with serious crimes like murder had been deported before their cases ever went to trial.
Many were bused back to Mexico and simply set free across the border.
In November, we spoke to Sgt. Ernesto Fierro, an investigator for the Dallas County District Attorney's office. At the time, little was being done to fix the problem, and Fierro said he was "furious" about it.
Buena Valentin is a Mexican citizen charged with raping his girlfriend's seven-year-old daughter. After the attack on the girl
- and her sister - they immediately ran to church for help.
"She looked really bad. Very bad," said Eleuterio Cabrera of Templo de Dios. "She was crying. The girls were very, very, very bad. It was horrible."
What was the problem?
After an arrest, the district attorney's office was usually not notified until a case had been in the system for several weeks. In that gap of time, the accused paid his bond.
Then - because the suspect was in the U.S. illegally - he was turned over to ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The job of that agency is to deport, regardless of pending charges.
Now, however, because of News 8 reports, those holes in the system are all plugged, and Sgt. Ernesto Fierro has a new, full-time assignment: Keeping people like Buena Valentin in jail.
"I feel great; I feel really good," Fierro said. "I feel like I've really done something here."
And the 90 crime suspects in Fierro's book will remain incarcerated in the Dallas County jail until their cases are settled.
"Many of them would've been on the bus back to their home country," Fierro said, without the changes to the system.
Two big fixes are:
* A mandatory $100,000 bond for anyone who is a flight risk due to possible deportation. In some cases, that's a 20-fold increase.
* Improved communication and cooperation between Dallas County and ICE.
"I appreciate you guys highlighting," said Nuria Prendes, the top ICE agent in Dallas. "If we're not made aware of things, there's no way we can fix them." ...
Federal officials say one in four felony defendants are in the U.S. illegally. News 8 has attempted to find out how many are deported before trial, but no government agency tracks the issue, and privacy rules have impeded our efforts to learn more.
Still, there is strong evidence the loophole does exists nationwide. We found cases in Florida, Massachusetts and New York...
Davis Schechter
WFAA
June 23, 2010
See also:
Texas, USA
Hundreds in Dallas County
Deported Before Their Trials
Hundreds of defendants awaiting trial for violent
crimes in Dallas County have been deported by
federal immigration officials and then set free in
their home countries.
The practice goes back to at least 1991 and includes
the release of murder, kidnapping and child rape
suspects. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials say they're required to deport illegal
immigrants quickly but are now in talks with local
agencies who are trying to resolve the problem...
One survey of prosecutors shows that since 1991 in
Dallas County, nearly 1,000 illegal immigrants have
not stood trial after being accused of felonies.
That number also counts cases in which a wanted
person fled before being arrested, but does not
include all Dallas County cases - just ones that
prosecutors judged to be of the highest priority.
Those who post bail and agree to then be sent home
are taking advantage of the system to escape
justice, said Terri Moore, top assistant to District
Attorney Craig Watkins...
Officials from the DA's office, the Dallas County
Sheriff's Department and ICE met this week to
discuss the problem. No quick fixes were found, but
they plan to meet again, officials said...
The agency's policies led to
the deportation of one defendant, Jose Rico, who
returned to Mexico before he could stand trial in
the rape of two girls in separate incidents. DNA
connected him to both sexual assaults, court records
show.
Both girls, ages 12 and 14,
were bound with clear duct tape. The attacker told
one of the girls: "I have a gun. I will kill you."
Rico, 34, posted his $125,000
bond and was deported in August...
In Dallas County, judges this week took a step
toward decreasing the chances that someone in the
country illegally will post bond and be deported
before trial. Judges began setting the bail at
$100,000 per charge if a defendant is in the country
illegally.
Under the new system, the bail for Rico, the child
rape suspect, probably would have been $200,000...
Jennifer Emily
Dallas News
Nov. 14, 2009
See also:
Dallas Police Identify Suspect
in 2 Child Rapes
Dallas police today released the identity of the man
believed to be responsible for raping two children
in northeast Dallas.
He
was identified as Jose Rico, 33, an illegal
immigrant, police said.
Rico
was being held in the Dallas County jail on charges
of aggravated sexual assault and burglary of a
habitation.
He
is also under an immigration hold...
In
both assaults, the victims -- girls between 12 and
14 -- were home alone when a man entered through an
unlocked doors. Both girls were bound before they
were raped.
[During] the
Oct. 16 assault the attacker... entered the home
while the girl and an 11-month-old baby were alone.
The
man confronted the girl as she was coming out of a
bathroom, pushed her back in and turned off the
lights. He threatened to hurt the baby if she
screamed.
[During] the
Jan. 30 attack... a man with a similar description
bound and raped a girl while she was home alone.
Dan X. McGraw
The Dallas Morning News
March 26, 2009 |
Connecticut, USA
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Kimberly Revolorio and Celetino Aguilar |
New Haven Police Ask For Help Finding Missing Teen
Police are asking for the public's help locating a missing 15-year-old girl.
Kimberly Revolorio was last seen on May 29 at 903 Congress Ave.
Police said they believe she left willingly and may be with Celetino Aguilar, 35.
Revolorio is described as a 5-foot-tall, 103-pound Hispanic female with long black hair and a light brown complexion, police said.
Aguilar is a 6-foot-tall, 175-pound Hispanic male with short black hair. He may be clean shaven but is known to have a mustache and goatee, police said.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the New Haven Police Department at 203-946-6316 or the Special Investigations Unit at 203-946-6290.
Julie Stagis
The Hartford Courant
June 24, 2010
New Jersey, USA
Pennsylvania halfway house escapee is caught in Newark, charged with sex assault
A man who escaped from a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections halfway house and was captured Wednesday in Newark has been charged with raping a 12-year-old child while he was on the loose.
Daniel Rosario, 33, was captured by the U.S. Marshals Service in Newark.
U.S. Marshal Michael Regan says Rosario failed to return March 25 to a halfway house in Scranton where he had been serving time on burglary charges. Authorities allege that Rosario raped a child in Dickson City earlier this month.
U.S. Marshals caught up with Rosario at an apartment building in Newark. Regan says Rosario fled on foot and scaled a razor-wire fence before being captured...
The Associated Press
June 24, 2010
The World, Latin America
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Latin America in the global crime big
picture
* Latin America exports $38 billion
annually in cocaine to the U.S., while exporting $34
billion to Europe
* The region generates $6.6 billion
by smuggling 3 million migrants annually into the
U.S. and Canada
Note that much of Latin America's
drug trade profits are used to finance human
trafficking operations.
By comparison, the world's second
largest organized criminal enterprise - heroin
trafficking from Afghanistan, generates $33 billion
in annual sales to Europe and Asia.
In other words, the impunity of human
trafficking is not ending any time soon in Latin
America. - LL |
UN warns of gangs’ global muscle
International crime networks now enjoy such an extensive reach that the gangs behind them must be regarded as a significant economic power, says a United Nations report.
In one of the most comprehensive analyses undertaken of transnational criminal activity, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has calculated that the illicit trade in a range of commodities – including drugs, people, arms, fake goods and stolen natural resources – has an annual value of roughly $130
billion.
The report shows how transnational crime continues to be dominated by the trade in cocaine and heroin, a business whose product is worth about $105
billion
a year...
Cocaine trafficking from the Andean region to North America, a business with an annual value of $38
billion
at destination, is the biggest sector in the illegal narcotics trade. The export of cocaine from the Andean region to Europe is worth about $34
billion
a year.
However, the UNODC believes that the North American cocaine market is shrinking because of lower demand and greater law enforcement. It says this has generated a turf war among trafficking gangs, particularly in Mexico, and prompted them to forge new drug routes...
The second-biggest sector in international organized crime is people-trafficking.
The trade in women for sexual exploitation is now worth about $3
billion a year. Much of the trade involves trafficking people from Africa and the Balkans to other parts of Europe, where about 140,000 women are being manipulated by gangs at any one time.
The illegal smuggling of economic migrants is worth about $6.6
billion
a year to those who run the trade, according to the report.
The dominant illegal migrant flow is across the southern border of the US, with about
3 million Latin Americans illegally moving to North America each year. Flows from Africa to Europe are far smaller, with about 55,000 migrants smuggled into Europe in 2008...
James Blitz
The Financial Times Limited
June 17, 2010
See also:
"La delincuencia organizada se ha globalizado
convirtiéndose
en una amenaza para la seguridad"
En un nuevo informe de la UNODC se expone cómo, mediante la
violencia y los sobornos,
los mercados internacionales de la delincuencia han pasado a ser grandes centros
de poder
"Organized Crime Has Globalized and Turned
into a Security Threat"
A new UNODC report shows how, using violence and
bribes, international criminal markets have become major centres
of power
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
June 17, 2010
Mexico
Delitos impunes, a pesar de que la CIDH pidió enviarlos a la vía civil
Suma justicia militar 5 casos de violación a mujeres indígenas
México, D.F. - Desde hace nueve años, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) recomendó al Estado mexicano que fuera la justicia civil quien investigara la violación sexual ejercida por militares en perjuicio de tres mujeres indígenas, no obstante, hoy dicha recomendación no se ha cumplido y a ella se han sumado dos casos similares en la jurisprudencia militar.
El 4 de abril de 2001, fue la primera vez que la CIDH exhortó al gobierno mexicano trasladar a la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) un caso de violación sexual ejercida por soldados, esto con el objetivo de juzgar con mayor efectividad a los miembros de las fuerzas armadas que incurrieran en violaciones contra los derechos humanos.
Dicha recomendación del organismo internacional fue por el caso de Ana, Beatriz y Celia González Pérez (nombres ficticios), de tres indígenas tzeltales, que el 4 de junio de 1994 fueron detenidas en un retén militar, instalado tras el levantamiento del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) en Chiapas.
Cabe recordar que las hermanas González Pérez y su madre, Delia Pérez de González fueron interrogadas y privadas de su libertad durante dos horas. En tanto, las tres hermanas fueron golpeadas y violadas en reiteradas ocasiones por los militares. Después de lo ocurrido, el 30 de junio de 1994, las jóvenes agredidas -de 20, 18 y 16 años de edad- presentaron una denuncia ante el Ministerio Público Federal.
Sin Justicia Expedita
Sin embargo, el 2 de septiembre de 1994, el expediente de dicha denuncia fue trasladado a la Procuraduría General de Justicia Militar, quién dos años después, en febrero de 1996, decidió archivar el expediente con el argumento de: “la falta de comparecencia de las víctimas a declarar nuevamente y a someterse a pericias ginecológicas”.
Cabe mencionar que el 17 de septiembre de ese año, la defensa de las víctimas presentó un amparo para evitar que la justicia militar investigara el caso, pero éste fue negado.
Este hecho permitió que el caso permaneciera en la impunidad, ya que a decir de la defensa de las tres indígenas, era inaceptable la pretensión de que estas mujeres, que fueron torturadas por miembros de la institución castrense, se sintieran seguras declarando (por tercera vez) ante este organismo...
A pesar de estas declaraciones y de que han transcurrido 16 años, la investigación permanece en la justicia militar y en la impunidad.
Rapes of civilian indigenous women remain in impunity
despite the demands of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission that Mexico
move the cases to civilian courts
The case of the 1994 beatings and rapes of three Tzeltal Mayan indigenous
sisters, who were then ages 16, 18 and 20, and are known by their pseudonyms of Ana, Beatriz y Celia González Pérez, remains
in impunity 16 years after the fact. Mexican President Felipe Calderón's policies
have never allowed civilian jurisdiction in this case, nor in the cases of two other
indigenous rape victims, who have also faced impunity (and ongoing intimidation
for having sought to bring criminal complaints against soldiers).
Despite the fact that the Inter-American Human Rights Commission has, since
2001, called upon Mexico to allow its civilian criminal justice system to take
over cases involving soldiers attacking Mexican civilians, President Calderón
has ignored these pleas.
Anayeli García Martínez
CIMAC Noticias Women's News Agency
June 14, 2010
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