Dr. Laura Bozzo - Latin America's Leading Women & Children's Rights Activist

LibertadLatina

Analysis of the political actions and policies of Mexico's National Action Party (PAN) in regard to their detrimental impact on women's basic human rights

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Added: Feb. 08, 2010

Mexico

Family and friends bid farewell Wednesday to a victim of Sunday's massacre, one of 12 teens and 3 adults killed at a party in Ciudad Juarez.

Photo: Julian Cardona For the Houston Chronicle

Feb. 3, 2010

Dallas Morning News Editorial: Mexico's Rock-bottom Moment

Excerpt

Against a two-decade timeline of drug-trafficking outrages in Mexico, last Sunday's slaughter of 16 at a teenager's quinceañera party in Ciudad Juárez seems likely to follow a familiar pattern. First comes stunned horror. Then comes the national outcry to do something. Government officials get hauled before the legislature for questioning. Someone resigns. Outrage subsides. Life goes on, same as before.

The Mexican government's behavior resembles that of an addict who's yet to hit that rock-bottom moment of realization that things absolutely must change. Yes, President Felipe Calderón has deployed thousands of soldiers and police officers to border cities and targeted corrupt public figures for prosecution. But that's clearly not sufficient.

Back in the 1990s, it seemed impossible that Mexico could slide any further into the depths. Remember when a Catholic cardinal was murdered by drug-cartel gunmen in Guadalajara? Or the well-reported links between a president's brother and the drug cartels? The army general named head of Mexico's drug enforcement agency who was subsequently arrested as an operative for a major cartel? The two northern governors implicated as operatives in a major cartel?

The next decade brought unspeakable levels of violence as rival cartels vied for territorial control. Thousands died. A free-for-all atmosphere now prevails, especially in Juárez.

"Mexico has abandoned us, betrayed us," José Luís Aguilar Rangel said as he looked down upon the coffins of his son and nephew, two of the young victims of the Sunday massacre.

In late 2008, Mexico's federal human rights commission reported that, on average, prosecution and conviction occurs in only one out of every 100 crimes. That's for reported crime. In 90 percent of cases, people don't even bother. Rangel clearly isn't alone in believing the government has abandoned him.

Yet, through it all, Mexican officials consistently play down what's happening. It's worse in Guatemala, they say. Just last month, Dallas Consul General Juan Carlos Cue-Vega sought to minimize the border-area violence as mainly drug thugs killing other drug thugs.

We don't buy it. Those Juárez teens had nothing to do with the drug cartels. In December, gunmen killed the mother, sister and aunt of a military hero who had been killed participating in a drug raid. The terrorists made clear: Come after us, and we'll go after your entire family.

"Where is the line drawn on indiffer-ence? If we cannot answer this question, the assassins can continue hiding themselves under the cloak of a complicit population – [complicit] either by conviction or by apathy," the Mexico City daily El Universal commented...

Dallas Morning News

Feb. 05, 2010

See also:

LibertadLatina Commentary

From top left: Rigoberta Menchu, Esther Chavez, Teresa Ulloa and Lydia Cacho

A Rock-bottom Moment in U.S. Action to Combat Latin American Human Trafficking and Slavery?

Let's draw the line on indifference!

The February 5, 2010 editorial by the Dallas Morning News, Mexico's Rock-bottom Moment, accurately describes the atmosphere of government corruption and indifference (at the federal, state and local level) that permeates Mexico and allows criminals to engage in horrendous behavior with reckless abandon.

That reality does not only apply to the war on drug cartels. These conditions of impunity also make it nearly impossible to effectively fight modern human slavery and other forms of sexual and labor exploitation.

We say 'modern' human slavery, but in Mexico, slavery, from the time of the Spanish colonization, had actually never stopped. Poor Indigenous and mixed-race (Mestizo) peoples, who are racially marginalized in Mexico, have always been easy marks for sexual and labor exploitation. This reality impacts children especially hard.

In 1994, for example, a U.S. National Public Radio news report noted that in Mexico's southern Chiapas state, the majority indigenous population was expected to serve their whole lives as unpaid peon farm workers on the plantations of wealthy Mexicans of European descent, in exchange for nothing more than being given rice and beans.

That is slavery!

The ability to rape and demand free labor of the Indigenous and Mestizo poor in Mexico with impunity has been a 'right' of the Spanish descended elites for 500 years.

As we have stated in previous comment-aries, our focus on the crisis of gender oppression in Mexico came about because:

1) The oppression of women is severe, and especially impacts indigenous women and girls;

2) by extension, the sex trafficking industry, fueled by the multi-billion dollar drug cartels, enslaves tens of thousands of women and girls each year;

3) Mexico is Latin America's border with the United States, causing the great majority of migration and human trafficking from the region into the U.S. to be funneled through Mexico;

4) With "60 plus" percent of the human trafficking victims in the U.S. being victims who are Latin American, solving the Mexican crisis holds the key to solving foreign sex and labor trafficking in the U.S., and potentially in much of Latin America;

5) Mexico has a brave and very articulate women's rights, indigenous rights and anti-trafficking movement, lead by many unseen leaders, and others who are more visible. they dare to confront impunity in Mexico, despite the risk of government sponsored intimidation, false imprisonment and murder that they face for disrupting the status quo and the power of the elites.

How can a Mexican Government that acts to support those who oppress women be an honest partner in suppressing the power of sex and labor traffickers?

How can a Mexican society that is based upon very strongly embedded traditions of male supremacy (machismo) change to actually begin to defend the basic human rights of women and girls, when its own government fights reform to maintain the status quo?

How can a Mexico where influential business and political leaders have corrupt ties to the sex trafficking 'industry' defeat those forces?

How can activists make progress when international organizations such as Amnesty International have identified the fact that human rights activists face false imprisonment to halt their work, and, together with activist journalists, face a very real threat of being murdered?

These are the pressing questions that the women's rights movement face and seek answers to.

This movement deserves the full moral and financial and collaborative support of human rights, indigenous rights and women's rights activists, and all people of moral conscience, from across the world.

Most importantly, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama must stand up and very publicly demand that the State of Mexico stop fighting against these human rights movements, and finally adhere to their international commitments to respect the rights of women and children.

The recent track record of the Calderón administration shows that it is indifferent to the issue of human slavery, and will only take minimal action to avoid getting a bad grade (and thus risk possible U.S. sanctions) from the annual U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons report. Therefore, the movement to end slavery continues its long struggle to force the Calderón government to change its misogynist ways.

Among the leaders of Mexico's pioneering women and children's rights movement are Teresa Ulloa, a pioneering women's rights lawyer and Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women for Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC). Ulloa has been a clear voice for identifying the need to enact and enforce anti-trafficking laws. She has identified the fact that 50 million women and children are at-risk of falling into the hands of human traffickers across all of Latin America. She has also declared that 5 million victims of human trafficking exist within Mexico. Ulloa has also stated that an estimated 1.5 million persons engage in prostitution in Central Mexico alone, and that 75% of those at any given time are girls between the ages of 12 and 13. Ulloa's serious research into these problems contradicts the research of others who conclude that only 20,000 children are engaged in prostitution in Mexico.

We also salute award winning journalist, author and women's center director Lydia Cacho, who responded to the impunity in child sex trafficking in the internationally popular tourist city of Cancun, Mexico by writing a well-researched book that exposed the complex links of collaboration between millionaire entrepreneur Jean Succar Kuri and child sex trafficker and a network of other businessmen and corrupt government officials. In response to the publication of Cacho's book, in December of 2005 the child sex trafficking network exposed by Cacho arranged with the governor of Puebla state, Mario Marin, to have Puebla state police officers arrest Cacho and drive her over 1,000 miles to Puebla state to face criminal charges of defamation for the accusations made in her book. During the trip and while in prison, state officers threatened Cacho with rape and with death.

Eventually cleared of the charges, Cacho has recently faced continuing threats to her life by armed suspects who shadow her daily movements. She lives 24 hours a day with armed guards. While Cacho's supporters in Congress demanded an investigation by the Supreme Court (a role that the Court may play in state corruption cases under Mexico's constitution), and despite the fact that one Supreme Court justice assigned to investigate the case found evidence to warrant investigation of Governor Marin by the full Court, the Court's justices decided that Cacho's treatment did not constitute a violation of her basic rights.

In utter disgust at the Supreme Court's behavior in this case, the Attorney General's special prosecutor for crimes against women, Alicia Elena Perez Duarte, resigned.

Child sex trafficker Jean Succar Kuri is in jail thanks to Cacho's efforts. However Puebla Governor Mario Marin and Succar Kuri's other accomplices continue living undisturbed in complete freedom.

We posthumously salute Esther Chavez, Lydia Cacho's mentor and the founder of the movement to publicize and demand action to end the mass murder (femicide) of women in northern Mexico's Ciudad Juarez. Chavez' tireless work to confront the apathy and impunity of government officials was the training ground that taught a generation of new leadership in the Mexican women's rights movement. By extension, Esther Chavez' legacy guides all of our efforts to dare to face into the wind and openly confront misogynist terrorism across Latin America.

Like Esther Chavez, Rigoberta Menchu is a long time leader working in defense of the basic human rights of indigenous peoples. A K'iche' Maya woman from Guatemala, Menchu's work impacts conditions for indigenous women and children in both Guatemala and Mexico. Winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, Menchu was a 1997 candidate in Guatemala's presidential elections.

Rigoberta Menchu and her family survived the 1970s-to-1990s anti-Mayan genocide in Guatemala in which 200,00 people died, including 50,000 women. Several members of Menchu's family were murdered, and she, like hundreds of thousands of Mayan Guatemalans, had to flee the attempts of the nation's government to mass murder its indigenous citizens.

Today Menchu continues to promote indigenous and women's human rights through the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation (La Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum).

Menchu has been especially active in efforts to end the sex trafficking of young indigenous girls in Guatemala and Mexico, where they consitute one of the largest groups victimized by commercial sexploitation of children (CSEC).

We also give high praises to the CIMAC women's news agency. Their large network of women reporters has persistently documented the outrageous injustices confronting women and girls in Mexican society. CIMAC is not afraid to point the finger at government agencies and officials where that is warranted, in addition to identifying major criminal organizations and individuals who victimize women and girls with impunity.

CIMAC's highly professional news team has described in accurate detail the facts surrounding the issues of sex trafficking, rape and other crimes against women, and the lack of legislative and law enforcement action in Mexico to protect women and girls from these atrocities.

On the single issue of the rape with impunity of (mostly indigenous women and girls) by Mexican military personnel, CIMAC has published more than 340 comprehensive articles since 2007.

In July of 2008, CIMAC's offices were ransacked by 'unknown' vandals. CIMAC's computers were destroyed or stolen. This act of intimidation occurred days after CIMAC published an article that identified the fact that high ranking military officers working at Mexico City's equivalent of the Pentagon frequented the child prostitution brothels that exist just down the street from military headquarters.

Letters of solidarity poured in from across the globe in response to these criminal acts, which remain in impunity.

We especially applaud the fact that CIMAC for covering the mass gender atrocities facing poor indigenous women in a Mexico where such crimes are never, ever punished.

A Google search of the CIMAC News web site shows that:

* 120 CIMAC articles mention Rigoberta Menchu

* 170 CIMAC articles mention the late Esther Chavez

* 120 CIMAC articles mention Teresa Ulloa

* 550 CIMAC articles mention Lydia Cacho

We also give kudos to CIMAC for publishing information from the International Organization for Migration's office in Tapachula, noting that the southern Mexican border with Guatemala is a lawless zone where between 450 and 600 women and girl migrants from Central and South America are raped each day. The same CIMAC article notes that the global NGO Save the Children has identified southern Mexico as being the largest zone for the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the entire world.

Thanks to the trailblazing work of these brave journalists and activists, the criminals, the wealthy business owners and corrupt public servants who cooperate with them can no longer hide under a rock. The evidence is irrefutable that an ongoing mass gender atrocity is taking place in Mexico, and neither the Mexican federal government (lead by a National Action Party which has openly misogynist policies), nor the United States is taking any visible action of significance to stop that violence.

Thanks to the heroic work of Rigoberta Menchu, Esther Chavez, Teresa Ulloa, Lydia Cacho, the team at CIMAC and many other activists, the fact of the human slavery crisis in Mexico and the rest of Latin America cannot be denied by anyone.

These realities present a challenge to the global, and especially to the U.S. based anti-trafficking movements. Do they remain silent on this issue, or do they take appropriate action to give the crisis facing Latinas a proper seat at the table of deliberations in this movement?

The modern anti-trafficking movement was born in the 1990s in response to the enslavement of thousands of Eastern European and Russian women after the fall of the Soviet Union, and focused today principally on the issues of the enslavement of European, South Asian, East Asian and domestic minor U.S. youth. The focus areas reflect, interestingly enough, the ethnicities of the the majority of the activists in this movement.

All of those populations deserve attention. So do Latin American victims. Latin American and Asian victims were trafficked into the U.S. long before the anti-slavery sprung-up in Western nations (The risk of being sex trafficked was known in the U.S. even in the 1950s).

Yet more than ten years into the development of this movement, we have yet to hear public pronouncements about the Latin American / Latina immigrant human slavery crisis from the U.S. Federal Government, nor from the academics nor major U.S. NGO heads in the U.S. who have pioneered the effort to stop modern slavery.

During a number of major speeches on human trafficking that I have attended, virtually every region of the world will be mentioned except Latin America. Latina immigrant victims in the U.S. are almost never mentioned. Academic papers, speeches and promotional materials from the major anti-trafficking organizations are equally lacking in coverage of the crisis facing Latin America.

In late 2009, for example, I called Public Radio's nationally broadcast Diane Rehm Show based at WAMU, from American University Radio, to talk with Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times reporters Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn (a former Times reporter), as they discussed their book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

In a reflection of the limited priorities of the majority of NGOs and U.S. federal government voices in the anti-slavery movement, Kristoff and WuDunn emphasized both in their book and during their radio interview, that their coverage of the crisis in women's rights as it exists in developing nations involved East Asia, South Asia and Africa. They did not even mention Latin America.

When I stated that Mexico is a major crisis area for human trafficking and that Save the Children had identified southern Mexico as the largest region for commercial sexual exploitation of children in the world, both authors responded by saying that, in their view, India was the largest zone for sex trafficking in the world and had to be tackled first. They admitted that they had not looked at Latin America in researching their otherwise important book on gender oppression.

In point of fact, the sex trafficking networks began to focus on Latin America in their search for large numbers of women and children to enslave as law enforcement began to crack-down on Asian sex trafficking several year ago. Latin America's crisis is, arguably, just as large as that of India, where around 1 million children are sex trafficked at any given time.

One of my main motivations for expanding the LibertadLatina project (we are now in our ninth year), was to respond to the lack of publicly available factual information on the crisis in Latin America. That information gap leaves Latin American relatively isolated and without support from the global community (with the active role of the United Nations being a welcome exception to that fact).

I recall that about 7 years ago, a young Asian American man who had just graduated from college with a major in Women's Studies, and who was then a volunteer at Polaris Project, one of the leading anti-trafficking NGOs in the U.S., told me that "Latin America doesn't have a human trafficking problem. My professors said that Latin America didn't have a problem." This guy changed his attitude after I referred him to the LibertadLatina web site.

We would hope that such ignorance was a thing of the past. But today in 2010, the U.S. based anti-slavery movement continues to discuss anti-trafficking as a crime that impacts Europeans, Asians and U.S. domestic minor victims only.

We really have to wonder what the motivations are that drive that misguided thinking.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. State Department, is the U.S. Government's leading voice on human slavery issues. He is Mexican-American, and has prosecuted over 100 human trafficking cases, many involving Latin American victims and perpetrators.

In 2002 CdeBaca invited me to apply for a position as a victim advocate working with his team at the Justice Department's inter-agency Worker's Exploitation Task Force. So it is with great respect that we implore Ambassador CdeBaca to respond forcefully to the critical emergency facing women and girls in Latin America and its Diaspora in the U.S., a crisis that he is thoroughly familiar with.

We also insist that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador CdeBaca's boss, and U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary Clinton's boss, move into action forthwith to address the defense of women and girls being exploited by the Latin American networks who prostitute enslaved Latina victims in urban brothels and rural farm worker camps in almost every county and city in America.

Ambassador CdeBaca, Secretary Clinton and President Obama, we insist that you get together and collaborate to develop a public policy and action plan to address the "60 plus percent" according to Ambassador CdeBaca, of human slavery victims in the U.S. who originated from Latin America. Funding a few NGOs across the region (some of whom are known to misuse their mandates), is not an adequate answer.

You can act to combat these problems without requiring an earthquake to kick-start you in the right direction, which is a process that we have seen of late in regard to Haiti.

We need everyone, the general public, concerned NGOs, academics and other activists to contact the White House, the U.S. State Department and their congressional members to demand immediate action in regard to the Latin American and indigenous aspects of the human slavery crisis.

Without our efforts, the crisis will continue to grow out of control, putting at risk and entire generation of young women and girls who deserve the right to live in freedom from the tyranny of the gender hostile environment that they live in today.

Write to you senators.

Write to your House of Representatives members.

Write to President Obama

U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520. Main Switchboard: 202-647-4000.

End Impunity Now!

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

Feb. 08, 2010

See also:

Trata de blancas en Centroamérica

Human Trafficking in Central America [and Mexico]

María de Jesús Silva [who's daughter Jackeline Jirón Silva was kidnapped into sexual slavery at age 11 - comments on her search across Central America and southern Mexico for her daughter]: "I saw things that I never imagined existed... The brothels are full of children, sold by traffickers and abandoned by their parents. I saw them prostitute them-selves and wished that any one of them would have been my daughter. I settled for caressing the hair of these girls, and I imagined that in the 'next' brothel, I was going to find my daughter. Everything that I have suffered through is nothing compared to what my girl is going through."

...According to Ana Salvadó, executive director for Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean for Save the Children: "the panorama for childhood in Latin America is growing more bleak over time, and child trafficking is growing rapidly in each of these countries..."

…Save the Children has identified the border region between Guatemala and Mexico as being the largest hot spot for the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the entire world. Ana Salvadó: "It is a bottleneck, because many children attempt to migrate from Central [and South] America to the United States, and they never get past [southern] Mexico…

…A study by the international organization ECPAT… ...reveals that over 21,000 Central Americans, mostly children, are prostituted in 1,552 bars and brothels in Tapachula, Mexico…

Traffickers sell these child victims to Tapachula's pimps for $200 each.

More that 50% of these children are from [indigenous] Guatemala. The rest are Salvadorans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans. They range in age from eight to fourteen-years-old.

...In 2006, the International Labor Organization conducted a survey of adult attitudes in Mexico, Central America and South America, where it is quite easy [for men] to engage in sexual relations with children.

Some 65% of respondents stated that they don't see any problem, and they don't feel any sort of conflict or fear in regard to having sex with boy and girl children, and "they don't feel that there is anything wrong with doing it."

...Mexico has been converted into a paradise for pimps and a living hell for thousands of Central American girl children like Jackeline Jirón Silva, whose captors have prostituted her during the past 32 months. It is known that during half of that time, Jackeline has been held in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

- Ana Lilia Pérez

Revista Contralínea

Oct. 22, 2007

Afirma la experta Teresa Ulloa

Three to four thousand underage indigenous girls from the poor states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero and Mexico [state] have become victims of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Japan.

Puebla city, in Puebla state - Teresa Ulloa, Latin America and Caribbean Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (CATW) announced her estimates of the numbers of indigenous children sex trafficked to Japan, and explained that traffickers trick the victims using offers of thousands of dollars for their parents in exchange for [obtaining permission] to take their daughters. The parents are told that their girls are going to the United States to work in fast food restaurant jobs.

Taking advantage of the condition of submission that Mexico's indigenous communities are forced to live in, the traffickers take their victims to Japan where they are prostituted and work as geishas, a role that Asian women no-longer want to play because today they have more decision-making power than in the past.

Ulloa said that before these victims from Japan are repatriated, the home conditions of these girls must be investigated to assure that they can be reintegrated without facing the risk of being sold or sexually exploited again.

Ulloa noted that in the year 2002 the CATW helped to repatriate two sisters, ages 8 and 10, who had been prostituted in a brothel in New York. They were subjected to exploitation again, 15 days later, because their family "had sold their daughters in exchange for two goats and two cases of beer."

During her interview with CIMAC Noticias, Ulloa declared: "the subject [of child protection] is not on the national agenda. Much attention is paid to drug trafficking, but the government hasn't even realized that the same drug trafficking networks are used for the [sex] trafficking of children, and that organized crime regards this activity to be one of their most important businesses."

Nadia Altamirano Díaz

CIMAC Noticias

Dec. 12, 2008

Activists suffer imprisonment on fabricated charges to stop them from doing their work

Amnesty International

Jan. 21, 2010

See Also:

LibertadLatina

Special Section

Journalist / Activist

Lydia Cacho is

See also:

The United States

Obama's Slavery Czar

Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca fights human slavery for a living...

...Whether it was farm workers, or women in brothels, the percentages continue to be overwhelmingly Latino. Sixty-plus per cent of the [trafficking] victims in the U.S. are Hispanic.” ...

Lynn Sherr

The Daily Beast

Nov. 24, 2009

The devastation and disorder of a burglary and violent vandalism at the women’s news agency CIMAC (Women’s Communication & Information) offices in Mexico City last weekend suggest that it was more than a common break-in, according to Lucía Lagunes Huerta, general director of the organization. Manual Fuentes, a lawyer for CIMAC noted that the evidence might be “leaving a message that CIMAC is vulnerable.” On behalf of the news agency, Fuentes filed a burglary charge with the Attorney General’s office of the federal district of Mexico.

CIMAC has covered women and women’s human rights issues throughout Mexico, Central & Latin America and the world for 20 years, including special in-depth articles about various unresolved cases of femicide and sexual violence against women in Mexico as a systemic violation of women’s human rights. This journalistic work has included the hundreds of murders and disappearances of women in Juarez, Mexico; the 14 cases of sexual assault charges of women against soldiers on July 11, 2006 in Castaños in the northern state of Coahuila; and charges of sexual assault and torture of 26 women by Mexican police on May 3, 2006 in San Salvador Atenco (northeast of Mexico City), all of which remain unresolved.

Fuentes said that in the legal documents filed about the burglary against CIMAC, Erica Cervantes, a staff member declared that when they arrived the morning of Monday, July 28th they found the locks to their offices smashed and totally destroyed. Likewise, the disarray in the office was extensive and unlike typical burglaries was focused more on documents and files, including those containing confidential information about special investigations and coverage by CIMAC. Fuentes said, “it was obvious they were searching for information and documents…this is something that is very serious since CIMAC is dedicated to the denouncement and dissemination of issues that affect women in the exercise of their human rights.” ...

FIRE – Feminist International Radio Endeavour

July 30, 2008

...As Mexico and the U.S. are connected physically and through criminal links, issues the Mexican government deals with will subsequently impact the U.S. Many of the Mexican criminal networks notable for narcotrafficking are also involved in human trafficking. According to the Inter Press Service, “at least 20 networks are involved in the trafficking of persons, with links to organized crime rings involved in other activities like drug smuggling.” Rampant corruption plagues the U.S.-Mexico border, where high-ranking Mexican officials have been accused of taking bribes from drug rings. According to Gary Hale, DEA intelligence chief for Houston, the U.S. effort to end the drug war has forced these criminal networks to seek “other crime activities to generate their income.” Hale reports that, due to the U.S. government’s crackdown on drug trafficking, crime rings income has decreased significantly. As a result, many of the criminal networks have searched for other activities, like human trafficking, to supplement their income.

Ambassador C. de Baca believes that focusing on eradicating human trafficking could improve U.S.-Mexican efforts to combat other forms of transnational crime. According to C. de Baca, human trafficking “appears to be an area where the [Mexican government] is prepared to cooperate with [the U.S.].” C. de Baca and others are hopeful that the exchange of information on human trafficking cases will build relationships between Mexican and U.S. officials that might help further combat the drug war...

Megan McAdams

Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Dec. 21, 2009

United States: Migration and Trafficking in Women
A comparison study on migration and trafficking in women in the US.

Until recently, trafficking of women in the United States was rarely acknowledged. It was not until Russian and Ukrainian women began to be trafficked to the United States in the early 1990s that governmental agencies and many NGOs began to recognize the problem. As many critics, including us, have pointed out, Latin American and Asian women were trafficked into the United States for many years prior to the influx of Russian traffickers and trafficked women. The fact that it took blond and blue-eyed victims to draw governmental and public attention to trafficking in the United States gives, at least, the appearance of racism.

Patricia Hyne

Coalitio Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)

2002

Added: Feb. 08, 2010

Guatemala

At the January 31st, 2010 commemoration of the 1980 Spanish Embassy Massacre, Nobel Laureate Dr. Rigoberta Menchu Tum kneels at a tapestry covered with the names of many of those who were murdered by government forces during the Guatemalan civil conflict.

Exposición fotográfica y artística en conmemoración del 30 aniversario de la masacre de la embajada de España

El día domingo 31 de enero de 2010 diferentes organizaciones de derechos humanos de Guatemala, montaron una exposición plástica en la Plaza Mayor de la ciudad que incluyo una galería fotográfica de los acontecimientos sucedidos hace 30 años. La actividad se abrió con una conferencia de prensa presidida por la Dra. Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

Photographic and artistic exhibition in the 30 commemoration of anniversary of the massacre of the embassy of Spain

On January 31^st, 2010, human rights organizations from across Guatemala presented an art and photography exhibit to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the Spanish Embassy Massacre in Guatemala City. The event began with a press conference by moderated by Dr. Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

Distinguished human rights defenders, including Aura Elena Farfan, Julio Solorzano Foppa, Miguel Ángel Alvizures participated.

Gustavo Meoño and Mario Minera related to the assembled crowd the history of the Spanish Embassy Massacre, in which 37 Mayans, students and Spanish diplomats were killed. The victims included Vicente Menchú, father of Dr. Rigoberta Menchu.

Noting that, despite the time that passed, this crime remains in impunity. The participants called on the authorities to take action, open an investigation, and punish those responsible for the murders.

The exhibition included photographs that the events of the day of the massacre, as well as the consequences of the government repression during the civil conflict. The photos of some of the [45,000] persons who were made to disappear [during the genocide] were shown.

A huge quilt with the names of victims of the armed conflict was laid in the center of the event grounds.

Guatemalan artist Marlon García displayed some of his works, and collaborated in organizing the exposition.

Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation

La Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Feb. 02, 2010

See also:

An indigenous woman in Guatemala holds a sign saying: Wanted: Jose Erain Rios Montt (the unseen part says, "for genocide") - during the 28th anniversary of the Spanish Embassy Massacre in Guatemala City, Guatemala in 2008.

General José Efraín Ríos Montt is best known outside Guatemala for heading a military regime (1982–1983) that was responsible for some of the worst atrocities against civilians in the 36-year Guatemalan civil conflict.

Photo: MiMundo

About the Spanish Embassy Massacre

Starting in 1977, a large number of Maya K’iche’ and Maya Ixil inhabitants from the municipalities of Nebaj, Chajul, San Juan Cotzal and San Miguel Uspantan, all located in the northern region of the Department of Quiche, began to organize under the newly created Committee for Peasant Union (CUC). During the year 1979, a number of oppressive acts were carried out by the army against the residents of these municipalities. [That is - military campaigns by government soldiers of mass-rapes and massacres carried out against entire villages of innocent civilians].

In response to such repression, Maya Ixil and Maya K’iche’ peasants, many of them members or local leaders within the CUC, travelled to Guatemala City so as to denounce both at national and international levels the human rights atrocities which were taking place in their communities.

Once in Guatemala City, the peasant delegation visited a number offices and personalities seeking help in divulging their accounts. But their effort was in vain. At the National Congress, access was denied to them. The press also refused to cover the story.

The delegation, however, did receive support from students at the University of San Carlos (USAC), militants from the Robin Garcia Student Revolutionary Front (FERG), some labor unions, as well as a few social organizations... In the end, they decided to occupy an Embassy.

A public declaration from the indigenous communities which peacefully occupied the Spanish Embassy, dated January 31, 1980, states: “...We have been left no other choice but to occupy the Spanish Embassy as the only resource to make our pleas known at both local and international levels.”

The military government of General Lucas Garcia decisively selected to remove the protesters “by any means”. Hence, after only a few minutes after the occupation took place, dozens of police and state security agents surrounded the Spanish Embassy grounds.

Immediately after knocking down the door, [the security forces] made use of a flamethrower, or similar gas-emitting device, against those found inside the ambassador’s office; most were struck by the flames from the waist up and propelled backwards, hence causing a pile-up effect.

Dark smoke was seen come out of the windows, and all 37 people present were burned alive.

The case of the Spanish Embassy Massacre serves as precedent and proof of the intensive and excessive political repression applied by the Government of Lucas Garcia in 1980. It clearly reflects the situation lived during such time where political opposition, demands for social justice, and the denouncement of human rights violations were completely disallowed. In addition, it also reflects the state of terror in which Guatemala society lived under at that time.

Twenty-eight years after the event, a number of activities were carried out to commemorate those massacred: a demonstration in front of the Constitutionality Court (CC), a forum focusing on the topic of Impunity, as well as a vigil in front of the current Spanish Embassy.

Spanish Embassy Massacre: 28th Anniversary

MiMundo

Feb. 27, 2008

See also:

Rigoberta Menchú in Nicaragua

On October 16, 1992, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, heir of the Maya-Quiché people of Guatemala, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee recognized in Rigoberta Menchú "a symbol of peace and reconciliation 500 years after Christopher Columbus' arrival to America," underscoring that she is a "vivid symbol of peace and reconciliation despite the ethnic, cultural and social divisions in her country, the American continent and the world."

Only a week before, Rigoberta Menchú had been in Nicaragua to attend the III Encounter of the Continental Campaign of 500 Years of Indigenous, Black and Grassroots Resistance, held in Managua from October 7-12. During her stay, she was given an honorary doctorate in Humanities from the Central American University (UCA). The UCA paid homage to her "contribution to the defense of human rights and the indigenous peoples of Latin America, particularly in her country, for more than 15 years," describing her as "a dignified and distinguished representative of the indigenous peoples of our continent."

Rigoberta Menchú's personal denunciations of the marginalization of the continent's indigenous peoples, of which she and her family have been victims, praised UCA rector Xabier Gorostiaga, have "contributed to educating international public opinion about these very serious problems." He noted that she has become "a genuine representative of the indigenous peoples and popular majorities of Central and Latin America, reclaiming the right to freedom and to the life of our cultures, principles shared by the Society of Jesus and the Central American University of Nicaragua."

Father Gorostiaga also recognized that Menchú has been a "Christian leader in her indigenous community, daughter and sister of martyrs, participating since age 10 in pastoral activities, deeply dedicated to an evangelizing mission in favor of the most oppressed and to the formation of an autochthonous church in Guatemala."

Central American University

Dec., 1992

See also:

LibertadLatina Special Section

About the genocide and femicide confronting women and girls in Guatemala

Added: Feb. 08, 2010

Florida, USA

Advocates Hope to Rescue Underage Super Bowl Sex Slaves

Super Bowl XLIV

Two dozen volunteers from around the country gathered inside a Miami conference room earlier this week to prepare for the Super Bowl.

They're not here for the game, though. They will spend several days fanning out through the city to rescue underage girls who have been trafficked to South Florida as sex workers.

``The Super Bowl is obviously a really big deal for prostitution,'' Sandy Skelaney, a program manager at Kristi House, a program for sexually abused children, told the group.

``We have a bunch of girls being brought down by pimps.''

Just as police, hoteliers, restaurateurs and retailers have prepared for the big game, so too have children's advocates. For weeks, volunteers have printed fliers, prepared scripts and organized outreach teams in an effort to identify -- and, with luck, rescue -- girls who are being forced into prostitution.

Last year, when the Super Bowl was held in Tampa, the state Department of Children & Families took in 24 children who were brought to the city to serve as sex workers, said Regina Bernadin, DCF's statewide human-trafficking coordinator.

``Miami is known as a destination city for human trafficking, and sporting events are generally recognized by the experts as magnets for prostitution,'' said Trudy Novicki, who heads Kristi House...

Throughout the year, Miami-Dade police hold between 15 and 20 operations targeting underage prostitution. For major events, such as the Super Bowl, the department works with the FBI's Innocence Lost Task Force.

``At large events such as this, we increase our presence . . . with the ultimate goal being that no children are sexually exploited,'' Maj. Raul Ubieta, who works with the department's Strategic and Specialized Investigations Bureau, said through a spokesman...

The outreach workers are organized into eight teams, divvying up the Spanish-speakers and trying to have one man each. In teams of two, three or four, the volunteers -- who came from as far as New York City and Alabama -- spread out across Miami-Dade -- from South Beach to Hialeah to Downtown Miami....

Marbin Miller And Jennifer Lebovich

The Miami Herald

Feb. 5, 2010

Added: Feb. 08, 2010

North Carolina, USA

Human-Trafficking Ring Busted in Wilson

Wilson County Sheriff Wayne Gay says that investigators arrested a man Thursday for allegedly running a prostitution ring with ties to human trafficking, according to media reports.

WITN News reports that Felipe Ramirez Chavez faces a misdemeanor charge of maintaining a place for prostitution. Chavez was being held in the Wayne County Jail Saturday under a $1,000 bond and has also been placed placed under a detainer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gay told WITN that a few weeks ago, acting on tips about a prostitution ring, deputies raided a house on U.S. Highway 301 and found one woman. Information from that raid led them to arrest Chavez at his residence at 2101 Fair Place in Wilson.

Two women were found at Chavez's residence, but investigators believe that three or four women lived there, Gay said.

The sheriff said he believes this prostitution ring is unique in the county.

Chavez's first court appearance was set for March 5.

WRAL

Feb. 6, 2010

Added: Feb. 06, 2010

Missouri, USA

Flor, 37, talks about her experience as a labor trafficking victim: "I thought slaves were only in the past, just in history. It happens every day."

From: A New Slavery: Border Crossing - Photo Gallery - The Kansas City Star

Photo: Keith Myers / Kansas City Star

Kansas City Star’s Human Trafficking Series Wins Award in Kansas

The Kansas City Star’s series on human trafficking in America has won the 2009 Burton W. Marvin Kansas News Enterprise Award.

The award was presented Friday to reporters Laura Bauer, Mike McGraw and Mark Morris during the annual William Allen White Day festivities on the University of Kansas campus.

“We are again happy to honor quality journalism in Kansas,” said Ann Brill, dean of KU’s journalism school. “The winners this year represent the impact that great storytelling can have in a community.”

The five-part series, published in December, found that the U.S. government is failing to find and help thousands of human trafficking victims. According to the judges, the series reflected a “commitment to serving the public and demonstrated initiative on acting on that commitment.”

The Kansas City Star

Feb. 05, 2010

The Kansas City Star

Dec., 2009

See also:

LibertadLatina Note

We would like to applaud the Kansas City Star for their December, 2009 special series of articles on human trafficking. Their work was one of the few mainstream English language print articles in recent years that focused on the fact that Mexico, Guatemala and other regions of Latin America confront a major sex and labor trafficking crisis. They also highlighted the fact that Latin Americans comprise the majority of human trafficking victims in the United States.

End Impunity Now!

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

Feb. 06/07, 2010

Added: Feb. 06, 2010

Haiti

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Haiti

Photo: Reuters

Clinton Urges Solution to Haiti 'Kidnap' Case

Port-au-Prince - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged the U.S. and Haitian governments on Friday to resolve the case of 10 American missionaries accused of trying to take children illegally out of quake-hit Haiti.

Clinton, named by the United Nations to coordinate relief efforts for survivors of the devastating Jan. 12 quake, made the appeal during a visit to the shattered Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, his second since last month's disaster.

The accused U.S. missionaries, most of whom belong to an Idaho-based Baptist church, were arrested a week ago and charged on Thursday with child kidnapping and criminal association.

Haitian authorities say the group tried to take a busload of 33 Haitian children across the border into the Dominican Republic without any papers proving the minors were orphans or any official permission to take them out of the country.

The missionaries deny any intentional wrongdoing and say they were only trying to help children left destitute by the Jan. 12 earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people, injured some 300,000 and left over a million more homeless.

The Americans' case is diplomatically sensitive and aid groups complain it has distracted media and world attention away from the struggle to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of Haitians camped out in wrecked streets.

"What's important now is for the government of Haiti and the government of the United States to get together and work through this," Clinton told CNN in Port-au-Prince.

He said he understood the Haitian government's efforts to try to protect its children from possible child traffickers and unlawful adoptions following the catastrophic quake.

But he also said the missionaries could be telling the truth when they argued they simply wanted to help the children and did not mean to violate any laws. Evidence has emerged that many of the intercepted children were not orphans but were given up by parents who wanted them to have a better life [Note that the missionaries at-first stated to the press that all of the children were orphans - LL].

"The government of Haiti ... (is) not looking for some big fight here. They just want to protect their children and they also want to make sure they have a good inventory so they don't send children away that maybe have an aunt or an uncle that have an income," Clinton said...

Reuters

Feb. 5, 2010

Added: Feb. 06, 2010

Texas, USA

Deputies Investigating Alleged Abduction, Sex Assault

Houston -- A nine-year-old girl was approached and nearly abducted at an apartment complex in southwest Houston Saturday. Her family is thankful she's safe, but police haven't found the man who investigators say tried to lure her away.

The Precinct 5 Constables Office was called out to the University Apartments on Beechnut near Fondren at around 2pm. When they arrived, they found the shaken nine-year-old girl. She told authorities the man lured her to the back of the apartment complex by asking her to help him find his cat.

When he got back there, authorities say the man made a sexual advance on the girl and tried to get her into his truck.

Fortunately, she managed to escape and ran and reported the incident. Neighbors meantime, are mad.

"What I think about it is that if I see him, you won't have to worry about him," said neighbor Joe York. "You'll never have to worry about him again."

"It's kind of worries me because you know it can happen to anybody," said neighbor Erik Benitez. "Just like it happened to a little kid, it could happen to any grownup."

The suspect is described as an Hispanic man between 35 and 40 years old. He was last seen driving a blue Toyota truck. Deputy constables, as well as Houston police officers, searched the neighborhood Saturday afternoon, but he was not located.

We are told HPD's juvenile sex crimes unit has been notified. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

KTRK

Jan. 24, 2010

Added: Feb. 06, 2010

Florida, USA

Composite image of suspect

Deputies Investigating Alleged Abduction, Sex Assault

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office is asking for help with their investigation of reported abduction and sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in the area of Palmetto Circle in Port Charlotte.

Deputies took the call about the alleged abduction shortly after 9:30 p.m. Thursday. The girl said she was walking by herself and that two men forced her into their car.

The girl says both of the men were in their mid twenties.

She said one of the men was Hispanic and described him as tall and skinny with black spiky hair and wearing a red shirt.

She told deputies the other man was white and wore glasses. The girl described that man as tall and thin, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.

She said both suspects speak English with a Spanish accent.

The vehicle is an older white 4-door car, with dark tinted windows, and a reflective stripe down the side.

If anyone has information about this case, please call Detective Ian Alvarez at (941) 575-5361 or Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS.

WBBH

Feb 05, 2010

Added: Feb. 05, 2010

Georgia, USA

Thomas E. Perez
Assistant Attorney - General - Civil Rights Division - U.S. Department of Justice: "...Human trafficking will not be tolerated in the United States..."

Citizen of Mexico Sentenced for Role in Federal Sex Trafficking Conspiracy

Atlanta - Miguel Rugerio, 28, a Mexican national, was sentenced to federal prison today by United States District Judge Clarence Cooper on charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and related immigration offenses, and of transporting one of the victims of the conspiracy, a young Mexican woman identified as “N.M.,” in interstate and foreign commerce for purposes of prostitution.

Acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of today’s sentencing, “This defendant lured young women from Mexico with the promise of money and legitimate jobs and then forced them into prostitution and repulsive living conditions. He is now going to federal prison for five years and then will be expelled from the United States.”

In Washington, D.C., Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said, “This defendant deprived vulnerable victims of their freedom, their dignity and their civil rights. Today’s sentencing should send a clear message to would-be perpetrators that human trafficking will not be tolerated in the United States.”

“Few crimes are more repugnant than sex trafficking helpless and innocent victims,” said Kenneth Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) Enforcement Office of Investigations in Atlanta.

“This sentencing is gratifying given the horrible conditions the victims in this case were forced to endure. While we can’t erase the suffering these women experienced, by aggressively investigating and prosecuting these cases, ICE and its law enforcement partners are sending a powerful warning about the consequences facing those responsible for such schemes.”

FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Greg Jones said, “Today’s sentencing of Mr. Rugerio provides further opportunities for law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, as well as the many and varied victim assistance based agencies, to highlight the growing crime problem known as human trafficking. Mr. Rugerio will now have five years in federal prison to consider the exploitation and victimization of those that he brought in to the U.S. under false pretenses for purposes of prostitution.”

Chicago Press Release

Feb. 04, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

The United States, The World, Haiti

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. State Department, speaks at the Preview to the Annual Meeting of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

Preview to the Annual Meeting of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

Ambassador Luis CdeBaca: …I’m the Ambassador-at-Large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. Today, Secretary Clinton will chair the President’s interagency task force. She’ll be joined by other members of the task force, including the Attorney General, the secretaries of Labor, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services; the USAID Administrator, the Director of National Intelligence, as well as representatives from the White House, Department of Defense, Education, Agriculture, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

This meeting, which… is mandated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, is the first held under the Obama Administration. In today’s meeting, we will look forward to a very candid and progressive discussion that highlights the work that each agency is conducting individually as well as collectively to combat modern slavery. In addition, it’s a chance to preview the anti-trafficking efforts in the days, weeks, and months ahead as we work together to make measured progress against every form of exploitation, including forced labor, peonage, and sexual servitude, in response to the President’s declaration of January as Human Trafficking and Slavery Awareness and Prevention Month.

[In regard to child trafficking in Haiti:]

Ambassador CdeBaca: We have begun to – we’ve actually got funding out the door already to a group called Heartland Alliance that’s part of the child cluster that’s one of the more experienced U.S. counter-trafficking organizations. They work with a lot of the trafficking victims in the Midwest. They’re out of Chicago. But they also do counter-trafficking projects for – with grant money from us around the world. And they’re stepping up their activities in Haiti…

Ambassador CdeBaca: …There’s been reports, that I think have been reported on in the news as well, of men coming into some of the camps, using offers of food or water to get girls to leave with them in trucks. Now, obviously, we don’t have any hard evidence as to what’s happening to those girls once they leave with those men, and so that’s why the term “the notion of” trafficking…

What we’ve done in the last three weeks is we’ve repositioned a number of those projects. In the Dominican Republic, for instance, we’re working with the Solidarity Center so that we can try to turn that project around a little bit and have it catch, if there are folks that are coming over the border in search of jobs, in search of work, that they know their rights, that they know that they shouldn’t put themselves into a situation where they can be exploited.

So we’re working on the Dominican side with that project, and then we’re also moving money into Haiti as far as trying to build up those child protection brigades, as far as working with the groups such as the Jean Robert Cadet Restavek Foundation and others to try to make sure that we can have some things in place to protect those children.

Question: You asking for more money for Haiti? You said that previously you had about $500,000 a year in projects. And I know you guys have – don’t have yet an exact sum for assistance for Haiti. But do you plan to ask for additional money to combat these kinds of – to combat trafficking in Haiti?

Ambassador CdeBaca: Well, we have 500,000 to begin with. We will reposition about another a million, taking that from other projects, frankly. And so we need to look at how we make sure that those projects, which – the money of which hasn’t gone out the door yet. And those countries don’t necessarily (inaudible) or not, now that we’re looking at the Haitian side.

Obviously, we’re looking at what the long-term funding needs are. We have about $20-, $22 million in grant funds that we administer in the Trafficking office. We work with our partners at USAID and at the International Labor Affairs Bureau over at DOL, and we are shaking the trees right now to figure out what money there is in this year’s budget, as opposed to looking into the next year...

[The linked web page contains a video recording of this presentation.]

Luis CdeBaca

Director, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

U.S. Department of State

Feb. 3, 2010

The Obama administration is weeks away from announcing a new surge — this one aimed at escalating the war on human trafficking in America.

“In January we are going to be announcing a major set of initiatives,” Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told The Kansas City Star.

Napolitano disclosed the administration’s plans at the conclusion of The Star’s six-month investigation exposing numerous failures in America’s anti-trafficking battle.

Although details of the plan were not released, advocates and other experts said they’re cautiously optimistic that this is the best chance in years to address many of the problems revealed in the newspaper’s five-part series. They’re also hopeful that the administration, which has reached out to them and asked what changes are needed, will correct structural flaws in the broken system.

“It is time to go back to the drawing board and promote a more seamless, coordinated plan,” said Florrie Burke, a nationally known advocate for trafficking victims.

Other experts said it’s also time for congressional oversight hearings on the flagging decade-long struggle, and time to centralize an anti-trafficking effort that is thinly spread across a vast bureaucracy plagued by inter-agency wrangling and a lack of coordination.

Part of: Human Trafficking in America | A Star series

Mark Morris, Mike Mcgraw And Laura Bauer

The Kansas City

Dec. 15, 2009

See also:

LibertadLatina Commentary

Chuck Goolsby

We note for the record that the Obama Administration indicated in December of 2009 that they would be presenting a major new initiative to combat human trafficking during January of 2010. As of February 3rd, 2010, that announcement had not yet happened.

It is not hard to understand that an escalation in attempts at terrorism within the U.S., as well as the Haitian earthquake emergency are likely to be among the factors that have pushed back such an announcement. It is concerning, though, that we see no sign in the February 3, 2010 news conference comments of Luis CdeBaca, Director of the U.S. State Department's Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, that the Obama Administration is on the verge of rolling-out any such effort.

We hope that, whenever this action is taken (and even if it never comes about), the Obama Administration recognizes that, as Ambassador CdeBaca stated in a December, 2009 press interview with the Kansas City Star, some 60% of trafficking victims within the U.S. are from Latin America, and a great many victims are trafficked across the Mexican / U.S. border.

Currently, the attention to Haiti's emergency is very much in order. We note that the world press has sounded the alarm bell about the risk of child sex trafficking in the wake of the Haitian earthquake like never before.

While the press, assisting governments and NGO organizations work through the ongoing crisis in Haiti, we ask the world to also remember that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of children and young women face an equally urgent risk of kidnapping, rape and sex trafficking across Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet neither the U.S. federal government nor the NGO community nor most major news entities in the English speaking world have strongly acknowledged, nor have they reacted effectively to that harsh reality.

We hope that the press and the NGOs who get invited to attend events such as the February 3rd Preview to the Annual Meeting of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons dare to ask the hard questions, as some reporters at the event asked in regard to Haiti (see the linked event transcript).

The same questions need to be asked about U.S. government policy and action in defense of human trafficking and exploitation victims across the Americas, and indeed the world.

We are most concerned at this time about the deafening silence in regard to Latin America's enormous problems with human exploitation and slavery. That silence has existed not only during President Obama's term, but it also occurred during the administration of President George W. Bush.

When prominent academics, government leaders and press writers and authors speak publicly about human trafficking, the focus is invariably on the crisis in Europe, Asia, and to a lesser extent Africa and domestic minor sex trafficking victims in the U.S. All of these communities deserve, and have gotten attention.

Those who have not gotten attention are the women and children of Latin America and the Caribbean where, as leading anti-trafficking activist Teresa Ulloa, director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) for Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC) notes, an estimated 50 million women and children are at-risk of falling into the hands of human traffickers. As Ulloa further states, some 5 million victims exist in Mexico alone.

Given that 60% of the trafficking victims in the U.S. are Latin Americans, where is the U.S. government's attention to their crisis?

'Little Brown Maria Trapped in the Brothel' deserves our help now!

Ignoring the issue allows the drug cartel financed mega-traffickers to laugh all the way to the bank, because they know that at least today, Uncle Sam is not even thinking about coming after them. Nor, apparently, is Uncle Sam planning to defend and rescue 'Maria' anytime soon.

We insist upon a change to that way of thinking. Does the fact that poor indigenous and African descendent victims in Mexico and the Dominican Republic are people of color really mean that CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and anti-trafficking NGOs who receive federal funds can't ring the alarm bell and help put out the fire, and must continually ignore this raging emergency?

We insist, among dozens of other items on our to-do list, that the U.S. Government demand that Mexico and Japan ACT NOW to rescue and restore the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 indigenous children who have been kidnapped with impunity by the Japanese Yakuza mafias and taken to Japan to be sold as 'geishas' in sexual slavery.

Giving attention to Haiti is a good start. Of course, hundreds of thousands of trafficked children existed in Haiti before the earthquake.

Where was the press then?

Writing from the middle of an anti-trafficking movement that is maturing... but slowly!

End Impunity Now!

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

Feb. 04/05, 2010

See also:

The United States

Obama's Slavery Czar

Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca fights human slavery for a living...

...Whether it was farm workers, or women in brothels, the percentages continue to be overwhelmingly Latino. Sixty-plus per cent of the [trafficking] victims in the U.S. are Hispanic.” ...

Lynn Sherr

The Daily Beast

Nov. 24, 2009

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti

Haitian music star Wycelf Jean

Wycelf Jean Reacts To Human Trafficking Arrests In Haiti

In light of the tragedy in Haiti, a new problem is rising in the capital of Port Au Prince, human trafficking.

Ten Americans were arrested Sunday on charges of human trafficking after Haitian officials say they tried to take 33 Haitian children ranging in age from 2 months to 12 years to the Dominican Republic without proper documentation and permission.

Now outraged about the turmoil racking his country, Wyclef Jean released a series of angry tweets denouncing the traffickers saying, “My message to the child traffickers n Haiti I give you my word we will hunt you Down one by one, and you will be judge[d] with no Mercy!”

The civilians accused of trafficking are part of a Baptist church in the U.S. and maintain that they were trying to save abandoned and orphaned children and planned to relocate them to safety.

They are being held at a government building until officials determine if they should go before a judge.

Haiti's government has halted all adoptions for the time being unless the adoption plans were set in motion before the quake.

Danielle Canada

HipHipWired.com

Feb. 1, 2010

Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean was forced to deal with another tragedy while helping desperate survivors of the Haiti earthquake, after a volunteer for his Yele Haiti foundation was shot dead in a car-jacking.

The former Fugees star and native Haitian rushed to his homeland when the massive tremor hit the nation earlier this month, ravaging the poor country's infrastructure and killing more than 150,000 people.

But Jean and his team of volunteers had to contend with more than just the devastation left by the earthquake, they witnessed the desperate lengths Haiti's people were going to in a bid to survive - which ended in terrible consequences for one young helper.

He explains, "Jo Jo was shot and killed on the second day we were there. He was the victim of a car-jacking. I left him alone for two hours and he was driving in the city.

"A guy stopped him and told him to get out of the car. No one knows quite what happened next but he was shot twice and killed instantly. The jacker didn't even want the car, he just wanted to take the fuel."

And Jean is adamant he will never be able to forget the horrific scenes he witnessed.

He says, "It looked like the apocalypse - there were bodies everywhere. It's a sight that will stay with me for ever. It's something you just can't put into words. I filmed everything with a video camera because I was convinced people would not believe what we told them."

www.StarPulse.com

Jan. 31st, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti, Puerto Rico

Ricky Martin arrives at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

Photo: Larry Busacca, Getty Images for NARAS

Ricky Martin Has Haiti on His Mind
Amid the glamour of the red carpet, Ricky Martin's mind was on Haiti.
The singer, who has been campaigning against human trafficking for several years, just returned from the island.
"Situations like this, unfortunately, people take advantage and they start traffic human beings," he said. "It's very intense down there, kids crying in the street, corpses everywhere. It's going to take a while for things to get back to normal."
Martin plans to start working with Habitat for Humanity to start rebuilding homes in Haiti.

Marco R. della Cava

USA Today

Jan. 31, 2010

See also:

The Ricky Martin Foundation

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Missouri and Kansas, USA

Two Agencies Won't Seek Federal Funds in an Effort Against Human Trafficking

Two local agencies - the Independence Police Department and Hope House - received three-year Justice Department grants in 2006 but will not reapply, officials said. The grants expired at the end of last year.

It is unknown whether other local agencies will apply for grants, according to Justice Department officials. New grants will be given later this year.

Independence police didn’t reapply because detectives must focus on other crimes, said Maj. Ken Jarnigan. Two detectives assigned to human trafficking are now fighting cyber crimes, he said.

“It was a juggling act; which priority do we focus on?” Jarnigan said. “We felt like our department and citizens would be better served by them doing cyber crimes rather than human trafficking. In a perfect world we would have tried to do both.”

Hope House CEO Mary Anne Metheny said in a statement that the shelter would continue to provide services for victims eligible for existing programs.

“However, we will no longer offer human trafficking training or facilitate the coalition against human trafficking,” Metheny said.

The Kansas City Star reported in December that the U.S. attorney’s office had stopped referring human trafficking victims to Hope House after the shelter reportedly failed to fulfill some of its obligations under the grant.

Although trafficking is considered a coastal phenomenon, more alleged traffickers — 36 in the past three years — have been prosecuted by federal authorities in western Missouri than anywhere else in the nation. One Kansas City case, involving Giant Labor Solutions, is thought to be the largest labor trafficking ring uncovered in U.S. history.

But the absence of federal money for the human trafficking task force won’t change what local authorities are doing, said U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips.

“The task force is still fully functioning,” Phillips said. “It’s still meeting and investigating and prosecuting cases. Human trafficking investigations remain a priority of our office.”

Laura Bauer and Mike McGraw

The Kansas City Star

Feb. 02, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti

Bandas de Violadores Aterran a las Haitianas

Bands of Rapists Terrorize Haitian Women

Los criminales recorren como alimañas los campamentos de desplazados para elegir a sus víctimas. La policía se confiesa incapaz de proteger a las mujeres.

When night falls, criminal men with lanterns roam the refugee camps in search of their victims. The police confess that they cannot protect all women...

www.publico.es

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti

Aumenta a un Millón la Cifra de Niños Huérfanos

Earthquake Pushes Number of Haitian Orphans to 1 Million

El número de niños huérfanos tras el terremoto que devastó Haití se ha duplicado y alcanza actualmente el millón de afectados, según un informe de la Comisión Europea.

El Universal

Mexico City

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti, The Dominican Republic

Haitiana Recupera Hijo Robado en Cabo Haitiano y Vendido en Dominicana

Haitian Woman Recovers Her Child, Kidnapped in Cape Haitien. Child had been sold in the Dominican Republic

Tras ser secuestrados en Haití, muchos menores son vendidos para luego ser explotados en las calles de República Dominicana, como pedigueños o en actividades de prostitución, como fuera el caso del hijo de Cariné Oguí Pié, quien recuperó en esta ciudad, al norte de Dominicana, a su hijo de siete años, que fuera robado en Cabo Haitiano y trasladado, vendido y obligado a trabajar en las calles santiagueras como mendigo.

La Nacion Dominicana

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti

Niños Haitianos Pululan por las Calles

Haitian Children Mass in the Streets

La procuradora del Tribunal de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes de Santiago, Antia Beato, estimó ayer necesario que instituciones públicas y privadas realicen esfuerzos conjuntos para resolver el drama que representa la cantidad de menores de origen haitiano que pernocta en las calles de esta ciudad, al ser traficados desde su país.

www.listindiario.com.do

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Haiti

Miles de Haitianas, Sin Servicios Salud y Con Mayor Riesgo de Violencia Sexual

Thousands of Haitian Women Lack Health Services and Risk Sexual Violence

Miles de haitianas no pueden acceder ni a los servicios de salud reproductiva ni a sus métodos habituales de planificación familiar y afrontan un mayor riesgo de violencia y de explotación sexual.

EFE

Feb. 02, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Indonesia

Red de Prostitución Infantil que Operaba por Facebook fue Desmantelada

A Prostitution Network Selling 15- and 16-year-old Girls, Operating on FaceBook, is Taken Down by the Police in Jakarta.

La Policía de Indonesia arrestó a dos supuestos proxenetas que administraban la organización.

EFE

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Spain

Las Niñas Agredidas en el Bus Escolar, Invitadas a Irse de su Instituto

Two 12-year-old Girls Sexually Assaulted on School Bus are Invited to Leave their School

Una ya ha sido trasladada a un centro concertado. La otra víctima de la agresión no puede pagarlo y convive a diario con cuatro de sus agresores.

www.20Minutos.es

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Spain

Una Madre se Enfrenta a 30 Años por Prostituir a Sus Hijas, Menores de Edad

A Mother Faces 30 Years in Prison for Exhibitionism and for Prostituting Her Underage Daughters

El padre también se sentará en el banquillo por mantener supuestamente relaciones sexuales delante de las pequeñas

www.diariodesevilla.es

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Brazil

Campaña Contra la Explotación Sexual Será Lanzada en Rio de Janeiro, el 8

Rio de Janeiro Will Start a New Campaign Against Sexual Exploitation February 8th

Con el slogan "Explotación Sexual de Niñas/os y Adolescentes es Crimen.

www.adital.com.br/s

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Bolivia

Víctimas de Abuso Sexual en Hogar Vida ya Son 42

Forty Two Victims of Sexual Abuse Have Been Discovered in an Orphanage Run by Evangelical Christians in the town of Sipe Sipe

El personal sabía desde hace tres años que los mayores violaban a los más pequeños

Staff remained silent for at least the past three years while knowing that children between the ages of 4 and 13 were were being raped at the Life Center.

www.lostiempos.com

Feb. 03, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Texas, USA

Benito Vargas

Fugitive Finder: Sex Trafficking Suspect

Benito Vargas has a history of human trafficking and is currently wanted on Suspicion of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child.

Investigators said he found his latest victim in Jalisco, Mexico, and his mother and sister both participated in abusing the girl.

On October 27, 2009, while in Jalisco, Vargas persuaded a 16-year-old girl to leave her home and return with him to his home 210 W. 10th Street in San Juan.

Vargas took the girl to Matamoros and arranged for her to be smuggled into the United States.

Upon arriving at the San Juan [Texas] home, investigators said Vargas repeatedly assaulted, verbally abused and raped the girl.

The teen was forced to wake up at 5 a.m., bathe three children who lived in the house with Vargas' mother and sister, and walk the children to a nearby school.

The girl was also expected to complete daily chores including preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Investigators said the teen tried to defend herself and received countless threats that she would be killed or arrested for being in the U.S. illegally.

On December 13, 2009, the girl was kicked out of the house.

With no relatives, friends or anywhere to go, she sat by the curb in front of the house for two days and did not eat.

At night, she would sneak onto the property and sleep on an old sofa in the front yard.

Police believe Vargas is in Mexico along the U.S./Mexico border.

Vargas is described as a 23-year-old Hispanic male with brown eyes and black hair.

He is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds.

Vargas also goes by the name Benito Cordero-Vargas.

Call the San Juan Crime Stoppers line at (956) 283-TIPS if you know how to find him.

Benito's mother, Ofelia Vargas, has been arrested for not reporting the abuse.

Benito's sister, Belen Vargas, was already in custody on unrelated charges and is now facing assault charges.

ValleyCentral.com

Feb. 01, 2010

Added: Feb. 04, 2010

Texas, USA

ICE: Houston a Hub for Human Trafficking

HOUSTON -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have conducted what they call an "unprecedented" criminal investigation into Houston transport businesses suspected of illegally smuggling people into the county.

On Tuesday, 22 people were arrested and charged with using their businesses to transport recently smuggled aliens. Eighty-one illegal immigrants were also arrested and have been placed in removal proceedings.

The three-month investigation dubbed "Night Moves" targeted both transport businesses suspected of housing immigrants, as well as the individual drivers who move them. ICE agents say Houston has become a growing hub for human trafficking. In one location, immigrants were guarded with weapons, pit bulls and surveillance cameras.

In addition to the arrests, ICE agents also seized 32 vehicles, 18 weapons, and $45,000 cash.

Katherine Whaley

Feb. 3, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Haiti

A girl stands inside an open air market in Port-au-Prince.

Photo: Reuters / Shannon Stapleton

Haitian Women Lose Out In Post-Quake "Survival Of The Strongest"

In one of the camps sheltering the homeless in Haiti's earthquake-stricken capital, a group of male volunteers stands guard over hundreds of teenage girls and young women as they sleep during the night.

The women there are so afraid of being attacked that they have organized the protection themselves, according to ActionAid, which says several women have already reported cases of rape or sexual abuse to their staff in the camp.

Elsewhere in Port-au-Prince, women have left food lines empty-handed after groups of men raided food distribution sites watched by police who were too few and too powerless to stop them...

Aid workers and human rights activists are increasingly worried that in a country where women's rights are routinely trampled upon or ignored, women are again being marginalized. This time, they fear women are losing out on their fair share of desperately-needed aid following the devastating quake that killed up to 200,000 people and left nearly 1 million more homeless in the Caribbean island nation...

Loss of Rights Icons

Experts with experience of responding to natural disasters say women and children are especially vulnerable after such calamities.

But this is particularly true in a country where one-third of women and girls said they had suffered physical or sexual violence, and more than 50 percent of those who had experienced violence were under the age of 18 -- such were the findings of a study carried out by the Inter-American Development Bank in Haiti in 2006.

In one report, a Swiss doctor described how he treated a girl -- who, he said was at most, 12 years old -- for vaginal lacerations after she had been pulled out from under the rubble and raped by her rescuer. The account was a harrowing reminder of how precarious life can be for women and girls in Haiti, Bien-Aime said.

On top of their battle to deal with the aftermath of quake, Haitian women lost three of their best champions in the Jan. 12 disaster.

Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin and Anne-Marie Coriolan were women's rights icons who were instrumental in the campaign to criminalize rape, experts say.

The law was eventually changed in 2005.

"What the loss of these women for Haiti means is really the loss of half of the women's movement which was a powerful movement but nevertheless very, very small in numbers, very limited in capacity and resources," Bien-Aime told AlertNet.

"Each of these women who died contributed enormously to the lives of women in terms of changing laws and seeking justice for women who have been violated in some way whether it's domestic violence or rape. They were irreplaceable in the context of Haiti."

Merlet, who held a senior position in the Ministry for the Rights of Women, was one of the first women to document cases of rape during Haiti's 1991-4 military regime and identify its use as a political weapon, Amnesty's Ducos said.

Marcelin founded Kay Fanm, which for many years operated the only shelter in the country for women who had been battered by their husbands and boyfriends. It later opened another shelter for survivors of sexual violence.

Coriolan founded one of Haiti's largest women's advocacy groups, Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn (SOFA).

Against a backdrop of widespread impunity and poverty, these organizations were important in ensuring that survivors of sexual abuse received immediate access to adequate medical care -- anti-retrovirals, contraceptive pills -- as well as psychological support and legal advice.

The deaths of these leading activists were a blow to Haiti's women's rights movement, but Ducos said many women were part of this movement which despite the challenges continues to evolve and grow.

Katie Nguyen

AlertNet

29 Jan 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Haiti, Latin America

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa answers questions from journalists next to Haitian President Rene Preval, during a news conference in Port-au-Prince January 29, 2010.

Shipment From Puerto Rico Unexpected Blessing For Orphans And The Hungry

Today World Concern is beginning to feed 3,000 additional people and provide emotional support to orphans because of a donor from Puerto Rico. The donor decided to help those suffering in Haiti and coordinate the shipment of two barges full of food, tarps, clothes, toys and other emergency supplies to Haiti.

Though it was not neatly packaged, this aid has provided World Concern yet another opportunity to immediately deliver food to hundreds of hungry families. World Concern is delivering the toys included in the shipment to an orphanage.

"There are a lot of people around the world who want to help," said World Concern President David Eller. "This is a great example of the world's generosity to Haiti."

In the meantime, World Concern waits on massive supplies of aid to be released by larger clearinghouses, hopefully within the next day.

"It has been frustrating knowing that resources have landed in the country and systems have been delayed in getting these supplies released," said Eller...

Seattle-based World Concern has worked in Haiti for more than 30 years and currently provides hope to 125,000 people. Our staff of more than 100 in Haiti work with the poor includes microfinance, agriculture, disaster response and small business development. World Concern works with the poor in 24 countries, with the goal of transforming the lives of those we touch, leading them on a path to self-sustainability.

For more information and to donate, visit www.worldconcern.org or call 1-866-530-5433 (LIFE)

World Concern - USA

Via Reuters' Alertnet.org

Jan. 29, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Florida, USA

Some of the members of the Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission of American Baptists, mostly from Idaho, accused of taking children out of Haiti without government authorization

American Baptists with 'Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission' Detained in Haiti for Child Trafficking

A group of American Baptists have become embroiled in the center of a growing fear in Haiti after the devastating earthquake - human trafficking.

Ten men and women were detained in Malpasse while allegedly attempting to cross the border into the Dominican Republic with 33 children in tow without proper paperwork, according to officials.

"No children can leave Haiti without proper authorization, and these people did not have that authorization," Haiti's social affairs minister, Yves Cristalin, told Reuters.

The church group, most of whom are from Idaho, were arrested Friday night. They claim to have been taking the children - ranging in age from two months to 12 years old - to an orphanage in the neighboring nation.

"In this chaos the government is in right now, we were just trying to do the right thing," said Laura Silsby, a spokesperson for group, to the Associated Press.

The Baptists were part of the "Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission," Silsby said. It's goal is to save abandoned children and bring them to a 45-room hotel at Cabarete, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, which the group claims to be converting into an orphanage.

"We had permission from the Dominican Republic government to bring the children to an orphanage that we have there," she told Reuters.

"They accuse us of children trafficking," Sillsby said. "This is something I would never do. We were not trying to do something wrong."

Haitian officials fear child trafficking could be underway following the devastating earthquake.

Speaking to CNN last week, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said he has received reports of kids being sold, and he believed human organs were also being taken from victims of the quake for profit.

But aid group UNICEF was quick to refute the claims, saying child trafficking is a major concern in the impoverished nation, but there is no hard evidence to back up the government official's claims.

Michael Sheridan

New York Daily News

Jan. 31, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Texas, USA

[Texas Supreme Court to Make Decision on the Rights of Prostituted Children]

Sixteen-year-old Angela was said to be a “case study” in the difficulty domestic human trafficking victims represent to law enforcement.

Though first forced into prostitution at age 11, it would be several years before local police would discover her. But instead of being rescued as a child victim, she was placed into the juvenile system in 2008 on a theft charge after a man accused her of stealing his wallet and pants. Only after first prosecuting her as a criminal — due in part, they said, to her uncooperativeness — did law enforcement recognize her as a child victim. Some months later her full story came out.

County officials said last summer that ‘Angela,’ diagnosed with hepatitis and HIV, was finally in a “safe place” getting counseling and medical attention.

Some would like to see child victims jump straight to the help line, and a decision pending with the Texas Supreme Court could move things strongly in that direction, according to Dottie Laster, a New Braunfels-based advocate fighting against human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.

The case involves a girl identified as B.W., taken from her mother at age 11 and placed with Child Protective Services. After running away from CPS, she was picked up by Houston Police Department officers two years later after they observed her trying to sell herself on the street. She was booked on charges of prostitution. Later, after her age of 13 became known, she was placed in the juvenile system and charged with delinquency for committing prostitution instead of returning her to CPS.

Attorney Ann Johnson argued that the child should have never been put on the “prosecutorial train.” That state law holds that children under the age of 14 cannot consent to sex. Period.

“Despite their discovery that one of the passengers on that train was a 13-year-old, mentally deficient child with undeniable evidence of sexual exploitation no one to this day has pulled the emergency stop cord to say, ‘Wait. We’re supposed to be handling this issue differently’” Johnson said...

“You can protect a child when they’re in danger without charging them with a crime,” Laster said, adding that the outcome in the case could transform how state law enforcement responds to child victims.

“I believe if they rule to protect the victim that it could greatly change the way juveniles are protected in Texas; if they rule to punish the victim, it could set us back years and cause harm to many more juveniles, or minors, children. However you want to say it, I still look at them as children.”

And if Texas judges find their way to the federal mindset, they will discover that “any child in commercial sex is considered a victim of trafficking,” Laster said.

Of course, this is Texas. Worse. This is Houston, Texas, we're talking about.

The city was pegged last year as the national hub in child trafficking. Judging from the position of the DA's office, reform there — despite the training that Laster, now working with MillionKids.org and running her own consulting group, has given many of its law-enforcement officers - may come most grudgingly.

Greg Harman

The San Antonio Current

Jan. 30, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Mexico

Niñez cada vez más expuesta a migración y trata

Children are Ever-More Exposed to the Migration and Trafficking

México DF, - Esther es una niña guatemalteca de cuatro años de dad que durante varios días viajó a través de México con la finalidad de llegar a Estados Unidos para reencontrarse con sus padres, quienes pagaron a una “coyote” para que la acompañara.

Antes de partir, la “coyote” le dio instrucciones para responder a los interrogatorios de la migra mexicana: tendría que guardar silencio, mientras que su acompañante fingiría ser su madre. También tendría que “hablar como mexicana” y aprender el himno nacional de México.

Sin embargo, en un retén de Coahuila a Esther le preguntaron que si traía “pisto” y ella respondió que sí, evidenciando no ser mexicana, pues en algunas partes de Centro América “pisto” significa dinero. Fue entonces cuando las detuvieron y Esther fue repatriada a Guatemala.

Esto es solo un pequeño esbozo del contenido de la publicación “Migración sueños y esperanzas del sur”, divulgado por la organización chiapaneca Melel Xojobal, que muestra la migración en la frontera sur, principalmente de niña y niños que viajan de Centroamérica a México para alcanzar el sueño americano...

Narce Santibáñez Alejandre

CIMAC Noticias

News for Women

Jan. 29, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Mexico

Tráfico de Influencias Beneficia Pederastas en Oaxaca

Impunidad en el caso del Instituto San Felipe

Influence Peddling Benfits Pedophiles in Oaxaca State

Impunity Continues in the San Felipe Childcare Center Sex Abuse Scandal

México DF, - Han pasado tres años desde el abuso cometido contra el hijo de Leticia Valdés Martell cuando tenía cuatro años edad, en el Instituto San Felipe en Oaxaca, y el caso sigue impune. Los agresores siguen en libertad a pesar de que fueron plenamente identificados por el niño.

En conferencia de prensa, la señora Valdés Martell explicó que el Instituto nunca fue clausurado y la única detenida, Magdalena Rufina García Soto, quien entregaba al niño para ser abusado, podría salir en libertad, porque la Tercera Sala Penal del Tribunal de Justicia del Estado de Oaxaca ha retrasado por más de medio año la resolución de confirmar o incrementar la sentencia que se dictó por 10 años.

En lo que respecta a Gabriel Constantino García (esposo de la directora Yolanda León Ramírez) y Salvador Pérez Ramírez (maestro de computación), ambos violadores del niño, siguen prófugos, pues el Ejecutivo estatal no ha consumado las órdenes de aprehensión...

Cirenia Celestino Ortega

CIMAC Noticias

News for Women

Jan. 29, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Florida, USA

West Palm Beach Vigil Brings Attention to Stash Houses for Sex Slaves

West Palm Beach - Rick Rose was suspicious of the constant flow of cars visiting a small-frame house next to his well-appointed bed and breakfast in one of the city's trendiest urban neighborhoods.

"We thought it was drug-dealing," he said of the reason he summoned police.

So, the president of the Grandview Heights Neighborhood Association was understandably stunned when federal agents raided the house, saying it was used as a brothel by a sophisticated ring that brought young Mexican women into the United States and forced them to work as sex slaves.

"It sounds weird to say, but in general they were very nice people," he said of his former neighbors. "I guess we're all a little bit naive about what's going on around us."

Around 7 p.m. Thursday, 20 people with flashlights gathered at the Armory Art Center across from the house on Lake Avenue to draw attention to the illegal activity that often goes unnoticed.

While federal agents two years ago shut down the ring that also used three other West Palm Beach houses, the illicit trade still flourishes elsewhere in the city, said Renee Morrison, a Palm Beach activist who organized the vigil.

"The point of this is that we have a form of terrorism in our neighborhoods," she said. People, she said, have to get involved to stop it...

...According to agents who were involved in the 2008 raid of the ring that extended from here to Homestead to Fort Myers, it's often hard to detect. The houses appear to be normal residences...

The ring was busted when one of the victims began cooperating with federal authorities. Eventually, another victim led them to the house with the picket fence on Lake Avenue. She was initially smuggled into the United States when she was 14 and taken to Queens, N.Y., then Atlanta and then Miami, wrote Jonathan Cruz Camacho, an agent for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. To keep her in line, her husband/pimp would regularly beat her.

She was moved often between stash houses on the state's east and west coasts. Two here were on Wellington Street, off Mercer Avenue, and another was on Bradley Street, off Parker Avenue south of Southern Boulevard. She was taken to the Lake Avenue house to turn $25 tricks, Camacho wrote. She told agents she made about $2,500 a week.

Ultimately, a global positioning device planted on a van used to transport the nine women led agents to the various houses. Six people were charged.

Three - Elodia Capilla Diego, Sergio Gonzalez Ramos and Marcelino Berduo-Lopez - listed the Lake Avenue house as their address. Diego and Ramos are serving five-year sentences. Berduo-Lopez is serving a 13-year sentence.

Two others - Arturo Rojas-Gonzalez and Raymunda Torres - were sentenced to five years in prison. Timoteo Reyes-Perez, whom the immigration bureau identified as the brutal husband/pimp of the woman who was smuggled into the country when she was 14, is still at large.

Jane Musgrave

The Palm Beach Post

Jan. 28, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Massachusetts, USA

Accused Rapist Deported Before Facing Indictment and Trial

Illegal immigrant makes bail; feds send him home to Guatemala

Weymouth - Defense and prosecution were ready for Genesis Orrego’s arraignment on child rape in superior court. Orrego was charged with molesting a 10-year-old neighbor his girlfriend often babysat in Weymouth.

But Orrego, who faced charges of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery of a child under 14, wasn’t there. He was in federal custody, and the following week he was deported to his native Guatemala. He had been freed on $10,000 bail on the local charge, turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and they were doing their job – deporting him out of the country.

Norfolk County prosecutors knew Orrego, also identified in court as Genesis Orrego Gonzales, was in the country illegally, and said at his earlier arraignment in district court that ICE had placed a detainer on him. Orrego told police he had been in the U.S. for more than 10 years after walking for four months from Guatemala to Texas.

When he made his $10,000 bail, which prosecutors had requested be $100,000, he was transferred into ICE custody on July 27, according to immigration officials.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office expected him at his arraignment in superior court in Dedham on Sept. 24 after being indicted by a grand jury. Spokesman David Traub said the district attorney’s office was in contact with ICE and filed paperwork to make Orrego available for the Sept. 24 arraignment. They found out that wasn’t the case that day.

“It was his ability to meet the $10,000 bail that put him into ICE custody,” Traub said...

Prosecutors can argue at arraignment that an immigrant with ties outside the country is a flight risk.

“In this case and other cases, we argue for high cash bail, but we don’t control what is set,” Traub said.

Allison Manning

The Patriot Ledger

Jan. 19, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Florida, USA

Previously Deported Sex Offender Indicted for Reentry Into the U.S.

Miami - A 30-year-old Mexican national was indicted Thursday on charges of reentering the U.S. after having been lawfully removed following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation.

According to the indictment and a previous complaint affidavit filed with the court, Celestino Ramirez-Hernandez was found in the U.S. on Nov. 19, 2009, after having been removed from the United States on March 30, 2002.

Statements made in court during a detention hearing held January 14, 2010, indicated that Ramirez-Hernandez had been convicted in 2001of statutory rape of a child under the age of 16.

He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, but was allowed to serve the sentence on probation.

The defendant was physically removed from the U.S. on March 30, 2002, and was barred permanently from returning to the U.S.

Thereafter, Ramirez-Hernandez reentered the U.S. on an unknown date. Using the alias of Leonel Lopez, he was subsequently convicted in 2006 of grand theft and possession of a stolen/forged driver’s license.

While under court supervision, it was discovered that Leonel Lopez was actually Ramirez-Hernandez, a convicted sex offender. Statements made in court indicated that he failed to register as a sex offender and was convicted of this offense.

While the Ramirez-Hernandez was approaching completion of his four-year sentence in a Miami-Dade detention facility for failure to register as a sex offender, an ICE agent and deportation officer assigned to ICE’s Criminal Alien Program (CAP) interviewed Ramirez-Hernandez.

Through ICE’s Secure Communities partnership, the agents and officers ran his fingerprints through DHS and FBI databases and confirmed the defendant’s sex conviction and prior removal.

Subsequently, ICE officers and agents placed an immigration detainer on the defendant to ensure he would not be released from custody.

On Jan. 11, 2010, ICE officers and agents arrested him on a criminal complaint prior to the filing of the indictment.

If convicted, Ramirez-Hernandez faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

EthiopianReview.com

Jan. 27, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

The United States

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Crime Blotter

Excerpts:

Jan. 26, 2010 - Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near Tucson, Arizona. ...The subject had multiple prior convictions for sex offenses in the State of California, and had been previously removed from the United States.

Jan. 25, 2010 - Tucson Sector – Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near Douglas, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for lewd and lascivious acts with a child in the State of California and had been previously removed from the United States.

Jan. 21, 2010 - Agents arrested an illegal alien from Ukraine near Crookston, Minnesota. Records checks revealed the subject had multiple felony convictions, was a convicted sex offender, and had been previously removed from the United States.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol

Jan. 27, 2010

Added: Jan. 31, 2010

Texas, USA

Sketch of suspect

Harris County Sheriff's Office: Man Exposes Himself To Girls

Spring - A man who claimed to be an undercover police officer exposed himself to two girls, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday.

Harris County sheriff's deputies said the man approached two girls, ages 7 and 10, near the intersection of Long Pine Drive and Ridge Crest Drive in Spring on Dec. 20.

The man, who was driving a blue car, pulled up alongside the girls and told them he was an undercover police officer, detectives said.

Investigators said the man got out of the car, asked the girls what they were doing in the neighborhood and asked if they were using drugs.

The man patted the girls down, officials said.

One of the girls asked to see his badge and he exposed himself to them, detectives said. He then got back into his car and left.

The man was described as Hispanic and 20 to 30 years old.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 713-529-4216 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

KPRC

Jan. 29, 2010

Added: Jan. 28, 2010

The United States

Ambassador Mark P. Lagon speaks on human trafficking in Ohio - Jan. 11, 2010

Photo: Tom Dodge - The Columbus Dispatch

Polaris Project Announces Executive Transition

The Board of Directors of Polaris Project announces that Ambassador Mark P. Lagon is leaving the position of Executive Director and CEO on February 1, 2010. "I have had the privilege of helping direct a truly driven and innovative organization," said Ambassador Lagon. "Polaris Project continues to inspire and lead the anti-trafficking movement in our common vision for a world without slavery."

Prior to joining Polaris Project, Ambassador Lagon served as Ambassador-at-Large and Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) at the U.S. Department of State and as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State.

"During his time at Polaris Project, Ambassador Lagon has worked tirelessly to champion the eradication of modern-day slavery, to address the demand for commercial sex and forced labor, and to increase corporate accountability around human trafficking." said Derek Ellerman, Board Chairperson and Co-Founder. "Polaris Project commends Ambassador Lagon for his dedication to fighting human trafficking and wishes him every success in his future plans."

The Board of Directors has named Bradley Myles as the incoming Acting Executive Director until the executive search process is completed. Bradley Myles joined Polaris Project in 2004 and currently serves as the Deputy Director and as a member of the Executive Management Team, overseeing the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), national training and technical assistance efforts, and client services programs in Washington, DC and Newark, NJ.

Polaris Project

Jan. 27, 2010

See also:

Katherine Chon

Co-Founder Katherine Chon highlighted by Woman's Day as a Woman Who is Changing the World!

Katherine Chon ws recently featured on the Woman's Day website as one of the "Women who are changing the world". Katherine was one of just 50 women chosen for this prestigious honor.

Polaris Project

Jan. 27, 2010

Katherine Chon, co-founder of Polaris Project, is honored on the Women'sDay magazine list of women who are changing the world

Although slavery is widely considered a thing of the past, its prominence is still shocking—it’s currently the second-largest and fastest-growing criminal industry worldwide. Devoted to eradicating modern-day slavery and human trafficking, Katherine Chon founded the Polaris Project while a senior at Brown University in 2002. In addition to operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline, the project provides shelter and services for survivors, trains law enforcement and other aides, and advocates for better laws to end modern slavery.

Women's Day

Dec. 11, 2010

The head of a major international group fighting human trafficking says Ohio stands at a "tipping point" in recognizing the problem and tightening laws and enforcement to deal with it.

Mark Lagon, head of the Polaris Project, a former U.S. ambassador and human rights expert under Secretary of State Colin Powell, said at a human trafficking conference today at the Statehouse that federal and Ohio law enforcement officials are making a "high-level commitment" to attack the problem.

Federal officials estimate that up to 17,500 women and girls are trafficked for sex [into] the U.S. each year. Another 300,000, many of them girls as young as 11, are considered vulnerable.

Lagon recommended that Ohio law be changed to make human trafficking a standalone crime, not simply an add-on to other charges as it is now. He said the law should have a broader definition of trafficking that includes forced labor in addition to coerced sexual activity.

In addition, Ohio and other states need to provide more assistance to trafficking victims, particularly juveniles.

"We don't have a place to put these prostituted teens when we find them," Lagon said. Too often, they are viewed as criminal to be locked rather than victims to be helped, he said.

Alan Johnson

The Columbus Dispatch

Jan. 11, 2010

Added: Jan. 28, 2010

California, USA

Andy Pimental

Salinas Officer Injured in Arrest

A Salinas Police officer was injured Friday in attempting to take an assault suspect into custody.

According to police, the officer was hurt while taking down Andy Pimental, who was suspected of threatening [to attack] a pregnant woman near the intersection of Williams and Grandhaven; the woman told police she did not know Pimental and that he had forced her to seek safety inside a car.

Police say Pimental took a swing at an officer arriving on the scene; a second officer helped to control the more than 300 lb. Pimental, but Pimental fell on the officer's knee.

The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment; Pimental was arrested for assault and battery charges.

[The linked article includes a video report.]

KCBA

Jan 23, 2010

Added: Jan. 28, 2010

Texas, USA

Arnoldo Arenas

Waco Authorities Bring Back Alleged Child Abuser From Mexico

Waco - A man has been brought back to McLennan County by the U.S. Marshals Office after he fled to Mexico three years ago amidst a sexual abuse of a child investigation.

Forty-eight-year-old Arnoldo Arenas was returned to Waco Friday afternoon and charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and is now held on one million dollars bond.

Authorities say Arenas fled in 2007 after police began investigating a situation in which he allegedly fathered a child with a 13-year-old girl back in 2000.

It took law enforcement three years to get Arenas back to the U.S. because he is an American citizen, but also a Mexican citizen. This situation was the first of its kind in McLennan County.

"I have been a part of the force for 13 years and I have never been a part of anything like this," said Kim Clark, a detective for Crimes Against Children.

It's not unusual for authorities to extradite a U.S. citizen from another country, but it is rare for someone to be extradited with dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Mexico.

"Because he has citizenship in Mexico, we can't just go to Mexico and bring him back as a U.S. citizen. The Mexican government has to approve the case before they send him back," Detective Clark added.

It's a process that took years of meticulous paper work and thousands of dollars.

KXXV

Jan 23, 2010

Added: Jan. 28, 2010

Texas, USA

Rudy Gonzales

Man Arrested In School Sex Assault

San Antonio - Extra staff were patrolling the halls of Jefferson High School Friday, after two students were arrested and charged with sexually assaulting another student.

Rudy Gonzalez, 18, is charged with aggravated sexual assault.

The other teen is being charged as a juvenile.

Police said they assaulted a female student in an emergency exit stairwell on Wednesday while classes were in session.

A representative for the San Antonio Independent School District said alarms will be installed on interior doors that will go off if anyone tries using the stairwell.

KSAT

Jan 22, 2010

Added: Jan. 27, 2010

Haiti

Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Elizabeth Press from Democracy Now are in Haiti reporting on the devastating earthquake.

Haití: Entre el Olor a Muerte y la Silenciosa Desesperación

Haiti: Between the Odor of Death and Silent Desperation

Puerto Príncipe, Haití 26 ene 10 . – Tè tremblé significa “terremoto” en creole, la lengua criolla de Haití. La traducción literal es: “La tierra tembló”. Tras el terremoto de enormes dimensiones que devastó Haití, el hedor a muerte está en todos lados. En el Hospital General, los cuerpos apilados cerca de la morgue forman una montaña de más de un metro de altura...

Recordando A La Feminista Myriam Merlet

En nuestro recorrido por la ciudad, fuimos a la casa de Myriam Merlet, la jefa de gabinete del Ministerio haitiano de la Mujer y una destacada feminista que ayudó a llamar la atención internacional sobre el uso de la violación como arma política y trabajó con la dramaturga y activista Eve Ensler en el movimiento Día-V para ayudar a poner fin a la violencia contra la mujer.

Hallamos su casa, y de hecho a todas las casas que la rodeaban, destruida. “Acabamos de retirar su cuerpo”, nos dijeron los familiares de Myriam el domingo, cinco días después del terremoto. No se sabe cuándo murió, ni si podría haber sido rescatada. Su hermana Eartha nos llevó a visitar su tumba.

Eve Ensler describe a Myriam Merlet: “Myriam era una luz. Era la fuerza de Haití. Fue una de las más grandes feministas. Era una feminista radical. Bromeábamos a menudo acerca del hecho de que era loco que ella y Marie-Laurence, que es la Ministra de la Mujer, estuvieran de hecho en el poder, que tuviéramos feministas radicales en el poder. Fue una mujer que dejó Haití en la década del 70 y luego regresó para luchar y defender y llevar el cambio social y el progreso y la lucha por las libertades y la igualdad racial y por la libertad e igualdad de género”...

Amy Goodman

Democracy Now/ CIMAC

Jan. 26, 2010

See also:

“Haiti is Shaken to the Core”:

Amy Goodman Reports from Port-au-Prince

“Haiti is devastated as if a bomb, many bombs, exploded throughout Port-au-Prince and beyond, where help has not arrived at all,” reports Amy Goodman on her travels outside of Port-au-Prince to the epicenter of the earthquake. “The smell of death hangs in the air.”

...I have to say, one of our—one of the very sad moments was when we first came in. I had gotten a call from Eve Ensler, our guest who’s in the studio with you, and I—and it’s painful for me to even say this in her hearing because of this tremendous loss. She called me—I think we talked at 2:00 in the morning—before we came in on Sunday, and said, “Please, try to find my friend. Try to find Myriam Merlet,” who was more than a friend to Eve Ensler, but to so many women in this devastated community. And she gave us an area, not even an address, because she didn’t know it. But we went to that area in Paco. It is not a poor area like Cité Soleil, but it is down. It is on a hill. And it is an entire community under rubble. And we made it to her house as the sun was setting.

And there was a group of people who were sitting across the street crying. And we said, “Myriam Merlet, do you know which is her house?” And they pointed, and they said, “We’ve just pulled her body up, and we have brought it down the street.” I looked around and asked if there was family. They said, yes, her sister Eartha, Eartha Merlet, and she was sitting in the middle of the group weeping. And we asked her if she could bring us to the makeshift grave site. It was just down through the rubble. They had dug a deep, deep hole and covered the casket a bit. And Eartha talked about her beloved sister...

Amy Goodman

Democracy Now/ CIMAC

Jan. 26, 2010

Added: Jan. 27, 2010

Texas, USA

West Texas Could be Corridor for Human Trafficking

You’ve seen it portrayed in movies and on television, but it’s a very real epidemic.

Millions of people each year are forced into modern-day slavery or prostitution.

Now law enforcement officials say the problem maybe closer than we think.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Houston and El Paso are two of the most intense trafficking areas in the country.

ICE officials says offenders bring their victims right here through west Texas.

Texas attorney Greg Abbott called a human trafficking prevention task force meeting last Tuesday to better identify victims.

"Texas comprises the largest portion of that,” Jerry Garnett with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, “So there's going to be a large volume coming through the state of Texas." ...

Debt bondage can easily turn "smuggling" into "trafficking"

Debt bondage would be cases were the aliens were smuggled into the U.S. and they're forced into working in order to payoff their smuggling fees.

In most cases the victim never pays off their smuggling fees.

“For females its prostitution or massage parlors,” Garnett said, “Children it's a little bit different but children could also be traffic for the sex trade.”

Garnett says is a way to lure people in who are just looking for a way to live in America

“They try to tell the people, we'll bring you into the United States, well find you a job, we'll do all this for you and rope the people into it.” Garner said.

Jennifer Samp

CBS 7 News

Jan. 25, 2010

Added: Jan. 27, 2010

Alabama, USA

Sketch of suspect

Man Sought for Trying to Lure School Girl

Chicago police today issued a community alert after a man tried to lure girl into a sport utility vehicle last week in the city's Brighton Park neighborhood.

The girl was walking in the vicinity of 2900 West 47th Street on Friday at 6:50 a.m. and en route to the bus stop at 47th Street and Francisco Avenue when the suspect drove up and said "Metete Adentro" ("Get In"), according to the alert. The girl responded "No" before the suspect attempted two more times as the girl waited for her bus to school.

The man is described in the alert as Hispanic, 30 to 40 years old, heavily built, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9, 240 to 270 pounds, with a light complexion, brown eyes and black wavy hair that has silver/gray specks.

The man was driving a white four-door Toyota SUV, police said.

Anyone with information should call Wentworth Area detectives at 312-747-8380 or Deering District police at 312-747-8227.

Jeff Finkelman

Chicago Breaking News

Jan. 25, 2010

Added: Jan. 27, 2010

Alabama, USA

Jorge Zuniga

Newton Man Charged with Raping 12-year-old

Newton man faces a possible life sentence in prison after Houston County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him on charges he raped a 12-year-old girl more than once over the last two months.

Court records show detectives arrested Jorge Luis Lopez Zuniga, 20, of Pine Acres Drive, late Friday and charged him with two felony counts of first-degree rape and first-degree sex abuse.

According to the Houston County Jail Web site, Zuniga was booked into the facility just before 7 p.m. Friday on the three felony charges. Court records show he’s being held without bond, which was set by Houston County Circuit Court Judge Brad Mendheim.

Court records also show Zuniga was charged with the rape of the Newton girl between Dec. 1, 2009, and Jan. 16, 2010, along with an additional similar offense on Jan. 16, 2010. A detective also charged Zuniga with forcible sex abuse of the same girl on Jan. 16, 2010.

Zuniga faces 10 to 99 years or life in prison for each of the first-degree rape charges, if he’s convicted of each of the class A felony crimes. He also faces one to 10 years in prison if he’s convicted of the class C felony crime of first-degree sex abuse.

Matt Elofson

The Dothan Eagle

Jan. 25, 2010

Added: Jan. 27, 2010

Georgia, USA

Teen Escapes Rape Attempt

A would-be rapist fled Sunday night after he ripped off his victim's clothes and discovered he had attacked a man dressed as a woman, Athens-Clarke police said.

The suspect was riding a bicycle when he started stalking a 17-year-old walking along Bray Street near Fourth Street in East Athens about 6:30 p.m., police said.

The teen began to walk faster, but the man caught up to him, grabbed his arm and dragged him into some nearby woods.

The attacker started to take off the teen's clothes, tearing his shirt and yanking off his boots; he realized when he stripped off the teen's pants that the victim was male, too, police said.

The victim fought back, but his attacker kicked him repeatedly, police said.

The man ran when the victim's cell phone rang, but by then witnesses on Bray Street had called 911, police said.

The victim crawled from the woods and was sitting on the ground, crying in the rain, when police arrived.

The teenager only could describe his attacker as a fat Hispanic man who wore a gray hoodie an

May 20, 2005 Edition of Dr. Laura Bozzo's "Laura en America" Show Causes Near Riot as Audience Reacts to Two Men Who Beat and Raped the Six Year Old Stepson of One of the Men.

Tuesday, May 23, 2001