- Adam Lynn

The News Tribune

March 27, 2008

Massachusetts, USA

Pittsfield — The case of a local man accused of sexually assaulting three minors in 2005 has made it to trial in Berkshire Superior Court, following a tumultuous pretrial phase in which motions were filed to suppress information and to gain access to prosecutors' records...

[Cristian A.] Aragon, [a native of El Salvador,] who will use a Spanish interpreter during the trial, is accused of assaulting three white girls. One of the girls was 12 and two were 14 at the time of the alleged incidents, which occurred in Pittsfield and Lanesborough between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2005, according to the Berkshire District Attorney's Office.

Aragon was 18 when he was arrested on July 17, 2005...

- Conor Berry

Berkshire Eagle

March 26, 2008

New York, USA

[Queens] A U.S. immigration screening officer faces felony charges for allegedly demanding and receiving oral sex from a [Colombian] woman seeking a green card, according to authorities and court documents...

The two met in December in the man's car, and during that meeting, the man told her that "in return for assisting her in her green card application, the complainant must have sex with him at least two times," according to the documents. The woman said she tried to leave the car, but, documents said, Baichu grabbed her and forced her to perform oral sex on him...

Isaac Baichu, 46 [an immigrant from Guyana], was arrested last week...

Immigrant advocate Michelle Brane said such conduct is not unusual. Immigrants, she said, are vulnerable and at the mercy and disposal of immigration officials...

- Ashley Broughton

CNN

March 21, 2008

Mexico

ONU: Corrupción y desidia policiaca alientan la explotación sexual infantil en México

The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child prostitution and Child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit has warned in his recent report on conditions in Mexico that "the testimonies of minors who are sexually exploited in Mexico's large cities is profoundly coincidental in regard to the fact that corruption and apathy on the part of police forces is one of the primary reasons why exploitation and human trafficking continues to develop."

Petit stated that sexual exploitation and trafficking in children, especially on Mexico's national borders [with Guatemala and the United States], in tourist areas [such as Acapulco and Cancun], and in the nation's large cities, is a situation that could evolve into an "out-of-control pandemic" if Mexico does not engage in a profound and intensive exercise to reverse its social politics.

Petit: "The inefficiency, poor equipping of police, in addition to corruption" and a lack of monitoring and enforcement protocols exist in a wide range of municipal and police entities who are charged with assuring that children are not exploited in the "sexual marketplace." These conditions favor the exploiters [trafficking networks and pimps].

Petit also noted that in the year 2000, an estimated 25,000 minors lived abandoned on the streets of Mexico. Petit stated that the great majority are victims of sexual abuse.

Víctor Ballinas

La Jornada

March 11, 2008

See also:

UN Human Rights Council: Report on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography : addendum / submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Juan Miguel Petit : mission to Mexico [PDF]

Visita a Mexico - Informe del Relator Especial sobre la venta de niños, la prostitución infantil y la utilización de niños en la pornografía, Juan Miguel Petit [PDF]

Dominican Republic

Campesinas dominicanas rechazan impunidad de quienes violaron a dos niñas y mataron a su madre

In a case that has caused widespread protests, a judge in Haitian border region of the Dominican Republic has freed 8 men accused of gang-raping and murdering a women with mental illness, and then proceeding to gang-rape her 12-year-old daughter and her 8-year-old daughter.  The attack occurred in Mella, in the province of Independencia.

One of the seven accused, Ernesto Pérez was put on trial, but was later acquitted but the trial judge.

Although the federal Attorney General's office and the Supreme Court are investigating whether complicity [in corruption] existed in the court in question, the message of impunity has left many Dominican women and men outraged.

Sergia Galván, executive director of Mujer y Salud [Women and Health], a non-profit organization with 20 years fighting for gender equality, was indignant about the course of judicial action in this case.

Galván: "During the sentencing hearing that freed Ernesto Pérez, [the judge] tried to justify the impunity of the proceedings, stating that the accused rapist's rights trumped those of the victims. We are going to file an appeal. We are asking for the case to be re-opened. We are going to demand that all of the accused face justice."

Galván went on to state that, if justice is not served, the case will be presented in international legal forums such as the Inter-American Court.

- Mirta Rodríguez Calderón)

www.glocalia.com

March 10, 2008

Nicaragua

Monstruosidad con hija de cinco años

Las Minas - RAAN [Atlantic Autonomous Region] - A 25-year-old man has been arrested for raping and sodomizing his 5-year-old daughter, leaving her bleeding and unconscious.

The accused fled his home the evening of the incident when, after his wife had returned home, he fled the house. Upon discovering the rape, the mother of the victim reported the crime to police. Her daughter was taken to the city of Siuna for medical treatment and a forensic examination. The girl will require reconstructive surgery, according to her mother.  Police report that they have not yet found and arrested the father.

Family violence in Las Minas has increased dramatically, with 301 cases, including 96 reports of sexual abuse. The rise in such cases is creating alarm among local, regional and national authorities, but there is no evidence of a major initiative to combat this evil.

- El Nuevo Diario

March 12, 2008

United States - Iraq

Female veterans report more sexual, mental trauma

...Women have made up about 11 percent of the military force in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past six years, according to the Department of Defense; that's an estimated 180,000 women in the war zone...

...The [US Veterans Administration has] diagnosed 60,000 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Of those, 22 percent of women suffered from "military sexual trauma," which includes sexual harassment or assault, compared with 1 percent of men...

...Many women have trouble reporting the trauma to their superiors out of fear of retribution.

"When you are in a war zone, your survival depends on people watching your back and on unit cohesion," Westrup said. "The same individuals who attacked you are those who will be protecting you, or you'll be fighting alongside the next day..."

- Randi Kaye and Ismael Estrada

CNN

March 19, 2008

New York, USA

New Rochelle - A suburban police sergeant who is married to a New York City anchorwoman was charged Wednesday with raping a 17-year-old girl hours after he helped arrest her boyfriend at her house.

Sgt. David Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to charges of raping a 17-year-old girl.

New Rochelle Sgt. David Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to forcible rape, agreed to an order of protection keeping him away from the teenager and posted $25,000 bail. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison...

The sergeant's wife, Darlene Rodriguez, anchorwoman of WNBC-TV's "Today in New York," was in tears outside the courtroom before the arraignment. She left the courthouse dry-eyed with her husband and said, "I'm here to support my husband. I believe in him. I love him. He's innocent 100 percent..."

- The Associated Press

March 20, 2008

Colorado, USA

Denver police are looking for a man who allegedly exposed himself to a 6-year-old girl in restroom and then ran away.

Police said the girl and her family were dining at Johnny Rockets around midnight on March 1. The girl went to the restroom by herself.

Ernesto Navarrette followed the girl and exposed himself to the child, said police spokesman John White.

The girl ran to her parents and Navarrette fled the restaurant, White said. The girl's father tried to chase Navarrette but lost him...

- TheDenverChannel.com

March 16/17, 2008

Connecticut, USA

Police investigate a possible indecent exposure incident involving three teenage girls in Greenwich.

The girls were walking on Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich on Saturday around 2 PM. A Hispanic male, approximately 20-30 years in age, lured the girls by asking for directions and then asking them to look at his little kitten. At this point, the girls noticed the male's pants were pulled down and he was massaging his genitals...

- WTNH

New Haven, Connecticut

March 16, 2008

Florida, USA

[Fort Meyers] - Twenty-four men -- including two from Punta Gorda -- came to Fort Myers this weekend bringing tools of seduction, coercion and rape. They thought they would meet a child home alone. Instead, they found the police and a national news correspondent lying in wait...

The scenes, all caught on tape by NBC's "Dateline" as part of its "To Catch a Predator" feature, shocked even veteran law enforcement agents.

Few men arrived empty-handed. Daniels said several brought their laptop computers and alcohol. At least one had male enhancement pills. One had rope and duct tape.

- Anne marie Apollo

Naples Daily News

April 24, 2008

Ohio, USA

A man from Mason, Ohio, is arrested, accused of sending sexually explicit messages and pornographic videos of himself to a police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl.

The Internet sex sting was an operation that involved three different law enforcement agencies, the Belmont County Sheriff's Department and a U.S. marshall.

David Tirado, 24, was arrested at Kings Island Resort on Friday.

Bethesda police police arrested him while he was on the job, after they said Tirado sent sexual messages and nine pornographic videos to a decoy...

- WTOV 9

March, 2008