Government and NGO anti-trafficking efforts must be held accountable for

Taking effective

action

March 8, 2010, International Women's Day, represents LibertadLatina's 9th anniversary. We wish all women and girls around the world happiness and success on this day.

During the past year, we at LibertadLatina have redoubled our efforts to end gender oppression in the Americas. We thank our readers for their many expressions of support.

We have presented the true facts about the severe oppression facing Indigenous, African descendent and other Latina and Caribbean women and girls today. These are populations that remain severely under-represented in deliberations by those with the power to act at the governmental and NGO level to stop modern human slavery, and the many other forms of exploitation and injustice faced by these women of color.

We do not exclude any group in the war against gender oppression. With limited available resources, we have focused on populations and on issues that have been neglected by the mainstream ‘movement’ – and therefore need urgent attention.

We believe that our energies are best spent by bringing focus to the various forms of mass gender atrocity that are increasingly plaguing Mexico.

Mexico is the ‘bottleneck’ for mass migration from South and Central America to the United States. Mexico’s long standing traditions of severe machismo, political corruption, a tolerance for impunity and the influence of billions of dollars in drug cartel money has lead to women and children, and especially those who are indigenous, being targeted for kidnapping, rape, sex and labor trafficking and even murder. Taken together, these cases add up to tens of thousands of victims per year.

We have constantly insisted that the press, authors, academics and government officials end the virtual embargo on discussion of Latin America as one of the very top crisis areas globally for human trafficking. In 2010 the exclusion of Latina, Indigenous and Afro-Latina and Caribbean victim issues from public policy discussion, planning and action is an unacceptable fact in this movement.

Racial prejudices and preferences within Latin America’s educated elites, and similar traditions within the United States and Canada appear to be the motivating factors that cause this movement to avoid mention of Latin America and the Caribbean, where, by some estimates, approximately 50% of global sex trafficking activity takes place. We work continuously to provide the facts that will empower people of conscience to break the glass ceiling and provide ‘Little Brown Maria in the Brothel’ – our metaphor for these voiceless victims, an equal place at the table of decision making and provision of services.

Their voices must be heard!

We believe that our work is setting an example, and is a model to all of the many factions within the movement against human trafficking and exploitation. Because the movement, in it various forms (non governmental organizations, national and local government – and international agency organizations) has evolved largely from an academic base, the approach to fighting human trafficking has centered on many intellectually sound approaches – including efforts to raise awareness, petition government, pass laws, empower law enforcement and NGOs, give victims access, provide them shelter and space for recovery, and reduce demand for prostitution. These are all legitimate activities, and yet human trafficking continues to expand exponentially, far beyond the current capacity of our institutions to respond...

The disappointing example of Mexico’s effort to pass human trafficking legislation, and President Calderón’s two year effort to block and disable that important law, shows that the anti-trafficking movement cannot simply rely upon academic approaches to fighting trafficking that appear, on their surface, to be effective.

We must hold the governments of the region responsible for enacting and enforcing truly effective laws against human trafficking. For that reason, we support the efforts of those countries who are working through the United Nations to insist upon a new, Global Plan of Action to finally organize an effective global fight against human trafficking. Néstor Arbito Chica, Ecuador’s Minister of Justice and Human Rights, has been an articulate leader in this effort. Minister Arbito Chica: "National and regional efforts are not enough to cope with this global problem." "That’s why we call on the U.N. to take action."

We will continue to report on the developing story of the growth in impunity, and the movement to push back against that impunity. Those who are at risk, and those who are enslaved and exploited today, deserve our urgent attention, empathy, support and effective direct action to defend them from a life of torture leading to an early death.

We will continue to give that attention, and we will continue to press for government accountability in response to well advertised but as-yet ineffective actions to defend and rescue women and girls who

face impunity without  defense.

End impunity now!

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

March 8, 2010

Read the complete essay

México, D. F. Palacio Legislativo.- El Pleno de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó un punto de acuerdo de urgente y obvia resolución para exhortar a la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) para que a través de la Dirección General de Traslado de Reos y Seguridad Penitenciaria se tomen todas las medidas de seguridad necesarias para evitar el traslado de Jean Succar Kuri a una prisión de Cancún, Quintana Roo. Lo anterior porque es procesado por un delito sumamente ofensivo para la sociedad –pederastia y pornografía infantil- y se pretende trasladarlo del penal de máxima seguridad del Altiplano, de Almoloya de Juárez, al centro penitenciario municipal de Cancún, el cual ha sido catalogado como uno de los más inseguros del país...

Chamber of Deputies Passes Non-binding Resolution Requesting that the Secretariat of Public Security Not Transfer [Millionaire Child Pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri to a Minimum Security Jail in Cancún that is known as one of the most insecure facilities in the nation.

Denver – Western Union will pay $94 million to settle a legal battle with the state of Arizona over whether the company allowed its money transfers to be used to send proceeds from human trafficking and drug smuggling to Mexico, officials said Thursday.

The settlement includes $50 million that will help law enforcement operations in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California battle money laundering and the smuggling of immigrants, drugs and guns along the 2,000-mile border.

"Attacking the flow of illicit funds from the United States to smuggling cartels in Mexico is fundamental to our goal of crushing the cartels," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.

Joseph Cachey, Western Union's chief compliance officer, said the company has improved its monitoring of transfers and screening of agents.

As part of the settlement, Western Union will provide law enforcement officials with unprecedented access to records of wire transfers.

Belton - Police arrested a man Thursday who had been a fugitive since 2007.

Heriberto Zaragoza III was charged with Sexual Assault of a Child in connection with incidents in the summer of 2007, involving a girl in her mid-teens.

The investigation led to a warrant being obtained in November of that year, but by then Zaragoza had disappeared. Police believed he had gone to Mexico.

The warrant remained active, however, and when detectives got word he might be returning to town, they watched for him and took him into custody.

Zaragoza is also charged with Failure to Identify Himself As a Fugitive With Intent to Give False Information...

Las Cruces - A 23-year-old Las Cruces man has been indicted on child-sex charges after he allegedly impregnated a 14-year-old girl.

Austin Villado was indicted on eight felony child sex charges for having sex with the high school student at her home while the girl's mother was at work.

Court documents say the 14-year-old girl met Villado in September and they began having sex within weeks. Less than a month later, she was pregnant... The teenager broke up with the alleged gang member in December because he began dating someone else.

Villado was on probation for a burglary conviction at the time he was arrested so is not eligible for bond.

México, DF.- Llaman partidos políticos en San Lázaro a la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) a que tome las medidas necesarias para evitar el traslado del pedrastra Jean Succar Kuri a una prisión de Cancún, Quintana Roo, al tiempo que exhortaron a procuradurías a redoblar esfuerzos contra la explotación sexual.

Durante la sesión de la Cámara de Diputados de este jueves fue aprobada una iniciativa para integrar un banco de datos sobre la trata de personas.

Al respecto, fue ampliamente criticada la decisión del juez Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz, de trasladar de un penal de máxima seguridad del Estado de México, a una cárcel de mínima seguridad, al pederasta Succar Kuri, quien fue catalogado en el proceso judicial como un reo de alta peligrosidad.

Legislators Ask That Jean Succar Kuri Not Be Transferred to Cancún

Mexico City - Legislators from across Mexico's political parties have asked the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) to take all necessary measures to avoid the transfer of [millionaire child pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri to a jail in Cancún, in Quintana Roo state. They also called for prosecutors to redouble their efforts against sexual exploitation.

During the March 4th session of the Chamber of Deputies [lower house of Congress], a bill was passed that will create a national human trafficking database.

During the session, judge Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz was widely criticized for his decision to allow child pornographer Succar Kuri to be transferred from a maximum security prison in Mexico state to a minimum security jail in Cancún. A pervious assessment of Succar Kuri during the judicial process had identified him as a dangerous, high risk prisoner. 

Mexico City - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for Latin America to fight drug corruption in a regional swing that ended Friday in Guatemala, days after that country's drug czar and national police chief were jailed on suspicion of leading a police ring that stole cocaine from drug traffickers.

The arrests underscored Guatemala's vulnerability to traffickers, whose billions of dollars in profits and bribes are undermining a fragile country still recovering from years of military rule and civil war.

"Organized crime has infiltrated all aspects of the Guatemalan state, and now rivals it in terms of power and influence," said Andrew Hudson, senior associate at Human Rights First in New York.

Drug czar Nelly Bonilla was arrested Tuesday, along with Police Chief Baltazar Gómez. They were accused of leading a criminal police gang that stole 1,500 pounds of cocaine.

They were the latest in a string of police officers alleged to have crumbled before the lure of drug profits.

The previous national police chief was jailed in 2009on suspicion of stealing $300,000 from drug traffickers. A previous drug czar, Adan Castillo, was caught on tape accepting $25,000 from a Drug Enforcement Administration informant as payment for overseeing narcotics shipments through Guatemala. He was invited to a DEA meeting in 2005 and arrested when he arrived in Virginia.

Clinton has said that despite increased cooperation in the region against drug traffickers, the Obama administration wants governments there to work harder to confront corruption.

Upon arriving in Guatemala, she praised the arrests and called on officials to "weed out corruption." Congress has authorized $1.6 billion for fighting drug trafficking in Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti under the three-year Merida Initiative.

"We're going to be asking more of a lot of our friends," Clinton said earlier during a stop in Costa Rica. "A number of them are not respecting democratic institutions. A number of them are not taking strong enough stands against the erosion of the rule of law because of the pressure from drug traffickers."

Guatemala has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. Drug traffickers and gangs have revived insecurities in the impoverished people, who are recovering from a 36-year civil war that killed 200,000 people, most of them civilians.

A United Nations crime-fighting team, the International Commission Against Impunity, spearheaded the investigation that led to the arrest of the police officers. The team was created in 2007 to compensate for the inability of the Guatemalan judicial system to solve crimes often found to be committed by moonlighting members of the security forces.

[The above-described realities have important implications for the ability of Latin American nations to organize any serious effort to combat human trafficking. - LL]

La escalada de homicidios de mujeres o femicidios cometidos en la región, ha experimentado un preocupante aumento, según el estudio denominado "Femicidio en Centroamérica", que se presentó a finales del año pasado en San José, Costa Rica, en el marco de una reunión del Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de Centroamérica (COMMCA). Este documento comprende una investigación cuantitativa y cualitativa sobre las manifestaciones extremas de la violencia contra las mujeres.

Dicho estudio fue desarrollado en Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá y República Dominicana por el Centro Feminista de Información y Acción (CEFEMINA) con el apoyo del Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de Centroamérica (COMMCA), el Fondo de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para la Mujer (UNIFEM) y la Organización Canadiense de Cooperación Horizontes.

A pesar de que la preocupación por los femicidios es reciente el estudio pudo cerciorarse de que, en realidad, el problema ya tiene décadas de estar enraizado en la sociedad centroamericana.

Los hallazgos encontrados indican que este fenómeno se manifiesta en toda la región y de manera particularmente alarmante en Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador. Así mismo, identifica los escenarios en que se producen los femicidios, analizando algunos de ellos con estudios de caso...

The number in homicides of women, or femicides, committed in the region has experienced an alarming increase, according to the study “Femicido en Controamerica” (Femicide in Central America) which presented its findings from last year in San Jose, Costa Rica, at the meeting of the Consejo de Mujer de Centroameria (Council of Women’s Ministries of Central America). The document is comprised of a quantitative and qualitative investigation of the extreme manifestations of violence against women.

The study was conducted in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic by the Centro Feminista de Información y Acción de Centroamérica (Feminist Center of Information and Action in Central America), el Fondo de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para la Mujer (The UN Development Fund for Women) and la Organización Canadiense de Cooperación Horizontes (Horizon Organization for Cooperation of

Canada).

Although the concern for femicide is has grown in recent years, the study found that in reality, the problem has been taking root for decades in Central American society.

The findings indicate that this phenomenon has manifested itself in the entire region and most alarmingly in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The study identified the situation in which femicide is produced, analyzing some with case studies...

The study also makes clear that in countries like El Salvador and Honduras, the phenomenon of gangs is generating a greater number of murders of women when compared with that produced by the couple and former partners.

The above includes deaths provoked by sexual exploitation, revenge between men and mafias connected with prostitution. Femicides have taken place in the street, public places, streams, beaches, vacant lots, among other places. The majority of femicides are committed with guns and knives...

...El Salvador has seen a greater increase in female deaths than male deaths. Murders of men have increased by 40% while femicides have increased by 111%.

In Guatemala, these figures are higher. Femicide is growing by 183% while murders of men is growing by 100%... The principal people responsible for femicides are significant others, ex-partners or other people within the family like fathers, brothers, stepfathers or cohabitants. Gangs are also responsible for many femicides.

...Illegal practices connection with organized crime such as arms proliferation, mafias, international trafficking networks are also responsible for femicides.

The study only intended to analyze figures from past years. Although there have been advances in causes to help end femicide like the passing of the Law Against Femicide or the Law Against Human Trafficking in Guatemala- the figures keep climbing. The increase in violence against women is due to structural deficiencies that the State must reform to stop these crimes from continuing.

Trenton - City police and federal agents have been investigating human trafficking in Trenton's Latino community since late last year, top police officials said yesterday.

Young women from Guatemala and Mexico have been brought into the city to be used in an illegal network of bars and social clubs as part of a trade that is spiking in urban areas across the county, said Police Director Irving Bradley Jr.

Bradley said the department and its federal partners are building a strong case against the traffickers and sex-club operators, both of whom may have connections to Latino street gangs.

"We don't want to do a Band-Aid approach," Bradley said. "We want to shut them down permanently."

The investigation began when an informant spoke up about high drink prices last fall, Special Operations commander Capt. Michael Flaherty said.

"We got a complaint that one of the bars was charging $20 for a beer," he said. "We found that when you paid $20 for a drink, you also got the company of a person."

From there, police followed the nexus of alcohol, money, and sex through the South and East Wards, Bradley said. They found violence was sometimes added to the mix...

The clubs' customers are Latino men, many of them separated from their families and some in the U.S. illegally. The combination of their immigration status and cash income makes them tempting targets for both johns and robbers, police say, as well as potentially being unwilling to report a crime.

The women, who may provide dancing, sexual favors, or simple companionship, are often deceived by the traffickers.

More than a dozen women are ready to testify against a Germantown man accused of luring them into prostitution, police say.

Arash Koraganie Ghulam Abbas, 31, was arrested Feb. 26 at his home in the 17800 block of Cormorant Lane and charged with four counts each of human trafficking and running a prostitution business, said Montgomery County Police Department Cpl. Dan Fitzgerald.

Abbas was one of six arrested in a recent Montgomery County Police investigation into people being forced into labor or sexual exploitation, also known as human trafficking.

The investigation led to the disruption of three such trafficking operations in Montgomery County, authorities said.

"These pimps, what they do, is put these girls in a world they don't know," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said the women who worked as prostitutes for Abbas answered advertisements on Web sites like craigslist.org and backpage.com for quick money.

"With the economy the way it is, he was posting things like, ‘Who needs a sugar daddy?'" Fitzgerald said.

The other five arrested, according to Montgomery County Police, were:

- Deangelo A. Bynum, 24, of Washington, D.C. He was charged with solicitation of a minor for prostitution after being arrested in Gaithersburg by an undercover officer posing as young girl, police said. Bynum had attempted to recruit the girl on facebook.com, requesting photos and money before she could work for him, police said.

- Rodney Hubert, 34, of New York. He was charged with human trafficking of a 15-year-old female for prostitution. The teen was advertised on craigslist.com after she arrived in Maryland from New York.

- Christy Elmes, 23, of the Bronx, N.Y. She was charged with human trafficking, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree child abuse.

- Katherine Mateo, 19, of the Bronx, N.Y. She was charged with human trafficking, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree child abuse.

- Tomika Powell, 21, of Montgomery, Ala. She was charged with human trafficking, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree child abuse. Powell was also wanted for desertion from the U.S. Army, police said...

Más de 800 mujeres indígenas del estado de Guerrero se reunirán este sábado 6 de marzo en la comunidad de Xalatzala, municipio de Tlapa y el domingo 7 de marzo en la comunidad de Tejocote, municipio de Malinaltepec, para marchar después a Tlapa con el objetivo de demandar el cese al hostigamiento a mujeres líderes y de organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos y laborales.

Las manifestantes demandarán el diseño de políticas públicas de acuerdo con las necesidades de las mujeres indígenas de la entidad.

La marcha forma parte de los actos por el Día Internacional de la Mujer, organizados por la Unión Regional de Mujeres de la Montaña “Francisca Reyes Castellanos”, presidida por Jacqueline Balbuena Ramírez, la Unión Nacional deMujeres Mexicanas y la Unión Regional de la Montaña.

Indigenous Women From Guerrero Demand Resources and Services

Barstow - Barstow Mayor Joseph Dennis Gomez Jr. has been charged with sexual battery for allegedly assaulting a police officer's wife at a December party.

Gomez was charged Monday with a misdemeanor that involved touching the woman against her will. The San Bernardino County district attorney's office says he faces up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted.

Gomez allegedly assaulted the woman on Dec. 18 but investigators have not released details of the incident.

Gomez hasn't been arrested. His arraignment is scheduled for April.

At a City Council meeting earlier this month, Gomez said the allegation was false and he intended to

fight it.