LL English News - 2006 - 05

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News and Events - English

Other Available News Archives: 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005

May 2006 News

Added May 31, 2006

Congo

Rape, Brutality Ignored To Aid Congo Peace

The young woman's name is Tintsi and she's barely 20 years old. She arrived at the hospital three weeks ago on a stretcher carried by relatives who walked 100 miles to get here. Doctors weren't sure Tintsi would ever walk again.

Tintsi, like everyone else in this room, is a victim of the worst kind of sexual violation imaginable.

"Some of them have knives and other sharp objects inserted in them after they've been raped, while others have pistols shoved into their vaginas and the triggers pulled back," said Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere, the lone physician at the hospital. "It's a kind of barbarity that only savages are capable of."

He added that "these perpetrators cannot be human beings."

The alleged perpetrators are men in uniform, part of the Congolese army. These troops are a compilation of various militia groups that had been fighting each other for years until a truce was reached two years ago.

- Jeff Koinange

CNN

May 23, 2006

Added May 31, 2006

Mexico, Central America

Don't Try Crossing Mexico's Southern Border

Ever since he crossed into Mexico, José Moisés has had nothing but trouble. Now the 30-year-old Honduran mechanic is hunkered down with other young illegal migrants in a rail yard just north of Mexico City, waiting for nightfall to hop a northbound freight. He displays a pale line encircling his finger. He used to have a ring there, he says—until Mexican cops slammed him against a squad car in the southern border state of Chiapas and grabbed it. "They took everything," says Moisés. "Here the Central American has no value."

As tough as the United States can be for workers who slip in from south of the border, Mexico is in a poor position to criticize. The problem goes far beyond the predatory gantlet of thugs and crooked cops facing defenseless transients like Moisés. There's ample precedent in Mexico for just about everything the United States is—or isn't—doing. Calling out the military? Mexicans may hate the new U.S. plan to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops on the border, but five years ago they cheered President Vicente Fox for sending thousands of Mexican soldiers to crack down on their southern frontier. Tougher laws? [U.S. Latino]-rights groups are enraged over U.S. efforts to criminalize undocumented aliens—yet since 1974, sneaking into Mexico has been punishable by up to two years in prison.

- Newsweek

June 5 2006 Edition

Added May 27, 2006

Texas, US

Woman Stabbed 19 Times During Encounter

Atlantic City - A sexual encounter gone bad left a Brooklyn, N.Y., woman seriously injured early Saturday morning. The woman told police she met a man driving a small pickup truck. The two then went to a parking lot on North Georgia Avenue near the rear of the church to have sex, police said.

While they were in the cab of the truck, the man suddenly produced a sharp-edged weapon and stabbed the woman more than 19 times in the face, neck and chest, police said. The victim was able to get out of the truck, and the attacker drove off.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic man with a slender build and narrow face, with a “bracelet” tattoo on his left wrist and a small tattoo on his left forearm, police said. His small pickup truck is in good condition and had a temporary registration sticker in the rear window. Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call Detective Hector Reyes at (609) 347-5766.

- Elaine Rose

The Press of

Atlantic City

May 28, 2006

Added May 27, 2006

Texas, USA

Police Search For Rape Suspect

Undocumented immigrant accused of impregnating 10-year-old girl

Pharr - Police said they are searching for a 21-year-old illegal immigrant accused of raping a 10-year-old family member and leaving her pregnant.

Authorities were alerted to the case by a local doctor, who discovered the girl's pregnancy during a routine medical exam last Friday, Pharr police Lt. Guadalupe Salinas said.

The girl was subsequently taken to the Children's Advocacy Center in Edinburg where she told staff that her 21-year-old relative, Pedro Guzman Muñoz, had raped her, police said.

James Osborne

Valley Morning Star

May 26, 2006

Added May 27, 2006

Washington, USA

Man Held In Child Rape Charges

A 22-year-old Oak Harbor man accused of raping a 12-year-old neighbor girl is being held in jail on $125,000 bail.

Prosecutors charged Gilbert Pena in Island County Superior Court May 8 with four counts of child rape in the second degree.

Sgt. Jerry Baker with the Oak Harbor Police wrote in the affidavit of probable cause that the mother of the 12-year-old girl discovered that her daughter was having sex with Pena. He lived in an apartment near the woman and her daughter.

- Jessie Stensland

Whidbey News-Times
May 27 2006

Added May 27, 2006

Oregon, USA

Teachers' Aide Accused Of Rape Had Criminal History

Gresham -- A teachers' aide at a Portland charter school, who served 10 years for murder, was arrested last week for rape and sodomy of a 15-year-old female student, police said. Daniel Alcazar, 27, who has worked at The Academy of Alternatives School since December 2005, was arrested May 18.

- Kristina Brenneman And Antonia Giedwoyn

KGW-TV

Oregon-Washington

May 27, 2006

Added May 26, 2006

United States - Honduras

United Nations: Mexican Women And Children Face Alarming Rates Of Domestic Violence

El Comité de Derechos Económicos Sociales y Culturales (DESC), de la Organización de Naciones Unidas, manifestó al gobierno mexicano su preocupación por los altos índices de violencia doméstica que se registran en el país contra mujeres y niños, y que en varios estados "la definición de incesto en las leyes no protege adecuadamente a menores de edad."

- La Jornada

Mexico City

May 26, 2006

- United Nations Press Release

United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights

Committee On Rights Of Child Examines Report On Mexico

23 May 2006

Added May 25, 2006

United States - Honduras

FBI Sting Arrests U.S. Man For Sex Trafficking Honduran Children

Lo detienen en Miami por ofrecer turismo sexual con menores en Honduras.

Miami - A man who allegedly organized child sex tourist trips to Honduras has been arrested by the FBI in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Gary Evans, age 58, was detained in a joint operation between U.S. and Honduran authorities on charges of organizing a trip for two clients to engage in sex with two adolescents, 14 and 16 years of age.

The two clients were actually undercover FBI agents.

According to a communiqué of the U.S. Attorney's Office for Florida, agents of the FBI created a web site on the internet as a hook to catch people who offer child sex tourism.

Evans contacted them and offered to do a joint business venture by offering trips to Honduras and Costa Rica.

A press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Paul Pérez stated: "Our office pledges to continue seeking out those who offer child sex, and those who travel outside the U.S. to commit these horrendous crimes.”

- EFE News Service

May 25, 2006

Added May 25, 2006

Florida, USA

Nicaraguan Child Abuser Arrested By ICE

Miami - A 40-year-old Nicaraguan national convicted for burning his 12-year-old stepson with a soldering iron and beating him repeatedly with a belt buckle, electrical wire and broomstick was arrested here Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce-ment (ICE) detention and removal officers.

Freddy Perez was convicted in a Miami-Dade County court on Feb. 16, 1999. He was sentenced to five years probation, along with 150 hours of community service, domestic violence counseling and parenting classes.

Perez, who failed to appear for his immigration hearing on May 11, 2006, was ordered removed in absentia by an immigration judge.

"This man left irreparable damage in his stepson's life," said Michael Rozos, field office director for detention and removal in Florida. "Those illegally in the country engaging in horrible acts such as these should now that you too will be found and arrested."

- www.ICE.gov

May 22, 2006

Added May 25, 2006

Colombia

Police Remove 425 Youth Under Age 14 From Bars In South Bogotá

La Policía retuvo a 425 menores de edad en chiquitecas de Bogotá

A recent police operation in the south of Colombia’s capitol, Bogota, removed 425 children from three chiquiteca [bar] establishments. Minors under 14 years of age are prohibited from entering bars. A simultaneous raid rescued additional children from bars that were not serving alcohol at the time of the raids.

The police actions were organized by law enforcement in Bolívar City, Restrepo and iRafael Uribe Uribe. Alcoholic beverages, weapons and marijuana were found in these locations.

The minors rescued were carried to the police station of San Christopher, in the south of Bogota, where they were handed over to their parents.

City councilman Gilma Jimenez stated to Caracol Radio that the people who insist on organizing these [nightclub] events for youth, where they are enclosed in shady environments, expose children to many types of danger.

- Caracol News

Bogota, Colombia

May 14, 2006

Added May 25, 2006

India

One Third Of Marriages In India Involved Girls Under 18-Years-Old

India seeks to end child marriages.

Pune - Shanta was only 13 when her parents forced her to leave school and married her to a man twice her age. At 15, while most of her peers were in school, she gave birth. Now 17 and emaciated, Shanta is back in her parent's home after her marriage collapsed.

"I didn't even understand what marriage meant at 13," she says, her eyes brimming with tears, as her 2-year-old lolls in the background. Shanta hadn't even seen her husband, let alone known him, before she tied the nuptial knot.

More than one-third of all brides in India are below the age of 18, an estimate that activists say could be low, as many marriages - both child and adult - seldom get registered.

- Anuj Chopra

The Christian Science Monitor

May 25, 2006

Added May 24, 2006

Mexico - United States

Border / Frontier Dichotomy Colors Debate

The most common word for border in Spanish is “la frontera” — the line that divides one nation from another, with an earlier connotation of a far extension of the land. In English the word for “la frontera” is frontier — a traditionally loaded term in U.S. history and culture.

The frontier in the United States has most often been a temporary pause at the edge of Indian or foreign lands, a line that promises expansion when the opportunity presents itself, or a line that must be held against the savages.

What is at stake on the U.S.-Mexico border is defined differently on each side...

- Dan Lund

El Universal /

Miami Herald

May 22, 2006

Added May 24, 2006

Mexico - United States

NPR - "Migrants Leave Kids, Problems Back Home"

When Mexicans migrate to the United States, many leave their children in the care of extended families. That's causing problems back in their home communities, with children doing poorly in school, dropping out or turning to crime.

In the rural village of San Andres Nicolas Bravo in the province of Malinalco, Alexis Silva Carreno, 14, has nearly been expelled from school several times. He says his troubles can be pinpointed to the day in 2001 when his father left for the United States.

Alexis began drinking and hanging out with friends who were part of a local gang led by Mexican youths who had grown up in the United States. He started doing drugs and was eventually sent to a state home for troubled kids...

- Lourdes Garcia Navarro

National Public Radio

United States

May 9, 2006

Added May 23, 2006

Colorado, USA

Twelve-Year-Old Escapes From Sexual Predator

Castle Rock - A 12-year-old girl told police she escaped from a man who sexually assaulted her Saturday night.

The girl told police a man grabbed her and touched her inappropriately, but she was able to get away from him. The incident happened shortly before 10 p.m.

Police are crediting their canine unit for tracking down the suspect in his nearby apartment.

Police arrested Jose Carlos Martinez-Lagunaz.

Martinez-Lagunaz faces charges of sexual assault on a child and false imprisonment. He is being held on $100,000 bond.

- Sara Gandy

KUSA-TV

May 21, 2006

Added May 23, 2006

Colorado, USA

Police Officer Convicted Of Sexual Assaults

New Haven - A Superior Court jury has convicted an East Windsor police officer of sexually assaulting his former fiancé.

The jury Monday convicted Rafael Crespo Jr., 30, of two counts each of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree assault.

Crespo has been with the department for four years. He was arrested on Feb. 3, 2005, by Yale University police. Crespo was accused of raping and assaulting his former fiancé, a Yale student, several times while off duty.

Crespo, who is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond, is scheduled to be sentenced July 21. He was placed on unpaid administ-rative leave pending a termination hearing after his conviction Monday.

- Associated Press

May 23, 2006

Added May 23, 2006

Colorado, USA

L.A.'s Skid Row Immigrant Population Grows

Los Angeles - A shadow population lives among the estimated 14,000 homeless on Skid Row.

A growing number of immigrants are bedding down each night in parks, abandoned buildings and cardboard boxes, finding refuge in camouflaged encampments under freeway overpasses and bridges.

…The homeless immigrant problem dates to the mid-1980s when unaccompanied youths [escaping war] from Central America, some as young as 9, started entering the country, said the Rev. Richard Estrada, executive director of Jovenes Inc., an outreach center and shelter for homeless immigrant youths...

- Paul Chavez

Associated Press

May 21, 2006

Added May 23, 2006

Mexico

Mexican Migrants Heading North

Migration to the United States has long been a fact of life for many Mexicans. In some villages, mariachi music and feasts are customary sendoffs for those heading north. But tighter border security is now keeping many migrants away from their homes for longer stretches, making their last moments in Mexico more somber occasions.

- Olga R. Rodriguez

Associated Press

May 23, 2006

Added May 22, 2006

Brazil

Arrestan Once Policías En Operación Contra Pederastia

Once policías, entre ellos dos comisarios, fueron arrestados el viernes en Brasil en una operación contra una red que prostituía menores y al mismo tiempo extorsionaba a los pederastas, informó hoy la prensa.

Eleven Police Officers Arrested In Operation Against Child Prostitution

Eleven police officers, among them two commissioners, were arrested Friday in Brazil in an operation against a network that prostituted minors and at the same time extorted the pedophiles.

A child trafficking criminal organiz-ation, located in the city of Curitiba, capital of the southern state of Paraná, offered services over the Internet to pedophiles, and set up encounters in hotels or private residences.

According to Secretary of Public Security of the state of Paraná, Luiz Eduardo Delazari, the encounters with minors were routinely interrupted by police, with filmed evidence of the criminal activity. 'Some clients were taken to police stations, but most were forced to pay extortions,” Delazari noted.

- EFE News Service

Spain

May 20, 2006

Added May 22, 2006

Peru

Nearly Ten Thousand Girls Are Exploited Sexually In Peru

Cerca de diez mil niñas explotadas sexualmente en el Perú.

Lima - In Peru, around ten thousand girls & adolescents are commercially sexually exploited, an activity that puts at risk their physical health & emotional stability, and causes unwanted pregnan-cies and school abandonment.

That figure was provided by Carlos Ghersi, investigator for the Center of Social Studies and Publications (Cesip), on the International Day Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC).

Ghersi, who works in the Lima city neighborhood of Comas promoting a project to fight CSEC, calculated that of the total number of minors exploited, 40 percent live in the capitol city of Lima. Ten percent of exploitation victims are males.

- RPP Noticias

Lima, Peru

May 20, 2006

LibertadLatina Note:

Other expert sources estimate that the number of sexually exploited children in Peru totals 500,000.

- Chuck Goolsby

May 22, 2006

Added May 21, 2006

California, USA

Prepared Remarks Of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -Press Conference Regarding U.S. Immigration Reform

"Let me conclude by emphasizing that immigration reform as law enforcement cuts across major departmental priorities I have set forth as Attorney General: Protecting us from terrorism and from violent crimes and gangs; stamping out drug trafficking, especially methamphetamine; and defending our civil rights and wiping out the modern-day slavery of human trafficking."

- U.S. Dept. of Justice

May 19, 2006

Added May 21, 2006

Mexico, United States

Government Neglect, Free Trade Fuel Migration

Opinion

At the vast municipal dump in Tijuana, thousands of poor Mexicans live and work in indescribable mountains of rubbish.

In the deadening search for something to use or sell, nobody much cares about U.S. President George W. Bush´s decision to use 6,000 National Guard troops to back-up the U.S. Border Patrol on the Mexico-U.S. border.

That 2,000-mile border will continue to push, pull, and defy, as it has in the past, whatever immigration laws and policies he and the U.S. Congress might enact.

This stinking, rotting city- within-a-city literally churns people northward toward the San Diego skyline, easily visible 10 miles away from one of the garbage hilltops.

Yet how all of these people got here explains why millions of mostly rural Mexicans will continue to push across "la línea," to work in the United States as handy-men, carpenters, gardeners, waiters, pickers, packers, pluckers, and nannies.

There are also drug smugglers, violent criminals, and, potentially, in-transit terrorists, all trying to make their way into the United States.

They join 12 million illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico, already in the United States, who have mostly fled a world of dead-end farming, rural banditry, and urban squalor for the Herculean goal of any human exodus, a better life.

Short of mass deportation, nobody believes they will be sent back to their country of origin.

- Tom Thompson

El Universal /

Miami Herald

May 21, 2006

Added May 21, 2006

Mexico

Mexico Works To Bar Non-Natives From Jobs

Mexico City - If Arnold Schwarzen-egger had migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he couldn't be a governor. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, firefighter hero of the Sept. 11 attacks, had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he wouldn't have been allowed on the force.

Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies "xenophobic," Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory.

In the United States, only two posts - the presidency and vice presidency - are reserved for the native born.

In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens.

Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governor-ships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans."

Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges.

- Mark Stevenson

Associated Press

May 21, 2006

Added May 20, 2006

California, USA

Westminster Police Need Help Finding Rape Suspects

Police sketch of one of three rape suspects

Los Angeles - Westminster police are asking the public's help in identifying three suspects in the gang rape of a woman, 43, who was attacked while visiting a storage unit last month and hospitalized.

The woman, who was taken to a hospital for treatment due to the severity of her injuries, suffered head trauma, an eye contusion and broken teeth, police said.

- CBS2.com

May 18, 2006

Added May 20, 2006

Pennsylvania, US

Two Teens Admit Roles In Rape Of 15-Year-Old, Accept Pleas

The victim was left covered in mud, blood and manure after the October, 2005 assault in Chester County.

In separate proceedings, Chester County Court Judge Howard F. Riley Jr. accepted pleas to charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and kidnapping from Bolivar Barrios, 18, of Avondale, and Jose Vazquez-Bedolla, 17, of Kennett Square. The court earlier this month certified the two teens, alleged members of the Sur 13 gang, to be tried as adults.

“As the girl was "choking and crying," the defendants took turns perpetrating various sexual assaults on the ground and against the trunk of the car, Callahan said.

"They told her if she didn't do what they said, she would never see her family again," said Callahan.

- Kathleen Brady Shea

Philadelphia Inquirer

May 20, 2006

Added May 20, 2006

California, US

Hawthorne Assault Suspect Enters Plea

A 22-year-old man pleaded not guilty Friday to kidnapping and attempted rape charges in the assault of three teenage girls in Hawthorne.

William Ernest Hernandez of Hawthorne was charged earlier Friday with two counts of kidnapping to commit rape, two counts of attempted forcible rape and one count of attempted kidnapping to commit rape.

Hernandez, who remains in custody on more than $3.1 million bail, could face life in prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney's Office.

The victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 18, all had personal items taken.

- Denise Nix

Daily Breeze

Los Angeles

May 20, 2006

Added May 19, 2006

California, USA

Suspect Arrested After 3 Children Sexually Assaulted

Fresno - An arrest has been made in three cases of sexual assault near a Valley school. Police say three girls were assaulted around Greenberg Elementary, all by the same man.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says Jose Luis Martinez sexually assaulted three girls near Greenberg Elementary School between April 24th and May 5th, getting them to come to his car, then driving them away from the scene.

A Fresno State criminologist says when it comes child predators, the longer they stay on the streets, the worse the crimes can become.

"This is the learning curve for them, and the sooner police catch him, the better. Because as he practices and does these things, he learns how to avoid detection," said criminologist Eric Hickey.

"Since there are multiple victims in this sexual assault case, this is commonly referred to as one strike and you're out," said Dyer.

42-year-old Jose Luis Martinez is facing three counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, as well as other sexual assault charges.

- ABC30.com

May 10, 2006

See Also:

Sexual assault suspect's family shocked

Added May 19, 2006

Puerto Rico

Man Pleads Guilty To Possession And Distribution Of Child Pornography Following An ICE Investigation

San Juan - A 33-year-old predator pleaded guilty here Monday following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation that revealed that he possessed and distributed child pornography.

Harry Alejandro-Morales, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was indicted on Jan. 12, 2006 by a federal grand jury. The ICE investigation into the case was based on a referral by the ICE Cyber Crimes Center.

On Feb. 17, 2005, ICE special agents executed a federal search warrant at Alejandro-Morales' residence and seized a computer and other electronic storage media devices. Subsequent forensic analysis of Alejandro-Morales' computer revealed more than 1000 images depicting child pornography. ICE special agents also discovered that he distributed the child pornography via the Internet.

“These monsters should know that we are looking for them,” said Lydia St. John-Mellado, special agent-in-charge of ICE in Puerto Rico. “ICE will continue using all its resources and those of our sister agencies to bring to justice those who hurt the most vulnerable segment of our society-our children.”

- www.ICE.com

May 18, 2006

Added May 19, 2006

Border Region, USA

DHS Closes Loophole By Expanding Expedited Removal To Cover Detained Migrant Families

New facility In Texas opens for detained undocumented families

Washington, DC - As part of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Secure Border Initiative, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced the expansion of the process known as Expedited Removal to cover alien families apprehended in areas along the nation's southern, northern and coastal borders.

To house these families, a new 500-bed facility in Williamson County, Texas which is specially-equipped to meet family needs opened today.

- www.ICE.gov

May 16, 2006

Added May 19, 2006

Border Region, USA

Mexico, Central Americans Condemn U.S Border Fence Plan

Mexico City - Mexico and four Central American nations condemned the U.S plan to build hundreds of miles of triple-layered fencing on its southern border, saying it would not stop illegal immigration. In a joint news conference in Mexico City late Thursday, the foreign ministers of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico said that building barriers was not the way to solve problems between neighboring nations.

- Associated Press

May 19, 2006

Added May 19, 2006

Border Region, USA

Immigrant Smugglers Avoid Prosecution

San Diego - The vast majority of people caught smuggling immigrants across the border near San Diego are never prosecuted for the offense, demoralizing the agents making the arrests, according to an internal Border Patrol document obtained by The Associated Press.

"It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted," the report says.

The report offers a stark assessment of the situation at a Border Patrol station responsible for guarding 13 miles of mountainous border east of the city. Federal officials say it reflects a reality along the entire 2,000-mile border: Judges and federal attorneys are so swamped that only the most egregious smuggling cases are prosecuted.

- Associated Press

May 19, 2006

Added May 18, 2006

New Jersey, USA - Mexico

Authorities Arrest 66 Members Of Human Slavery Ring

The major case is the fourth in recent years in N.J., where culprits and victims blend into the ethnic mix.

Newark - From the flats of Moscow, the huts of Tegucigalpa, and the barrios of Mexico City, women and girls as young as 14 have come to New Jersey, many expecting jobs as waitresses or hostesses.

What they got, prosecutors say, was virtual slavery in brothels or similar bondage in nightclubs.

Refusal meant beatings - or worse.

The arrest this week of 66 people in what authorities say is a ring that smuggled Mexicans into the United States, and that may have forced the women to work as prostitutes, was the fourth major human-trafficking case exposed in New Jersey in recent years.

Because of their immigration status, the women are unlikely to complain to police, and the diverse ethnic makeup of North Jersey's neighborhoods makes it easy for the traffickers and their victims to blend in.

In the latest New Jersey case, Mexican brothers Jose Luis Notario Guzman, 50, and Jose Ignacio Notario Guzman, 46, were charged with operating an illegal money-transfer operation that sent the proceeds of prostitution from Newark to Mexico City using couriers. The older Guzman also was charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens

New Jersey state police pulled over a van and a car Sunday night carrying women who had worked in brothels in the Washington, D.C., area, leading to raids Monday morning in 15 locations in Union City, West New York and Queens, N.Y. No one has been charged with prostitution-related crimes, but immigration officials say they believe at least some of the women were forced to work in the brothels.

"The problem is growing rapidly," said Walter Zalisko, a retired Jersey City police lieutenant who helped organize a conference on human trafficking in New Jersey in 1997. "There is just so much money to be made in this business. The product - women - is not illegal, like drugs or guns."

- Wayne Parry

Associated Press

May 3, 2006

Added May 18, 2006

Latin America - United States

U.S. Senate Immigration Bill May Allow 100 Million New Immigrants During Next 20 Years

If enacted, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years—fully one-third of the current population of the United States.

Much attention has been given to the fact that the bill grants amnesty to some 10 million illegal immigrants. Little or no attention has been given to the fact that the bill would quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the United States, raising, over time, the inflow of legal immigrants from around one million per year to over five million per year. The impact of this increase in legal immigration dwarfs the magnitude of the amnesty provisions.

The Heritage Foundation

(A Conservative

Think Tank)

May 15, 2006

Added May 18, 2006

Mexico, United States

President Fox Justifies Bush Immigration Proposals To Mexican Public

El presidente Vicente Fox aceptó que México tiene que multiplicar su compromiso en el tema migratorio al menos en dos aspectos: generar empleos para que no haya migración como consecuencia de la falta de oportunidades y trabajar en una política que garantice la seguridad en las fronteras.

Presidente Fox...

"La Guardia Nacional va por el tema del narcotráfico, del crimen organizado, por el tráfico de personas, inclusive por los pederastas y las violaciones a los niños.

La frontera debe tener seguridad y orden, y principalmente está por ahí el tema del terrorismo", comentó

President Vicente Fox of Mexico has accepted that Mexico must increase its efforts in regard to immigration in two ares: generating employment so that Mexicans do not feel the need to migrate; and in increasing control of Mexico's border with the U.S.

President Fox...

"The theme of the [U.S.] National Guard [controlling the border] is tied to drug trafficking, organized crime, human trafficking - including by pedophiles, and the rape of children.

The border should be secure, which is where the issue of terrorism enters into the picture."

- Roberto Rock and

José Luis Ruiz

El Universal /

Miami Herald
May 18, 2006

Added May 18, 2006

Mexico, Canada, United States

Ex-Clinton Aide Calls For Mexico Marshall Plan

La Jolla, California - The United States could reduce illegal immigration from Mexico by helping its neighbor develop its vast oil resources, the former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton told an industry conference on Wednesday.

Thomas McLarty said the United States should partner with Mexico, and to a lesser degree with Canada, in a "Marshall Plan" effort -- named for the U.S. aid offensive for a ravaged Europe after World War Two -- that could inspire Mexico's work force to remain at home.

"In Mexico, we need to consider some type of Marshall Plan," McLarty told a Latin American energy conference in a San Diego suburb. McLarty said the three countries could provide $20 billion in development aid over a 10-year period.

"That sounds like a lot of money, and it is," said McLarty, who served as White House chief of staff from 1993 to 1994 and is now a consultant. "Consider that the United States spent $100 billion in Iraq in just this past year. Unless we help out our neighbors to the south, and especially Mexico, we will continue to have this issue of immigration which will hurt our relations."

- Bernie Woodall

May 17, 2006

Reuters

Added May 18, 2006

Mexico

Mexico - U.S. National Guard Deployment Won't Stop Migrants

Mexicans dismiss U.S. plans to send National Guard troops to the border as another futile effort that will just fuel an already booming drug- and migrant-smuggling industry.

- El Universal /

Miami Herald
May 18, 2006

Added May 16, 2006

Latin America

IDB Launches Regional Campaign Against Human Trafficking With The Ricky Martin Foundation And The IOM

Ricky Martin - "Call and Live"

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

El Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo anunció hoy el lanzamiento de Llama y Vive, una campaña regional contra la trata de personas destinada a sensibilizar a la opinión pública sobre este fenómeno y promover líneas de asistencia telefónica para la prevención y la protección de las víctimas.

“Llama y Vive” (“Call and Live”) campaign will promote hotlines in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru

The Inter-American Development Bank today announced that it was launching a regional campaign against human trafficking called Llama y Vive (“Call and Live”) to raise public awareness of the problem and promote hotlines for prevention and victim protection.

The campaign, to be launched initially in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru, consists of distributing and disseminating print and audiovisual materials featuring Puerto Rican singer and humanist Ricky Martin. “We have to reach the masses, the people, so that they know that anyone can be a victim of trafficking. It is crucial that governments be involved and be aware of what is going on. Without them we cannot win this battle,” Martin recently declared.

Llama y Vive is the result of a regional partnership between the IDB, the Ricky Martin Foundation and the regional offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Central America and the Andean Region. In each country, interagency working groups against human trafficking established as part of the ratification process for the United Nations Palermo Convention to prevent and sanction human trafficking will also join in the campaign.

“The IDB has decided to take an active role in the fight against trafficking because the phenomenon is linked to poverty and the lack of opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. “We want to support those governments that are committed to carrying out specific projects for prevention of trafficking, effective administration of justice and victim protection,” he noted.

- Inter-American Development Bank

May 10, 2006

See Also:

IDB's 4 minute video mini-documentary on sex trafficking in Latin America featuring comments by Laura Langberg, Specialist on Trafficking in Women and Children at Organization of American States (OAS), Berta Fernandez, Project Development Officer for the Caribbean at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Estela Cardenas, director of Fundación Renacer (the Rebirth Foundation) in Colombia.

Video (In Spanish)

English-language video transcript.

Added May 16, 2006

The World

Ricky Martin Signs Agreement With IOM To Combat Child Trafficking Worldwide

IOM Deputy Director General, Ndioro Ndiaye and Ricky Martin Foundation Sign Agreement

Geneva - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Ricky Martin Foundation (RMF) have signed a global cooperation agreement aimed at raising awareness of and combating the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.

The global agreement will allow IOM and RMF to put in place joint projects to combat human trafficking all over the world, with special emphasis on children and minors.

IOM Deputy Director General, Ndioro Ndiaye and RMF President, Angel Saltos, signed the agreement with Ricky Martin as witness a few hours prior to a concert in Madrid during his European tour.

- International organization for Migration

May 16, 2006

La Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM) y la Fundación Ricky Martin anunciaron el martes un acuerdo de cooperación global que busca combatir la trata de niños y la explotación infantil mediante esfuerzos para crear conciencia social.

- Associated Press

May 16, 2006

Added May 16, 2006

New York, USA

Police Request Help In Hunt For Suspect

Albany - Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a man they say raped a 12-year-old girl earlier this month.

The suspect is Don Salvadore Pacheco, 21, and police believe he’s in the Linn County area.

Pacheco befriended the girl, who had run away from home on May 2, according to Police Capt. Eric Carter. Pacheco told the girl he would help her and said that he was a counselor, according to police.

Pacheco took the girl to a secluded area near Hill Street and 10th Avenue S.E., where he is alleged to have attacked her, Carter said.

The suspect has been “making himself scare,” Carter said, but police believe he’s still in Linn County. A warrant has been issued for his arrest on charges of kidnapping, rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration.

- Carrie Petersen

Albany Democrat-Herald

May 12, 2006

Added May 14, 2006

Florida, USA

Former Immigration Agent Sentenced In Sex Case

Orlando - Frank Figueroa, a former high ranking immigration official, was sentenced to 363 days of probation by an Orlando judge for allegedly exposing himself to a girl in a mall.

Figueroa was also ordered to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation by Judge Leon Cheek. Figueroa has to pay a $500 fine, and perform 200 hours of community service. He was ordered to stay away from malls or other areas where teens might gather.

After a lengthy hearing, Figueroa said he was sorry for the events that took place that day in the mall, but under continued questioning by the judge stopped short of admitting that he had exposed himself to the girl.

The judge withheld adjudication.

Figueroa was charged with exposure of sexual organs and disorderly conduct for exposing himself to a [teenage] girl in the food court at a mall. After his Oct. 25, 2005 arrest at The Mall at Millenia, Figueroa was suspended from his post as the special agent in charge of the Tampa office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the law enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

He was one of Florida’s highest-ranking federal law enforcement officers and the former head of a national program formed to target child sex predators.

- TBO.com

May 12, 2006

Added May 14, 2006

California, USA

'Savage' Rapist Gets 80 Years

Oakland - A judge today told an Oakland man that he will probably die behind bars for a series of sexual assaults that included an attack on a teenager whose first sexual experience was being dragged into the bushes while jogging in Berkeley.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay sentenced Israel Bustamonte to 80 years in prison and called his crimes "brutal and savage acts," and the mother of a 17-year-old girl Bustamonte attacked condemned him.

"She is virtuous," the woman, whom The Chronicle is not naming to protect the victim's identity, said of her daughter. "This was her first experience with a man. It was her first gynecological exam. It was painful and difficult and embarrassing.

"It was," she added, "also the first time she had experienced any kind of violence."

The woman said her daughter now has problems relating to men, including her father, and said of Bustamonte's conviction, "Mom, it's not going to undo what happened."

Bustamonte, 26, showed no visible reaction as an interpreter translated the woman's comment.

On April 14, Bustamonte pleaded guilty to 10 felonies stemming from attacks in which four women were robbed, beaten and raped in Berkeley and Oakland. He had faced 23 felony counts of rape, sodomy, sexual assault, oral copulation and robbery.

Bustamonte's guilty pleas spared his victims "the trauma of having to relive this is open court, the brutal acts that he committed," Clay said.

The Oakland attacks occurred Feb. 19, 2005, and Sept. 23, 2004, on Harrison Street near the Posey Tube, and on Dec. 18, 2004, on Fifth Street near Union Street.

- Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
May 12, 2006

Added May 5, 2006

United States

International Coalition: Young Teen Girls From Michoacan State Are Sold To Brothels In Rich Countries

Explotan a niñas michoacanas en países ricos.

Teresa Ulloa, regional director of the Coalition against the Traffic of Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW) has revealed that 12 and 13-year-old girls from the Mexican state of Michoacan are regularly sold to brothels in rich countries. The most important of these wealthy destination countries are the United States, Canada, Germany, Holland, Japan and Spain. If the girl is a virgin, she will be sold for an average of $15,000.

The crisis in girl trafficking was discussed at a recent workshop called “Building Equality,” organized by the Michoacan Women’s Institute (IMM). The meeting was attended by more than 80 women’s activists, law enforcement authorities, government officials and members of civic institutions.

The forum discussed strategies for building spaces, programs and actions that promote gender equality. Presenters emphasized the importance of sensitizing new generations to the idea of gender equality.

In spite of the fact that in the 2002 the federal government ratified the protocol to prevent and sanction all forms of exploitation and trafficking of women, the topic is not part of the nation’s political agenda, the penalties for sex crimes are very low, and sex trafficking is not criminalized.

Mexico ranks in fifth place a source and destination country for human trafficking victims. The nation is rated in 25th place in severity of sexual exploitation. It is in fifth place in the production of child pornography.

Eighty seven percent of victims who are taken from their homes, whether by relatives, through kidnapping or by trickery, are destined for the sex industry [many women are sold into prostitution by their parents or husbands].

Ninety percent of the victims are children and women.

- Nohemí Vargas and

Carlos Erandi Rodriguez

CimacNoticias

News for Women

Mexico City

May 5, 2006

April 2006 News

All April 2006 News

Added April 24, 2006

United States

U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE) Arrests 7,500 In "Operation Predator" As Of April 2006

Operation Predator is a comprehensive initiative designed to protect young people from alien smugglers, human traffickers, child pornographers and other predatory criminals.

This operation brings to bear the broadest range of law enforcement authorities in the federal government to target those who exploit young people. Children are one of the most important and vulnerable assets to America's homeland. ICE will do everything in its power to protect them.

Operation Predator draws on the full spectrum of intelligence, investigative, cyber and detention and removal functions of ICE to target those who exploit children. In a way unachievable before the creation of Homeland Security, ICE is coordinating once-fragmented resources into a united campaign again child predators.

Under Operation Predator, ICE is taking several new steps to identify, investigate and remove child predators from America’s streets.

More than 85% of arrests are of foreign national sex offenders.

Approximately 40% of these are lawful permanent residents.

Approximately 40% of these are illegal aliens.

Nationwide, approximately 42% of those foreign nationals arrested have been deported to date.

Those arrested represent predators from more than 100 nations.

Report suspicious activity to: 1-866-DHS-2-ICE

- U.S. ICE

April, 2006

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

¡Feliz Día Internacional de la Mujer!

Happy International Women's Day!

LibertadLatina Statement for International

Women's

Day, 2010

Últimas Noticias

Latest News

Added: Mar. 12, 2010

Mexico

Critica PE falta de compromiso para defender DH de las mujeres Reprochan nula respuesta ante abusos sexuales de militares

Diputados del Parlamento Europeo (PE) encabezados por Raül Romeva, criticaron el deterioro de los derechos humanos en México y la falta de compromiso del Estado para defenderlos y apoyarlos, principalmente los derechos sexuales y reproductivos, violencia contra las mujeres y justicia militar, por lo que pidieron que la Unión Europea condicione la ayuda a México, en tanto no haya avances perceptibles en la materia.

En la resolución original sobre México, propuesta e impulsada por el eurodiputado Raül Romeva i Rueda, conjuntamente con Barbara Lochbihler y Ulrike Lunacek, del partido de los Verdes, se hace un recuento de la violencia en todos los ámbitos que actualmente enfrenta México…

European Parliament Rebukes Mexico for Failing to Defend the Rights of Women

Body condemns Mexico's failure to respond to rape by military members

Deputies of the European Parliament (EP), lead by Raül Romeva i Rueds [a Green Party deputy from representing the Catalunya region of Spain], have criticized the deterioration of human rights in Mexico and the lack of commitment on the part of the State to defend and support the rights of women, including those concerning sexual and reproductive rights, violence against the women and military justice. Given a lack of response from Mexico to inquiries, the EP has recommended that aid to Mexico be conditioned on improvement in human rights.

EP deputy Raül Romeva i Rueda proposed and pushed through the resolution in collaboration with fellow Green Party deputies Barbara Lochbihler y Ulrike Lunacek…

Lourdes Godínez Leal

CIMAC Women's News Agency

March 11, 2010

Added: Mar. 12, 2010

Mexico

2009 Human Rights Report: Mexico [Released 2010]

Women

The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and imposes penalties of up to 20 years' imprisonment. However, rape victims rarely filed complaints with police, in part because of the authorities' ineffective and unsupportive responses to victims, the victims' fear of publicity, and a perception that prosecution of cases was unlikely... Human rights organizations asserted that authorities did not take seriously reports of rape and victims continued to be socially stigmatized and ostracized…

NGOs criticized government authorities for failing to investigate adequately, prosecute, and prevent the killings of women and girls.

In November the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that the government denied justice to and failed to prevent the deaths of Claudia Gonzalez, Esmeralda Herrera, and Berenice Ramos, whose bodies were found near Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, in 2001.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, Mexico City and the 12 states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Tlaxcala, Tabasco, and Yucatan experienced high rates of alleged gender-driven homicide.

FEVIMTRA--staffed by 19 legal, administrative, and technical support professionals--is responsible for leading government programs to combat domestic violence and trafficking in persons. Its work includes prosecuting the crimes, raising awareness with potential victims and government officials, and providing the only government shelter for trafficking victims. With only five lawyers dedicated to federal cases of violence against women and trafficking countrywide, FEVEIMTRA faced challenges in moving from investigations to convictions…

Prostitution is legal for adults and continued to be practiced widely. While pimping and prostitution of minors under age 18 are illegal, these offenses also were practiced widely, often with the collaboration or knowledge of police, according to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The country was a destination for sex tourists and pedophiles, particularly from the United States. There were no laws specifically prohibiting sex tourism, although federal law criminalizes corruption of minors, for which the penalty is five to 10 years' imprisonment. Trafficking in women and minors for prostitution remained a problem.

Federal law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for fines of up to 40 days' minimum salary, but victims must press charges. Sexual harassment is criminalized in 26 of the states and the Federal District, but in only 22 of these is a punishment contemplated when the perpetrator has a position of power. According to INMUJERES, sexual harassment in the workplace was widespread, but victims were reluctant to come forward, and cases were difficult to prove…

Children

…The anti-trafficking law prohibits the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The CNDH estimated that every year, more than 30,000 children were recruited by criminal organizations dedicated to trafficking in persons. UNICEF and the anti-trafficking NGO CEIDAS reported that 1.8 million children were involved in commercial sex exploitation and that 1.2 million were victims of child trafficking. CEIDAS, the NGO Casa Alianza, and the National Network of Shelters reported that sex tourism and sexual exploitation of minors were significant problems in the resort and northern border areas. The UN special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, who visited the country in 2007, stated that the country did not have an effective system to protect and provide assistance to children and young people who were victims of sexual exploitation or trafficking…

Trafficking in Persons

The country was a point of origin, transit, and destination for persons trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor.

The INM, CNDH, and CEIDAS reported that the vast majority of noncitizen trafficking victims came from Central America; a lesser number originated in the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Victims were trafficked to the United States as well as to Europe, Asia, Canada, and in-country destinations. Women and children (both boys and girls), undocumented migrants from Central America, the poor, and indigenous persons were most at risk for trafficking.

… Many illegal immigrants also became victims of traffickers along the border with Guatemala, where the growing presence of gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha and MS 18 made the area especially dangerous for undocumented and unaccompanied women and children migrating north.

Apart from cartels and gangs, many criminal organizations from Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Europe, Japan, China, and several other countries, as well as small family networks, were reportedly involved in trafficking.

…The federal government does not automatically assume jurisdiction in interstate trafficking cases. Twenty-one states criminalize certain aspects of trafficking…

On December 2, a federal judge convicted five individuals from Tlaxcala, Mexico, for sexual exploitation--the first convictions under the Trafficking in Persons Law adopted in 2007. Four of the individuals were in custody in Mexico awaiting sentencing, while the fifth was in the United States awaiting sentencing on a conviction there. Separately, the government pursued 48 trafficking cases. FEVIMTRA investigated 43 of the cases involving three or fewer suspects during the year. The Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, which handles trafficking cases with more than three suspects, was investigating the other five cases. In several states that have adopted penal codes to reflect the federal trafficking legislation, local prosecutors also made efforts to prosecute traffickers, particularly in Mexico City, Chihuahua, and Oaxaca. These offices had limited resources and experience.

Indigenous People

The CNDH and the Secretariat of Indigenous Peoples in Chiapas acknowledged that indigenous communities have long been socially and economically marginalized and subjected to discrimination, particularly in the central and southern regions, where indigenous persons sometimes represented more than one-third of the total state population. In the state of Chiapas, the NGOs Fray Bartolome de las Casas (FrayBa) and SiPaz argued that indigenous peoples' ability to participate in decisions affecting their lands, cultural traditions, and allocation of natural resources was negligible.

…[Indigenous] communities applied traditional practices to resolve disputes and choose local officials without government interference. While such practices allowed communities to elect officials according to their traditions, usages and customs laws generally excluded women from the political process and often infringed on other women's rights...

U.S. Department of State

March 11, 2010

Added: Mar. 10, 2010

Mexico

Jean Succar Kuri (left)

Exhortan Diputados a Reforzar Lucha Contra Explotación Infantil

Ciudad de México.- Un exhorto a las procuradurías de justicia de los estados y del Distrito Federal hizo la Cámara de Diputados para que redoblen sus esfuerzos en el combate a la explotación sexual infantil, a la trata de personas, así como para que capaciten constantemente a su personal…

Congressional Deputies Call for a Redoubling of Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking

Mexico City – A recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies [lower house of Congress] lead to a unanimous vote on a non-binding resolution calling upon the nation’s federal and state prosecutors to redouble their efforts to fight against the sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking. The legislators also asked that the Courts establish permanent professional training on human trafficking law for their employees.

The non-binding resolution also asks criminal justice entities to coordinate with other government agencies with expertise in human trafficking, such as the Special Prosecutor for Violent Crimes Against Women and Human Trafficking

(FEVIMTRA).

The resolution specifically asks that prosecutors charge defendants with trafficking crimes where such action is merited, and that the punishment be commensurate with the crimes committed.

National Action Party (PAN) deputy Rosi Orozco called upon the authorities in charge of the Cancun Penitentiary to take preventive measures to insure that [convicted millionaire child pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri does not escape during his upcoming transfer [from a maximum security prison in Mexico state to the Cancun minimum security facility]. Deputy Orozco also called for psychological studies to be performed and re-education be carried before prisoners like Succar Kuri are released back into society.

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) deputy Pedro Avila Nevares asked that members of the Chamber put their political divisions aside and work as one to defend the wellbeing of the children of Mexico. PAN deputies Agustín Castilla Marroquín y Guillermo Zavaleta Rojas declared that Mexico must have a “zero tolerance policy for pedophiles, regardless of whether they are wealthy, politically connected or are members of a religious cult.”

Members of the Chamber agreed that recent child sexual exploitation scandals such as those of Father Rafael Muñiz Maciel, [child pornographer] Jean Surcar Kuri and the Casitas del Sur case [in which a dozen or more children were trafficked from a network of children’s shelters with possible links to Succar Kuri’s sex trafficking network] should never be repeated in our nation. “These are examples of behaviors that are indeed embarrassing to all Mexicans.”

El Sol de México

March 05, 2010

Added: March 10, 2010

Haiti, Bolivia

Haitian Children Rescued From Traffickers

Authorities in Bolivia have rescued 19 children and teenagers thought to have been kidnapped in Haiti by human trafficking gangs.

A state prosecutor says the children are now being looked after by the Bolivian government and a search is continuing for at least eight others.

The 19 children who are now being looked after in a safe house in Santa Cruz were in a party of 88 Haitians who entered Bolivia from Peru on tourist visas in January.

It is not clear when they left Haiti, but one report indicates they set off on their journey - which took them through the Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru - two days before the earthquake which devastated large parts of Haiti on January 12.

Prosecuting authorities in Bolivia suspect the children were being trafficked for sexual exploitation and three people have been arrested - two Haitians and a Bolivian.

ABC News

March 10, 2010

Added: March 10, 2010

Mexico

Desarticulan banda de trata de personas en México

Una banda de trata de personas, incluyendo menores de edad, fue desarticulada en Puebla, centro de México, dijo la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE).

La banda operaba en San Pedro Cholula, una población del estado de Puebla.

Agentes del Ministerio Público y Policía Ministerial de la entidad aseguraron a 11 integrantes de una célula delictiva, que operaba en el bar "Las Vías del Amor" .

Los detenidos fueron identificados como Salvador Anatolio Ramírez Cortés, de 60 años de edad, dueño del lugar; Salvador Ramírez Sosa, de 23 años, hijo del dueño, y Edna Ruth González, de 41 años, encargada del bar.

La PGJE dijo que además fueron arrestadas Carmen Cajica Rodríguez de 33 años, Javier Sánchez Morales, de 33 años; Leonel Mena Sánchez, de 30, y Héctor Manuel Becerra Fernández, de 56 años.

Human Trafficking Ring is Broken Up in Puebla

A human trafficking gang that included underage members has been disbanded in the state of Puebla, according to the state Attorney General's office.

The gang operated in the town San Pedro Cholula, in Puebla.

Police agents from the Public Ministry and the Ministerial Police detained 11 subjects who ran the ring from the the bar "Las Vías del Amor" (the paths of love).

Those arrested include Salvador Anatolio Ramírez Cortés, age 60, the bar's owner, Salvador Ramírez Sosa, 23, the bar owner's son, and Edna Ruth González, 41, who was in charge of the bar.

The Attorney General's office also mentioned the arrests of: Carmen Cajica Rodríguez, age 33; Javier Sánchez Morales, age 33; Leonel Mena Sánchez, age 30; and Héctor Manuel Becerra Fernández, age 56.

United Press International (UPI)

March 08, 2010

Added: March 10, 2010

Mexico

Buscan crear banco de datos sobre la trata de personas

La Junta de Coordinación Política de la Cámara de Diputados exhortó a la Comisión Intersecretarial para Prevenir y Sancionar la Trata de Personas (conformada por instituciones del gobierno federal) a integrar un acervo especializado que contenga un banco de información particular sobre la trata de personas...

Congress Seeks to Create a National Human Trafficking Database

The Political Coordinating Committee of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of Congress) has asked President Calderón's [recently formed] Inter-Agency Commission to Prevent and Punish Human Trafficking (composed of federal agencies) to create a computerized human trafficking database system.

The Coordinating Committee also requested that the anti-trafficking commission coordinate the development of the project with experts in the field. The Chamber of Deputies would like to see the project developed in a timely manner. The purpose of the project is to utilize the collected data to assist in the analysis of human trafficking with the objective of supporting efforts to prevent and punish human trafficking, as well as improve services for victims.

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) says that each year between 16,000 and 20,000 children are sexually exploited in Mexico. The Special Prosecutor's Office for Specialized Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO) has detected 14 child sex trafficking networks just in the state of Guerrero.

Roberto Garduño

La Jornada

March 06, 2010

Added: March 10, 2010

Mexico

Preocupan a EU trata de personas, drogadicción y violencia aquí: Pascual

Zacatecas, Zac., 8 de marzo. El embajador de Estados Unidos en México, Carlos Pascual, aseguró que el gobierno de Washington está preocupado por tres problemas sociales relacionados con el narcotráfico y el crimen organizado que ocurren en este país:

La trata de personas, sobre todo de mujeres jóvenes y adolescentes; el alto porcentaje de “muchachos” que en muchas ciudades han desertado de sus escuelas hasta en 70 por ciento y luego caen en el uso de drogas, y en tercer lugar, la “batalla” que estos jóvenes libran todos los días “por el control de una esquina...

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Expresses Concern About Human Trafficking, Drug Addiction and Violence

During an event held in Zacatecas city in Zacatecas state to celebrate International Women’s Day, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual has expressed his concern about three social problems with ties to narcotics trafficking and violence that occur in Mexico.

The problems mentioned were: 1) Human trafficking, and especially that which affects women and youth; 2) the high levels of school dropouts - which reach up to 70% of students in some regions – that drives youth drug addiction; and 3) the street battles that these youth unleash every day in their efforts “to control a street corner.”

Ambassador Pascual: “We can’t allow these youth to become the model for the future. We have to find a way to rescue those who have already fallen.”

The Ambassador added that is important that we support drug rehabilitation programs for addicts, as well as job creation and the taking back of public spaces.

Ambassador Pascual went on to note that “we are also responsible, and therefore we are doing everything possible to reduce the demand for drugs” in the U.S., by means of a federal prevention and rehabilitation program funded at 5.6 billion dollars.

Pascual said that the U.S. is doing what is possible to reduce the flow of arms and dollars, which crime networks send to Mexico from the U.S.

Ambassador Pascual also discussed immigration reform, noting that the Obama Administration will continue to seek to pass a comprehensive immigration reform package that will benefit the more than 12 million Mexicans who reside in the U.S. He added that understanding migration is a priority, because what it signifies for the future of both sides of the border.

Alfredo Valadez Rodríguez

La Jornada

March 09, 2010

Added: March 10, 2010

Costa Rica

United States Announces Initiatives in Costa Rica to Curtail Human Trafficking

The United Nations estimates that more than 250,000 people from Latin America are forced into labor as a result of human trafficking at any given time.

Though the extent of trafficking in Costa Rica is not known, the country has been recognized as both a feeder country and a destination for forced labor. A March, 2009 report issued by the United States said that Costa Rica fell short of the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Girls from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Russia and Eastern Europe have been identified here as victims of forced prostitution. Officials are also aware of trafficking going the other way. According to the United States, Costa Rica needs to intensify efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses and improve data collection regarding trafficking crimes, among other changes.

To help Costa Rica meet minimum benchmarks, the United States government announced Monday that it would be backing two initiatives with a collective $350,000 grant.

“Make no mistake, human trafficking is a real example of modern-day slavery,” said U.S. Ambassador Anne Andrew. “That is why the United States Government is intent on supporting the fight against human trafficking.”

Part of the grant will go to Fundación Rahab to promote prevention as well as protection of adults and adolescents who are victims of trafficking. The other piece will go to the country's Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) to improve investigation and response to forced labor.

“Trafficking of persons is a phenomenon that has no place in the 21st century; not in Costa Rica, not in the U.S. and not in our world,” Andrew continued. “It is our duty as human beings to fight against this evil.”

According to Andrew, Costa Rica has taken steps towards addressing the problem by changing some of its laws and improving the tools used to fight illicit trafficking. She said that traffickers frequently recruit people through fraudulent advertisements, promising legitimate jobs as models, hostesses, or work in the agricultural industry. When they accept, they find themselves trapped in jobs in a foreign country.

One way Public Security Minister Janina DelVecchio plans to confront the issue of trafficking is by “putting police where we have people” so that cases of forced labor are better detected.

Chrissie Long

Tico Times

March 09, 2010

Added: March 10, 2010

California, USA

Illegal Immigrant Wanted on Sexual Molestation Charge Arrested Near Calexico

An illegal immigrant charged with sexually molesting a child in the Bay Area was arrested near Calexico after trying to sneak back in the United States from Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.

The man was arrested Sunday nine miles west of Calexico with four other immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said. His name and age were not released.

A records check by federal officers showed that the man was wanted on an outstanding warrant in Marin County on a charge of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under 14, the department said.

The man was being held by the Imperial County Sheriff's Department pending extradition to Marin County, according to the department. The four others were processed and returned to Mexico.

Robert J. Lopez

Los Angeles Times

March 9, 2010

Added: Mar. 9, 2010

Mexico

Ciudad Juarez

Sin cubrir “una mínima” parte la sentencia de CoIDH por Campo Algodonero

Critica organización civil “política simulatoria”de autoridades

México.- En materia de justicia, el gobierno mexicano mantiene una "política simulatoria", que solo se vale de grandes "distractores" para impactar. Esa es la razón por la que hoy se publican en el Diario Oficial de la Federación, los párrafos ordenados por la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CoIDH) sobre la sentencia del caso "Campo Algodonero"...

Mexico Has Not Complied With "Even the Minimum" of the Inter-American Court's Sentence in the Juarez Cotton Fields Case

In matters of justice [for women], the government of Mexico uses a false front that relies upon large distractions to create public impact. This is the reason why today a statement ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in the 'Cotton Fields' case in Ciudad Juarez was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

Marisela Ortiz, the co-founder of the organization May Our Daughters Return Home [Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa], told CIMAC News that the fact that the Mexican State has complied with paragraph 15 of the Court's order, requiring the publication as a "recognition of the true history" of the case, does not mean that Mexico is actually bringing about justice in the case.

Ortiz went on to say that the Government wants to show that it is doing something, but to date, 'we haven't seen any actions by them that come from a true concern to see justice done in the case, because the Government lacks the political will to repair the damage that has been done.'

The reality from our point of view, Ortiz says, is that Mexico has not complied with even the minimum requirements of the sentence published by the International Court. The only thing that they have done is to meet with the three families who brought the case to the IACHR. The Cotton fields case involved 8 women who's tortured bodies were found in a cotton field in Ciudad Juarez in 2001. The families of three victims participated in the IACHR case.

A clear example of the lack of appropriate government response to the case involves the fact that the authorities have stopped the small payments that they were making to the three families who brought the case…

Now, more than ever, the government is using a false front in addressing the issue of femicide in Ciudad Juarez. The authorities have not taken into consideration the mothers of the other mothers of femicide victims, and today, government officials never mention anything about the femicide murders. They have blame cases of femicide in Ciudad Juarez on the narco-traffickers. Ortiz: “That is not a policy.”

Ortiz: “We will now have to be more vigilant in our demands that the Mexican Government compy with the requirements of the IACHR’s sentence.

In addition, we will continue in the struggle to bring justice to all of the other femicide cases, until we oblige the Mexican State to take responsibility for not guaranteeing safety for women, providing reparations for victims and for the prevention future crimes [as called for in the Court’s sentence]…

Ortiz declared that reparations for the damages done to the victims is not about money, it is about justice, about a public apology from the government, and later, it will be about seeing results to efforts to provide a better quality of life those who have been affected.

In commemoration of International Women’s Day, May Our Daughters Come Home expressed the need to do away with the idea that giving us a flower, of telling us that it is “beautiful to be a woman” and giving hypocritical accolades to distinguished women – is somehow the equivalent of their having an awareness of gender equality and justice.

Women in Cuidad Juarez continue to be murdered, and the machismo-driven attitudes of the government continue to foment impunity.

Marisela Ortiz:

“We dedicate this day to the women who have been the victims, and we rededicate ourselves to the fight against femicide.”

Laura Romero Gómez

CIMAC Women's News Agency

March 08, 2010

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

The Americas

Indigenous girls in Mexico - always at risk from sex traffickers and a government that does not care.

LibertadLatina Statement for International

Women's Day,

2010

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

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

Illinois, USA

DePaul University College of Law research fellow Jody Raphael presents her study of prostitution in Chicago - in 2008.

Video: WLS TV

‘Sex Trafficking’ Not Just a Problem Abroad

Juvenile Delinquency ‘We’ve got to punish men who are buying sex from children’

One of the first things Jody Raphael will tell you about child prostitution is this:

These children are not prostitutes. They're victims of abuse.

They're girls mostly, as young as 12, thousands of them, pimped out in hotels and apartments, often via the Internet, from the suburbs to the outskirts of Midway Airport and on down to Springfield, especially when all sorts gather for a legislative session.

The practice is officially known as sex trafficking, though the word "trafficking" often gets paired with "international" and conjures images of girls from foreign places.

The abuse of those girls – from Eastern Europe, Cambodia, Thailand – is what most often makes news and the plots of prime-time crime shows.

"International trafficking has excited a whole lot of interest," says Raphael, a research fellow at the DePaul University College of Law. "We've been trying to say for years: We have the same thing happening to girls born and bred in Chicago."

The plight of local girls got some publicity last week when Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez testified at a U.S. Senate hearing on domestic trafficking. That hearing relied partly on Raphael's research, so on Friday I asked her to paint a picture of what goes on in Chicago.

Our girls, she said, are mostly poor, which means disproportionately African-American and Hispanic. Almost all were sexually abused before they entered the trade.

Some girls are "put out" by a mother or a brother as a way to make money for the family. Some run away from an abusive home, only to be preyed upon by "recruiters..."

Raphael works with various groups, including the Cook County Sheriff's Office and End Demand Illinois, a new campaign funded by Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation.

Targeting the traffickers, she believes, won't solve the problem.

"You have to make it very expensive and unhappy for the customer," she said. "We've got to punish men who are buying sex from children. We have to stop normalizing it.

"That means going after the customer and making it clear that here in Chicago we're not going to put up with this."

Mary Schmich

The Chicago Tribune

Feb. 28, 2010

See also:

Domestic Sex Trafficking of Chicago Women and Girls

[PDF file] [Overview]

Jody Raphael and Jessica Ashley

May, 2008

See also:

Studies Look at Prostitution in Chicago

[The linked article includes a video report.]

WLS

May 07, 2008

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

Mexico

Jean Succar Kuri (left) is escorted in a straight jacket by federal agents

Photo: Crónica

PRD, PRI, PAN y PT unen fuerzas para que no se beneficie al pederasta Succar Kuri

“Esta Cámara no tolera a los malditos pedófilos; para ellos mano dura”, afirma Leticia Quezada

The Party of the Democratic Revolution, the Institutional Revolutionary party, the National Action Party (PAN) and the Labor Party (PT) Unite to Prevent Pedophile [Kingpin] Jean Succar Kuri From Benefiting From the 'System.'

Deputy Leticia Quezada: "The Chamber of Deputies will not tolerate these evil pedophile; throw the book at them."

La Cámara de Diputados aprobó un exhorto al Poder Judicial para revertir la decisión del juez Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz de trasladar a una cárcel de Cancún al pederasta Jean Succar Kuri, y que en caso de cumplirse su cambio de prisión se ejerza una vigilancia especial para evitar que escape.

En la sesión de ayer, diputados de todos los partidos lamentaron que Succar Kuri, sentenciado por abuso a menores de edad en Cancún, Quintana Roo, sea enviado a una prisión de mínima seguridad, aun cuando fue catalogado en el proceso judicial como reo de alta peligrosidad.

En todos los tonos, legisladores de los partidos Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Acción Nacional (PAN), de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) y del Trabajo (PT) reprocharon las facilidades que el juez García Lanz concede a Succar Kuri...

The Chamber of Deputies have passed a non-binding resolution that calls upon he Judiciary to reverse a decision by Judge Alfonso Gabriel García Lanz that will permit the transfer of [millionaire child pornographer] pedophile Jean Succar Kuri to a minimum security prison in the city of Cancún. The resolution also call for extreme vigilance to be used in the case that Succar Kuri is transferred, so that he is not allowed to escape.

In a plenary session of the Chamber, all of Mexico’s political lamented the fact that Succar Kuri, who was convicted and sentenced to prison for the sexual abuse of children in Cancún, is scheduled to be transferred to a minimum security jail when he had previously been categorized during the judicial process as a dangerous prisoner. The Party of the Democratic Revolution(PRD), the Institutional Revolutionary Party(PRI), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Labor Party (PT) all denounced the special access that Judge García Lanz is permitting Succar Kuri to have.

From the podium of the Chamber, PRI deputy Pedro Ávila Nevárez decried “the evil intentions that this man [Succar Kuri] had against Mexican children. If possible, the Army should pick this individual up, but don’t allow him to be taken to Cancun as if he had just won a prize. Send him instead to the Marias Islands or some other place that he can’t escape from!”

PAN deputy Guillermo Zavaleta stated that the crime committed by Succar Kuri should be punished by the death sentence. “He doesn’t deserve to see even the light of day tomorrow” stated Deputy Zavaleta from the podium. “Nonetheless, the political system guarantees him that he will be allowed to live.”

PRD legislator Emilio Serrano also spoke, saying that the transfer of Succar Kuri involves an attempt to allow his escape. “What can we say, now, to the ‘precious gover’ [a nickname used by Succar Kuri accomplice Kamel Nacif, heard in secretly recorded phone calls, where he refers to Governor Mario Marín of Puebla state by this term]? That he take Succar Kuri to Puebla, because he would be protected there – a place where Miguel Ángel Yunes and Emilio Gamboa Patrón, and other [wanted] men hide, men who are in the same business and have the same tastes as Sucar Kuri?”

Labor Party deputy Gerardo Rodolfo Fernández stood to propose an end to the sheltering of pedophiles. “Often special privileges are offered to those who are rich and influential, those who have the protection of politicians, such as in the case of this person, Jean Succar Kuri. That is what the cases of Succar Kuri, Miguel Ángel Yunes and Emilio Gamboa have in common, that they are gravely serious and related cases of impunity.

The Party of the Democratic Revolution’s spokesperson in the Chamber, Leticia Quezada Contreras, upon voting for the resolution stated: “This Chamber will not tolerate these perverted pedophiles who want to hide between the gaps in the law. Throw the book at them!”

The Chamber also approved a proposal by Labor party deputy César González Yáñez, that Deputy Rosi Orozco, in her role as Chair of the newly created Special Commission to Fight Human Trafficking, personally present the resolution to the Judiciary, and specifically to Judge García Lanz.

Enrique Méndez and Roberto Garduño

Periódico La Jornada

March 05, 2010

[Note: In the above article, Miguel Ángel Yunes, who until Feb. of 2010 was head of the federal Secretariat of Public Security, and Emilio Gamboa, a legislator in the National Action Party, are referred to as having ties to Kamel Nacif, a collaborator of Jean Succar Kuri.

These ties are briefly described in several articles posted on our page dedicated to the Lydia Cacho case.

The below article from IPS also describes these allegations. - LL]

See also:

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

Mexico

Ties Between Elites and Child Sex Rings "Beyond Imagination"

Mexico City - The complicity in Mexico between child sex rings and the political and business elites "goes beyond what we can even imagine," says activist Lydia Cacho, who faces death threats and was even thrown briefly into prison for revealing those ties in a book...

The number of Mexican politicians and businessmen involved in child pornography and sex rings "would shock us if we knew the real extent of the phenomenon," said Cacho.

In one of the illegally taped conversations broadcast Tuesday, which apparently date back to 2004, the governor of the state of Veracruz, Fidel Herrera of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Emilio Gamboa, head of the party's bloc in the lower house of Congress, can be heard talking on friendly terms with textile mogul Kamel Nacif.

Nacif, a Mexican of Lebanese origin, who in the obscenity-laced conversation can be heard asking Gamboa to block a gambling bill to be debated by Congress, is suing Cacho for libel.

In her 2004 book "Los Demonios del Edén" (The Demons of Eden), Cacho - who is a journalist and writer as well as the director of a women's shelter in Cancún - links Nacif with Jean Succar, a Lebanese-born hotel owner who is in prison facing charges of arranging pedophile parties in that Mexican resort town...

The two PRI politicians, Herrera and Gamboa, denied having any illegal ties with Nacif, and said they did not even know Succar. From their point of view, the airing of the tapped phone conversations was a low political blow aimed at their party...

So far, no direct link between politicians or prominent businessmen and child porn or sex rings has been proven. But there are suspicions, which are fuelled by Nacif and his web of contacts.

Cacho, who has been under police protection since last year, when she began to receive death threats, was referred to in earlier leaked conversations, between Nacif and Mario Marín, governor of the state of Puebla, near the capital.

In the tapped conversations, Marín, a member of the PRI, can be heard telling Nacif that "I just gave a bump on the head to that old witch" [Cacho].

The two men also discussed how they had the activist arrested and thrown into a cell with "nutcases and dykes (lesbians)," so that she would be raped - something that did not occur, because in the prison, "the prisoners themselves and the guards protected me," the writer said in an earlier conversation with IPS...

But when the news of her arrest broke, the rights watchdog Amnesty International, the World Organization Against Torture, the Inter-American Press Association and other international groups raised an outcry, and Cacho was released on bail.

After the scandal triggered by the leaked phone conversations in February, in which the governor of Puebla and Nacif - who owns factories in that state - are heard discussing actions to teach Cacho a lesson, the Supreme Court initiated an investigation to determine whether or not Marín had engaged in criminal activity.

[Note: Since this article was written in 2006, press reports have revealed that Kamel Nacif's wife, who was then in a divorce process, had secretly recorded her husband's conversations with politicians and co-conspirators including Jean Succar Kuri. She anonymously released these tapes to the press in 2006. - LL]

Diego Cevallos

Inter Press Service (IPS)

Sep. 13, 2006

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

Mexico

National Action Party (PAN) legislator Guillermo Zavaleta speaks from the podium in the Chamber of Deputies to denounce judicial favoritism shown to child porn kingpin Jean Succar Kuri

La Cámara Baja Exige al Poder Judicial Combatir Eficazmente la Pederastia

El pleno de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó por unanimidad, un punto de acuerdo para exhortar al Poder Judicial, a la PGR y a las procuradurías de Justicia de todo el país a combatir con eficacia la pornografía infantil y el abuso sexual a menores.

Diputados de todas las fracciones parlamentarias coincidieron en que se trata de delitos cada vez con mayor incidencia en México.

La propuesta fue presentada por la legisladora panista Rosi Orozco...

Chamber of Deputies Passes Non-binding Resolution Requesting That the Attorney General's Office and State Prosecutors Across Mexico Effectively Combat Child Pornography and the Sexual Abuse of Children.

Daniel Blancas Madrigal

Crónica

March 05, 2010

See also:

Added: Feb. 22, 2010

Mexico

Víctimas Apelan Reubicación de Kuri

Victims Appeal Succar Kuri’s Relocation to a Minimum Security Jail in Cancun

The city of Cancun in Quintana Roo state – The administrators of the Cancun municipal jail have announced that Jean Succar Kuri, who have been prosecuted for heading-up a child pornography ring and engaging in child sexual exploitation, may be relocated from a high security prison to this minimum security prison, as a result of orders from the Second District Court in this city...

The announcement of the return to prison in Cancun came four years after the detention of writer and journalist Lydia Cacho, author of book The Demons of Eden, which exposed the activities of a pedophile ring.

Cacho, who was arrested in Cancun in December 2005 and taken to Puebla state under a criminal charge of defamation, considers that there is a very high probability that, once in Cancun, Succar Kuri will use his influence to live a comfortable life, and will escape and exact revenge against his victims.

Cacho, “Succar Kuri promised that he would return to Cancun to get revenge on girls who denounced him and, of course, to take revenge on me."

Adriana Varillas Corresponsal

El Universal

Feb. 16, 2010

See Also:

LibertadLatina

Special Section

Journalist / Activist

Lydia Cacho is

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

Colorado, USA

Western Union to Pay $94 Million in Mexico Transfer Settlement

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.

Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press

Feb. 12, 2010

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

Texas, USA

Heriberto Zaragoza III

Fugitive Arrested in Connection With Sexual Assault of a Child

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...

Louis Ojeda

KXXV

March 05, 2010

Added: Mar. 7, 2010

New Mexico, USA

Adult Charged After Teen Found Pregnant

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.

The Associated Press

March 01, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

Pennsylvania, USA

Jose David Castillo

Five in Montgomery County Charged in Drug, Prostitution Ring

Try as he might, alleged drug and prostitution ringleader Jose David Castillo couldn't keep Montgomery County authorities and his own children in the dark.

Castillo, 36, gave it his best shot, though, cops say. He and his cohorts set up a shrine with spiritual symbols - including the Santa Muerte, or angel of death - to ward off law enforcement in the hope that investigators wouldn't notice the two brothels and the cocaine-trafficking operation he ran in Norristown, authorities said.

But when Montgomery County investigators finally entered his home on Green Street with a search warrant last May, after a year of surveillance and investigation, one detective had a question for his daughter: "What does your father do for a living?"

"All I know is that he had a whorehouse," the girl answered, according to an affidavit of probable cause. When detectives asked her what her father said about the place, she answered: "Just rumors around town . . . My friends would tell me that he was selling women," the affidavit said.

Castillo, known by his underlings as "Gordo," or "fat guy," and four other defendants were charged yesterday with corrupt organizations, prostitution and drug and related offenses.

The others charged were Victor Castillo (J.D. Castillo's brother) Alfredo Hernandez Garcia, Louis Manuel Gonzalez-Sosa and Eduardo Lalo Guzman-Hernandez. All are Mexican nationals in the country illegally. Castillo has been arrested twice, once in California and once in Norristown, and has been deported twice to Mexico...

One brothel and the house that served as base for the cocaine operation were across the street from Gotwall's Elementary School, the affidavit said...

Three women who allegedly were working as prostitutes when the warrants were served are in protective custody of the Department of Homeland Security and have been cooperating with investigators.

"The women were brought to the United States illegally, and they were brought in with promises of a better life, promises of employment," District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said at a news conference. Instead, she said, they were forced into prostitution "and physically beaten if they did not comply."

They were threatened with abandonment in the United States or, worse, "they would be taken back to Mexico to be killed so they could not be able to share this information with authorities," Ferman said.

Such women would work for Castillo for one week in Norristown while always being watched by one of his men, according to the affidavit.

"The operation here was part of a circuit of prostitutes who were routinely routed from Mexico to New York into New Jersey, Philadelphia and the Norristown area," Ferman said...

Regina Medina

Philadelphia Daily News

March 5, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

Mexico

Piden Partidos Políticos Evitar Traslado de Succar Kuri a Cancún

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.

CIMAC Women's News Agency

March 05, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

Latin America, The United States

Hillary Clinton Urges Latin America to Fight Drug Corruption

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]

Anne-Marie O'Connor

The Washington Post

March 6, 2010

See also:

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

Central America

Centroamérica: Territorio Común Para los Feminicidios

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...

Central America: Common Territory for Femicide

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.

Mario Cordero

La Hora

Jan. 19, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

New Jerey, USA

Police, Feds Investigate Human Trafficking in [Trenton]

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.

NJ.com

March 06, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

Maryland, USA

Arash Koraganie Ghulam Abbas

Montgomery County Police Accuse Six of Human Trafficking, Prostitution

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...

Andre L. Taylor

The Gazette

March 2, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

Mexico

Demandarán Mujeres Indígenas de Guerrero Recursos y Servicios

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

More than 800 Indigenous women from Guerrero state will gather on Saturday, March 6th in the community of Xalatzala, in Tlapa municipality, and on March 7th in Tejocote, Malinaltepec municipality, to be followed by a march to Tlapa. The event is a protest that will demand an end to the harassment of women leaders of human and labor rights organizations in the region. The women will also demand that public policies be developed that address the needs of Indigenous women in the region. The march is being held as part of International Women's Day activities, and is being organized by the Francisca Reyes Castellanos Regional Union of Women of la Montaña - headed by Jacqueline Balbuena Ramírez, The National Union of Mexican Women and the Regional Union of la Montaña.

CIMAC Women's News Agency

March 5, 2010

Added: Mar. 6, 2010

California, USA

Barstow Mayor Joseph Dennis Gomez Jr. explains his legal problems to the Barstow City Council. He is charged with willfully touching the intimate parts of a woman against her will for purposes of "sexual arousal, sexual gratification and sexual abuse."

Barstow Mayor Charged With Sexual Battery

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.

The Associated Press

Feb. 23, 2010

Added: Mar. 5, 2010

Mexico

Imprisoned child pornographer Jean Succar Kuri photo-graphed with one of his 200 child victims (Now older, the victim was interviewed for a documentary on the repression of journalist Lydia Cacho by associates of Succar Kuri.)

Piden operativo para evitar fuga de Jean Succar Kuri

México.- Por unanimidad el pleno de la Cámara de Diputados exhortó a las procuradurías General de la República y General de Justicia del Estado de Quintana Roo a implementar un operativo de seguridad para evitar la fuga del pederasta Jean Succar Kuri, cuando éste sea trasladado al centro penitenciario de Cancún.

La Cámara de Diputados también solicitó la intervención de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, para que a través de la dirección general de traslados de reos y seguridad penitenciaria adopte las medidas necesarias para impedir que el pederasta pudiera ser liberado durante el viaje a la prisión local…

Lower Chamber of Congress Unanimously Calls for Special Security Measures to Prevent Child Pornographer Jean Succar Kuri's Escape from Prison

Mexico City - The Chamber of Deputies (lower house) of Congress has unanimously passed a non-binding resolution that requests that the Attorney General of the state of Quintana Roo mount a security operation to insure that convicted millionaire child pornographer Jean Succar Kuri does not escape during his upcoming transfer from a maximum security prison to a minimum security jail in Cancún.

The Chamber of Deputies also requested the intervention of the federal Secretary of Public Security, through its directorate for prisoner transfers and security, asking that they take all possible precautions to prevent any escape attempt by Succar Kuri.

The vote on the non-binding resolution was held with a sense of urgency and obvious determination. It was supported by all political parties. The resolution was presented by National Action Party (PAN) congressional deputy Rosi Orozco, who is Chair of the newly formed Special Commission to Fight Human Trafficking in the Chamber of Deputies.

The resolution also calls upon federal agencies and state governments to redouble their efforts to eradicate and prevent child sexual exploitation, and asks that they find and prosecute more cases like that of pedophile Jean Succar Kuri.

From the Chamber of Deputies all of Mexico's political parties attacked pedophilia and stood in favor of defending the rights of Mexican children.

Nonetheless, Emilio Serrano, a deputy from the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) asked the Chamber why they were 'tearing their clothes up' about this issue, given that the same institution, Congress, had previously protected pedophiles and human rights violators. He recalled the case of Puebla state governor Mario Marín, and his collusion with millionaire businessman Kamel Nacif, who himself is linked to Succar Kuri.

[See the below link to the Lydia Cacho case for additional context to this statement. - LL]

Mónica Romero

W Radio

March 04, 2010

See Also:

LibertadLatina

Special Section

Journalist / Activist Lydia Cacho is

Added: Mar. 5, 2010

Mexico

New Alliance Party deputy Elsa María Martínez Peña

Impulsarán cambios culturales para resolver cultura machista

Comité del Centro de Estudios para el Adelanto de las Mujeres

México, DF.- Diputadas integrantes del Comité del Centro de Estudios para el Adelanto de las Mujeres y la Equidad de Género (CCEAMEG), coincidieron en la necesidad de crear nuevas estrategias de desarrollo en favor de las mujeres del país, y en particular de las indígenas y rurales.

Durante la instalación del Comité, las legisladoras convinieron en impulsar la igualdad tanto en las diferentes instituciones de gobierno, como en las políticas públicas y en los distintos ámbitos de la sociedad...

Congressional Leaders Push for Social Changes to Resolve the Problem of Mexico's Culture of Machismo

Congress creates a committee, and the Center for Studies for the Advancement of Women

Women congressional deputies from several political parties, who are members of the newly created Committee for the Center for Studies for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (CCEAMEG), are in agreement that new, pro-women development strategies must be created in Mexico, and these efforts must focus in particular on the problems of Indigenous and rural women.

During the Committee's inaugural ceremony, women legislators convened to promote gender equality both within government institutions and among the many sectors of society.

In response to the constant expansion of poverty that affects women, the inequality and the lack of access to basic needs such as education, healthcare and development, among other forms of discrimination which women endure in Mexico, the LIX (59th) Legislature of the Chamber of Deputies has created the CCEAMEG Center.

The Center will be the first of its kind in Latin America. It is founded on the principles declared at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China in 1995. The Beijing Declaration requires all of the world's governments to implement mechanisms to guarantee solutions to gender inequality.

New Alliance Party deputy Elsa María Martínez Peña stated that the work of the Committee and the Center should contribute to consolidating a gender based perspective in regard to the legislative process. It should involve a scientific, analystical and political vision about the interrelationships of women and men that proposes to eliminate the causes of gender oppression.

Labor Party deputy Jaime Cárdenas García added that the problem of a culture of machismo in Mexico cannot be resolved through laws alone. "Changes in our culture and our economic model must also take place."

CEAMEG director Maria de los Ángeles Corte Ríos said that on March 10, 2010, the Chamber of Deputies with present a forum, "Advances and Setbacks in Human Rights for Women."

Gladis Torres Ruiz

CIMAC Women's News Agency

March 03, 2010

Added: Mar. 5, 2010

The United States

Convicted child rapist Jeremias Chagala-Mil

Why Are So Many Children Falling Prey to Criminal Aliens?

In April 2009, in a Charlottesville, VA courtroom, Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire sentenced Jeremias Chagala-Mil for the repeated rape of a local middle-school girl. Last November, he pleaded guilty to the crime, and admitted that he had sex with her many times.

In April 2008, the girl’s mother discovered what he was doing with her daughter and reported him to police. Since his arrest, he has expressed his desire to marry the 7th grader.

The 32-year-old Mexican national has continued to defend his actions to police, by maintaining that his behavior would not be a crime, and actually quite common throughout his own country.

Charlottesville Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Claude Worrell said of Chagala-Mil: “He said this young girl, who was 12 at the time, looked like she was sexually mature to him. He said in Mexico, any girl who looks sexually mature is fair game to have sex with.”

While Hogshire sentenced Chagala-Mil to 30 years in prison, he suspended all but six of those years. After completing his prison sentence, he will be deported back to Mexico. Unfortunately, the claims that Chagala-Mil makes about Mexico are true.

Another example of this attitude can be found in Mexican national Diego Lopez-Mendez, who pled guilty in 2006 to sexually assaulting a 10 year old West Virginia girl. Through an interpreter, he told the court: "In the pueblo where I grew up girls are usually married by 13 years old….I was unaware of the nature of the offense or that it was a bad crime."

The crime of kidnapping a woman for the purpose of rape and marriage against her will, or "rapto" as it is known in Mexico is actually seen as a minor crime and rarely prosecuted. ...A Mexican legislator actually even called the practice "romantic."

While rape is a serious crime in the United States, many Mexican nationals cannot understand why they are prosecuted on this side of the border. Often, a small payment of $10 to $20 to the victim's family will settle the matter back in Mexico.

Of course, it is also common for all charges to be dropped against the accused rapist, if he offers to marry his victim in front of the judge, even if the girl refuses, the court acknowledges that he has made the offer.

But perhaps, the most troubling and telling reason behind the growing epidemic of child molestation at the hands of Mexican illegal aliens, is the fact the age of sexual consent throughout much of Mexico is 12...

In addition to Mexico City, the age of consent is 12 years old in 19 Mexican states...

Dave Gibson

The Examiner

March 03, 2010

See also:

In Mexico, an Unpunished Crime

Rape Victims Face Widespread Cultural Bias in Pursuit of Justice

...Mexico is struggling to modernize its justice system, but when it comes to punishing sexual violence against women, surprisingly little has changed in a century. In many parts of Mexico, the penalty for stealing a cow is harsher than the punishment for rape.

Although the law calls for tough penalties for rape -up to 20 years in prison- only rarely is there an investigation into even the most barbaric of sexual violence. Women's groups estimate that perhaps 1 percent of rapes are ever punished...

...In the country that made the term "machismo" famous, where women were given the right to vote only in 1953, women's rights advocates said rape and other violence against women are still not treated as serious crimes. And they said police, prosecutors and judges often show indifference or hostility toward women who claim rape... "In 90 percent of the cases of rape, the Mexican police blame the women," ... "In the few cases where they know the man is guilty, they let him 'fix' it with money." ...

...A "machismo culture," instilled through what is learned in the home, school and church, has allowed many men to "believe they are superior and dominant, and that women are an object." ...That mind-set has contributed to making many men-including policemen, prosecutors, judges and others in positions of authority-believe that sexual violence against women is no big deal.

...A review of criminal laws in all 31 Mexican states showed that many states require that if a 12-year-old girl wants to accuse an adult man of statutory rape, she must first prove she is "chaste and pure." Nineteen of the states require that statutory rape charges be dropped if the rapist agrees to marry his victim...

In the southern state of Oaxaca last summer, the one-year-old, government-funded Oaxacan Women's Institute persuaded the legislature to pass heavy criminal penalties against a practice known as "rapto." Laws in most Mexican states define rapto as a case where a man kidnaps a woman not for ransom, but with the intent of marrying her or to satisfy his "erotic sexual desire." The new law championed by the women's group established penalties of at least 10 years in prison.

But in March, the state legislature reversed itself and again made the practice a minor infraction. A key legislator -a man- argued for the reduction, calling the practice harmless and "romantic."

Human rights groups disagree. They say it is not charming for a man to spot a woman he fancies sitting in a park, pick her up and carry her away to have sex with her. Yet to this day, that is still how some women meet their husbands. The attorney general's office said there have been 137 criminal complaints of rapto in the state of Puebla since January 2000.

Mary Jordan,

The Washington Post

June 30, 2002

See also:

Central America and Mexico

María de Jesús Silva, Jackeline's mother

Trata de blancas en Centroamérica

For non-governmental organizations, the child kidnapping and sex trafficking case of 11-year-old Jackeline Jirón Silva fom Nicaragua is emblematic, as the case shows clearly how the third most profitable criminal enterprise in the world operates.

...Jackeline has been forced to work in brothels all over Central America. Her pimps now have her in Tapachula, in Chiapas state [near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala].

María de Jesús Silva [Jackeline's mother, who searched all over 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 themselves 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… made public ithree weeks ago in Guatemala City, 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

Added: Mar. 5, 2010

California, USA

Sacramento Man Facing 15 Child Molest Felonies Involving Girlfriend's Daughters

Sacramento - Bail has been set at $5 million for a Sacramento man accused of multiple acts of sexual assault against the daughters of his girlfriend, say police. Omar Alejandro Valdivia Mendoza, 29, was booked into Sacramento Main Jail Monday evening on 15 felonies accusing him of oral copulation; and violence, force or duress during the commission of sexual conduct, rape and lewd acts.

Sacramento police served an arrest warrant on Mendoza Monday. Sgt. Norm Leong said detectives began an investigation late last year when the alleged crimes were reported. The first report was made after Valdivia Mendoza was no longer living with his girlfriend, Leong said.

The molestations had begun when the victims were 9 and 10 years old and had been going on for several years, according to the investigation. Valdivia Mendoza's first court appearance was scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, in Sacramento County Superior Court.

KXTV

March 02, 2010

Added: Mar. 5, 2010

Massachusetts, USA

Gian Carlos Mirabel

Police: Child Rape Caught On Videotape

Lowell Bus Driver Faces Charges

The abuse of a Lowell student at the hands of her bus driver was caught on videotape, police said.

Gian Carlos Mirabel, 22, of Lawrence, was arrested late Sunday night and arraigned on two counts of forcible child rape.

An employee of the North Reading Transportation Bus Co. was reviewing security footage of a bus that was involved in a minor accident on Feb. 25. While reviewing the footage, the employee observed suspicious activity between the defendant and a student on the bus, officials said.

"The time that (the driver) was stating that the accidents happened, there was a student on the bus and this child should have been at school," North Reading Transportation President John McCarthy said. "There was enough questions to what was going on that we couldn't answer..."

The victim, in 7th grade at the time, first met the defendant in the spring of 2009 when he was assigned to bus route, police said. In the fall of 2009, when the victim was in the 8th grade, the defendant allegedly began to ask the victim to remain on the bus after he dropped the other students off.

The victim told police that she did not want to be on the bus with the defendant and he physically prevented her from leaving the bus at least once. Officials said Mirabel told the victim not to tell anyone about the alleged encounters...

TheBostonChannel.com

March 02, 2010

Added: Mar. 5, 2010

California, USA

San Jose State Police Investigate Groping Attacks

San Jose - Authorities in the South Bay Wednesday night were investigating three separate incidents of sexual battery that happened within about two hours of each other near San Jose State University earlier in the day, a police spokesman said.

San Jose police Officer Jermaine Thomas said it appears all three victims are females who attend the university.

The first incident happened shortly after 9 a.m. at North Eighth and St. James streets.

"The subject approached the victim from behind, hugged her and touched her inappropriately," Thomas said.

He said similar incidents happened at about 11:05 a.m. at East San Carlos and South 12th streets and at 11:13 a.m. in the 400 block of East San Fernando Street.

The suspect in all the incidents was described as a Hispanic man, 20 to 30 years old and 5 feet 8 inches tall. He is clean-shaven with short hair and was wearing a black jacket.

Authorities issued a warning Wednesday for women on or near the campus to watch out for the groping suspect. Officers said sexual battery is a serious offense and they were determined to find the man responsible.

KTVU

March 03,2010

Added: Mar. 4, 2010

Florida, USA, Guatemala

Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy

Immokalee Man Accused of Using Teens as Sex Slaves

Investigators call it one of the worst cases of sex slavery in Southwest Florida.

Francisco Domingo is charged with human trafficking. But court documents detail horrible accounts of what happened to a 16-year-old girl behind closed doors.

The victim was brought to Immokalee illegally in 2008 from Guatemala. Investigators say the girl was held against her will and Domingo was taking the money she made in the farm fields.

Court documents go on to state that on several occasions, Domingo took pictures and videos of the 16-year-old victim having sex with several men against her will.

The victim said that would happen several times a week.

"Human trafficking or slavery - it doesn't get more serious because the people who bring the slaves over know exactly what slaves are getting into. This is a high priority of our office, the Unites States, the Department of Justice and the FBI," said Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy.

Domingo will be back in court next week for a bond hearing and officials we spoke to say more charges may be filed.

Stacey Deffenbaugh

WBBH

March 03, 2010

Added: Mar. 4, 2010

Mexico

Deputy Rosi Orozco

Es peligroso trasladar a Succar Kuri al penal de Cancún, advierten diputados

La Comisión Especial de Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas de la Cámara de Diputados presentará este jueves un punto de acuerdo ante el pleno legislativo, con la finalidad de exhortar al juez federal Gabriel García Lanz “para que entienda” que tener al pederasta Jean Succar Kuri, El Johnny, en el penal municipal de Cancún, Quintana Roo “es sumamente peligroso”, no sólo porque podría fugarse, sino “fundamentalmente porque las niñas, niños y jóvenes que fueron sus víctimas recibirían un golpe emocional y sicológico terrible, irreparable, al saber que su victimario estaría otra vez tan cerca de ellos”.