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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
See also:
Committee
Experts raised
questions
related to,
among other
things, child
labor, street
children,
violence against
children, the
situation of
indigenous
children, the
provision of
education in
indigenous
languages,
budgetary
allocation to
education and
health, measures
taken to improve
the conditions
of poor
children,
breastfeeding,
and children
with
disabilities.
-
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
See Also:
Fundación Ricky
Martin apoya
niños migrantes.
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
April 2006 News
Mar. 2006
News
Feb.
2006
News
Jan.
2006
News
Dec. 2005
News
Nov. 2005
News
Oct. 2005 News
Sep. 2005 News
Aug. 2005 News
July 2005 News
June 2005 News
May 2005 News
April 2005 News |
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LibertadLatina
News /
Noticias |
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Updated:
March 12, 2010
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Últimas Noticias
Latest News
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
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
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
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
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
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 Calder ón'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
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
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
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
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
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
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:
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
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: Mar. 7, 2010
Mexico
Avala Pleno de Diputados Punto de Acuerdo para que la SSP Evite Traslado de Succar Kuri
México, D. F. Palacio Legislativo.- El Pleno de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó un punto de acuerdo de urgente y obvia resolución para exhortar a la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) para que a través de la Dirección General de Traslado de Reos y Seguridad Penitenciaria se tomen todas las medidas de seguridad necesarias para evitar el traslado de Jean Succar Kuri a una prisión de Cancún, Quintana Roo. Lo anterior porque es procesado por un delito sumamente ofensivo para la sociedad –pederastia y pornografía infantil- y se pretende trasladarlo del penal de máxima seguridad del Altiplano, de Almoloya de Juárez, al centro penitenciario municipal de Cancún, el cual ha sido catalogado como uno de los más inseguros del país...
Chamber of Deputies Passes Non-binding Resolution
Requesting that the Secretariat of Public Security Not Transfer [Millionaire
Child Pornographer] Jean Succar Kuri to a Minimum Security Jail in Cancún that
is known as one of the most insecure facilities in the nation.
See also:
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
Railroaded by the
Legal Process for
Exposing Child Sex
Networks In Mexico
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
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
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
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
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
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:
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
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
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
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
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
Mexico
|
 |
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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
Railroaded by the
Legal Process for
Exposing Child Sex
Networks In Mexico
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
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
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
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
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
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
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”.
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