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Indigenous & Latina Women & Children's Human Rights News from the Americas 


 

 
 
Latin America
Women & Children at Risk
 
Title:  Episode of Laura en America Show Outrages Audience as Child Rapists are Filmed and 'Exposed.'
  Dr. Laura Bozzo's Campaign Against Impunity Continues in One of Spanish language TV's Most Popular Internationally Broadcast Shows.
 
Publisher:  2005 LibertadLatina
Publish Date:  2005-05-22
   
   Also See Our Page Covering the Work of Dr. Laura Bozzo.
   
 

We at LibertadLatina commend Dr. Laura Bozzo once again for bringing true, serious stories of severe sexual exploitation onto the international prime time TV talk show set.

Mil gracias, Dra. Bozzo!

(A thousand thanks!)

Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

May 22, 2005


Latin America's most popular television talk show host, NBC/ Telemundo Network star Dr. Laura Bozzo, is well known for her advocacy for women and children in poverty who face sexual assault, harassment and impunity in Peruvian society.  Each weekday, Dr. Bozzo's one hour prime time afternoon talk show presents several cases of sexual exploitation and abuse in a respectful, informative, but also no-holds-barred approach, that allows alleged perpetrators of injustice to tell their stories (after sometimes being invited to the show under false pretexts).  The accused are then typically confronted by women and/or children who come to Dr. Bozzo's show to accuse these men (and sometime women) perpetrators of sexual misconduct and/or infidelity.  Victims are invited to present their allegations to Dr. Bozzo, which are inevitably backed up by hidden camera video evidence.  The show focuses its attention on identifying the truth, and in providing practical and real assistance to the victims.

Many guests [suspected perpetrators of wrongdoing] are invited to the Laura en America show to declare their love for a person in a relationship outside of their formally declared partnership.  They are typically caught by surprise when evidence of their own wrongdoing (infidelity, rape, child sexual assault or severe sexual harassment) is exposed on international TV.

Dr. Bozzo's show is staffed with social services specialists and a psychologist from her non profit social services organization, Solidaridad de Familia (Family Solidarity).  These professionals are called upon to counsel victims immediately after their appearances on the show, and on an ongoing basis as clients of Family Solidarity.

Dr. Bozzo's interview style in empathetic, but also based upon her extensive experience as a lawyer.  After allowing the alleged perpetrator(s) ample time to explain their side of a given story, she begins to confront the reality that these perpetrators have been proven guilty through clear hidden camera video evidence.

During the first 5 months of 2005 Dr. Bozzo's show has presented a well organized series of cases regarding the sexual exploitation of young children and underage youth at the hands of stepfathers, uncles, neighbors, and even their mother's employers and their older sister's boyfriends (who may be decades older than they are).  In many of these cases the perpetrators have sexually harassed, abused and raped underage girls and boys in their own homes.

During a show titled "Your Husband is My Woman", broadcast in the U.S. on May 20, 2005, Dr. Bozzo presented one of the most outrageous cases of child sexual exploitation yet shown in the long history of her show.  Dr. Bozzo's level or outrage reached new heights as the show progressed.

The show segment began with by inviting a man to discuss his romantic relationship.  For purposes of this article, we will refer to this man as 'Manolo' (not his real name).  Manolo explained that his lover, another man (whom we shall refer to as Oscar), was married and has a young child of 1 year of age and a step-child, a boy age 6.  Manolo declared that he had come to the show to announce to Oscar's wife that: "your husband is my woman."

Dr. Bozzo then proceeded to invite the alleged married lover's wife (whom we shall refer to as Rosa)  onto the set.  Rosa proceeded to explain in angry terms to Dr. Bozzo that Manolo was a bad person, was a bad influence on her husband Oscar, and was known to expose himself sexually to young children in the neighborhood and to offer those children candy.  The accused, Manolo, denied that he was guilty of any of those charges.

Dr. Bozzo next called Rosa's husband Oscar to the set.  After being shown hidden video evidence regarding his affair, the husband admitted in front of his wife that he and Manolo were indeed lovers.  The two men had been filmed with a hidden camera greeting each other romantically at the doorway of Oscar's house.

Rosa reacted violently upon seeing this video evidence, and began hitting her husband.  Dr. Bozzo calmed everyone down.

Dr. Bozzo then addressed the core issue of the program.  She stated that the program would expose "grave" accusations against both  Manolo and Oscar involving the abuse of a 6 year old boy.

Dr. Bozzo stated: "if it were up to me, I would give both of you the death penalty for what you have done."

Dr. Bozzo also stated: "I may be the host of this show, but I may have to be jailed for homicide today because of the unpardonable crimes both of you committed against a 6 year old boy."

Dr. Bozzo proceeded to enter a booth on the set with obscured glass double doors that side open and shut.  This 'zone of safety' is typically used on the Laura en America Show to allow Dr. Bozzo to film interviews with children and underage youth victims, away from the aggression and verbal threats of their adult tormentors, who are sitting on the set of the show.  Within this both, Dr. Bozzo began to interview a six year old boy, who cried throughout the short session.

The six year old, Rosa's son, began to explain that his stepfather (of only a few months) - Oscar and his step-father's friend Manolo abused him in moments when his mother was away from the family home.  The boy proceeded to say that both men forced him to kiss them, and he was beaten every time the boy resisted the kissing, and the men's sexual fondling of him.  The boy showed Dr. Bozzo a bruise on his forehead from one such assault, clearly visible to the camera.

The boy indicated that he had gone through these experiences many times.

Upon hearing this information the mother began to beat her husband, but was stopped by guards that are always present on the set.

Both men denied the accusations.  Dr. Bozzo then ran footage from a hidden video tape, showing the 6 year old boy sitting distraught on the floor in what appeared to be the family kitchen.

In the taped scene, the boy's stepfather, Oscar, began talking to the boy and pushing his face around like he was an animal.  Oscar then looked out the door to the house, and declared to Manolo that the boy's mother was not home.

Oscar, the stepfather, proceeded to tell his lover Manolo "take advantage of him [the boy] now while the boy's mother is not home."

The film footage proceeds to show Manolo beginning his sexual attack on the 6 year old boy.  The film footage stopped at that moment.

The mother, outraged, again physically attacked her husband, and also Manolo.

For the first time in the author's several years of watching the Laura en America Show, many members of the audience got up out of their seats, and ran onto the set to beat Manolo and Oscar.

Dr. Bozzo also expressed her outrage, but asked audience members to sit down, because she would handle the case.  Dr. Bozzo proceeded to state that local police were present at the filming of the show, and that the two child rapists would be taken from the set straight to jail.

Dr. Bozzo proceeded to delve further into the life of Manolo, the lover of Oscar.

Dr. Bozzo exposed the fact that Manolo also was married.  She proceeded to show hidden video tape footage from Manolo's home.  On the tape, Manolo's wife (whom we will call Maria for this story), a young woman, was being slapped in the face, punched on the body and kicked in the behind by Manolo.

Dr. Bozzo invited Manolo's wife Maria onto the set.  Maria began to explain that she was driven to the streets by domestic violence perpetrated by her step father against her in her own home, and she was out of touch with her mother.  Maria had invited her younger sister (whom we will call Gloria for this story) to stay in her home.

Gloria was invited to the set.  Gloria proceeded to state to Dr. Bozzo that Manolo, her brother in law, had violently raped her.

Dr. Bozzo then had both rapists, Manolo and Oscar, hauled off the set by her guards, and taken directly to the Lima City jail for processing as criminal suspects.  As is true with many cases presented on the Laura en America Show, the hidden video tape recorded in Manolo's home and in Oscar's home is valid evidence in the Peruvian legal process.  Dr. Bozzo declared that both men were likely to receive 15 years in jail for their crimes against the young boy.

Dr. Bozzo's production team had located Maria and Gloria's mother before the show, and the family was reunited on the set.

In closing the show, Dr. Bozzo asked the psychologist of Family Solidarity, a woman doctor named Ursula, to take charge of treatment for both the 6 year old boy and Maria's sister Gloria, who was raped by her brother in law Manolo.

Dr. Bozzo emphasized to the audience, as she has on many recent shows where boyfriends and stepfathers are proven to be child sexual predators, that the women watching the show should never invite a man to live in their home, if they have children, without getting to know he very very well, over a long period of time.

To alleviate the stress of this traumatic show segment, Dr. Bozzo stated that not all men are bad.  She invited a visiting Cuban American transgender female impersonator to come on stage.  The  impersonator was made up as Dr. Bozzo, and imitated many of her gestures and ways of speaking, bringing a laugh to all in the audience.  The actor proceeded to state that he, like Dr. Bozzo, worked through his art as an impersonator to bring an end to injustice and awareness of the need for condom use in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Miami, Florida's gay community. 

Dr. Bozzo has consistently respected the dignity of Peru's gay and transgender communities on her show, and has invited many victims of exploitation from these communities to present their cases of exploitation and abuse.

 

 

 
 
     

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Últimas Noticias

Latest News



Ricky Martin

Llama y Vive

Ricky Martin lanza campaña contra trata de personas en Washington, D.C. Llama y Vive promoverá línea telefónica de asistencia confidencial y gratuita

Ricky Martin  launches Call and Live in Washington DC, a campaign that promotes an anti-trafficking hotline.

April 24, 2008

Llama y Vive

Call and Live Hotline:

1-888 NO-TRATA

llamayvive.org



Added June 30, 2008

Arte Sana

is pleased to announce

"Nuestras Voces / Our Voices: Collaboration and Transformation en la Comunidad.”

Join Latina victim advocates and allies from across the nation to share, learn and be inspired!

Arte Sana National Conference

August 18-19, 2008

San Antonio, Texas


Added Aug. 5, 2008

Mexico

 

Vandalized office at CIMAC

Alfredo Domínguez

La Jornada

          

LibertadLatina

Our new special section on the  ransacking of the offices of the CIMAC women's news association in Mexico City

The Mexico City offices of the women's news agency CIMAC (Women's Communication and Information) were ransacked on July 28, 2008.

The level of vandalism and theft of document archives leads activists to believe that this was an act of intimidation and retaliation against CIMAC for its effective work in defense of women's rights.

We at Libertad Latina stand 100% in solidarity with CIMAC. 

We encourage everyone to express their support for CIMAC.

Please contact:

Lucía Lagunes Huerta, General Director, CIMAC

Let's express our solidarity with the journalists of CIMAC!

Silence is also violence!

End impunity now!

- Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

August 5, 2008


Read our new section on Tapachula

Mexico

The city of Tapachula, near Mexico's border with Guatemala, is one of the largest and most lawless child sex trafficking markets in all of Latin America.

Our new news section tracks  events related to this hell-on-earth, where over half of the estimated 21,000 sex slaves and other sex workers are underage, and where especially migrant women and girls  from Central and South America, who seek to migrate to the United States, have their freedom taken from them, to become a money-making commodity for gangs of violent criminals.

A 2007 study by the international organization ECPAT [End Child Prostitution and Trafficking]... revealed that over 21,000 Central Americans, mostly children, are prostituted in 1,552 bars and brothels in Tapachula.

- Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina

August 9, 2008


Noticias de Agosto, 2008

Aug. 2008 News

(News Added During Aug., 2008)


Added Aug. 9, 2008

The Americas

Incredible injustice for indigenous women

Editor's note: The following was named Best Editorial of 2007 by the Native American Journalists Association at its annual awards banquet July 26.

It was originally published in Volume 26, Issue 47. Indian Country Today presents it again in appreciation and acknowledgment of those who work tirelessly toward justice for Indian girls and women.

''From the oldest to the youngest, Native women are disrespected and treated in the most humiliating fashion, living and dying without justice or the knowledge that their granddaughters will live free of the violence they experienced.'' This passage, taken from testimony by Sacred Circle on the Violence Against Women Act, helps breathe life into the devastating statistics at the center of a groundbreaking report on violence against indigenous women.

Amnesty International's 113-page report, ''Maze of Injustice - The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA,'' released April 24, [2007], asserts that the U.S. government has ''created a complex maze of tribal, state and federal jurisdictions that often allows perpetrators to rape with impunity,'' and that these crimes are ''compounded by failures at every level of the justice system.''

American Indian and Alaska Native women are nearly three times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. According to the Department of Justice, nearly 90 percent of the reported cases of rapes and sexual assault of Native women are committed by non-Native men. It is a staggering legacy for women to ''fully expect to be raped,'' as one elder stated in the report, because they are Indian.

The report contains interviews with courageous survivors and advocates, including stories of abuse and injustice so vivid, the mind does not want to believe they are true. Each story illustrates why so many survivors describe their experiences seeking justice as being raped ''all over again.'' Incompetent medical personnel, non-responsive or slow-moving law enforcement, conflicting jurisdictions and underlying racism that affects court proceedings are common obstacles...

- Indian Country Today

August 01, 2008


Added Aug. 9, 2008

The Americas

Día Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas 2008 (9 de agosto)

OPS: Podemos evitar otro patrimonio en extinción

International Day of Indigenous Peoples 2008

PAHO: We can avoid the extinction of another endangered heritage

Washington, DC - ...On the occasion of International Day of Indigenous Peoples 2008, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) stated that "recent and historical processes in the [Latin American] region have identified different cultures where coexist a range of relationships that, with regards to the indigenous in most societies, are asymmetric, subordinated and conflicted."

Studies and reports prepared by the hemispheric organization reiterate that most of the 45 million indigenous people living in the Americas today are confronted by a growing inequity in health and access to basic sanitation. Dr. Jose Luis Di Fabio, Area Manager of Technology and Health Services Delivery within PAHO, said that illiteracy, unemployment, lack of land and territory, high rates of morbidity and mortality from preventable causes, and limitations on access and utilization of basic health services, education, housing and others, "are problems that still affect the majority of indigenous communities and affect their quality of life and their health."

"Minimum results"

The International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004) was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 with the purpose and commitment to strengthen international cooperation to help solve the problems affecting indigenous peoples in areas such as human rights, environment, development, education and health...

In its assessment of the progress in health of indigenous populations since 1995, PAHO concluded that the results were "minimal" and that the most serious problems remained "still unresolved..."

- Pan American Health Organization

August 7, 2008


Added Aug. 9, 2008

Guatemala

Celebran Día Nacional e Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas

In Celebration of Indigenous People's Day

The city of Santa Cruz del Quiche - Organizations of the Quiche Mayan ethnic community have organized a wide range of activities to celebrate Indigenous People's Day on August 9, 2008.

Among the organizations that are presenting the events are the Academy of Mayan Languages of Guatemala (ALMG), the association Ajb'atz Quiché network, Defensoría K'iche [Quiche Defense] and the municipality of the city of Santa Cruz del Quiche.

Quiche liaison Tomas Matias Gutierrez told Cerigua that there is progress in recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples in the world. The Indigenous were previously thought to be an obstacle to development.

The United Nations must recognize the existence and importance of native peoples because, despite the exclusion, marginalization and ethnocide to which we have been subjected, we are contributing to the welfare of the world.

The celebration allows sharing capabilities of science and technology with Maya people throughout society, since there are now more likely to open opportunities for participation of different sectors, changes occur in the educational system with the introduction of various Mayan elements the school curriculum.

For true harmony to exist within Guatemalan society we should strengthen the principles that to understand and accept other cultures is the only way to eliminate these prejudices, that only exist to hurt people.

- Héctor Tecúm

Cerigua

Guatemalan Human Rights News

August 7, 2008


Added Aug. 9, 2008

The World

U.N. celebrates International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

August 9th is the 14th International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, and we hope you will join us in