Latino Adult & Child Sexual Harassment, Abuse and Rape Cases in the U.S.

A crisis of rape with impunity exists in the U.S. Latin American immigrant community.

About rape in the Latin American immigrant community.

First, it is important to recognize that men of all races and ethnicities perpetrate rape in the U.S.  The U.S. faces a serious crisis of sexual assault from all types of men.

Within that context, the following reports are designed to help our communities begin an honest conversation about how impunity in sexual assault in Latin America has migrated into the United States, where some men expect that their 'traditions' of rape without protest in their home countries can continue uncontested in the U.S.  That cannot ever become the case.

As we state in our "About Us" page:

The motivations behind the use of rape with impunity in the Latin American immigrant community are complex.  It is likely not fair to assert that most immigrant men engage in the use of sexual assault and rape.  But a problem does exist.  Within the United States that crisis is often hidden.

Hundreds of thousands if not millions of minor girls and adult women are sexually assaulted and enslaved with impunity throughout Latin America, as the LibertadLatina web site clearly documents.  It is reasonable to expect that men who exploit women and girls in Latin America will continue to do so in the United States.  Will a man who develops a sexual 'taste' for 10 year old girls in Latin America change once he enters the U.S.A.?  Not likely.

The San Diego County, california 'child rape camps' case is the most severe example of this reality. Latin immigrant communities across the U.S also face these harsh issues.

What is surprising in the U.S. is the open use of impunity.  Both the public and the legal system in the U.S. assume that most adult men will not act with criminal impunity towards women and girls.  Yet, impunity is widely used by some immigrant men who come from societies where brazen sexual assault and rape are legally acceptable.

The sexist philosophy of machismo that gives social 'permission' for its most ardent followers to sexually exploit women and girls, is as active in the U.S. as it is across Latin America.  Machismo legitimizes the use of impunity.

UNICEF's assessment of the impact of impunity:

The author has confronted this impunity in many diverse situations over a 25 year period in the greater Washington, DC region.  Machismo's impunity, so common in Latin America, remains an active philosophy among some immigrant men in the U.S.  That impunity manifests itself through daily acts of severe sexual harassment and worse.

A similar reality applies to many non-Latin immigrant men. (Latina women in the U.S. today face increasing conflict with non-Latino immigrant men, especially in low-wage workplaces where they are often 'managed' by these men.)

Some, in the interest of avoiding even more racism and discrimination targeted at immigrant men in the U.S., think that it is unjust to speak up openly about these issues.

What would be truly unjust would be to remain silent, pretend that a problem does not exist, and continue to allow women and children to be victimized with impunity.

The LibertadLatina web site exists to help end the 'code of silence' once and for all.  While most readers of this site go to bed in safety and peace each night, women and girls throughout the Latin American and indigenous worlds in the Americas face forceable rape and forced prostitution by the hundreds of thousands if not millions.  Under these circumstances, we at LibertadLatina will never be silent!

End impunity now!

- Chuck Goolsby

LibertadLatina.org

November 28, 2004