Posted on 12/30/2005 7:04:29 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Authorities want to rein in the prostitution that's rampant in resort areas
ACAPULCO, MEXICO - On a sweltering afternoon in this glitzy tourist resort, Alex Fernandez laughed and joked with a group of his fellow homeless teenagers until the subject of prostitution came up. Then his smile disappeared, and the face of the skinny 14-year-old turned to a cold, unblinking stare as he described how grown men, sometimes Mexicans and sometimes foreign tourists, regularly take him to hotels and pay to have sex with him.
"Yes, they buy me. The business gets me food. It gets me clothes," said Fernandez, sitting in the shade of a basketball stand to escape the blazing sun. "No one else helps me. What do you want me to do?"
Despite a concerted effort to crack down on pedophiles in both Mexico and the United States, child prostitution continues unabated in Mexican tourist resorts such as Acapulco and Cancun as well as border cities such as Ciudad Juarez. Investigators estimate the number of Mexican children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation — including prostitution, pornography and human trafficking — has increased to 20,000 from 16,000 in the past five years. Many of those who pay for sex with the boys and girls are American, Canadian and European tourists.
Mexican authorities and child-protection advocates say a weak justice system, police corruption and a lack of facilities to help homeless children have hindered attempts in Mexico to curb the problem.
The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, has urged Mexican authorities to strive for more concrete results in the fight against the trade.
"Mexican authorities used to be in denial about the problem. Now they are starting to address it," said Teresa Kilbane, the fund's Mexico projects director. "But the authorities still fail to give out solid figures on things like the number of pedophiles actually arrested or convicted."
A sensitive subject
To be sure, pedophilia remains a sensitive topic in Mexico.
Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, a journalist and children's rights advocate, found that out after publishing Demons of Eden, a book that claimed links between a child-sex ring and certain government officials, politicians, drug traffickers and businessmen.
A Puebla-based businessman sued her for criminal libel and on Dec. 16, Cacho was arrested in Cancun, accused of ignoring repeated summonses from a judge.
Cacho, whose plight has won the support of Reporters Without Borders and other groups, could get four years in prison if convicted.
Now free on bond, she denies breaking any laws.
Meanwhile, child sexual exploitation continues throughout Mexico. Investigators say some of the worst abuses occur in the famous seaside resort of Acapulco. In strip clubs, cantinas, hotels and private houses around the beautiful bay, about 1,000 children are victims of the illicit trade, according to UNICEF.
Hundreds of homeless youths such as Fernandez hang out on the beaches, outside the discos and in the central plaza in the heart of the resort where they are picked up by pedophiles. Men pay between $10 and $50 for intercourse or oral sex with the children, said Elizabeth Moreno, who heads a city government program to combat child prostitution.
In many cases the children are sold by pimps, who are often older homeless people with histories of being sexually exploited themselves, Moreno said.
Barriers to prosecution
Attempts to prosecute the pedophiles in Acapulco have had limited success.
Under the law, Mexican prosecutors need someone to file a detailed accusation against a specific suspect before they can take action. "Even if we see suspects we can't act. We just pass the information on" to prosecutors, Moreno said. "Sometimes, nothing seems to be done with it."
In April 2003, federal police arrested 13 Canadians and Americans, including one Texan, who they say formed a network that organized sex tourism and child pornography in Acapulco. In August 2004, two of the suspects committed suicide in the city's prison. Soon after, the other 11 were released when a federal judge said there was insufficient evidence against them.
Miguel Lopez, head of child protection for the Guerrero state government in Acapulco, said the defense attorneys allegedly bribed key child witnesses so they wouldn't testify.
The suspects should have been sent to the United States for trial, he said. "They would have nailed them there," Lopez said.
The U.S. government has stepped up its efforts to catch sex offenders, with President Bush signing the landmark Protect Act in 2003.
The law clarifies and strengthens cases against American citizens who have sex with a minor outside the United States or have planned to go abroad to have sex with a minor, said Los Angeles Assistant Attorney Richard Lee.
"The law means we can arrest these people even before they get on the plane and do the damage," Lee said.
The 2003 act also increased the maximum sentence for child-sex tourism to 30 years from 10 for first-time offenders and to a life sentence for those with previous convictions.
The same year, the Department of Homeland Security launched so-called Operation Predator, an initiative to investigate and arrest all types of sex offenders in the U.S. So far, the operation has netted 6,500 people, including 13 men who planned to have sex with children abroad, said department spokesperson Jamie Zuieback.
"We are sending out a loud and clear message to predators that if you commit a sex crime here or anywhere else you will be caught and convicted," Zuieback said.
FBI operations
The FBI also has been increasingly aggressive in going after pedophiles.
In a sting operation in February 2005, agents in California nabbed seven men who had signed up to go on a holiday to the Baja California town of Ensenada, where they were promised sex with boys as young as 9. The supposed vacation was set up by an FBI undercover agent who had infiltrated a pro-pedophilia group called the North American Man/Boy Love Association.
"We need to be tough in getting these guys off the street, so they are not out hurting children," said FBI Special Agent John Caruthers.
One of those arrested, Gregory Nusca of Dania Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Criminal cases are proceeding against the other six, who are incarcerated in San Diego and Los Angeles. South of the Rio Grande, Mexican lawmakers are battling to draft their own Protect-style act to overhaul their criminal code on sex offenders.
Under President Vicente Fox, Mexico's divided Congress has been gridlocked over major economic and judicial reforms. However, federal deputy Angelica de la Peña is confident that Congress can pass a reform law on sex offenders.
"This is not a politically divisive issue," said de la Peña, who is in the left-wing Democratic Revolution Party. "We all agree that abusing children should be stopped."
The bill proposes doubling maximum sentences for sex offenders to 18 years, making it easier for police to investigate and arrest pedophiles, and giving authorities the power to shut down brothels that have underage prostitutes. Under current law, the maximum penalty a brothel faces for employing children is a $3,000 fine.
Educating the victims
Acapulco officials say they struggle to persuade children to stay away from prostitution.
Moreno, of the Acapulco city government, has helped remove 22 child prostitutes from strip clubs and brothels in the past year. They were taken to a refuge on the outskirts of the city, but all left within a few days, she said.
"A lot of them can't stand the discipline and they can't get their drugs in the refuge," Moreno said. "We can't put them under lock and key because that would be a violation of their human rights."
Gustavo Lopez, director of a government-funded Acapulco homeless hostel, estimates that 80 percent of the city's street kids are addicted to drugs, most commonly industrial solvents and crack cocaine. About half of them become victims of prostitution, he said.
The majority of the homeless children come from families where they were physically and often sexually abused, he said.
Many do not see themselves as being victims when they are paid for sex, he said.
"A lot of them see the business as a good way to make money," Lopez said. "They are used to being at the bottom of society and their self-confidence is already shattered."
Mexico's social services system is failing the children, said anthropologist Elena Azaola, who has written several books about child sex tourism.
"We have no institutions teaching these kids what rights they have," Azaola said. "The key to solving this tragic problem is to rehabilitate the children and give them some hope and opportunity in their lives."
ibgrillo@yahoo.com
What is this about?
Not sure I follow your statements about the 'individual.'
Might you mean 'self'?
Individual liberty is the cornerstone of our country and our culture.
Good point, but what about the fact that these kids are being used by North American tourists?
I stand entirely by my original point - that all adults who have sex with children should be executed. Of course, the age cut off is important; for instance, a 20 year old having sex with a 15 year old is not and should not be a capital crime. There is so much wrong... In the "old days" girls often married very young, young teenaged girls would often marry a man 10 years older. There really is nothing wrong with that.
But young teenagers and adolescents (or younger) being prostituted, and add to that the homosexual aspect - there really need to be severe, serious penalties for the johns. If not execution, then public beatings. I'm all for castration, too. Being used sexually ruins these kids, probably for life. I doubt many of them can be rehabilitated. They'll just get older (if they survive) and sell the younger kids.
But yet this 13 year old girl is a little whore???
Hmm - I just replied to you, I thought it was on this thread. Now I'll have to go back and see what that was about. I only address a comment to you on this thread.
If you don't see the difference between a 13 yr old girl screwing a 12 yr old boy, and a 13 yr old girl MARRYING a young man who's at least old enough to know how to be a responsible husband and father, you need some remedial education.
Oh, I get it. You're fixated, you know that?
But what 'war crimes' were you talking about? I'm not aware of any wars Mexico has been in. (LOL: see last sentence and my tagline.)
Pointing out your hypocrisy is fixation? You already tried that "you're a liberal" crap on me on the other thread, faker.
But that's okay. I'd rather be considered a liberal than to stick my pious chest out and call little girls whores (or as in your case, be a defender of an abusive pig while wearing my religion on my sleeve).
I missed the first comment you made.
If you don't see the difference between a 13 yr old girl screwing a 12 yr old boy....
Bubba, you're beyond stupid. You make DU'ers look like Harvard graduates.
Aren't you getting a little beyond yourself? Where am I defending an abusive pig?
Any sex outside of marriage is wrong, immoral, and should be discouraged. People should be ashamed of having sex outside of marriage, and teenagers (these kids are barely teenagers) should be taught shame. They should be taught that screwing around like animals is shameful, and that's what sluts and whores do.
People who respect themselves and others should refrain from sex until marriage. I'm not being a hypocrite to make these statements. Have I been perfect? No. Am I better than I used to be?
I'm a different person. Anyone can change. And as a wise freeper commented earlier, if a person ceases to act like a slut, s/he isn't a slut any more. It's behavior that determines sluthood, it's not a life sentence.
Are you angry at everyone who holds moral principles?
"V. Fox is the biggest pimp"----
Amazing---that very same thought was going through
my head as I read that.
Great last line, ending with "retire to my nightmares."
Reminds me of my tagline, from Argentinian aphorism writer ( and obscure carpenter/potter) Antonio Porchia.
As they say on other threads, ad hominem attacks are not legitimate forms of rational argument.
Did you have a substantive disagreement with Little Jeremiah? Other than to engage in vitriol?
If so, it would be nice to hear it.
Full Disclosure: I always thought that "slut" and "whore" were perjoratives intended to describe a woman who gave sexual favors, or intercourse, indiscriminately. And so there is a difference between a young woman who sleeps with a boyfriend and one who gets married.
If you wish to debate about the proper age of consumation, "age of consent" and so on, great, rock on!
But you seemed to lose patience too quickly to make the point in a succinct fashion.
Cheers!
Speaking of remedial education, perhaps you too can make us marvel and swoon. You can start by spelling consummation correctly. And once you have that honed to a science, you can tell your new friend that the girl likely was 12 when she conceived. Also, Brainiac, we don't know their exact birthdays, but Little Hypocrite made the point about her being such the older woman who led the young lad astray. For all we know, he could be only a week younger.
Why is that Little Churchie didn't tell us that? Perhaps he was too busy with ad hominems?
As you might have gathered by now, I don't suffer fools gladly, or their knights in shining armor. Have a Miserable New Year....
Do you know the difference between venom and reasoned argument? And if you're not posting to influence people, are you just posting to see your own words in print somewhere ?
And a sack of crap who agrees with someone who calls 13 year old girls little whores doesn't deserve a scintilla of respect.
Does your mother know that you talk to strangers in the middle of the night on your computer?
And neither do you, Brainiac, for substantively ignoring the ad hominem of remedial education.
What post was that in?
Speaking of remedial education, perhaps you too can make us marvel and swoon. You can start by spelling consummation correctly.
Well, you knew the standard technique of running a post through a spell-checker for cheap points. But you still haven't made it clear what your views actually were about the young couple in question.
And once you have that honed to a science, you can tell your new friend that the girl likely was 12 when she conceived. Also, Brainiac, we don't know their exact birthdays, but Little Hypocrite made the point about her being such the older woman who led the young lad astray. For all we know, he could be only a week younger.
Why are these points important to you? You have the data, now tell us your conclusion.
Why is that Little Churchie didn't tell us that? Perhaps he was too busy with ad hominems?
Where were Little Jeremiah's ad hominems? Calling a 13-year old a whore is criticizing her behaviour, not a logical disputation.
As you might have gathered by now, I don't suffer fools gladly, or their knights in shining armor. Have a Miserable New Year....
That's okay, you're not talking to a fool. And my armor is quite dented from long usage.
Cheers!
I got to your "reasoned argument" part and skipped over the rest. You wasted all that time, Brainiac, typing up swill that'll never be read.
You don't deserve any more response or respect or time wasted on your scrivening, because someone who mewls about "reason" decided to be the knight of a mental cripple. To put it more bluntly, you have been profiled and discriminated against.
Toodles, Brainiac....
They need more outreach time and money, however.
I support them as much as I can. Really great people!
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