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Portugal shamed by child sex
Sunday Herald (UK) ^
| 10-12-03
| Alison Roberts in Lisbon
Posted on 10/12/2003 2:57:28 AM PDT by PatrioticCowboy
Portugal shamed by child sex
A child sex abuse scandal has reached into the heart of Portugese politics and celebrity … and the cover-ups may already have begun. Alison Roberts in Lisbon reports on a hidden outrage
When the organisers of last Thursday’s European conference in Lisbon on the disappearance and sexual exploitation of children decided to invite Portugal’s president to open the event, they knew they had a good chance of success.
The conference, organised by the Institute for the Support of Children, and indeed addressed by head of state Jorge Sampaio, is the latest sign of a major change in Portuguese attitudes to child abuse – once all but ignored by families and the authorities alike.
The issue has dominated Portuguese headlines since last November, when a newspaper published allegations of long-running abuse of children at the string of state-funded orphanages and schools run by the 200-year-old Casa Pia foundation. As fresh revelations emerged, a former secretary of state for the family spoke of a “network” that procured children for outsiders.
Carlos Silvino, the Casa Pia driver alleged to be at the centre of the ring, was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing pupils. He has been charged on 35 counts of abuse, with prosecutors considering further charges.
As police continued investigations a dozen suspects were formally named, seven of whom were arrested and taken to prison to await charges. Among them were Paulo Pedroso, an MP and number two in the opposition Socialist Party; Carlos Cruz, one of Portugal’s most popular television journalists and retired ambassador Jorge Ritto.
Meanwhile, details of the horrific scale of the abuse emerged. Pedro Namora, a 39-year-old lawyer who said he narrowly escaped being abused by Silvino at the age of 11 , was deluged with phone calls from victims, after he went on television to denounce him. “People were calling in even from abroad, often only when their family was out because of the shame,” he said. “One in particular would just cry and cry.”
Casa Pia director Catalina Pestana, who took over after the scandal broke, says doctors found more than a hundred of the 4500 current pupils had been repeatedly sexual abused, most aged between 10 and 13. In many cases, she adds, their muscle and tissue were so damaged that they suffered internal injuries. Pestana believes these may be the tip of the iceberg. For years, she says, there was a “blanket of silence” at the Casa Pia, with senior staff at best in denial, at worst complicit in the wrongdoing. “Staff said they never noticed anything, but I don’t believe them,” she said. “The priority was not the quality of individuals’ lives, but the institution’s good name.”
The affair has prompted accusations of a cover-up in Portugal’s tight-knit establishment. President Sampaio has said he is sure the guilty will be severely punished, and promised an end “to the impunity that for decades made the situation at Casa Pia a disgrace to all”.
That investigation has been painfully slow, prompting suspicions that even if Silvino, whose initial trial has been twice postponed, is found guilty, better-connected abusers may go free.
Lawyers for the other suspects last month prevented the investigating magistrate from questioning witnesses for the court record. And on Thursday , an appeal court ordered that Pedroso be released to await charges in freedom. The magistrate had ordered his arrest on the basis that tapped phone conversations between party leaders pointed to an attempt to pervert the course of justice. Outraged Socialist leader Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues claimed there was a politically motivated smear campaign against his party.
The Casa Pia affair has had one major positive effect in hugely raising public awareness about the sexual abuse of children. The number of incidents reported to police has soared, and last month thousands marched through Lisbon and three other Portuguese cities, calling for more action against child abuse .
At last Thursday’s conference the Institute for the Support of Children pledged to produce a report on the phenomenon in Portugal, to be presented to the European Union.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: pedophilia; portugal; socialistsickos
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To: PatrioticCowboy; All
This is sick.
Portugal has always been known as the heart-warming jewel of Europe where a vacationer could always be assured of a great vacation with great folks.
Are any of yall Portuguese or have lived there?
If so, comment on this from your perspective
To: PatrioticCowboy; elbucko; pierrem15; RLK; rwfromkansas
ping
To: PatrioticCowboy; seamole; Remole; mhking
ping
To: All
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5
posted on
10/12/2003 3:01:46 AM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: PatrioticCowboy; All
To: Support Free Republic
Those SEALS in the water look like some bad dudes
To: PatrioticCowboy; mystery-ak; Nefertiti; BlackVeil; Arkinsaw
ping
To: PatrioticCowboy
Portugal has experienced the ultimate mind control operation to make people accept pedophilia as normal.
The main players :
- Carlos Cruz, TV head showmaster for the last 30 years, alleged still in prison since February. Two months before allegedly being jailed in February 2003, he was declared a national hero for allegedly being the reponsible for bringing the European Soccer Championships to Portugal in 2004.
- Herman Jose, champion of homossexual causes, and host of prime time TV shows during the last 25 years.
- Paulo Pedroso, leader in parliament of the socialist party. Alledgely jailed for four months, released October 9, 2003 - went directly from prison to parliament, where he was received as a hero.
- Jorge Samapaio, president of the Republic and member of the Socialist party.
- Paulo Portas, minister and leader of the alledgely consevative party.
9
posted on
10/12/2003 3:31:02 AM PDT
by
Truth666
To: Truth666
Pedophiles should be hunted and killed.
10
posted on
10/12/2003 4:04:15 AM PDT
by
Bon mots
To: Truth666; Bon mots
Very true, also Portugal has very lenient laws on sex and that made than nation an international magnet for pedophiles.
Portugal and Montenegro are under scandal for this sick depravity
To: Bon mots
Amen!!
To: PatrioticCowboy
*BUMP*!!
13
posted on
10/12/2003 5:07:07 AM PDT
by
ex-Texan
(Why Davis Orders Shredders - - To Destroy Evidence of Fund Raising Felonies!)
To: ex-Texan; All
There is nothing lower than a pedophile.
Death is too good for them maybe.
Life of hard labor in prison may be the best torture
To: ex-Texan; Bon mots; All
Is death too lenient or what?
What should the state due to these demons?
To: PatrioticCowboy
Does this not make your heart grieve?? I, too, firmly believe that pedophiles should suffer capital punishment. My mind goes back to a six-year old I saw in my medical training..He had been abused by his father and was in the psychiatric ward for children. He had been so damaged..It tore my heart out and still does. I believe that these sexual perversions are at the heart of almost all the evil which exists in society and any society which covers up the abuse of children is destined to fall. But, you know, societies which accept the murder of infants through abortion or infanticide would not blink at the sexual abuse of orphans. They are simply objects to these sociopaths.
16
posted on
10/12/2003 5:12:47 AM PDT
by
jazzlite
(esat)
To: jazzlite; All
Well, I think that a quick death is too much.
I am thinking more of tying the pedophile to a bed and letting venmous snakes loose in his cell.
Let him die from the slow poison of a cottonmouth or timber rattler.
To: PatrioticCowboy
"Portugal has very lenient laws on sex "
I will use bold to underline the main reasons for me to see this as the ultimate case .
- pedophile ring existed for 25 years ...
- ... in the state managed institution (Casa Pia) for orphans (leader was Silvino) ...
- ... supplying those orphans to the high society ...
18
posted on
10/12/2003 5:15:36 AM PDT
by
Truth666
To: Bon mots
They would be if someone place a bounty on them!
19
posted on
10/12/2003 5:18:19 AM PDT
by
verity
To: Truth666; Bon mots; BlackVeil
Portugal and Montenegro are making headlines over this issue.
But, they are not the only ones.
Marc Dutroux in Belgium has been treated with kid gloves.
Also, the Franklin Cover-Up in Omaha has never seen any prosecutions, even though Nebraska State Police investigators tested the children in that case and could not make them break down or chnage thir story one iota.
There seems to be a sickness of the mind in which Godly men and women do not force the legal organs of the state and church to hold sickos accountable for their crimes.
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