from Paul Gonsalves
http://members.xoom.com/asfute
>
>
> 1999/07/29 - Americans are buying and selling children for sex in Costa
> Rica, says US news network.
>
> The issue of child sexual exploitation in Costa Rica is once again making
> headlines in the United States following an investigative report by a
> leading news network. Journalists from News 9, KWTV, which is part of the
> FOX-TV network based in Oklahoma, say they, "found an entire subculture
> consisting of Americans buying and selling children for sex," following a
> recent visit to Costa Rica.
>
> The award winning team from News 9 traveled to Costa Rica after learning
> that Oklahoma City man, 49 year old Joseph Curtis Baker, had become the
> center of a international controversy involving the sexual exploitation of
> children. Baker was arrested along with 53 year old Arthur Carl Kanev from
> Pennsylvania in January in the Pacific coastal town of Quepos for the
> alleged sexual abuse and corruption of minors. It's reported that the two
> men were also in possession of hundreds of pornographic photos of girls aged
> between 11 and 16 years old.
>
> According to the News 9 reports that have run for three days this week on
> the main news, the Costa Rican authorities are now investigating whether
> Baker and Kanev were responsible for the running of an international ring,
> which provided pedophiles with minors, and the possibility that Baker sold
> child porn to internet sites. News 9 spoke with several minors who have
> become witnesses against the two American who say they were offered 10,000
> Colones ($40) by Baker and Curtis if they agreed to 'party' with them at
> their beach home, once there police allege that the girls were drugged,
> raped and photographed.
>
> Despite the charges against them Baker and Curtis are out on bail in Costa
> Rica and, according to reports of neighbors, "continue to bring underage
> girls to their apartments". The underage girls they sexually abused have not
> received any support for the Costa Rican child support agency, PANI.
>
> The news report can be seen on the FOX-TV homepage at www.kwtv.com
>
> Background:
>
> The Costa Rican congress recently approved new laws, which now make the
> making and distribution of child pornography illegal. The inclusion of
> possession of child pornography as a crime was however, dropped from the
> legislative bill due to objections by a single Congressman. Prostitution in
> Costa Rica is not illegal however, sex with minors is. The law has not yet
> been signed by Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez.
>
> Casa Alianza has been at the forefront of a struggle to tighten laws against
> "sex tourists" whom the organization believe are targeting Central America,
> particularly Costa Rica, in increasing numbers. Casa Alianza believes
> so-called sex tourists and pedophiles have up until now taken advantage of
> weak laws and slack legal enforcement in Central America.
>
> Casa Alianza, a branch of the New York based Covenant House, is a non-profit
> organization dedicated to the rehabilitation and defense of street children
> in Mexico and Central America. The organization serves more than 4,500
> homeless children annually.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
> For more information, please contact Casa Alianza Costa Rica at
> +506-253-5439 or info@casa-alianza.org
>
> See more information on FOX-TV web site at
> http://www.kwtv.com/investigators/ped-paradise2.htm
>
> fwd from OneWorld
> by
>
> Paul Gonsalves
> Bangalore, India
> + 91 80 525 4054
> asfute@vsnl.com
> http://members.xoom.com/asfute
>
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