Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, Mexico's "Voice of the abused"

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Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, Mexico's "Voice of the abused"

Postby sam » Mon May 05, 2008 12:09 pm

Voice of the abused
by Liz Clarke
May 02, 2008

http://www.iol .co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=22&art_id=vn20080502100658467C467581

Cancun, the jewel of Mexico, the resort paradise washed by crystal-blue Caribbean waters, has to be the ultimate holiday destination.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, a native of Cancun, will tell you that once you scratch the surface of this idyllic tourist gem, the sordid underbelly will shock even the most toughened observer.

It's the relentless expose of this dark side of Cancun that has won Ribeiro this year's Unesco World Press Freedom Prize, an award that will be presented to her in Maputo, Mozambique, on Saturday.

Her one-woman crusade to fight trafficking of women and the international sex trade, has been highlighted in newspapers, magazines and television over the past decade, not only in Mexico, but round the globe.

It has come at a high price, Cacho's tireless work as a journalist, author and public advocate for victims of sexual predators has stirred up so much official resistance that she has been jailed and threatened with rape and death.

In December 2005, this striking, part-Portuguese, partFrench journalist was arrested by Mexican police in Cancun and driven for 21 hours to the city of Puebla, where she was detained on defamation and libel charges. After an international outcry, she was freed and the charges against her were dropped.

This incident occurred after revelations in her book, The Demons of Eden: The Power that Protects Child Pornography, connected child-sex tour-ism rings in Cancun to high-ranking Mexican government officials.

Her series on the exploitation of Cuban and Argentinian girls in the city also sparked a massive human rights uproar, as did her articles on the sexual abuse of minors.

Her non-stop efforts to address the plight of vulnerable women was recognised by the United States State Department and last year she was named as one of the "Heroes Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery".

Recognition

On that occasion, the freelance investigative journalist said the recognition of her work validated "what we are doing for trafficking victims; and I hope it helps the Mexican authorities to understand that trafficking of women is a global issue, and we have to deal with it as that".

It is little wonder that she has plenty of critics, particularly in Mexico, which is not known for its human rights record. But threats and criticism have not stopped her outspoken views.

"The Mexican government needs to do more to stop sexual violence, especially with studies showing that at least 12 000 girls every year in Mexico are sexually exploited and forced into prostitution," she said recently.

"If the government does not do more to attack this problem, trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and women will in 10 years' time become as big in Mexico as drug trafficking."

In Cancun, Cacho runs the Women's Assistance Centre for victimised children and women. The centre helps victims of human trafficking and sexual violence.

This year the World Press Freedom Day celebration will focus on freedom of expression, access to information and the empowerment of people. The conference will begin today in the Mozambique capital and end tomorrow.

After the announcement of the award, Cacho recalled the words of her mother: "Never negotiate your freedom. If you lose your freedom, you lose everything."

In a message on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Koïchiro Matsuura, director-general of Unesco, stressed that "press freedom and access to information empowered people and helped them gain control over their lives".

Cacho factfile

# On December 16, 2005, Cacho was arrested and denied access to her lawyer and medicine. She spent the night in prison and was released on bail of $9 900.

# In response to the intimidation tactics, Cacho filed a counter-suit for corruption and for violation of her human rights. She became the first woman in Mexico to file a federal suit against a governor, district attorney and a judge for corruption and attempted rape in prison.

# In May 2006, Cacho took up the cause of unsolved murders as a call to action against impunity of abuse of women in Mexico. It included the discovery of murdered abused women whose raped and mutilated corpses were found discarded in the desert.

# Cacho's life is repeatedly threatened. She has to travel with armed guards. Despite these dangers, she continues to champion the advancement of human rights for children and women through her writing and advocacy work.
"Your orgasm can no longer dictate my oppression"

Trisha Baptie
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Re: Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, Mexico's "Voice of the abused"

Postby MaggieH » Wed May 07, 2008 2:24 pm

This:

It included the discovery of murdered abused women whose raped and mutilated corpses were found discarded in the desert.


is the most painful part of this article. :cry:
"The assumption that "most women are innately heterosexual'' stands as a theoretical and political stumbling block for many women. It remains a tenable assumption, partly because lesbian existence has been written out of history or catalogued under disease;. . . partly because to acknowledge that for women heterosexuality may not be a "preference" at all but something that has had to be imposed, managed, organized, propagandized and maintained by force is an immense step to take if you consider yourself freely and "innately" heterosexual. Yet the failure to examine heterosexuality as an institution is like failing to admit that the economic system called capitalism or the caste system of racism is maintained by a variety of forces, including both physical violence and false consciousness. . ."
-- Adrienne Rich, in Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence: http://www.terry.uga.edu/~dawndba/4500compulsoryhet.htm

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.” ~ Alice Walker
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