RSSAruba: Blue Skies, White Sandy Beaches and Human Traffickers … Oh My
More news from “One Happy & Safe” island, this time human traffickers are sentenced. For the OM to believe that this was a result of a human trafficking network the sentences seem to be rather light. If one really believes that human trafficking is a serious crime would not the penalties be more severe?
The human trafficking problem seems to a real issue; however, do not remember hearing the ATA mentioning this at the travel trade shows.
Amigoe, April 16, 2007: OM surmises network of human traffickers
Two human traffickers, Hector Ramon Rojas Acosta and Henry Gonzales Henao are taken back to prison after they had heard their sentence.
ORANJESTAD – A captain and a sailor, who had transported 18 persons from Venezuela early January, were sentenced to 16 and 20 months imprisonment, for being involved in human trafficking.
On January 6th of this year, the coastguard detected a small boat on the radar that was making conspicuous movements, didn’t have lights, and was not registered. The coastguard stopped the boat near the harbour of Barcadera and arrested the 20 persons on board. The e persons on board said the two of them, the 36-year old Venezuelan citizen Hector Ramon Rojas Acosta and the 44-year old Colombian Henry Gonzales Henao were respectively the captain and the sailor. The two were locked up separately in San Nicola and the others were also locked up awaiting deportation. Purpose of the journey was to seek a new existence in Aruba . The reason they came in a small boat is that the persons had no passport and no money for an airplane ticket.
MONEY
The judge said that airline tickets would have been cheaper, considering the fact that Gonzalez had paid 6400 dollars for the boat, including the motors. The group of person on board came from Colombia to Punto Figo ( Venezuela ) and paid Rojas 320 dollars each for the trip to Aruba . The people that didn’t know how to swim were promised to be put on the beach, but that they will have to swim if things do not work out.
NETWORK
Due to the economic situations in Colombia , people leave their country to seek better existence elsewhere, in this case in Aruba . The captain of the boat made it appear that the boat was purchased by all the person on board for this purpose, but he forgets that the people have paid for the trip and not for the boat. The OM presumes that an organized human trafficking gang is behind this transport, because close to shore, the boat made a light signal to somebody that was on the shore. This means that there is a network and that the boat with people on board was expected to arrive.
Gonzales was already deported before and he has no legal papers. The OM demanded three years against Gonzalez and 18 months against Rojas.
IMPRISONMENT
The judge said that this is not the first human trafficking case. The Court considers human trafficking a very bad offence. He said that Gonzales shows no respect for the law in Aruba . He was deported before, and still tried to come back to Aruba . He said that it is proven that Rojas accepted money for the trip and that he was the captain. He still was of the opinion that the OM demanded a very high punishment.
Posted April 16, 2007 by Scared Monkeys Aruba, Crime, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking, Travel, World | 17 comments |
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17 Responses to “Aruba: Blue Skies, White Sandy Beaches and Human Traffickers … Oh My”
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Sounds like this has been going on
down there for a very loooong time.
& NOWWWW
Because of their attacks on Natalee
and her family, & the horrendous, tragic
miscarriage of justice… they have HUGE
french fry heat lamps focused on
their every move now!!!
Everything that was once
hidden, is now being
uncovered for all eyes
to see.
—
What SHANGO SAY?
Shango say: “boomp bobba boomp,
bobbA boOOOMP titty boomp.
—
That is the price they
let PVDS pay. That
they suffer.
Wahoooo Aruba
Karma is a “mother”
ain’t it, Jeeves. -j4n
People who have studied the subject usually distinguish between human smuggling (which this appears to be) and human trafficking. In the former, carried out with the complicity of the “cargo,” the relationship ends once the “cargo” is delivered to where it wants to go.
Trafficking is generally used for situations where the victim is moved against his or her will and the people involved retain a degree of control over the “cargo” at the destination.
Of course, boats can go both ways … and sometimes the cargo might not be voluntary … but we all know this couldn’t happen to an American citizen anyways. (Amy Bradley notwithstanding.) So no need to worry, folks.
As we watch the shootings in Virginia unfold this morning, I want to say that there is crime, injustice and corruption everywhere. Camelot doesn’t exist in life as we know it. But if you happen to be a victim of a crime, you and your family have a better chance of getting help in places like the USA, Canada, England or Australia, all countries that don’t hate/resent Americans. This week’s Sunday newspaper magazine is titled “Spring Travel” and has many articles and ads for beaches in Hawaii, Florida, California, even Missouri and the states surrouding Lake Michigan: Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Read it and make your summer vacation plans. I understand Alabama has some great deals and some beautiful places also, including great golf packages.
The judge said that Gonzales shows no respect for the laws in Aruba. Sounds like a man named van der Sloot. And friends of his family.
Sounds to me like the whole Aruba government.
Cf Shakespeare, King Lear: “A dog’s obeyed in office.”
2. Richard: Thank you for explaining the distinction.
Sometimes the smuggled become the trafficked; it seems to happen a lot with Mexicans brought over the border, who are vulnerable and therefore form easy prey. But the distinction is a legitimate one.
Think of all those mothers both in Central and South America that are sending their sons and daughters away thinking that they are going to work in legitimate jobs and send money home to help support their families… many of them end up being trafficked instead; and, far too many times, it’s planned that way from the very start.
There are, ofcourse, the tens of thousands that are being trafficked from the Soviet Block countries, across Europe, many of them through The Netherlands and then through Canada that end up in the U.S. as mail order brides or working in the brothels in cities like L.A., San Francisco, Houston and Chicago. Many of these are girls that innocently answered ads that were placed in newspapers for jobs in the U.S… never to be seen or heard from again. It is a global problem and one that results in a human-slave condition.
There was a brothel that was just raided and closed down, here, where I live… in the suburbs. The article in the paper said that there had been a crack-down on human trafficking in the adjacent city so they are moving out into the suburbs operating as spas. In this case, all the women were Viet Namese and the rooms, that were posing as therapy rooms, were equiped with high-tech video equipment with the capability of making live broadcasts over the internet.
The U.S. State Department has taken the lead in requesting that all countries, voluntarily, provide trafficking reports to assess the problem. However, it is reported that many countries know that the problem exists and do little to stop it. In the case of Aruba, it has been common knowledge that there is a human trafficking problem for many years because of its’ close proximity to Venezuella and Columbia. It is a fact, and you have heard Richard speak of this many times, human and drug trafficking work hand in hand; and are committed by the most organized of all criminals. These are not ma and pop operations, rather, they are highly organized networks that, in many cases, include corrupt government officials.
With its’ drug smuggling and money laundering operations what they are, Aruba is bound to be at the core of human trafficking, as well… afterall, it is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Ask Jossy what he knows about this all.
Oh my … maybe natalee was not attacked by jordan after all, but just in the hands of some mexican coke smugglers. Oh yes, this is america. you only have a right when you agree with the sencureship.
natalee was using drugs on aruba before she met jordan. And that says enough ! Guilty as charged !
I find this an abomnation.This still exists and it horrifies me.Yes Lil Puma,Alabama has great bargins and beaches,with wide white sands and a nice climate.Oh yes,the local police are around,discretely,to prevent tradgedy.
#l0, right, mexican drug smugglers offload on the beach in front of the hotels. are you sure it wasn’t venezuelean or columbian drug smugglers? that’s almost as plausible as godzilla got her.
dennisintn
Hi DeTyfeus,
HOOKED ON PHONICS called while you were
out to lunch today! They said that you
are such an effin a$$-out STOOP-NAGLE, that they
are demanding for you to ship back their six CD
set. -j4n
Aruba is ready and willing for all illegal activities.
Show us the money.
Long article … but well worth reading, if you haven’t.
Donna Hughes is an international expert on human trafficking.
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/natasha.htm
The Medjet took Natalee of the island. Beth knows and the truth will come out!
____________
SM: This rediculous theory is being posted by someone from Aruba. Sabas – do you have any idea how rediculous you sound? You really believe that Beth and Dave would go through all they have for the last 22 months if this were the case? THE TRUTH LIES IN ARUBA with the Sloots and Kalpoes and the government that has covered up the truth since June 1, 2005. (klaasend)
Natalie was drugged at the bar; she woke up and surprised her three abductors, Van der Sloot bludgeoned her to death. She upset their plan to human traffic her to Columbia by boat.