Inside the Dangerous Mission: Rescue of Children in Colombia's Sex Trafficking Trade - Essay Example

full History Journal (on Latin American country of Colombia) 01 December August 01, The Guardian: “By expelling Isabella Acevedo, the Home Office tears another family apart.” by Trenton Oldfield and Deepa Naik. . It is a sad story about an illegal Colombian immigrant lady who was arrested by the United Kingdom Border Police because she had no documentation on her and she had been staying and working in the U.K. for several years already. She was arrested right in the middle of her only daughters wedding in a sign of a heartless effort to punish her because she left her previous employer who happened to be a member of British Parliament, MP and also minister Mark Harper, There are many stories like hers as Britain is a magnet of illegal immigrants because the cities of the country are largely cosmpolitan and their presence is hardly noted among a multitude of various nationalities. It may be a case of implementing strict immigration laws no matter who is the culprit but at times there should be some kind of consideration. As what happened, Isabella was forcibly put on a plane and deported back to Colombia. She is now all alone in Medellin, Colombia with no relative to help he out and no prospects of another good job too. Compassion and kindness could have saved her but the immigration authorities had to draw a line somewhere otherwise the United Kingdom will be full of illegal or undocumented immigrants. August 09, 2014. The Economist: “Women in politics: treating the fair sex fairly.” by writing staff. . This article discussed how women in politics had fared in five countries, namely: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and the United States of America. It seems the research study by the authors cited in this article are of the opinion that female ministers in top government posts were appointed in a fair manner unlike the popular perception that female politicians and ministers had been usually appointed to their posts as mere tokinism. This is certainly not the case in Colombia so the country has a good record of equality among both genders. Women in politics were measured by number of bills they had passed or the legislation they had sponsored, how long they had stayed in office and other criteria such as how easy they got replaced by male apppointees. This is a welcome development because it shows Colombia has sensitivie towards gender equality being a Third World developing country. Its poverty has not prevented it from being conscious of feminism and womens rights; it had a fair share of female ministers in the past as a percentage of the total cabinet posts and ministerial positions. Its record of equality can stand well against the record of other countries with regards to gender equality in politics. September 18, 2014. The Huffington Post: “Off the beaten path travel in Cabo De La Vela, Colombian.” by Joanna Riquett. . Colombia is definitely a beautiful country and this article has shown why it is not fully discovered and explored yet by foreign tourists. It has beautiful beaches, sunny skies, a good weather, and friendly people yet there are several constrains due to lack of good roads, lack of tourist information on these sites, and also a marked lack of the expected accommodation facilities to entice tourists to try off-beaten path sites to visit. This country has Cabo De La Vela as a worthy attraction which is located in the north peninsula of La Guajira where a strange contradiction is found in nature: a desert meets the sea along the Caribbean Sea. The region is populated by a tribe called Wayuu who speak their own native language of whom many had not adopted Spanish as a second language, so a traveler should be warned to take along an interpreter. This native community is only one of the ninety or so groups of indigenous communities in the country of Colombia. If the traveler really wants to disconnect from the modern world, then this place has no telephones here. Colombia has many beautiful places to visit but the lack of public infrastructure and private facilities had prevented foreign tourists from fully exploring and enjoying this country. Then there is the added element of risk from kidnappings and extortion done by some gangs. But the countrys government should try to develop tourism as it has great potentials and this is a way to preserve nature also by making the locals as partners in tourism development. If the locals have a stake in the preservation of their environment, then they will be the first ones to protect their nature preserves for future generations to come. It is a pity this country has not been raising enough tourism dollar revenues as an alternative to its illegal drug trade. October 07, 2014. The Telegraph: “Lightning strike kills 11 members of Colombian tribe.” by Steve Wilson. . The story recounts the freak occurrence of a lightning strike hitting the thatched-roff hut where members of a remote indigenous tribe had taken shelter during a thunderstorm. Eleven of them were killed while another 15 barely survived with six of the fifteen seriously injured; all survivors were evacuated by helicopter to various hospitals instead of walking downhill for six hours to reach the nearest road. The tribe lives along the Caribbean coast of the country and at the time of the lightning strike were in the hut performing a native ritual or traditional ceremony with their elders known as “Manos” and all were members of the Wiwa tribe living on the coastal Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is a bit odd that primitive people still exist today in the modern world of the twenty-first century. Colombia has many remote rural regions rarely reached by modern civilization and these native Indian tribes do not benefit from such conveniences like education, public health services, modern water piping systems, mode of transportation, cellular phones and the like. It is strange but not totally impossible because Brazil likewise has many undocumented tribes at present in the wide expanse of the dense Amazon jungle and some of these tribes were even reputed to be cannibals and had no contact with the outside world whatsoever. October 14, 2014. ABC News: “Inside the dangerous mission to rescue children in Colombias sex trafficking trade.” by Candace Smith. . This news is on dangerous undercover mission to rescue young Colombian children from the clutches of sex traffickers who ply the streets of the beautiful city of Cartagena enticing their victims to engage in the illegal trade. The operation is actually a “sting operation” to catch a potential child sex trafficker and all their negotiations were recorded on camera to be used as court evidence. The operation was led by a former CIA and Homeland Security agent. Colombia is a Christian country but unfortunately, prostitution is legal there and so there is a tolerant attitude towards prostitution although this does not extend to child prostitution. Each child being trafficked (anyone under the age of 18 years) is sold for between US$200-$300 with the child not knowing what will happen to her next. It is a difficult to wipe out this kind of illegal trade in a poor country like Colombia because people gravitate towards this kind of business as it is the easy to do. Colombian authorities had coordinated with various groups of volunteers but the prostitution still goes on despite their best efforts to eradicate it. November 01, 2014. ABC News: “Girl, 5, lands with kilogram of heroin.” by Ariane Devogue. . This story tells of a little 5-year old girl who arrived from Bogota, Colombia aboard Aviana Airlines at the John F. Kennedy International Airport without an accompanying adult. She arrived with two suitcases with matching baggage-claim tags. The childs mother is believed to have sent her on the plane all alone but the child was to be picked by her grandmother at the airport upon her arrival. The mother is believed to be a drug addict back in Colombia but the grandmother is thought to be clueless about the illegal cargo the child was carrying. Drug traffickers today use so-called “mules” to carry illegal drugs past customs authorities. But in a new twist, these traffickers now utilize very young children to avoid suspicion and these drug traffickers also know the child cannot be imprisoned even if caught. Colombia in recent years tried hard to reduce the production of cocaine but with few results as the drug is a good source of income in a poor country. For the government to succeed illegal drugs, it must offer its citizens an alternative income source or with a good agricultural cash crop to rival the profits derived from cocaine production. Colombia used to export a lot of bananas and earned good income from it as its Colombians are considered to other bananas from the region. November 12, 2014. Colombia Reports: “Ringo Starr to come to Colombia during Latin America tour.” by David Wing. . The article mentions that famous former Beatles star drummer Ringo Starr will indeed visit Colombia next year together with his band called as “His All Starr Band” and perform in the Conferias Event Center located in the capital of Bogota. It is the second time a Beatles member will have visited Colombia as Paul McCartney had also performed there in April of 2012. The Latin American band tour of Ringo Starr and bandmates will include the countries of Puerto Rico and Brazil. Their tour actually starts in the U.S. in February of 2015 but will end up in Colombia on March 06, 2015. This type of news is certainly welcome news to the people of Colombia who must be by now tired of all the negative news they get everyday about their own country, in particular, news on kidnappings, killings, and drug cartels. Colombia is a poor country but it can certainly be able to afford the ticket prices that will be announced by Ringo Starr and his bandmates. It is time for a change of good news after all the bad news people hear about Colombia. November 15, 2014. The New York Times: “Amid little fanfare, Americans lose in London.” by John F. Burns. . This story tells how the American soccer team lost to Colombia (2-1) in a friendly non-bearing match at the Craven Cottage, home of the Fullham soccer club that is located along the Thames River a few miles from Wembley Stadium. In the said game, American soccer fans were noticeably absent while majority of the spectators were Colombians who had travelled to London from as far as Spain just to see the match. Most of the American fans probably knew their team will lose again after it had allowed ties against the countries of Ecuador and Honduras back in October. The team from Colombia reached the quarterfinals in the Soccer World Cup last summer in Brazil and one of their star players had been signed by team Real Madrid in an unheard of sum in a $100 million player deal. Colombians are crazy about soccer and are big fans of this game as shown by the spectators of Colombian descent coming from many parts in Europe just to wait the games in London. In effect, soccer provides them a welcom distraction from their jobs and at the same time serves as a unifying point for all Colombians scattered all over the world. Soccer is a universal game and so this language of sports is understood by everybody, Colombians in particular. November 27, 2014. Colombia Reports: “Ireland vows aid for Colombias conflict regions.” by Joel Gillin. . The article talks on the donation made by Ireland in the amount of $280,000 for Colombias conflict mitigation efforts in the areas affected by armed conflict, in particular for promotion of human rights among those caught in the crossfire. President Juan Manuel Santos recently went to Europe to seek both political and financial support for his peace talks with the rebels but some countries made their commitments contingent upon final signing of an agreement. European countries such as Spain, Belgium, France, and Portugal merely gave assurances. The amount actually given by Ireland was very small or paltry but it did carry significance as it is the first time that the U.N. Human Rights office in Colombia had received any monies. It is worth noting that the other countries merely gave assurances but no hard cash. European countries just paid lip service to human rights violations in Colombia but did nothing concrete because these countries probably had doubts about the ultimate outcome of the peace talks that seemed to be going nowhere. Irelands ambassador to Colombia, Ms. Sonja Hyland, said the amount is symbolic as Ireland had also experienced conflict during “The Troubles” in its fight for independence agains the British during the 1980s and 1990s in Northern Ireland. November 30, 2014. BBC News: “Colombian general freed by rebels.” by BBC staff writers. . This news article is on the release of a Colombian general who was captured by FARC rebels together with two other people some two weeks ago. They were abducted while traveling by boat along the Atrato River in Choco Province which is an isolated dense jungle area in the Pacific coast of the country. His abduction last November 16 forced the countrys president to suspend peace talks with the rebels being held in Cuba. The general and his two companions were all released unharmed and turned over to the Internal Red Cross representatives. The FARC insurgency has been going on for almost five decades already and is one of the worlds longest running internal conflicts. The government and the rebels must show sincerity in their peace talks but it is hard to trust each other when both of them are equally guilty of ceasefire violations while the peace talks are on-going in Cuba for almost two years already. At any rate, the conflict is between blood brothers since the combatants are all Colombians. Due: December 01, 2014 @ 2:17 p.m. Read More