US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA382

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 000382 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, DRL/IL, DRL/PHD, AND INL/LP 
STATE FOR WHA/PPC AND WHA/CEN 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN 
DOL FOR ILAB 
DOJ FOR OPDAT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SMIG, KWMN, ELAB, PGOV, PREL, KJUS, HO 
SUBJECT:  Honduras TIP Update: GOH Active in Preventing and 
Combating TIP 
 
REF: (A) Tegucigalpa 116 
 
     (B) Tegucigalpa 70 
     (C) 03 Tegucigalpa 2965 
     (D) 03 Tegucigalpa 2825 
     (E) 03 Tegucigalpa 2350 
 
1.  Summary: Honduras has been active in recent months on a 
number of trafficking in persons (TIP) fronts.  This cable 
provides an update on these efforts.  End Summary. 
 
TIP Seminars - Prevention and Eradication of TIP 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2. The Embassy brought in first a U.S. NGO expert (ref E) and 
then invited G/TIP Senior Reporting Officer Phil Linderman to 
be keynote speakers at seminars organized by the Honduran 
government on the prevention and eradication of the 
commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in 
women and children in Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba in 2003, and 
in San Pedro Sula and Santa Rosa de Copan in January 22-23, 
2004.  On the margins of the seminars in January, Linderman 
and LabAtt held various meetings on TIP issues with GOH and 
NGO officials.  Linderman also did extensive press interviews 
on TIP. 
 
Recent GOH Efforts to Prevent/Combat TIP 
---------------------------------------- 
 
3. At the January seminars, Honduran Delegate to the OAS 
Women's Commission Ambassador Soledad de Ramirez Soto 
highlighted several recent advances in combating TIP: 
- police are training school children to prevent commercial 
sexual exploitation; 
- the GOH has established a toll-free number to report 
commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)/TIP 
-- the GOH worked with ILO/IPEC and NGOs to provide training 
to the press on TIP; 
-- the GOH, in conjunction with UNICEF, has begun a public 
information campaign against trafficking and commercial 
sexual exploitation, and it has tried to raise awareness of 
children and women's rights and risks associated with illegal 
migration.  The NGO Casa Alianza has also launched a public 
information campaign against commercial sexual exploitation 
of children. 
 
Casa Alianza CSEC Study Leads to GOH Action 
------------------------------------------- 
 
4. The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a 
continuing problem in Honduras, but getting an estimate of 
the magnitude of the problem has been difficult.  ILO/IPEC, 
in conjunction with the NGO Center for the Study of Women- 
Honduras (CEM-H), and Save the Children UK, have both worked 
on studies in the past.  Casa Alianza released a study in 
December 2003 estimating that there are approximately 8,335 
children who are victims of some form of commercial sexual 
exploitation.  The report also identified 1,019 children (979 
of whom were female) who are being commercially sexually 
exploited.  According to a February 12 Casa Alianza press 
release that praised the GOH, following the issuance of the 
study, Honduran authorities conducted operations in late 
January and early February in which "30 girls, victims of 
CSEC, have been rescued from taverns and brothels in 
Honduras."  The GOH also conducted operations December 16, 
2003 in Tegucigalpa, raiding four establishments with CSEC 
victims, and also in late 2003 conducted raids, freed CSEC 
victims, and arrested two people in the Honduran/Nicaraguan 
border towns of Guasaule and El Triunfo.  Please see: 
http://www.casa-alianza.org/ES/human-rights/s exual- 
exploit/docs/16122003.phtml for more information on the 
study. 
 
Ringleader in Texas TIP Case Arrested 
------------------------------------- 
 
5. In May 2002, federal agents raided six bars and seven 
homes in Forth Worth, Texas and detained 88 people, many on 
suspicion of immigration violations.  Members of a family 
from Choluteca, Honduras, were ringleaders of the scheme that 
trafficked 29 Honduran women and five Honduran girls to work 
at the bars.  The victims were subject to sexual exploitation 
and debt bondage.  Honduran authorities participated in law 
enforcement investigations that led to several convictions in 
the U.S.  Honduran police, working closely with the 
Department of Homeland Security, recently arrested alleged 
ringleader Roger Galindo in San Lorenzo, Honduras on February 
5.  Also arrested February 5 were Marlene de Jesus Aguilar 
Galindo and Sabina Cepeda; Maria Isabel Cruz Zamora is still 
a fugitive with a pending Honduran arrest warrant.  Roger 
Galindo and the others had been fugitives since the original 
arrests in 2002. 
Arrests in Chinese Alien Smuggling 
---------------------------------- 
 
6. Honduran police arrested two Taiwanese citizens in 2003 on 
charges of alien smuggling in cases that could have some TIP 
elements, as it is possible that the Chinese would have been 
subject to debt bondage to pay off their smuggling fees.  The 
Taiwanese were caught trying to smuggle PRC nationals to the 
U.S. via San Pedro Sula, Honduras using fraudulent documents. 
Chen Ke Jung, arrested in San Pedro Sula on October 12, 2003, 
has since violated probation status and is currently a 
fugitive.  Len Wei-Chung, arrested December 26, 2003, is 
still in jail.  (See ref A for more information on these 
cases.) 
 
7. Honduran police also arrested Chinese naturalized 
Hondurans Hu Weng Rong (December 9, 2003) and He Jia Bin 
(December 11, 2003) in San Pedro Sula for involvement in an 
alien smuggling ring for PRC nationals using fraudulent 
documents.  Both are still in jail.  (See refs B-C for more 
information on these cases.) 
 
USG Assistance to Combat TIP 
---------------------------- 
 
8. The Embassy is spending $350,000 in 2003-2005 in INL 
Police Assistance Funds to support the Frontier Police to, 
among other goals, prevent and interdict the transportation 
of illegal immigrants, including TIP.  This is in addition to 
the $29,400 G/TIP is spending to fund Department of Justice 
Office of Prosecutorial Development and Training (OPDAT) 
classes in 2004 for Honduran police and prosecutors on 
investigating and prosecuting TIP. 
 
Palmer