Bail denied for Honduran convicted of human trafficking
Yolanda Garcia
Forty-one year old, Yolanda Garcia, owner of Serenita’s bar on Regent Street West was found guilty of human trafficking of a seventeen year old employee. In February of this year Garcia, a Honduran national, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to one year in prison. But she is appealing the conviction and today, Garcia returned to court with her attorney, Mansel Thurton, who submitted a bail application. Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith denied the application. In February of this year, the minor told the court that Garcia, who was her employer at the time, told her that she had to engage in sexual activities with the men at the bar. According to the teenager, who worked as a waitress, the incident occurred sometime between June and July of 2010. Garcia’s conviction for the crime of human trafficking was the first for Belize City.
Assuming the charge is true, that’s one disgusting subhuman. Human trafficking is just a “politically correct” word for SLAVERY. As a nation with a lot of people who escaped slavery, we should all hate this crime and the people who commit — and their customers that make it profitable.
Lets take this one step further. There are so many of “these” bars that provide sexual services. They are dotted all over Belize. But the authorities give them permission to open up the bar, to sell licor, we ignore the fact that they are here with a tourist visa and should not be working, we never truly investigate, we accept a bribe and do not care. This is a countrywide problem but then, these bars remain open because so many men frequent and patronize such bars, so where does the cycle stop when so many people participate in this in one way, shape or form!!!
Wow sad..she does not need to be released!There is so much more of this happening around the villages in this country….and city……
Typical machismo attitude towards prostitution. What about the MEN going to these women?
Why doesn’t the police go after the men paying for these women? We always seem to blame it on the women and just ignore that if men were punished or fined for these kind of activities, these women would not be coming to work in Belize. We should NOT let men get away without paying for any of the consequences. The men who are the customers are as guilty as thesewomen. Time for Belize to come into the 21st Century.
Everyone made some other important points. I agree the law should go after the customers as much as the pimps, the sex slaves [girls] are the least concern in terms of prosecution, because in cases like this one, they have no real choice.
BUT THERE IS ANOTHER CONCERN OF NATIONWIDE CONSEQUENCE HERE. Prostitution is the Grand Central Station for AIDS, and we have an epidemic of AIDS in the Jewel. Irresponsible men pass it to prostitutes, who pass it back, and wives and girlfriends catch it and pass it to their babies.
How sad.
How about all the women pimping out their daughters to the sugar daddy’s..how about the woman who says she hussle pan de side to make ends meet. they are not in a bar, they are mostly not hispanic but aren’t they guilty of the same crime. check it out.