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DE RUEHMU #0304/01 0721845
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121845Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2244
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1215
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 2802
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0031
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 5082
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 4705
RUEHTG/AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA 4132
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 13 MANAGUA 000304 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM 
DEPT FOR SMILLER WHA/PPC 
DEPT FOR RGREEN AND NNYMAN WHA/CEN 
DEPT PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PHUM PREF SMIG NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: EIGTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
(TIP) REPORT 2008 
 
REF: A. STATE 002731 
     ¶B. 07 MANAGUA 00796 
     ¶C. 08 MANAGUA 2577 
     ¶D. 07 MANAGUA 2594 
     ¶E. 08 MANAGUA 0176 
 
SUMMARY 
- - - - 
 
¶1. (SBU) During the April 2007 to March 2008 reporting 
period, the Government of Nicaragua (GON) maintained efforts 
to combat trafficking in persons (TIP) in the areas of 
prevention, raising awareness, and detection, but made little 
progress in terms of victim assistance and the prosecution 
and convictions of traffickers.  No reliable data was 
available to assess the magnitude of the trafficking in 
persons problem in Nicaragua, but all sources consulted 
concurred that the prevalence of human trafficking was 
underreported and concealed.  In addition, internal 
trafficking involving the sexual exploitation of children was 
a serious problem.  Child labor continued to be widespread. 
An overall lack of awareness and understanding of the 
trafficking in persons phenomenon within the population 
continued.  Poverty, illiteracy, lack of economic 
opportunity, porous borders, geographic location, and vast 
areas of unpatrolled land along the Atlantic coast, 
contribute to making Nicaragua the principal source of 
trafficking victims in Central America. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Although the country has in place a National 
Coalition against Trafficking in Persons (NCATIP), which 
includes various ministries and civil society organizations, 
non-governmental organizations within the NCATIP voiced 
regret that this Coalition was less active and accessible 
than in the past.  Resource constraints, the slow pace of 
judicial reform, corruption in the judiciary, the delay in 
the implementation of the new penal code, a lack of border 
security, weak immigration controls, and insufficient 
coordination of efforts were among the top obstacles impeding 
progress.  Significant personnel changes in government 
ministries linked to the assumption of power by the new 
Ortega Administration in early 2007 impeded continuity and 
coordination in combating TIP.  It should be noted, however, 
the GON reaffirmed its commitment to address the problem and 
hosted two regional conferences on the topic.  The GON made 
strides in providing anti-trafficking training for government 
officials and the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) and in 
extending public awareness information through programs 
implemented and financed by outside donors, non-governmental 
organizations (NGOS), and UN organizations.  According to the 
Ministry of Government, all of its officials have been 
trained and sensitized in the topic, including at the 
departmental and district levels.  (END SUMMARY) 
 
The information provided below is keyed to Reftel A 
paragraphs 27-31. 
 
¶3. OVERVIEW OF NICARAGUA'S ACTIVITIES TO ELIMINATE TIP (PARA. 
27) 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- 
 
¶A. (SBU)   Nicaragua was a source of both internal and 
external trafficking, primarily for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation of children, adolescents, and young women. 
Although it was also a transit country, there was scant 
evidence that Nicaragua was a significant destination 
country.  There were no reliable statistics available to 
assess the magnitude of trafficked victims.  According to a 
2007 study by the Institute of Public Policy and Strategic 
Studies (IEEPP), Nicaraguan authorities were only able to 
detect 10 percent of illegal trafficking across its borders, 
which includes illegal migration as well as human 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  002 OF 013 
 
 
trafficking.  The reliability of any assessment of the extent 
of internal trafficking was even more doubtful.  As the 
second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Nicaragua 
suffers from severe resource constraints, weak institutions, 
and a generalized disrespect for the rule of law, conditions 
which favor criminals involved in human trafficking.  The 
Department of Chinandega on the northwest border of the 
country was the most vulnerable area in the country for 
external trafficking.  Sources consulted included media 
reports, the NCATIP (Ref B), the Ministry of Government, the 
Ministry of Family, the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) 
Special Crimes Unit, the NNP's Commissariat for Women and 
Children, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, the 
International Organization for Migration (OIM) and other NGOs 
that form part of the Coalition including Casa Alianza, Save 
the Children, Dos Generaciones, the Council for the Defense 
of Children (CODENI), UNICEF, the National Movement for 
Children, Girls, and Adolescent Workers (NATRAS), and the 
IEEPP. 
 
¶B. (SBU) As in the previous year, the vast majority of cases 
in Nicaragua involved young women and girls trafficked for 
the purpose of sexual exploitation.  The main groups at risk 
were young uneducated women and children from poor, rural 
areas; victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence; girls 
and adolescents from rural areas who were offered jobs to 
work in restaurants, night clubs and bars in urban areas; 
and, individuals who lack a legal identification card 
(cedula) required for persons over the age of 16.  These 
groups were trafficked to work as prostitutes in night clubs, 
bars, brothels, and massage parlors. Children and women from 
the ages of 13 to 21 years were the most vulnerable, but 
there was evidence of children as young as 11 and women up to 
the age of 35 who were victims of trafficking.  Victims were 
usually approached by individuals who appeared to be 
prosperous, drove expensive cars, and offered lucrative jobs. 
 They offered false documents, money, food, clothing, gifts, 
and cell phones as incentives.  One NGO claimed that some 
traffickers attempted to lure adolescents with offers of 
scholarships to Venezuela.  Traffickers also sometimes used 
children to recruit other children. Female traffickers, 
including former prostitutes, often attempted to first 
develop a bond of trust when recruiting victims, or even used 
a form of brainwashing, to convince children and young girls 
that prostitution was a desirable way of life and/or to 
establish a sense of dependency to prevent victims' escape. 
Some pursued women who were victims of violence by pretending 
to offering them assistance out of altruism. 
 
¶B.  Continued: (SBU) There were reports of forced child 
marriages, some of which were arranged by parents of low 
economic means who sold their daughters to older men.  NGOs 
reported an increase in temporary marriages between foreign 
male tourists and female minors.  According to NGOs and human 
rights organizations, trafficking for labor exploitation was 
a problem, but the government did not recognize this as a 
serious concern as there was insufficient data to confirm its 
prevalence. 
 
¶B.  Continued (U) Authorities and NGOs concurred that 
traffickers ran the gamut from organized crime rings and taxi 
driver networks, to family operations and individuals 
including "madams" and former prostitutes.  Traffickers used 
night clubs, massage parlors, cheap hotels, brothels, and 
restaurants to recruit and deceive victims.  They transported 
victims openly through border checkpoints and airports, and 
illegally through backroads and blind spots along the borders 
and unpatrolled maritime routes.  They also used phony travel 
agencies and employment agencies as front companies, and 
advertised jobs in local newspapers for work in massage 
parlors, beauty salons, hotels, and in the modeling, tourist, 
and entertainment industries.  In August 2007, the leading 
left-leaning news outlet, El Nuevo Diario, decided to pull 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  003 OF 013 
 
 
advertising for massage parlors after police arrested a 
21-year old woman for allegedly recruiting minors to work as 
prostitutes in a massage parlor in Managua. Civil society and 
religious leaders hailed the decision as contributing to the 
overall effort to stop trafficking. 
 
¶B.  Continued (U):  Child labor was a widespread problem. 
Experts in the area of child labor have estimated that the 
number of working children under the age of 18 was 
approximately 239,000, of which 36 percent were under the age 
of 14. Children worked in agriculture, forestry, fishing, 
hunting, coffee plantations and cigar factories.  Although a 
majority of child laborers worked at the subsistence level to 
support their families, 60 percent did not receive direct 
compensation for their labor, working instead as part of a 
family venture or for goods in kind.  NGOs reported that 
Nicaraguan migrants returned from temporary stays in Costa 
Rica to recruit children under the false promise of work in 
the beauty and modeling industry in the Costa Rica, where 
they were then trafficked for sexual purposes.  In some 
cases, traffickers recruited undocumented Nicaraguan boys to 
work on farms in Costa Rica.  After several months of unpaid 
labor, the boys were released but because they had no 
national identification card, they were treated as illegal 
migrants rather than as victims of trafficking. 
 
¶B.  Continued (U):  El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras 
remained the main destination countries for Nicaraguan 
trafficking victims, largely due to the CA4 migration 
agreement between Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
Honduras.  Citizens and residents of these countries are only 
required to show their cedulas (national identification 
cards), to cross the borders between these four countries. 
Passports are not required.  Victims were also trafficked to 
Costa Rica, Mexico, the United States, Europe, and were 
trafficked internally. 
 
¶B.  Continued (SBU):  One major concern with the Ortega 
Administration's immigration policy was its decision to grant 
nationals of Libya and Iran visa-free entry. (Ref. C) 
Although there was no evidence that dropping visa 
requirements for Iran presented any change in the TIP 
situation, the policy shift caused consternation among other 
Central American countries given its implications for illegal 
migration and other criminal activies. 
 
¶C. (SBU)  The National Coalition for Trafficking in Persons 
(NCATIP) which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry 
of Government is the lead government organization responsible 
for anti-trafficking efforts.  The principal agencies within 
the NCATIP are the National Police, including the Special 
Crimes Unit of the Auxiliary Judicial Division, the 
Immigration Service, the Public Ministry, and the Ministries 
of Family, Education, Health, and Labor.  The Women's Police 
Commissariats no longer have the lead role in following 
trafficking cases, but rather now focus on victim assistance 
and prevention. The National Police's Auxiliary Judicial 
Division is responsible for trafficking investigations. The 
government's National Council for the Integral Attention and 
Protection of Children and Adolescents (CONAPINA), 
established under the provisions of the Code for the Rights 
of Children and Adolescents, was effectively dissolved this 
past year. 
 
¶D. (SBU)  As in previous years, a lack of resources and 
budget, a generalized disrespect for the rule of law, and 
corruption in the judiciary were the key limitations to the 
GON's ability to address the problem.  During an anti-TIP 
conference convened with the Central American Parliament's 
(PARLACEN) Women's Forum in August, Minister of Government 
Ana Isabel Morales lamented that while Nicaragua is the 
Central American country most affected by the crime of human 
trafficking, the lack of consciousness among the country's 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  004 OF 013 
 
 
judges allows trafficking criminals to go free.  She also 
noted that in addition to weaknesses in the judicial system, 
victims themselves do not always understand that they have 
been victims of a crime.  Cultural and class prejudices 
present another obstacle--as several NGOs pointed out, sexual 
exploitation and abuse of women and children is accepted as 
"normal" in Nicaragua, making the detection of trafficking in 
persons all the more difficult.  Due to the shame associated 
with being trafficked and sexually exploited, and fear of 
stigmatization, victims and their families were reluctant to 
file complaints with the authorities, further hampering the 
government's ability to prosecute TIP cases.  There was no 
credible data to verify the number of trafficking cases or 
victims, but all organizations consulted concurred that the 
actual number of cases exceeded cases reported.  Police data 
was unreliable since these statistics often do not 
distinguish between number of disappeared persons, trafficked 
persons, and illegal migrants leading to discrepancies among 
these categories.  There was a lack of consistency in 
classifying cases of human trafficking. 
 
¶E. (SBU) The NNP affirmed that its police officers are 
trained to monitor anti-TIP efforts and has incorporated 
human trafficking sensitization as part of the require human 
rights training for new officers.   The Police and 
Immigration Service implemented a social and geographic 
mapping tool developed by Save the Children in 2006 to 
monitor and identify trafficking routes.  The NCATIP has 
taken steps to coordinate actions by different agencies 
mainly in the area of raising awareness, and shared its 
results, such as conferences and public events, with the 
media.  Under the leadership of Chief of Police Aminta 
Granera, the NNP has made the fight against gender-based 
violence a greater priority which has led to greater 
awareness of crimes against women, including sexual 
exploitation and trafficking. 
 
¶4. INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS (PARA. 28) 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶A.  (SBU) The government did not enact any new anti-TIP 
legislation since the last TIP report.  However, after a 
number of years of civil society effort, the NCATIP approved 
in 2007 a Protocol for the Repatriation of Trafficking 
Victims, signed by members of the Coalition, the Office of 
the Attorney General, and other government entities.  The 
Constitution bans forced labor, slavery, and indentured 
servitude, but the penal code does not recognize trafficking 
for the purpose of forced labor as a specific crime.  Laws on 
sex crimes, illegal migration, and the Code for Children and 
Adolescent Rights are the main sources of legislation that 
prohibit trafficking in persons and internal trafficking 
involving exploitation of children.  Although the National 
Assembly approved in November 2007 a new penal code, which 
expands the scope of sex-related crimes involving the 
exploitation of minors, it is still not in force.  Under the 
new code, the law criminalizes trafficking for the purpose of 
sexual exploitation and slavery both inside and outside the 
country.   The new legislation will allow a much broader 
interpretation of trafficking offenses than is currently in 
effect, but labor trafficking is not specifically addressed. 
According to the Labor Code of 1996 and the Child and 
Adolescent Code of 1998, adolescents and children are 
prohibited from engaging in work that endangers their health 
and safety including work in night entertainment venues or 
that interferes in their schooling (Ref. D). 
 
The existing Penal Code bans trafficking for the purpose of 
prostitution as follows: 
 
-- Article 203.  Any individual found guilty of trafficking 
in persons--defined as someone who recruits people through 
deception, force or manipulation, with or without their 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  005 OF 013 
 
 
consent, for the purpose of prostitution either inside or 
outside the Republic, or who introduces other persons into 
the country for the same purpose--will be subject to 
punishment between 4 and 10 years.  The maximum penalty is 
applied when the author (trafficker) involved is either 
married to, or is in an established stable union with, the 
victim, or when the victim is younger than 14 years of age. 
 
An inventory of laws concerning trafficking in persons and 
sex crimes in the new Penal Code follows: 
 
-- Article 182.  Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of 
Slavery or Sexual Exploitation 
 
Whoever, using force or violence, offers, deceives, promotes, 
facilitates, induces or attracts, recruits, contracts, 
transports, transfers, retains, takes in, or receives people, 
with the purpose of sexual exploitation, inside or outside 
national territory, even with the consent of the victims, 
shall be penalized with the sentence of between 7 to 10 years 
imprisonment.  If the victim is younger than 18 years of age, 
or disabled, or the act was committed by a relative, 
guardian, spiritual guide, mentor, or an individual 
permanently sharing the family home of the victim, or has a 
relationship of trust with the victim, the penalty will be 
between 10 and 12 years imprisonment. 
 
Whoever sells, offers, delivers, transfers or accepts a girl, 
boy or teenager for the purpose of sexual exploitation, 
regardless of whether a payment or reward was made, will be 
penalized with between 8 to 12 years of prison.  The same 
penalty will be applied to anyone who offers, possesses, 
acquires, or accepts the sale of a girl, boy, or teenager 
with the purpose of illegitimate adoption. 
 
--Article 174: Sexual Harassment: Any individual who uses 
pressure, a position of power or authority, promises of 
preferential treatment, threats, or any other form of sexual 
harassment to coerce another person to engage in sexual acts 
can be found guilty of sexual harassment and sentenced to 1 
to 3 years imprisonment.  If the victim is younger than 18 
years of age, the penalty ranges from 3 to 5 years. 
 
-- Article 175. Sexual Exploitation, Pornography, and Sexual 
Acts with Minors 
 
Any individual found guilt of inducing, facilitating, 
promoting or using a minor under the age of 16 or disabled 
for sexual or erotic purposes, or forces such individual 
watch or participate in such an act, will be punished with 5 
to 7 years of imprisonment.  If the victim is over the age of 
16, but younger than 18, the penalty will be 4 to 6 years 
imprisonment. 
 
Those who promote, finance, make, reproduce, publish, sell, 
import, export, or distribute material for the purpose of 
sexual exploitation involving the image or voice of a person 
under the age of 18 engaged in a sexual or erotic activity, 
will be considered in violation of the law.  The penalty for 
this crime will be 5 to 7 years of imprisonment and a fine, 
equivalent to either 33 percent of the condemned's income or 
the standard minimum wage, to be paid for 150 to 500 days. 
 
Those who, for the purpose of sexual exploitation, own 
pornographic or erotic material in the terms expressed in the 
previous paragraph, will be punished with 1 to 2 years of 
imprisonment. 
 
Those who carry out sexual or erotic acts with a person 
between the ages of 14 and 18, of any gender, in exchange for 
payment or promise of any economic benefit, will be punished 
with 5 to 7 years of imprisonment. 
 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  006 OF 013 
 
 
-- Article 176.  Specific aggravation in case of sexual 
exploitation, pornography, and paid sexual acts with minors. 
 
The penalty will be 6 to 8 years of imprisonment when the 
crime is committed with the intent of profit; the author or 
authors are part of an organized group to commit sexual 
crimes; involves deception, violence, abuse of authority, 
intimidation, or coercion; the author commits the crime using 
a relationship of authority, superiority, family, dependency, 
or trust with the victim, or permanently shares the home with 
the victim.  If two or more of these circumstances concur, 
the penalty will increase to 7 to 9 years of imprisonment. 
 
-- Article 177.  Sexual tourism 
 
Those who promote the country as a destination for sexual 
tourism, individually or through tour operators, advertising 
campaigns, and reproduction of images or texts utilizing 
persons younger than 18 years of age, will be punished with 5 
to 7 years of prison and a fine, equivalent to 33 percent of 
the condemned's daily wages or the standard minimum wage, to 
be paid for a period of 150 to 500 days. 
 
-- Article 178.  Procurement of Prostitution 
 
Those who induce, promote, facilitate or favor sexual 
exploitation, pornography, and the paid sexual act of a 
person of any gender, or is involved in the recruitment for 
said purpose, will be punished with 4 to 6 years of 
imprisonment and a fine, equivalent to 33 percent of the 
condemned's daily wages or the standard minimun wage, to be 
paid for a period of 150 to 300 days. 
 
--Article 179.  Aggravated Procurement of Prostitution 
 
The penalty will be between 6 and 8 years of prison and a 
fine, equivalent to 33 percent of the condemned's daily wages 
or the standard minimum wage, to be paid for a period of 300 
to 600 days. 
 
a) When the victim is younger than 18 years old or is 
disabled. 
b) When there is intent of profit. 
c) When there is involvement of deceit, violence, abuse of 
authorities or through any means of intimidation or coercion. 
d) When the author commits the crime taking advantage of a 
relationship of superiority, authority, family ties, 
dependency or trust with the victim, or if permanently shares 
a family home with the victim. 
 
--Article 180.  Inducement of Prostitution (Pimping) 
 
Whoever by means of threat or coercion, receives economic 
commercial benefit, even if in part, from a person who 
provides sex acts through payment, will be penalized with 
imprisonment between 3 and 5 years.  If the victim is younger 
than 18 years old or is physically or mentally disabled, the 
penalty will be between 5 and 7 years of prison.  The same 
penalty will be applied when the author of the crime is 
either married to or in a common-law relationship with the 
victim. 
 
-- Article 181. 
 
When the crime of sexual exploitation is committed against 
boys, girls, and adolescents, there will be no mediation 
process nor any benefit of suspension of the penalty. 
 
¶B.  (SBU) The prescribed penalties for trafficking people for 
sexual exploitation were outlined in preceding paragraph A. 
According to the Auxiliary Judicial Police, 8 men and 17 
women were arrested for trafficking and sexual exploitation 
offenses during the reporting period.  There was no 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  007 OF 013 
 
 
information available on numbers sex traffickers who received 
suspended sentences or the number who received only a fine as 
punishment. 
 
¶C.  (SBU)  There is no specific law to ban labor trafficking, 
but there are strict labor laws in place to protect workers, 
including child laborers, from exploitation.  The Ministry of 
Labor is responsible for enforcing labor laws, child labor 
laws, and levying fines against employers violating the Labor 
Code, but lacked adequate resources to effectively enforce 
the law except in the small informal sector.  A 
Sandinista-affiliated radio station ran regular ads providing 
information on domestic worker rights, and maintained a 
special call-in line encouraging domestic workers to denounce 
mistreatment, abuse, and denial of compensation and benefits 
by their employer or "patron."  In June, the Ministry of 
Labor renewed its Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO 
for another five years and continued to participate in 
several on-going ILO-IPEC projects, including three regional 
projects.  The GON continued to participate in a two-year 
(2006-2008) regional program to reduce dangerous forms of 
work (funded by Canada) and the third phase of a USD 6 
million (funded by Spain) initiative that aims to focus on 
eliminating indigenous labor, educating families about child 
labor, and strengthening the Ministries of Labor and the 
Family. (Ref. D) 
 
¶D.  (U)  The law criminalizes rape and forcible sexual 
assault.  According to the latest reforms to the penal code, 
the penalty for adult rape is 8 to 12 years in prison which 
is on par with the prescribed penalties for trafficking in 
persons for commercial sexual exploitation.  If the rape 
victim is younger than 14, the penalty increases to 12 to 15 
years in prison.  Aggravated rape carries a sentence of 12 to 
15 years in prison.  Statutory rape, defined as sexual 
relations with a person between the ages of 14 and 16 by 
means of violence or intimidation, carries a penalty of two 
to four years imprisonment. 
 
¶E.  (U)  Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 
14, but the law prohibits its promotion, including 
procurement.  The activities of the brothel owner/operator, 
clients, and pimps are criminalized but the laws are not 
always enforced.  Prostitution was common; in Managua most 
prostitutes worked on the streets, in nightclubs, and in 
bars.  According to Save the Children and Casa Alianza, women 
and girls who worked at certain centers of prostitution were 
recruited by traffickers who offered them jobs in neighboring 
countries.  The Movement for Self-Development, Exchange, and 
Solidarity (MAIS), an Italian NGO, reported that busloads of 
girls from rural areas were transported to Managua and other 
urban centers to work as weekend prostitutes in night clubs, 
bars, and strip clubs.  A U.S. missionary who provides 
counsel, recovery services, and alternative employment to 
female prostitutes reported that male police officers were 
among the clients of brothels. 
 
¶F.  (SBU) The Auxiliary Judicial Police reported a total of 8 
trafficking cases involving 18 victims, all female, for the 
reporting period.  Police arrested a total of 8 men and 17 
women for trafficking offenses and corruption on minors 
during the reporting period. The police could not confirm how 
many of these cases resulted in investigations or 
prosecutions.  The Special Crimes Unit reported evidence of a 
larger number of cases as a result of applying the new 
mapping tool to identify routes.  According to the NCATIP, 
the number of victims trafficked outside the country could 
not be determined. The government prosecuted three cases 
against human trafficking offenders which resulted in the 
conviction of five traffickers.  An overview of cases follows. 
 
¶F. Continued. (U) In May, a jury convicted a 41-year old 
transsexual on trafficking charges, and a judge sentenced the 
 
MANAGUA 00000304  008 OF 013 
 
 
individual to nine years and two months in prison.  The 
sentence also included payment of a fine equivalent to 30 
percent of the trafficker's wages.  Media accounts of the 
case raise questions as to whether this constituted a case of 
trafficking since the victim received payment for sexual 
services.  Chorli Jeaneth Hernandez, who had reportedly gone 
to Spain to undergo a sex change operation to become a woman, 
had lured her 28-year old sister-in-law to Spain in late 2006 
under the pretext of employment offering lucrative 
employment.  During the May 2007 trial, the victim told the 
jury she had been trafficked because after arriving in Spain, 
Hernandez forced her to work as a prostitute, earning 50 
euros (the equivalent of USD 75) per hour for "unbridled sex" 
with men and women.  Meanwhile in the closing statement, 
Hernandez admitted to wrongdoing, but denied the trafficking 
charges, insisting to the judge and prosecutor that the 
sister-in-law filed these charges against her in order to 
avoid repaying nearly two thousand dollars in airfare and 
incidentals "she" had loaned her to cover the trip to Spain. 
In another case, Maria Eugenia Blanco Reyes, a 21-year old 
woman who ran a Managua massage parlor, was arrested in 
August for recruiting underage girls to perform sex with 
clients.  She was prosecuted on charges of trafficking and 
corruption of minors and was convicted to four years in 
prison.  In a case that occurred in Bluefields in the 
Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), three women were 
found guilty of trafficking young girls to work as 
prostitutes and were sentenced to ten years in prison.  Two 
women, who had been convicted in March 2007 for trafficking 
offenses in Bluefields and escaped before sentencing, 
remained fugitives. 
 
¶F. Continued. (U)  In July, a 35 year-old Indonesian woman 
working as a domestic servant in the home of Nicaraguan 
nationals of Palestinian descent in Managua reported to 
police and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 
that she was a victim of labor exploitation.  Before leaving 
her home country of Indonesia, she believed she was being 
offered a job in Jordan.  She received no wages and she 
reportedly underwent physical and psychological abuse at the 
hands of her employer.  Although law enforcement authorities 
removed the woman from the home, the government did not 
prosecute the employer because, according to the Public 
Ministry, this was not recognized as a crime under Nicaraguan 
law and it could not press charges.  The IOM facilitated the 
woman's return to Indonesia.  The employer subsequently filed 
a complaint against the IOM with the police. 
 
¶F. Continued. (U) In December, the NNP detained a group of 
children purported to be Guatemalans at Managua International 
Airport with suspect U.S. visas. (Ref. E)  A Delta airline 
counter check-in employee noted that the same adults had 
appeared the previous day with other unaccompanied children 
to board a flight