Colombian report on US military’s child rapes not newsworthy to US news outlets

[RFS_Br]

An 800-page independent report commissioned by the US-friendly Colombian government and the radical left rebel group FARC found that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007 and, in all cases, the rapists were never punished–either in Colombia or stateside–due to American military personnel being immune from prosecution under diplomatic immunity agreements between the two countries.

The report was part of a broader historical analysis meant to establish the “causes and violence aggravators” of the 50-year-long conflict between the government and rebels that’s presently being negotiated to an end. As Colombia Reports (3/23/15) would spell out:

In his report, the historian [Renan Vega] cited one 2004 case in the central Colombian town of Melgar where 53 underage girls were sexually abused by nearby stationed military contractors “who moreover filmed [the abuse] and sold the films as pornographic material.”

According to Colombia’s leading newspaper, El Tiempo, the victims of the sexual abuse practices were forced to flee the region after their families received death threats.

Other Americans stationed at the Tolemaida Air Base allegedly committed similar crimes, but possibly also never saw a day in court due to an immunity arrangement for American soldiers and military contractors agreed by Washington and Bogota.

One case that has called most attention in Colombian media was that of a 12-year-old who in 2007 was raped by a US Army sergeant and a former US military officer who was working in Melgar as a military contractor.

Colombian prosecutors established that the girl had been drugged and subsequently raped inside the military base by US sergeant Michael J. Coen and defense contractor Cesar Ruiz.

However, prosecution officials were not allowed to arrest the suspected child rapists who were subsequently flown out of the country.
​

Thus far, however, these explosive claims seem to have received zero coverage in the general US press, despite having been reported on Venezuela’s Telesur (3/23/15), the British tabloid Daily Mail (3/24/15) and Russian RT (3/25/15).

Telesur‘s coverage of the Colombian report on US military sexual abuse.

But why? These aren’t fringe claims, nor can the government of American ally Colombia be dismissed as a peddler of Bolivarian propaganda. Indeed, the Miami Herald (9/3/09) documented the case of US Sgt. Michael Coen and contractor César Ruiz in 2009:

The US government has made little effort to investigate a US Army sergeant and a Mexican civil contractor implicated in Colombia in the raping of a 12-year-old girl in August 2007, according to an El Nuevo Herald investigation.

The suspects, Sgt. Michael Coen and contractor César Ruiz, were taken out of Colombia under diplomatic immunity, and do not face criminal charges in the United States in the rape in a room at Colombia’s Germán Olano Air Force Base in Melgar, 62 miles west of Bogotá.​

So why no coverage? Certainly one of Washington’s stanchest Latin American allies co-authoring a blistering report about systemic US military child rape of a civilian population should be of note–if for no other reason than, as the report lays out, it undermined American military efforts to stop drug trafficking and fight leftist rebels:

Photo of troops accompanying Daily Mail story on Colombian abuse report.

However, prosecution officials were not allowed to arrest the suspected child rapists who were subsequently flown out of the country.

The case has caused major indignation among Colombians for years….

The special envoy will possibly have to deal with the role of the US military and its members in the alleged victimization of Colombians.​

Yet here we are, over 72 hours since the Colombian and foreign press first reported on the allegations, and there’s a virtual media blackout in America over the case. Nothing on CNN, nothing on MSNBC, nothing in the New York Times or Miami Herald. Nothing in Huffington Post. Nothing in Fusion or Vice. Why?

As UK authorities and NATO officials stress the importance of clamping down on “false Russian” narratives in the media, perhaps our own media could stop providing a shining example as to why such anti-Western narratives are so often the only outlet for certain ugly truths.


Colombian Report on US Military’s Child Rapes Not Newsworthy to US News Outlets

 

[Steve781]

Does Brazil do anything about this?

How dare a Brazilian get on their high horse about child abuse.
Brazil's economy may be thriving, but its attitude towards children shows it is still lagging behind | Daily Mail Online

 

[RFS_Br]

Does Brazil do anything about this?

Make your own thread about it - I'm not impeding you. Just don't pollute mine with unrelated issues just because the truth about the Freedom Troops hurts your ***. Shame on you trying to suppress discussion about child rape with whataboutery. (Also, the cases are not directly comparable - the thread is about child abusers and pornographers who receive protection from two different states to escape charges.)

 

[C130]

I would say child prositiuation is a big problem in Latin America and the whole world.

not justifying what these soldiers and officials did. I keep saying no one is a angel not even the U.S

 

[Beast]

I would say child prositiuation is a big problem in Latin America and the whole world.

not justifying what these soldiers and officials did. I keep saying no one is a angel not even the U.S

It's a problem prominent in US only when their soldier roam in other countries. Especially with the protection, do you think they care?

Not only in Columbia. In Philippine too.

 

[C130]

It's a problem prominent in US only when their soldier roam in other countries. Especially with the protection, do you think they care?

Not only in Columbia. In Philippine too.

is this only the case for U.S military personal? how many us military men do you think are overseas??? of course a few bad apples are going to do this sick shit. they are human after all and humans are not infallible.

why the U.S media isn't reporting it is beyond me. maybe they want to make sure the source is correct and not just heresay

I can't take anything Telesur says serious. even if they are just linking it from another source.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

the big fuzz of the ''free world'' of the America is basically a political slogan to attract other nations. Their media is largely state controlled and is used as a tool by their government to drive their own state propaganda. Anything going against themselves in a 'non controlled' manner will not be ''good enough'' for them to report or atleast they will give likely excuse.
If it wasnt for RT and press tv the world wouldnt have known. Here in pakistan we have given up on them long ago.


US restricts access to alternative media outlets: Analyst

 

[C130]

the big fuzz of the ''free world'' of the America is basically a political slogan to attract other nations. Their media is largely state controlled and is used as a tool by their government to drive their own state propaganda. Anything going against themselves in a 'non controlled' manner will not be ''good enough'' for them to report or atleast they will give likely excuse.
If it wasnt for RT and press tv the world wouldnt have known. Here in pakistan we have given up on them long ago.


US restricts access to alternative media outlets: Analyst

RT and Press TV aren't owned by the government??? do they ever speak bad about their respective owners??

and who owns Telesur, hmmm??? surely it's not state owned. surely they are non-bias and have reported about the economical and social disaster Chavez and now Maduro has brought them

hey I know the MSM is just as bad, but at least they aren't as obvious or obnoxious when they do it like RT,Press TV, and Telesur do.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

RT and Press TV aren't owned by the government??? do they ever speak bad about their respective owners??

and who owns Telesur, hmmm??? surely it's not state owned. surely they are non-bias and have reported about the economical and social disaster Chavez and now Maduro has brought them

Thats besides the point if u havt picked it from my post; the world must have alternative sources to know the other side of story then just believing on some lunatics who report abt ukrain and show pakistani map on their news reports as ukrain's map. Also the coverage of the Ghaza massacre of last year has removed the remaining doubts.

I would any day settle on lesser evil if i cant get truth.

 

[C130]

Thats besides the point if u havt picked it from my post; the world must have alternative sources to know the other side of story then just believing on some lunatics who report abt ukrain and show pakistani map on their news reports as ukrain's map. Also the coverage of the Ghaza massacre of last year has removed the remaining doubts.

I would any day settle on lesser evil if i cant get truth.

when the alternative source is paid by the government I doubt they are just as truthful.
and no one is saying MSM are right. I don't take any news serious and take it with a grain of salt til it's confirmed and verified by MULTIPLE sources.

Venezuela’s government fires employees who refuse to sign against U.S. sanctions, NGO claims | Fox News Latino

Venezuela government owns TELESUR. if they can fire you for not signing a petition I wonder what they would do if you don't report the news to their liking.

RT,Press TV and Telesur are jokes and are just as bad as CNN,Fox News.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

when the alternative source is paid by the government I doubt they are just as truthful.
and no one is saying MSM are right. I don't take any news serious and take it with a grain of salt til it's confirmed and verified by MULTIPLE sources.

Venezuela’s government fires employees who refuse to sign against U.S. sanctions, NGO claims | Fox News Latino

Venezuela government owns TELESUR. if they can fire you for not signing a petition I wonder what they would do if you don't report the news to their liking.

RT,Press TV and Telesur are jokes and are just as bad as CNN,Fox News.

I can quote u multiple examples too and by the looks of it and the way they(yr american sources as well as UK) report they give a healthy impression that they r also state controlled, have u seen even a slight coverage of the 3 muslim students who were shot in yr country? there r other examples too of the riots of California where one of yr veteran soldier who served in iraq was shot dead amongst protestors, the capitol hill saga etc etc all those incidents which go against capitalism. Now this is what and how they choose to report abt their own people and i havnt even started to tell how they used to report abt my country and my religion before u left this region.

Im not really complaining but it rather sometimes impresses me of how yr establishment has an absolute grip over flow of information be it electronic to print media to internet. And thats why alternative sources b it whatever r needed to refute the claims and authenticity of news. Its not just for CNN or other western sources but both sides can refute eachother in the end people will get the right news, standards of flow of info will improve.

 

[C130]

I can quote u multiple examples too and by the looks of it and the way they(yr american sources as well as UK) report they give a healthy impression that they r also state controlled, have u seen even a slight coverage of the 3 muslim students who were shot in yr country? there r other examples too of the riots of California where one of yr veteran soldier who served in iraq, the capitol hill saga etc etc all those incidents which go against capitalism. Now this is what and how they choose to report abt their own people and i havnt even started to tell how they used to report abt my country and my religion before u left this region.

Im not really complaining but it rather sometimes impresses me of how yr establishment has an absolute grip over flow of information be it electronic to print media to internet. And thats why alternative sources b it whatever r needed to refute the claims and authenticity of news. Its not just for CNN or other western sources but both sides can refute eachother in the end people will get the right news, standards of flow of info will improve.

while I don't habe the same opinion as you I respect it nonetheless.

I just can't take these alternative sources seriously when their entire gimmick is downing the U.S/West. 9 out of every 10 stories is negative...while I hardly ever see a story of them being critical about their own governments or portraying their countries negatively this is just might be the case for the English version.

yet in the MSM I see them downing the U.S and their own governments all the time without fear of repercussion. do you think the journalists and editors at RT,Press-TV, Telesur have the same rights??

 

[Umair Nawaz]

while I don't sure the same opinion as you I respect it nonetheless.

I just can't take these alternative sources seriously when their entire gimmick is downing the U.S/West 9 out of every 10 stories is a negative...while I hardly ever see a story being of them being critical about their own governments.

yet in the MSM I see them downing the U.S and their own governments all the time without fear of repercussion. do you think the journalists and editors at RT,Press-TV, Telesur have the same rights??

Like i said bro in a controlled manner.

What im going to write may hurt u but i just want u feel how we had been hurt by reading yr news outlets and watching reports of yr electronic media for the past 15 years since u came in our region. There was a report of how yr two troopers n helmand province in afghanistan i think had shot a kid working in a farm and had cut his little finger and posed in front of a cell phone camera that his comrade was holding with his finger in his hand. I know this because pakistan's media has shown that short clip of cell phone video. That video is now nowhere in the internet not in utube, dailymotion etc etc

The way u get hurt my visiting their sources is the same way i and my fellow countrymen get hurt when ever we visit yr sources as 9 out of 10 reports r also same way written in yr print media or shown in yr electronic media are negative about my country and my religion.

They surely dont do criticism of their own governments. But the traffic they receive in their websites know this already like me who post their news specially RT's sometimes. They actually dont claim to be protectors of free world in the first place too since perhaps they know of their past and that no one is gonna buy that slogan. But still i have seen them sometimes criticize their establishments too.its just how much one regularly visits them, however rarely.

Yr media while on the other hand criticize in a very controlled manner ie in order to control/contain situation not solve it. And that too is done so that their reputation as a media house remain intact towards their own countrymen. But from a foreigner's prospective we will be able to understand whats going on from our none american and capitalism point of views.