American Charged in Haiti Had Some Troubles in Idaho
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By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: February 4, 2010
MERIDIAN, Idaho — The leader of the group of Americans charged on Thursday with abducting children in Haiti is an Idaho businesswoman with a complicated financial history that involves complaints from employees over unpaid wages, state liens on a company bank account and lawsuits in small claims court.
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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Laura Silsby, center, and nine other Americans were charged Thursday in Port-au-Prince with abducting 33 Haitian children.
Back Story With The Times's Marc Lacey
Related
The Lede: Woman Detained in Haiti Also Due in Idaho Court
The Lede: Questions for Baptists, Praise for Scientologists in Haiti
The Lede: Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say
Room for Debate: Haiti's Children and the Adoption Question (February 1, 2010)
The leader, Laura Silsby, defaulted last July on the mortgage on a house in an unfinished subdivision here in Meridian, a suburb of Boise, according to the Ada County Tax Assessor's Office. Yet in November, Ms. Silsby registered a new nonprofit, the New Life Children's Refuge, at the address of the house, which she bought in 2008 for $358,000.
New Life Children's Refuge is the name of the orphanage Ms. Silsby and the nine other Americans charged in Haiti said they had planned to establish in the Dominican Republic.
Ms. Silsby lost the house in Meridian to foreclosure on Dec. 7, records show, and it now stands empty, with signs in the yard promoting a foreclosure sale.
"I get mail for her all the time," said LaChelle Bohner, who lives two doors down from the house. Ms. Bohner said the mail included collection notices.
Ms. Silsby and her business, Personal Shopper, which provides shopping services for Internet customers, have faced multiple legal claims.
According to state records and officials, Personal Shopper has been named 14 times in complaints from employees over unpaid wages. Among the reasons cited by the employees for having not been paid were "no money for payroll" and "fully investor funded and investors have been hit hard by the economy."
Employees won nine of the cases, forcing Personal Shopper to pay nearly $31,000 in wages and $4,000 in fines. The Idaho Department of Labor initially put liens on a company bank account to get the money.
"They didn't like that so they said: 'How much do we owe? We'll pay it,' " said Bob Fick, a spokesman for the department, adding that unpaid wage complaints were not uncommon.
State officials said Personal Shopper had paid all the wage claims upheld by the state. But another former employee has sued Personal Shopper in civil court. A jury trial is set for Feb. 22 over a claim by the employee, Robin Oliver, that Personal Shopper owes her more than $22,000.
A lawyer for Ms. Silsby said Thursday that he could not comment on the case.
One of the people awarded unpaid wages was Chris Holmes, who said he was not surprised that Ms. Silsby had run into trouble in Haiti. Mr. Holmes, who did database work, said Ms. Silsby often showed a "lack of forethought," shifting business models to suit the investors who kept the company afloat.
"She would come up with an idea on Wednesday, and on Friday there would be a new idea that was 180 degrees different," Mr. Holmes said.
In 2006, Ms. Silsby received a Femtor Award for "Businesswoman of the Year"; the awards are sponsored by the eWomenNetwork, a group that promotes women and their businesses.
Ms. Silsby, who has young children in Idaho, was divorced in 2007. She and her former husband lived in Meridian, but public records were not clear about where she currently resides.
The offices of Personal Shopper, in an office park in Meridian, have been shuttered this week, with mail dating to at least last week stacked on the floor.
Clint Henry, pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, where five of the Americans charged in Haiti attend services, said Ms. Silsby had attended his church for about two years.
"You wouldn't find any finer Christian people than these people," Mr. Henry said in an interview earlier this week.
Toby Lyles contributed research.
Haiti Charges Americans With Child Abduction
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Charisa Coulter and nine other Americans were charged Thursday in Port-au-Prince with abducting 33 Haitian children.
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By MARC LACEY
Published: February 4, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Ten Americans who tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country last week without the government's consent have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy, as Haitian officials sought to reassert judicial control after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Back Story With The Times's Marc Lacey
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Panoramas: Views From Haiti
Related
The Lede: Woman Detained in Haiti Also Due in Idaho Court
The Lede: Questions for Baptists, Praise for Scientologists in Haiti
The Lede: Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say
Room for Debate: Haiti's Children and the Adoption Question (February 1, 2010)
American Charged in Haiti Had Some Troubles in Idaho (February 5, 2010)
Haitian Quake Brings More Money and Scrutiny to a Charity (February 5, 2010)
Volunteers Fly Supplies Into Hard-to-Reach Areas (February 5, 2010)
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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Corinna and Nicole Lankford of Idaho, mother and daughter, returning to jail Thursday in Haiti.
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The Americans, most of them members of a Baptist congregation from Idaho, had said they intended to rescue Haitian children left parentless in the quake and take them to what they described as an orphanage across the border in the Dominican Republic. But they acknowledged failing to seek approval to remove the children from Haiti, and several of the children have at least one living parent.
The Americans will face a potentially extended legal proceeding in Haiti and could, if convicted, face prison terms of up to 15 years.
In a sign of the cloudy nature of the case, the prosecutor, Mazar Fortil, decided not to pursue what could have been the most serious charge against the group, that of trafficking. The charges will now be considered by an investigative judge, who has up to three months to decide whether to pursue the matter further.
The leader of the group, Laura Silsby, a businesswoman who describes herself as a missionary as well, has also come under scrutiny at home in Idaho, where employees complain of unpaid wages and the state has placed liens on her company bank account.
The lawyer for the group, Edwin Coq, said after a hearing on Thursday that 9 of his 10 clients were "completely innocent," but that, apparently in a reference to Ms. Silsby, "If the judiciary were to keep one, it could be the leader of the group."
The Haitian capital lost courthouses, judges, lawyers and its main prison in the earthquake, straining the judiciary along with everything else. Prosecutors said this was the first criminal case to receive a hearing in Port-au-Prince since the natural disaster.
The hearing took place in a hilltop courthouse that had minor cracks in the walls and scores of squatters living outside. A crush of journalists sought access to the defendants on their way into the courthouse, where police officers in riot gear prevented access.
The Americans were transported in two Haitian police vehicles — one labeled "Child Protection Brigade" — from the police station where they have been held since the weekend to Port-au-Prince's main criminal courthouse. Mr. Coq said beforehand that their immediate release was possible, and the police who transported the detainees took their luggage to the hearing as well in case they were to be freed.
Ms. Silsby, who had helped organize the group's mission, sounded a hopeful note as she waited to be taken into court, saying, "We're just trusting God for a positive outcome."
But during the hearing, Jean Ferge Joseph, a deputy prosecutor, told the Americans that their case was not being dropped and that it would be sent to a judge for further review.
"That judge can free you, but he can also continue to hold you for further proceedings," the deputy prosecutor said, according to Reuters.
When they received the news, the Americans did not appear distraught, Mr. Coq, their lawyer, said. "They prayed," he said. "They looked down and prayed."
Reuters, which had a reporter in the session, said that all 10 of the detainees acknowledged to the prosecutor that they had apparently violated the law when they tried to take the children from Haiti, although they said they were unaware of that until after they were detained.
"We did not have any intention to violate the law, but now we understand it's a crime," said Paul Robert Thompson, a pastor who led the group in prayer during a break in the session.
Ms. Silsby asked the prosecutor not only to release the group, whose members range in age from 18 to 55, but also to allow them to continue their work in Haiti.
"We simply wanted to help the children," she said. "We petition the court not only for our freedom, but also for our ability to continue to help."
As they were led out of the courthouse one by one for their return to jail, some of the Americans smiled as reporters surrounded them. They left without comment.
The Americans were arrested last Friday as they tried to take the 33 children by bus to the Dominican Republic, where they said they were in the process of leasing or building an orphanage. It is unclear if the group had arranged for someplace to house the children in the Dominican Republic.
A Web site for the group, the New Life Children's Refuge, said that the Haitian children there would stay in a "loving Christian homelike environment" and be eligible for adoption through agencies in the United States.
The children are being taken care of now at SS Children's Villages, an Austrian-run orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
The Americans and members of their churches have said that they are innocent of any wrongdoing, and described the case as a misunderstanding. In an interview this week, Ms. Silsby said that the group had come to Haiti to rescue children orphaned by the earthquake, and that "our hearts were in the right place."
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Charisa Coulter and nine other Americans were charged Thursday in Port-au-Prince with abducting 33 Haitian children.
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By MARC LACEY
Published: February 4, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Ten Americans who tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country last week without the government's consent have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy, as Haitian officials sought to reassert judicial control after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Back Story With The Times's Marc Lacey
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Panoramas: Views From Haiti
Related
The Lede: Woman Detained in Haiti Also Due in Idaho Court
The Lede: Questions for Baptists, Praise for Scientologists in Haiti
The Lede: Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say
Room for Debate: Haiti's Children and the Adoption Question (February 1, 2010)
American Charged in Haiti Had Some Troubles in Idaho (February 5, 2010)
Haitian Quake Brings More Money and Scrutiny to a Charity (February 5, 2010)
Volunteers Fly Supplies Into Hard-to-Reach Areas (February 5, 2010)
Enlarge This Image
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Corinna and Nicole Lankford of Idaho, mother and daughter, returning to jail Thursday in Haiti.
Readers' Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Read All Comments (493) »
The Americans, most of them members of a Baptist congregation from Idaho, had said they intended to rescue Haitian children left parentless in the quake and take them to what they described as an orphanage across the border in the Dominican Republic. But they acknowledged failing to seek approval to remove the children from Haiti, and several of the children have at least one living parent.
The Americans will face a potentially extended legal proceeding in Haiti and could, if convicted, face prison terms of up to 15 years.
In a sign of the cloudy nature of the case, the prosecutor, Mazar Fortil, decided not to pursue what could have been the most serious charge against the group, that of trafficking. The charges will now be considered by an investigative judge, who has up to three months to decide whether to pursue the matter further.
The leader of the group, Laura Silsby, a businesswoman who describes herself as a missionary as well, has also come under scrutiny at home in Idaho, where employees complain of unpaid wages and the state has placed liens on her company bank account.
The lawyer for the group, Edwin Coq, said after a hearing on Thursday that 9 of his 10 clients were "completely innocent," but that, apparently in a reference to Ms. Silsby, "If the judiciary were to keep one, it could be the leader of the group."
The Haitian capital lost courthouses, judges, lawyers and its main prison in the earthquake, straining the judiciary along with everything else. Prosecutors said this was the first criminal case to receive a hearing in Port-au-Prince since the natural disaster.
The hearing took place in a hilltop courthouse that had minor cracks in the walls and scores of squatters living outside. A crush of journalists sought access to the defendants on their way into the courthouse, where police officers in riot gear prevented access.
The Americans were transported in two Haitian police vehicles — one labeled "Child Protection Brigade" — from the police station where they have been held since the weekend to Port-au-Prince's main criminal courthouse. Mr. Coq said beforehand that their immediate release was possible, and the police who transported the detainees took their luggage to the hearing as well in case they were to be freed.
Ms. Silsby, who had helped organize the group's mission, sounded a hopeful note as she waited to be taken into court, saying, "We're just trusting God for a positive outcome."
But during the hearing, Jean Ferge Joseph, a deputy prosecutor, told the Americans that their case was not being dropped and that it would be sent to a judge for further review.
"That judge can free you, but he can also continue to hold you for further proceedings," the deputy prosecutor said, according to Reuters.
When they received the news, the Americans did not appear distraught, Mr. Coq, their lawyer, said. "They prayed," he said. "They looked down and prayed."
Reuters, which had a reporter in the session, said that all 10 of the detainees acknowledged to the prosecutor that they had apparently violated the law when they tried to take the children from Haiti, although they said they were unaware of that until after they were detained.
"We did not have any intention to violate the law, but now we understand it's a crime," said Paul Robert Thompson, a pastor who led the group in prayer during a break in the session.
Ms. Silsby asked the prosecutor not only to release the group, whose members range in age from 18 to 55, but also to allow them to continue their work in Haiti.
"We simply wanted to help the children," she said. "We petition the court not only for our freedom, but also for our ability to continue to help."
As they were led out of the courthouse one by one for their return to jail, some of the Americans smiled as reporters surrounded them. They left without comment.
The Americans were arrested last Friday as they tried to take the 33 children by bus to the Dominican Republic, where they said they were in the process of leasing or building an orphanage. It is unclear if the group had arranged for someplace to house the children in the Dominican Republic.
A Web site for the group, the New Life Children's Refuge, said that the Haitian children there would stay in a "loving Christian homelike environment" and be eligible for adoption through agencies in the United States.
The children are being taken care of now at SS Children's Villages, an Austrian-run orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
The Americans and members of their churches have said that they are innocent of any wrongdoing, and described the case as a misunderstanding. In an interview this week, Ms. Silsby said that the group had come to Haiti to rescue children orphaned by the earthquake, and that "our hearts were in the right place."
But some of the children had living parents, and some of those parents said that the Baptists had promised simply to educate the youngsters in the Dominican Republic and to allow them to return to Haiti to visit.
Back Story With The Times's Marc Lacey
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Panoramas: Views From Haiti
Related
The Lede: Woman Detained in Haiti Also Due in Idaho Court
The Lede: Questions for Baptists, Praise for Scientologists in Haiti
The Lede: Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say
Room for Debate: Haiti's Children and the Adoption Question (February 1, 2010)
American Charged in Haiti Had Some Troubles in Idaho (February 5, 2010)
Haitian Quake Brings More Money and Scrutiny to a Charity (February 5, 2010)
Volunteers Fly Supplies Into Hard-to-Reach Areas (February 5, 2010)
Ms. Silsby had made her intentions known to child protection officials, human rights experts and Dominican authorities in Haiti, all of whom warned her that she could be charged with trafficking if she tried to take children out of the country without proper documentation.
Some Haitian leaders have called the Americans kidnappers, but their case has created divisions. Outside the courthouse on Thursday, one onlooker backed the Americans. "The process they followed was wrong, but they were not stealing kids," said Béatrice St.-Julien. "They came here to help us."
Until Thursday, Haitian judicial officials had left open the possibility that the group could be returned to the United States for trial, sparing Haiti's crippled justice system a high-profile criminal prosecution fraught with diplomatic and political land mines.
American officials have talked with Haitian judicial authorities about the case, but it is unclear exactly how much lobbying Washington is doing behind the scenes to affect the outcome. The State Department has said that whether to pursue charges for any possible violations of Haitian law remains a Haitian decision.
One expert said that by pursuing the case Haitian authorities seemed to be trying to make a point.
"Haiti's decision to prosecute the Baptist missionaries may be motivated, in part, by the need to show its own people and the world that it is a viable entity that is tackling the grave problem of international child abductions in Haiti," Christopher J. Schmidt, a lawyer with Bryan Cave L.L.P. in St. Louis who has been involved in multiple cases of international kidnapping, said in a statement.
The families of the 10 Americans released a statement on Thursday evening, pleading with the Haitian authorities for lenience.
"We are anxious, fearful and concerned about our family members, especially the young people who are jailed in a foreign country," the statement said. "Obviously, we do not know details about what happened and didn't happen on this mission. However, we are absolutely convinced that those who were recruited to join this mission traveled to Haiti to help, not hurt, these children.
"We are pleading to the Haitian Prime Minister to focus his energies on the critical tasks ahead for the country and to forgive mistakes that were made by a group of Americans trying to assist Haiti's children."
Back Story With The Times's Marc Lacey
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Panoramas: Views From Haiti
Related
The Lede: Woman Detained in Haiti Also Due in Idaho Court
The Lede: Questions for Baptists, Praise for Scientologists in Haiti
The Lede: Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say
Room for Debate: Haiti's Children and the Adoption Question (February 1, 2010)
American Charged in Haiti Had Some Troubles in Idaho (February 5, 2010)
Haitian Quake Brings More Money and Scrutiny to a Charity (February 5, 2010)
Volunteers Fly Supplies Into Hard-to-Reach Areas (February 5, 2010)
Ms. Silsby had made her intentions known to child protection officials, human rights experts and Dominican authorities in Haiti, all of whom warned her that she could be charged with trafficking if she tried to take children out of the country without proper documentation.
Some Haitian leaders have called the Americans kidnappers, but their case has created divisions. Outside the courthouse on Thursday, one onlooker backed the Americans. "The process they followed was wrong, but they were not stealing kids," said Béatrice St.-Julien. "They came here to help us."
Until Thursday, Haitian judicial officials had left open the possibility that the group could be returned to the United States for trial, sparing Haiti's crippled justice system a high-profile criminal prosecution fraught with diplomatic and political land mines.
American officials have talked with Haitian judicial authorities about the case, but it is unclear exactly how much lobbying Washington is doing behind the scenes to affect the outcome. The State Department has said that whether to pursue charges for any possible violations of Haitian law remains a Haitian decision.
One expert said that by pursuing the case Haitian authorities seemed to be trying to make a point.
"Haiti's decision to prosecute the Baptist missionaries may be motivated, in part, by the need to show its own people and the world that it is a viable entity that is tackling the grave problem of international child abductions in Haiti," Christopher J. Schmidt, a lawyer with Bryan Cave L.L.P. in St. Louis who has been involved in multiple cases of international kidnapping, said in a statement.
The families of the 10 Americans released a statement on Thursday evening, pleading with the Haitian authorities for lenience.
"We are anxious, fearful and concerned about our family members, especially the young people who are jailed in a foreign country," the statement said. "Obviously, we do not know details about what happened and didn't happen on this mission. However, we are absolutely convinced that those who were recruited to join this mission traveled to Haiti to help, not hurt, these children.
"We are pleading to the Haitian Prime Minister to focus his energies on the critical tasks ahead for the country and to forgive mistakes that were made by a group of Americans trying to assist Haiti's children."
Haití: acusan a misioneros de EE.UU. de secuestro
Redacción
BBC Mundo
Al ser arrestados, los misioneros dijeron que estaban tratando de ayudar a los niños.
Diez misioneros cristianos estadounidenses detenidos en Haití cuando presuntamente trataban de sacar ilegalmente del país a 33 niños fueron acusados este jueves de secuestro de menores y asociación de malhechores, anunció en Puerto Príncipe el fiscal adjunto Jean Ferge Joseph.
Después de haberles leído los cargos que se les imputan, el funcionario informó a los diez misioneros (cinco hombres y cinco mujeres), que su caso sería trasladado a un juez para su investigación.
El fiscal adjunto les dijo a los religiosos durante la audiencia de este jueves que el juez "puede liberarlos, pero también puede determinar que sigan detenidos para nuevos procedimientos".
clic Lea: Haití: "Nuestras intenciones eran buenas"
El abogado de los misioneros, Edwin Coq, confirmó que los estadounidenses, que pertenecen a una iglesia bautista con sede en el estado de Idaho, fueron acusados formalmente.
Es desafortunado, cualquiera sea la motivación, que este grupo de estadounidenses haya tomado el tema por sus propias manos
Secretaria de Estado de Estados Unidos, Hillary Clinton
Los diez acusados fueron sorprendidos -y aprehendidos- la semana pasada en la frontera con República Dominicana, cuando trataron de pasar un autobús con 33 niños haitianos, que, según dijeron, habían quedado huérfanos tras el devastador terremoto que azotó Haití el 12 de enero.
Los religiosos negaron estar involucrados en el tráfico de niños, y dijeron que sólo querían ayudar a los miles de huérfanos que había dejado el sismo.
El miércoles, la secretaria de Estado de Estados Unidos, Hillary Clinton había dicho: "Es desafortunado, cualquiera que sea la motivación, que este grupo de estadounidenses haya tomado el tema por sus propias manos".
Los religiosos están detenidos en celdas de la Dirección Central de la Policía Judicial, en Puerto Príncipe.
"Intenciones honestas"
Según las autoridades haitianas, al parecer varios de los menores confirmaron que tienen padres y dieron incluso sus direcciones y números de teléfono.
El reverendo Clint Henry, miembro de esa comunidad de misioneros, dijo en declaraciones al canal de televisión estadounidense CNN que los religiosos estaban tratando de ayudar a esos niños a empezar una nueva vida.
Henry aseguró que su intención era salvar a los niños que habían quedado huérfanos después del terremoto que asoló el país y alojar a los menores en hogares temporales.
Sus intenciones eran "honestas y puras", aseguró Henry.
No obstante, según las autoridades haitianas, al parecer varios de los menores confirmaron que tienen padres, y dieron incluso sus direcciones y números de teléfono.
Los misioneros dijeron, al ser aprehendidos, que una serie de autoridades, incluidas algunas en República Dominicana, les habían informado que podían trasladar a los niños, que habían sido entregados -alegaron- por un orfanato en Puerto Príncipe.
Sin embargo, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, periodista de la BBC en Puerto Príncipe, explicó que las regulaciones son muy claras: cada caso de adopción debe ser aprobado por el gobierno.
Redacción
BBC Mundo
Al ser arrestados, los misioneros dijeron que estaban tratando de ayudar a los niños.
Diez misioneros cristianos estadounidenses detenidos en Haití cuando presuntamente trataban de sacar ilegalmente del país a 33 niños fueron acusados este jueves de secuestro de menores y asociación de malhechores, anunció en Puerto Príncipe el fiscal adjunto Jean Ferge Joseph.
Después de haberles leído los cargos que se les imputan, el funcionario informó a los diez misioneros (cinco hombres y cinco mujeres), que su caso sería trasladado a un juez para su investigación.
El fiscal adjunto les dijo a los religiosos durante la audiencia de este jueves que el juez "puede liberarlos, pero también puede determinar que sigan detenidos para nuevos procedimientos".
clic Lea: Haití: "Nuestras intenciones eran buenas"
El abogado de los misioneros, Edwin Coq, confirmó que los estadounidenses, que pertenecen a una iglesia bautista con sede en el estado de Idaho, fueron acusados formalmente.
Es desafortunado, cualquiera sea la motivación, que este grupo de estadounidenses haya tomado el tema por sus propias manos
Secretaria de Estado de Estados Unidos, Hillary Clinton
Los diez acusados fueron sorprendidos -y aprehendidos- la semana pasada en la frontera con República Dominicana, cuando trataron de pasar un autobús con 33 niños haitianos, que, según dijeron, habían quedado huérfanos tras el devastador terremoto que azotó Haití el 12 de enero.
Los religiosos negaron estar involucrados en el tráfico de niños, y dijeron que sólo querían ayudar a los miles de huérfanos que había dejado el sismo.
El miércoles, la secretaria de Estado de Estados Unidos, Hillary Clinton había dicho: "Es desafortunado, cualquiera que sea la motivación, que este grupo de estadounidenses haya tomado el tema por sus propias manos".
Los religiosos están detenidos en celdas de la Dirección Central de la Policía Judicial, en Puerto Príncipe.
"Intenciones honestas"
Según las autoridades haitianas, al parecer varios de los menores confirmaron que tienen padres y dieron incluso sus direcciones y números de teléfono.
El reverendo Clint Henry, miembro de esa comunidad de misioneros, dijo en declaraciones al canal de televisión estadounidense CNN que los religiosos estaban tratando de ayudar a esos niños a empezar una nueva vida.
Henry aseguró que su intención era salvar a los niños que habían quedado huérfanos después del terremoto que asoló el país y alojar a los menores en hogares temporales.
Sus intenciones eran "honestas y puras", aseguró Henry.
No obstante, según las autoridades haitianas, al parecer varios de los menores confirmaron que tienen padres, y dieron incluso sus direcciones y números de teléfono.
Los misioneros dijeron, al ser aprehendidos, que una serie de autoridades, incluidas algunas en República Dominicana, les habían informado que podían trasladar a los niños, que habían sido entregados -alegaron- por un orfanato en Puerto Príncipe.
Sin embargo, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, periodista de la BBC en Puerto Príncipe, explicó que las regulaciones son muy claras: cada caso de adopción debe ser aprobado por el gobierno.
Haiti's Children: Save Them, Don't Just Take Them
By Tim Padgett Friday, Feb. 05, 2010
Laura Silsby, left, the head of New Life Children's Refuge, leaves a court hearing with Charisa Coulter, another member of her group, after being accused of child abduction and criminal association in Port-au-Prince
John Moore / Getty
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In Haiti, the western hemisphere's poorest country, 1 in 10 children will die before reaching age 5 because of plagues like malnutrition. Who, then, can blame destitute Haitian mothers when they so often ask visitors from richer nations to take their sickly, underfed toddlers back to the U.S. or Canada or Europe to live? And who can fault those affluent folks for wanting to follow their inner Brad and Angelina, swaddle those kids on the spot and head for the airport — especially after the earthquake that ravaged Haiti last month and left those children more vulnerable than ever?
There are just two problems with that impulse — one that's fairly obvious (or should be to anyone from a country with rule of law) and another to which foreigners are too often oblivious. The first is that it's patently illegal, as 10 Baptist missionaries from Idaho found out Thursday, Feb. 4, when Haitian authorities formally charged them with criminally abducting 33 poor Haitian children they had tried to ferry out of the country in a bus, with no proper documents, for adoption in the U.S. Many if not most of the youths, it turns out, weren't even orphans; they were simply kids whose desperate parents said they could no longer support. The Americans deny the accusation and insist their efforts were humanitarian. But Haitians like Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive have called them "kidnappers."
(See TIME's complete coverage of the Haiti disaster.)
The second and perhaps more serious downside to taking a Haitian youngster off a mother's beleaguered hands, or even taking a genuine orphan, without lawful process is that it harms the country's children more than it helps them. That's because — and here's the part that members of the Haitian élite like Bellerive would rather forget — it only encourages the rampant trafficking of children for which Haitians themselves are to blame. Some 300,000 of Haiti's youths, for example, are child slaves known in Creole as restaveks. Most fall into these straits because their penniless parents give them up to more affluent Haitian families, who are notorious for keeping them illiterate, heaping grinding labor on them and subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse. The sort of verbally agreed-upon transfer of minors that took place between Haitian families and the U.S. missionaries "is too often how child trafficking occurs in Haiti," says Joan Conn, executive director of the Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation, which provides restaveks refuge in Haiti and abroad.
That's partly why the missionaries' arrests touched such a raw nerve in Haiti — and why the Haitian government felt compelled to make an example of them. Many had expected authorities to release the Americans, who were arrested on Jan. 29, with a slap on the wrist. That's what prosecutors in the North African nation of Chad eventually did in 2007 after arresting six French NGO workers accused of attempting to airlift 103 children from that war-torn country for adoption in France. But in recent years, Haiti's political class has come under increasing international criticism for turning a blind eye to the child-trafficking scourge. Indicting the misguided missionaries was a way to show that it is serious about applying the law for a change.
(See photos of the results of Haiti's earthquake.)
Still, no sooner had the Idaho Baptists been charged than there was talk about a deal that might send them to the U.S. for prosecution (in ways a practical suggestion, since the earthquake left Haiti's judiciary, like most institutions there, barely functioning). A State Department spokesman confirmed that the Obama Administration would consider "other legal avenues" for the U.S. citizens if the Haitians requested. Their Haitian attorney, Edwin Coq, said after the charges were announced that he was confident nine of the defendants would be released, leaving only the leader of the group, Laura Silsby, 40, to face trial; under Haitian law, she could receive up to 15 years in prison on each of the 33 kidnapping counts.
Silsby allegedly has a host of legal hassles to deal with back in Idaho — some of which may have foreshadowed the attitude toward legal niceties that prosecutors say she's displayed in Haiti. The Idaho Statesman reported this week that the Boise businesswoman and founder of the New Life Children's Refuge, affiliated with the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, has been a defendant in at least eight civil lawsuits, involving allegations from fraud to nonpayment for goods and services, including employee wages and lawyer fees. (Silsby defaulted in some cases and is contesting others.) The newspaper reported that Silsby was also cited frequently over the past decade for failure to register her car and provide insurance for it. The Statesman also found that the Idaho house where Silsby headquartered the New Life charity (which she runs with her children's nanny, who was also arrested in Haiti) was foreclosed on in December.
(See a brief history of baby lifts.)
Since her arrest, Silsby has adamantly denied from her jail cell that she and her New Life assistants were involved in trafficking of any kind, telling the New York Times that "God wanted us to come here to help children." Since the Jan. 12 earthquake, interest in adopting Haitian children, especially in the U.S., has spiked. But while acknowledging that foreigners like Silsby may be well-meaning, Haitian officials point to the disregard for process as a big reason the government recently put the brakes on adoptions amid the postdisaster chaos.
Given how lax Haiti has historically been about legal protections for children, that was a welcome move. So was bringing charges against the missionaries, many believe. It might get more foreigners to recognize that perhaps the best way to help Haiti's children isn't by plucking them out of their country but by helping to rebuild Haiti so they'll have a safer place to grow up in; and it might prod more Haitians to recognize how wrong their own indifference to child trafficking is. Many of the children found in the New Life bus have since been reunited with their families — back in a battered country that may now feel a stronger commitment to shielding them.
By Tim Padgett Friday, Feb. 05, 2010
Laura Silsby, left, the head of New Life Children's Refuge, leaves a court hearing with Charisa Coulter, another member of her group, after being accused of child abduction and criminal association in Port-au-Prince
John Moore / Getty
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In Haiti, the western hemisphere's poorest country, 1 in 10 children will die before reaching age 5 because of plagues like malnutrition. Who, then, can blame destitute Haitian mothers when they so often ask visitors from richer nations to take their sickly, underfed toddlers back to the U.S. or Canada or Europe to live? And who can fault those affluent folks for wanting to follow their inner Brad and Angelina, swaddle those kids on the spot and head for the airport — especially after the earthquake that ravaged Haiti last month and left those children more vulnerable than ever?
There are just two problems with that impulse — one that's fairly obvious (or should be to anyone from a country with rule of law) and another to which foreigners are too often oblivious. The first is that it's patently illegal, as 10 Baptist missionaries from Idaho found out Thursday, Feb. 4, when Haitian authorities formally charged them with criminally abducting 33 poor Haitian children they had tried to ferry out of the country in a bus, with no proper documents, for adoption in the U.S. Many if not most of the youths, it turns out, weren't even orphans; they were simply kids whose desperate parents said they could no longer support. The Americans deny the accusation and insist their efforts were humanitarian. But Haitians like Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive have called them "kidnappers."
(See TIME's complete coverage of the Haiti disaster.)
The second and perhaps more serious downside to taking a Haitian youngster off a mother's beleaguered hands, or even taking a genuine orphan, without lawful process is that it harms the country's children more than it helps them. That's because — and here's the part that members of the Haitian élite like Bellerive would rather forget — it only encourages the rampant trafficking of children for which Haitians themselves are to blame. Some 300,000 of Haiti's youths, for example, are child slaves known in Creole as restaveks. Most fall into these straits because their penniless parents give them up to more affluent Haitian families, who are notorious for keeping them illiterate, heaping grinding labor on them and subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse. The sort of verbally agreed-upon transfer of minors that took place between Haitian families and the U.S. missionaries "is too often how child trafficking occurs in Haiti," says Joan Conn, executive director of the Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation, which provides restaveks refuge in Haiti and abroad.
That's partly why the missionaries' arrests touched such a raw nerve in Haiti — and why the Haitian government felt compelled to make an example of them. Many had expected authorities to release the Americans, who were arrested on Jan. 29, with a slap on the wrist. That's what prosecutors in the North African nation of Chad eventually did in 2007 after arresting six French NGO workers accused of attempting to airlift 103 children from that war-torn country for adoption in France. But in recent years, Haiti's political class has come under increasing international criticism for turning a blind eye to the child-trafficking scourge. Indicting the misguided missionaries was a way to show that it is serious about applying the law for a change.
(See photos of the results of Haiti's earthquake.)
Still, no sooner had the Idaho Baptists been charged than there was talk about a deal that might send them to the U.S. for prosecution (in ways a practical suggestion, since the earthquake left Haiti's judiciary, like most institutions there, barely functioning). A State Department spokesman confirmed that the Obama Administration would consider "other legal avenues" for the U.S. citizens if the Haitians requested. Their Haitian attorney, Edwin Coq, said after the charges were announced that he was confident nine of the defendants would be released, leaving only the leader of the group, Laura Silsby, 40, to face trial; under Haitian law, she could receive up to 15 years in prison on each of the 33 kidnapping counts.
Silsby allegedly has a host of legal hassles to deal with back in Idaho — some of which may have foreshadowed the attitude toward legal niceties that prosecutors say she's displayed in Haiti. The Idaho Statesman reported this week that the Boise businesswoman and founder of the New Life Children's Refuge, affiliated with the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, has been a defendant in at least eight civil lawsuits, involving allegations from fraud to nonpayment for goods and services, including employee wages and lawyer fees. (Silsby defaulted in some cases and is contesting others.) The newspaper reported that Silsby was also cited frequently over the past decade for failure to register her car and provide insurance for it. The Statesman also found that the Idaho house where Silsby headquartered the New Life charity (which she runs with her children's nanny, who was also arrested in Haiti) was foreclosed on in December.
(See a brief history of baby lifts.)
Since her arrest, Silsby has adamantly denied from her jail cell that she and her New Life assistants were involved in trafficking of any kind, telling the New York Times that "God wanted us to come here to help children." Since the Jan. 12 earthquake, interest in adopting Haitian children, especially in the U.S., has spiked. But while acknowledging that foreigners like Silsby may be well-meaning, Haitian officials point to the disregard for process as a big reason the government recently put the brakes on adoptions amid the postdisaster chaos.
Given how lax Haiti has historically been about legal protections for children, that was a welcome move. So was bringing charges against the missionaries, many believe. It might get more foreigners to recognize that perhaps the best way to help Haiti's children isn't by plucking them out of their country but by helping to rebuild Haiti so they'll have a safer place to grow up in; and it might prod more Haitians to recognize how wrong their own indifference to child trafficking is. Many of the children found in the New Life bus have since been reunited with their families — back in a battered country that may now feel a stronger commitment to shielding them.
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