Argentina: Judges in Sex Slave Trial Hit by Hackers

Argentine hackers infiltrated the personal information oof a grop of juges involved in a controversial verdict related to sex slavery.

The hackers, who claimed to have been allied with the Argentine arm of the Anonymous collective, released a statement on Wednesday with personal data belonging to magistrates Alberto Piedrabuena, Emilio Herrera Molina and Eduardo Romero Lascano.

Among the information released by the hackers were the judges’ addresses, cell phone numbers and bank account statuses.

“One by one they will fall.  We are Anonymous and we never forget.  We want a country free of corruption,” said the statement from the hackers.

On Tuesday, the court in the city of Tucumán absolved thirteen defendants accused of kidnapping and forcing into prostitution Maria de los Angeles “Marita” Veron. 

Over 130 witnesses were called to trial including a dozen women rescued from brothels by Marita’s mother, Susana Trimarco.  But the judges claimed there was no evidence linking the defendants to Marita, who has been missing for over a decade.

The court’s decision has not sat well with the Argentine public including several hundred people who participated in peaceful protests in several major cities.   In Buenos Aires demonstrators clashed with police and caused damages to the Casa de Tucumán.

The Argentine government joined the chorus of critiques against the court’s decision.  President Cristina Fernandez personally called Trimarco to express her ire with the verdict and called for a “democratization” of the judicial system.

Trimarco, who started a foundation in 2007 to combat human trafficking, was calm when the verdict was read.  Outside of the courtroom, however, she did not mince words:

Daily Headlines: March 28, 2012

* Latin America: Latin America’s elderly population is expected to increase over the next few decades and overcome the number of children in the region by 2040 according to the U.N.

* Venezuela: A new poll showed that President Hugo Chavez has a double-digit lead over Henrique Capriles though a sizeable number of respondents remain undecided.

* U.S.: A study by the human rights group Amnesty International USA found that Latino residents in the border area near Mexico “are disproportionately affected by a range of immigration-control measures, resulting in a pattern of human rights violations.”

* Dominican Republic: Police arrested six suspected members of a local Anonymous group accused of infiltrating the websites of the government and private companies.

Image Source – Flickr via Inti (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- LAHT, euronews, Reuters, Dominican Today

Daily Headlines: February 29, 2012

* South America: Twenty-five alleged hackers linked to Anonymous were arrested by Interpol in several countries including Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said that his country would controversially continue to sell oil to Syria.

* U.S.: An alliance of three Latino civic groups have united with the goal of registering 200,000 new voters ahead of the November elections.

* Panama: Could a Panamanian bobsled team qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia?

Image Source – Flickr via irrezolut (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources- Bloomberg, NY1, Jakarta Globe, Christian Science Monitor

Daily Headlines: November 3, 2011

* Colombia: Ex-Soviet military officer Viktor Bout faces life in prison after being convicted in a U.S. court for attempting to smuggle weapons to Colombia’s FARC guerillas.

* Cuba: Authorities detained dissident Guillermo Farinas on Wednesday while he was trying to visit a hospitalized political activist.

* Mexico: Is there really a “dispute” among members of the Anonymous hackers group over possibly revealing personal information of alleged Zetas drug gang collaborators?

* South America: The planned merger between Chilean airline LAN with Brazil’s TAM will supposedly be completed early next year.

Video Source – YouTube via Associated Press

Online Sources - MercoPress, The Telegraph, Fox News Latino, Huffington Post