Cablegate: Argentina: Nomination for International Women of Courage

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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0300 0461929
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151929Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7294

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000300

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/IWI
DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/BSC
DEPT ALSO FOR G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL AR KCRM SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: NOMINATION FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE

REF: STATE 00012871

1. (U) Below is Post's response to reftel request for a woman of
courage in Argentina. In Argentina, women have been leaders on a
number of social and political issues, such as human rights abuses,
drug abuse, poverty, and trafficking in persons. AmEmb Buenos
Aires' nomination has faced danger and death threats in her efforts
to combat human trafficking in Argentina and to find her missing
daughter.

2. (U) Nominee: Susana Trimarco de Veron
Title: Mother of trafficking in persons victim Maria de los Angeles
Veron
Institution: N/A
DOB: Not available
Contact information: Tel: 0381-432-2811
Cellular: 0381-15-589-6094
Email: Marita.Veron@gmail.com

3. (U) Susana Trimarco de Veron's daughter Marita Versn was
kidnapped by a human trafficking ring on April 3, 2002 in San Miguel
de Tucumn, Argentina when she was 23 years old. Desperate to find
her daughter, Trimarco de Veron has dedicated herself to exposing
the traffickers who kidnapped her daughter.

4. (U) In her search for her daughter, Susana Trimarco has
uncovered evidence of trafficking networks operating in the
provinces of La Rioja, Tucumn, Buenos Aires, Csrdoba and Santa Cruz
provinces of Argentina. She has rescued 96 victims of human
trafficking, including some 17 women from Argentina who were forced
into prostitution in Bilbao, Burgos and Vigo in Spain.

5. (U) Trimarco de Veron's efforts have led her into dangerous
situations, disguised as a prostitute, trolling bars and alleys in
search of anyone who might know something about her daughter's
whereabouts. She has been threatened, spied upon, and tricked. She
has received false leads and death threats, but has not been
deterred from her investigations into human trafficking in
Argentina.

6. (U) Thanks to Trimarco de Veron's work, human trafficking is
now gaining public and government attention in Argentina, and
victims of forced labor and human trafficking are being encouraged
to report the crime. Nearly 70 cases have been filed in Tucumn in
the last five years regarding women and girls who have disappeared
and are presumed trafficked. In May 2005, the Office for the
Integrated Assistance for Victims of Crime (Oficina de Asistencia
Integral a la Vctima del Delito - OFAVI) noted they were assisting
two young women from Tucumn who were kidnapped using chloroform and
forced into prostitution in La Rioja.

7. (U) Buenos Aires emboffs for women's issues are Heidi Gomez,
gomezhn@state.gov and Martha Buckley, buckleym@state.gov.

WAYNE

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