Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Venezuela

Last updated

In 2022, a scandal unfolded in Venezuela [1] after the American newspaper The Washington Post published a report detailing an original investigation in Catholic priests in Venezuela who were accused and/or convicted of sexual abuse. The report revealed that of the at least 10 Catholic priests accused and/or convicted of sexual abuse between 2001 and 2022, three served little or no time in sentence and returned to priesthood. [2] The Washington Post mentioned cases that occurred in Anzoátegui, Falcón, Lara, Mérida and Zulia, [3] although there have been complains in at least eleven states in Venezuela. [4]

Contents

The Church confirmed the veracity of the report, admitting the existence of cases of abuse that same year, announcing an investigation and actions to prevent sexual abuse in the future. [5] This scandal follows others that occurred in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. [6] [ unreliable source? ]

Cases

Background

According to the International Children's Rights Network, the first case of ecclesiastical sexual abuse brought to court in Venezuela was in 2013, when a priest was legally accused of sexually abusing four girls and women, aged between 14 and 22. [6] In 2013, the same priest was involved in another case of ten orphaned children, who reported he had sexually abused them during their residence in a church-run home for children with HIV. In 2018, the priest was arrested for having sexually abused a girl for three years. [6]

The Spanish newspaper El País published a report in March 2022 about sexual abuse case from the 1960s, which a priest at the Salesiano San Francisco de Sales school abusing an infant in the school's care. The newspaper contacted the Society of Saint Francis de Sales of Spain, which clarified that the Salesian order in Venezuela would investigate the case. [7]

Cases reported by The Washington Post

The Washington Post journalist Ana Vanessa Herrero interviewed victims of harassment and ecclesiastical sexual abuse. She also tried to meet with the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, which did not respond to her interview requests. According to Herrero, there are complaints in at least eleven states of Venezuela. [4]

In Lara state, priest Luis Alberto Mosquera had been accused in 1996 by a twelve-year-old aspiring altar boy of sexually abusing him by threatening him with a gun. [4] Mosquera was convicted to seven years in prison in 2006 for sexual abuse of a six-year-old boy, but served only two years in prison and was then allowed to return to the priesthood. [3]

In Zulia state, priest Rafael Márquez, who ran a network of homes for street children, was charged with violent lewd acts against 12 minors under 16 years of age "in the presence of other children and adolescents". Márquez's sentence had not been made public. [2]

In the state of Anzoátegui, priest Enrique Castro Azócar was accused of sexual abuse on Twitter in 2018 and arrested the following year, pleading guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a child and being sentenced to five years in prison. The father of one of his victims stated that he had been harassed and threatened because of his request for justice. [2]

In Falcón state, a priest pleaded guilty to committing a carnal act against a 14-year-old girl. He was granted house arrest on the condition that he stay away from the victim, however, he returned to the Church, and was actively participating by June 2022. [2]

According to a court, there was a case in Mérida state where a priest exchanged text messages with a 13-year-old girl, took her to a hotel room and kissed her. The girl testified that the priest tried to lift up her shirt. The priest's lawyers argued that the girl wanted to leave with him and that no sexual act was consummated. He was found not guilty of aggravated lewd acts in 2006. [2]

In most cases, the victims came from environments with limited economic resources. [6] The application of "therapeutic transfer" was evident, used in other cases, where priests with inappropriate behavior and/or proven abuse were relocated to other parts, sometimes other countries, to hide the past of the abusers and avoid police investigations. [6]

Reactions

Human rights organizations

Following the publication of The Washington Post's report, 66 NGOs for the rights of minors, including CECODAP, signed a joint document where they demanded that the State and the Church investigate the complaints of the American newspaper. [3] [8]

Episcopal Conference

In 2022, the Church recognized the events and apologized, organizing an investigation into the matter, without clarifying the number of victims and ensuring that measures had been taken in retaliation against the abusers. [5] The first vice president of the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela, Bishop Mario Moronta, declared: "We feel deeply dismayed and hurt by the situations of abuse" and asserted that the Church "has provided collaboration to clarify the facts». [9] [10]

On July 6, 2022, Bishop Moronta announced the suspension and investigation of priest Luis Alberto Mosquera, who had been denounced in the report. [11]

United Socialist Party of Venezuela

The deputy to the National Assembly and vice president of the PSUV, Diosdado Cabello, exonerated the Venezuelan judicial system for the release of the convicted and their return to the Church, arguing that the entire It was the Church's fault and criticizing the then cardinal Baltazar Porras and the rest of the leadership as "immoral". [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church sexual abuse cases</span>

There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, nuns, and other members of religious life in the Catholic Church. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, acknowledgement and apologies by Church authorities, and revelations about decades of instances of abuse and attempts by Church officials to cover them up. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.

This page documents Catholic Church sexual abuse cases by country.

The Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal was a case of child sexual abuses involving a number of children and employees at Casa Pia, a Portuguese state-run institution for the education and support of poor children and under-age orphans. One employee of the institution, which at the time comprised 10 orphanages and schools caring for 4,600 children, ran a male child prostitution network involving 100 boys. The scandal involved several prominent men, including TV presenter Carlos Cruz, former Casa Pia governor Manuel Abrantes, and former UNESCO ambassador Jorge Ritto. The trial was one of the longest running in Portuguese history, lasting more than five years, with testimony from 32 alleged victims, out of a total of over 800 witnesses and experts.

The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Latin America is a significant part of the series of Catholic sex abuse cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karadima case</span> Case of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

The case of Fernando Karadima concerned the sexual abuse of minors in Chile, which became public in 2010. It raised questions about the responsibility and complicity of several Chilean bishops, including some of the country's highest-ranking Catholic prelates. By 2018, it attracted worldwide attention.

Francisco José Cox Huneeus was a native of Chile and a former archbishop of the Catholic Church. He was a member of the Schoenstatt Movement. He was Bishop of Chillán from 1975 to 1981 and Coadjutor Archbishop of La Serena from 1985 to 1990 and Archbishop there from 1990 to 1997, when he resigned following accusations that he had sexually abused young boys. He was laïcized in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Carlos Ornelas Puga</span> Catholic priest who was reportedly kidnapped by gunmen in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas

On 3 November 2013, Catholic priest Carlos Ornelas Puga was kidnapped by gunmen in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. His whereabouts remain unknown and the motives behind his kidnapping are unclear, but the Mexican authorities allege that the priest was kidnapped by an organized crime group.

The La Manada rape case, also known as the wolf pack case, began with the gang rape of an 18-year-old woman on 7 July 2016 during the San Fermín celebrations in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. The case drew intense public scrutiny as it called into question the definition of rape under Spanish law. Five men, including a member of the Civil Guard and another of the Spanish Army from Seville, filmed themselves repeatedly attacking the girl in the vestibule of an apartment building. La Manada means "The pack" in Spanish.

The sexual abuse of minors by clergy of the Catholic Church in Chile and the failure of Church officials to respond and take responsibility attracted worldwide attention as a critical failure of Pope Francis and the Church as a whole to address the sexual abuse of minors by priests. Among a number of cases, that of Father Fernando Karadima, which became public in 2010, raised questions about the responsibility and complicity of several Chilean bishops, including some of the country's highest-ranking Catholic prelates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against women in Venezuela</span> Public health issue of violent acts against women

Violence against women in Venezuela occurs in Venezuela. With corruption and the crisis in Venezuela, offenders are not being prosecuted. In 2014, only 0.7% of the official complaints of violence towards women resulted in trials. There is a United Nations database on Violence against women in Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Fernando Intriago Páez</span>

Luis Fernando Intriago Páez is a secularized priest from Guayaquil, Ecuador. He was parish priest of the Church of Our Lady of Czestochowa from 1996 to 2013. Intriago was dismissed from his priestly functions by the Archdiocese of Guayaquil after there were complaints that Intriago sexually abused and tortured minors. Intriago told his victims that to help themselves and their families, they needed to suffer through a secret sacrifice, which he named the dynamic of sin. The Catholic Church does not approve such rituals.

Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández is a native of Chile and a former prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Bishop of Iquique from 2006 to 2012. When appointed at the age of 42, he was the youngest bishop in the history of Chile. Accusations that he had sexually abused minors forced his resignation in 2012. Civil procedures concluded when prosecutors could not establish a case against him, but church proceedings ended with his removal from the clerical state in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natacha Jaitt</span> Argentine model, actress and radio/television host who died under mysterious circumstances

Natacha Jaitt was an Argentine model, actress, and radio and television host.

Examination of Conscience is a Spanish documentary television miniseries created by Enric Hernández, Luis Mauri, and Albert Solé, and directed by Albert Sol premiered on Netflix on January 25, 2019. The three 50-minute episodes examines the extent of child abuse accusations across three Spanish Marist Brother schools in Spain by priests or other people associated with the Catholic Church. Through interviews with victims, clergy members, journalists, and experts, it discusses different cases, the lack of support for the victims by the church, and how laws in Spain do not support prosecuting cases when they are reported decades after the occurrence.

Tony Maestracci is a Venezuelan musician and former drummer of the Venezuelan rock band Tomates Fritos for fourteen years.

Alejandro Sojo is a Venezuelan musician and former singer of the Venezuelan rock band Los Colores.

Gustavo Óscar Zanchetta is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Orán from 2013 to 2017, when Pope Francis demanded his resignation because of his failure as a leader of his priests. Assigned to an administrative position in the Roman Curia, Zanchetta was charged in 2019 with the sexual assault of two adult seminarians while bishop of Orán. He was convicted in March 2022 and sentenced to four and a half years under house arrest. The result of Church proceedings against him has not been announced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julio César Grassi</span> Argentine Catholic priest and convicted child molester

Julio César Grassi is an Argentine Roman Catholic priest and convicted sex offender, child molester and fraudster.

Belén López Peiró is an Argentine book writer and columnist. Signed to Libros Penguin, she is best known for her 2018 release, "Por Que Volvías Cada Verano?" in which she detailed the sexual abuse she allegedly survived.

César Augusto Cordero Moscoso was an Ecuadorian Roman Catholic priest and child abuser.

References

  1. ↑ "Iglesia Católica venezolana atiende denuncias de abusos". The San Diego Union-Tribune (in Spanish). 6 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Herrero, Ana Vanessa (2022-06-21). "In Venezuela, priests convicted of abuse have returned to ministry". The Washington Post .
  3. 1 2 3 "Piden investigar denuncia de restitución de curas en Venezuela tras delitos sexuales". France 24 . 2022-06-23.
  4. 1 2 3 "Washington Post: sacerdotes condenados en Venezuela por abuso sexual infantil han vuelto a las iglesias". Runrunes . 2022-06-21.
  5. 1 2 "Iglesia católica venezolana revela abusos sexuales por parte de sus miembros". Swissinfo . 2022-07-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lo que dijo y lo que no dijo la Iglesia venezolana sobre el escándalo de abuso a menores". PanAm Post . 8 July 2022.
  7. ↑ Nagovitch, Paola; Foraster Garriga, Lucía; Diego Quesada, Juan (2022-03-21). "Pederastia en la Iglesia latinoamericana: "Me tocaba mientras me decía que recitara el padrenuestro"". El País .
  8. ↑ "66 ONG exigen a la iglesia que se sancione a sacerdotes agresores sexuales de NNA". cecodap.org. 29 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "Iglesia católica dice investigar casos de abuso sexual a menores en Venezuela tras denuncias". Infobae (in Spanish). 2022-07-06.
  10. ↑ "Iglesia católica investiga casos de abuso sexual a menores en Venezuela". Diario Las Américas (in Spanish).
  11. ↑ "Un cura venezolano condenado por pederasta en 2006 y que todavía daba misas fue suspendido por la Conferencia Episcopal". Infobae (in Spanish). 2022-07-06.
  12. ↑ "Diosdado Cabello culpa a jerarquía eclesiástica por vuelta a los templos de sacerdotes pedófilos". Tal Cual (in Spanish). 2022-06-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.