General Prosecutor of the Republic of Venezuela Tarek William Saab. Photo: Referencial.
The attorney general of the Republic of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, recently announced that the Public Ministry (MP) has started a social media campaign, “Pedophilia Is a Crime,” which focuses on the need to confront pedophilia cases pre-emptively, using preventative measures and punishment. Currently there are more than 630 active cases of sexual aggression against children and minors in Venezuela.
“In 2022, from January until the 15th of August, we opened 632 cased which we could classify as sexual aggression against minors, cases of pedophilia,” noted Saab during a virtual interview with the television program Al Día, hosted by the VTV journalist Jossselyn Correia.
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Saab said that these cases have been detected with more frequency in five states: Zulia, Táchira, Carabobo, Caracas, and Miranda. Meetings are being carried out with educational centers, teachers, professors, and students throughout the country, generating increased hope for crime prevention during the upcoming school year.
“We are very aware of the impact and influence that this campaign, which we are carrying out via forums, workshops, social media, and audio visual media, is having, a progressive and significant effect which will be even more apparent when the new school year kicks off,” said Saab. However, during the current break from school, he asked for parents and legal representatives to instruct their students on the importance of reporting any suspicious behavior.
“We call on all parents, representatives, neighbors, and anyone who, directly or indirectly, knows of a case of aggression against a minor, be it pedophilia or a different type, to immediately report the crime,” Saab said. “Because we have professionals throughout our territory who are ready to bring justice to Venezuelan families.”
“We can’t let these monsters, these aberrant individuals, reproduce their behavior,” he added, and spoke about a priest in Táchira who was caught red-handed as he tried to abuse a 13-year-old minor in his church.
Saab spoke of how the priest deceived the young person, tricking her into coming to the church, where he started to sexually and physically abuse her, but the girl ran towards a bathroom and began to shout. “That’s when this horrendous criminal, who used his cassock to attack minors, was caught in the act,” Saab said. He also noted that this individual had been reported several times before, and was being monitored by the authorities.
“He was being watched,” Saab said. “He was caught red-handed, and all of the weight of the law will be applied to him, beyond his belonging to a religious sector.”
A similar previous campaign, carried out with the support of the MP, against sexual assault, reduced the number of these cases by a notable margin.
Saab also touched on how the “Public Ministry Goes to Your Community” plan is currently underway, through which public prosecutors receive the public in Bolívar Plazas on Wednesday in many cities throughout the country. The plan is extended to remote areas where there are no MP offices in order to gather and prosecute cases that require judicial intervention.
To date, after only two weeks of the campaign, approximately two thousand people have reported crimes or have asked for legal advice.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
