Teenage soccer players part of child trafficking sex scheme?

November 6, 4:03 PMSeattle Soccer ExaminerDavid Falk

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Indonesian teenagers stand outside a hotel, and watch TV inside, where their government is housing them in San Bernardino, Paraguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. According to the government, the thirty Indonesian teenagers who were brought to Paraguay from Banda Aceh 15 months ago to train to become professional soccer players will be deported and the organizers may be charged with child trafficking. (AP Photos/Jorge Saenz)

The photos above hit the AP newswire today. They were not accompanied by any English-language story or information. After spending a few hours searching through and reading stories in Spanish, the basic plot here is that a group of 30 soccer players ages 13 to 16 came over from Indonesia to Paraguay, and after being there over a year now want to return because they attest to being abandoned and worse, asked to perform sexual favors. Yesterday the Paraguayan government said the minors are now under the care of the country.

This Paraguayan site did have a report from about a month ago.  Another website had this report at the end of September.

Here's the rough translation of the first link: Indonesian young people to the drift According to fiscala Teresa Martinez, the denunciation of the originating Indonesian young people of the city of Ache, brought by a Chilean industralist, is being investigated. The denunciation has to do maltratos assumptions, failure to feed and situation of abandonment, situation of which these adolescents would be victims who already for a year have been being in Paraguay. Martinez indicated that apparently an agreement signed between the Chilean industralist, official agent of the FIFA Nelson Leon Sanchez and the Paraguayan Olympic Committee exists. The Indonesian government would be giving money to the industralist and this he pays to the Olympic Committee the sum 34,000 dollars monthly. Existing suspicions, according to the Fiscala, that the COP would have to receive 100,000 dollars. On the other hand, the industralist denied all the facts, saying that created interests exist. The Public prosecutor added that Nelson Leon would have negotiated with the government of Indonesia the coming of these young soccer players by the sum of 4 million dollars and it would be remaining with part of the amount.

In the second link the man listed as being in charge of bringing the boys to Paraguay, Nelson Leon Sanchez, is quoted as saying “already you see that I am not missing as previously reported” and he clarified that the development of the activity in soccer follows normally. “The boys are in San Bernardino doing one preseason, as...outlined in the original project, now living in the hotel Aquarius, and a tour by four countries is predicted after friendlies in Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay, after which they will return”.

As the photos hit the news stories last night and today continued to feature the ordeal. This one comes from the European Press Agency. Now the Paraguyan government says it will take care of the youth until they can be returned home. This translation says the soccer players may have been asked to enter into the local gay sex trade.

I hope to have an English report to link for you soon.

More about Human Trafficking out of Indonesia.