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A28 WORLD NEWS
Friday 24 July 2020
Child abduction, forced labor scandal widens in south Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A families. The Chiapas state
scandal involving the ab- prosecutors' office said in
duction and exploitation a statement the children
of young children in a co- "were forced through physi-
lonial Mexican city popu- cal and psychological vio-
lar with tourists widened lence to sell handicrafts in
Wednesday when prose- the center of the city," add-
cutors released additional ing the kids showed signs of
evidence that an adult "malnutrition and precari-
apparently used other chil- ous conditions."
dren to help kidnap a miss- According to video pre-
ing 2-year-old boy. sented by the prosecu-
The search for Dylan Esaú tors, many of them slept
Gómez Pérez led prosecu- on what appeared to be
tors in southern Chiapas sheets of cardboard and
state, on the Guatema- blankets on a cement floor.
lan border, to a house in Three other women have
San Cristobal de las Casas been detained in that case
where 23 abducted chil- and may face human traf-
dren were being kept in ficking and forced labor
deplorable conditions and charges.
forced to sell trinkets and Dylan was with his mother,
handicrafts in the street. Juana Perez, whose 2 1/2 year-old son Dylan is missing, holds a poster of him outside of the Juana Pérez, at the mar-
But Dylan, who turns 3 in presidential palace that asks for President Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador to help her find him, in ket on the day he was
November, was not among Mexico City, Wednesday, July 22, 2020. snatched.
them. Associated Press Pérez, who traveled to
Reviewing surveillance Mexico City to ask Presi-
cameras, state prosecutor the public market where day, apparently related at the house," Llaven said. dent Andrés Manuel López
Jorge Llaven said that a Dylan's mother worked in to Dylan's disappearance, San Cristobal is a pictur- Obrador to help find her
boy and a girl, both appar- the colonial city. Dylan ap- had revealed a house esque, heavily Indigenous son, works at the market
ently around 12, were seen pears to follow the boy, where children — most be- city that is popular among selling fruit and vegetables.
talking to a woman who and then the girl takes tween 2 and 15 years old, tourists. It is not unusual to She said her son would
is a suspect in the June 30 Dylan by the back of the but three infants aged be- see children and adults sometimes wander off to
abduction. Llaven identi- jacket and walks out of the tween 3 and 20 months — hawking local crafts like play, but that no children
fied the woman as only market with him. The girl is were forced to sell things carvings and embroidered had ever been snatched
as "Ofelia," and offered a later seen returning alone, on the street. cloth on its narrow cobble- from the market before.
$13,500 reward for informa- apparently having hand- "Moreover, they were stone streets. The boy's father emigrated
tion about the location of ed the missing boy over to forced to return with a cer- But few visitors to the city to California to find work,
her or the missing boy. someone else. tain minimum amount of suspected that some of the and thus Pérez, 23, has had
In photos from cameras, Llaven said Tuesday that money for the right to get kids doing the selling had to care for Dylan and his sis-
the boy and the girl enter a search carried out Mon- food and a place to sleep been snatched from their ter by herself.q

China cites 'malicious slander' as Houston consulate closes

"This is breaking down the punitive measures at China trade, human rights, Hong
bridge of friendship be- ahead of the U.S. presiden- Kong and Chinese asser-
tween the Chinese and tial election in November. tiveness in the South China
American people," Wang Wang did not comment on Sea.
told reporters at a daily speculation about whether China's relations with Britain
briefing. a U.S. consulate in China have also become increas-
He dismissed U.S. allega- would be ordered closed ingly strained, in part over
tions of espionage and in- in response, and which one Hong Kong, a former British
tellectual property theft, might be targeted. colony returned to China in
calling them "completely "China will surely take nec- 1997.
malicious slander." essary measures to safe- Wang criticized the U.K. for
The U.S. on Tuesday ordered guard its legitimate rights opening a pathway to citi-
the consulate closed within and interests," he said, with- zenship for up to 3 million
72 hours, alleging that Chi- out elaborating. residents of the city of 7.5
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gestures for ques-
tions during the daily briefing in Beijing on Thursday, July 23, nese agents had tried to The U.S. has an embassy million people. He said Chi-
2020. steal data from facilities in in Beijing and consulates na might stop recognizing
Associated Press Texas, including the Texas in five other mainland cit- the British National Over-
A&M medical system and ies: Shanghai, Guangzhou, seas passport that those 3
BEIJING (AP) — China said Foreign ministry spokes- The University of Texas MD Chengdu, Shenyang and million hold or are eligible
Thursday that "malicious person Wang Wenbin said Anderson Cancer Center Wuhan. It also has a con- to get.
slander" is behind an order the move against the con- in Houston. sulate in Hong Kong, a Chi- Britain on Wednesday an-
by the U.S. government to sulate, the first one China The move was a dramatic nese territory. nounced a January start
close its consulate in Hous- opened in the U.S. after the escalation of the grow- Relations between the date for new rules that will
ton, Texas, maintaining that establishment of diplomat- ing tensions between the U.S. and China have nose- allow holders of the pass-
its officials never operated ic ties in 1979, goes against world's two largest econo- dived in recent months port to live and work in the
outside ordinary diplomatic the basic norms of interna- mies as President Donald over the coronavirus pan- U.K. and eventually obtain
rules. tional relations. Trump directs blame and demic and disputes over citizenship. q