Cuban-American detained in Colombia would have exploited and sexually abused at least 70 minors

The Cuban-American arrested last week in Colombia for the crime of sexual exploitation of minors has been identified by the Colombian Attorney General's Office asAbel Fernández and investigations indicate that he abused 70 minors.

Fernández - also known by the alias "Danger" or "Vanessa" - is 58 years old, he is a mechanical engineer by profession and a judge has sentenced him to prison for the crimes of commercial sexual exploitation with minors under 18 years of age, abusive carnal access with a minor of 14 years, years, sexual acts with minors under 14 years of age and, finally, for the use of minors to commit crimes.

Hestatement The Prosecutor's Office specifies that Fernández summoned the victims to an apartment in the municipality of Sabaneta where he gave them sweets and offered them between 20,000 and 100,000 Colombian pesos to have sexual encounters.

He also asked them to bring more minors and when they agreed, he gave them between 500 thousand and one million pesos as payment for being sexually exploited.

The authorities found evidence in Fernández's home that he was posing as an English teacher to conceal his crimes in case any authority or any other person showed up at the scene.

The National Police confiscated 22 million Colombian pesos in cash and several new phones, also used as payment to the victims. Several kits containing lubricants, anesthesia and painkillers were also found in the home.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the majority of the minors who were victims of the sexual predator were of limited economic resources or members of dysfunctional families in the area.

The case came to light last week, when a commander of the Medellín Metropolitan Police declaredlocal media that the investigations began a month ago after the parents of one of the girls reported that she was missing for three days and when she returned home she reported that a foreigner had approached her on the street and that he took her to a house and abused her. of her sexually.

Abel Fernández could not be captured at that time because he left the country, but the police established a follow-up on the suspect, who returned to Colombia and was arrested on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 1, in an apartment in Sabaneta. At the time of his arrest, he was accompanied in the apartment where he committed his crimes by two minors.

When referring to the operation, the General Director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF), Lina Arbeláez, pointed out that commercial sexual exploitation is one of the worst violations of the physical, emotional and sexual integrity of minors, and stressed that The perpetrators always have to be punished in an exemplary manner.

"This is simply inadmissible. These criminals cannot continue ruining the lives or dreams of those who represent the present and future of the country. Eradicating violence against children has to be the highest purpose of all Colombians and we have to prevent continue to be violated," said the Director of the ICBF in a document released by that organization.