Man accused of selling daughter for cash, beer
Police say father tried to get 14-year-old back after plan fell apart
NBC News and news services
1/13/09
GREENFIELD, Calif. - Police have arrested a Greenfield man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat.
Police said they only learned of the deal after Marcelino de Jesus Martinez went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made as promised. The man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of human trafficking.
NBC News' Dara Brown reported that the deal specifically involved 100 cases of Corona beer, 50 cases of Modelo, six bottles of wine, 50 cases of soft drinks and 50 cases of Gatorade.
The 18-year-old intended groom was arrested and charged with statutory rape. Investigators believe the girl went willingly with the man, but she's under California's legal age of consent and can't legally marry.
Police say arranged marriages involving underage girls have become a problem in this small Central Coast farming community.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28629054/
I saw this on the local news last night. The police said the guy had no clue he was doing anything wrong because in his culture it's perfectly fine to sell your female child to an adult male for beer or whatever. What a horrible world this is for women.
I hope my dad doesn't hear about this. He might ask my husband for a case of Sam Adams! Since I was 39 and not 14 when we got married, I'm probably not worth 100 cases of beer like poor Miss Martinez. :-(
What a load of crap! My family is hispanic, and no one I ever knew thought it would be acceptable to arrange a marriage for a girl (and I'm putting the mildest face on this), much less actually sell her. He's using American xenophobia and ignorance to try to get out of what he did.
PrairieGirl Wrote:What a load of crap! My family is hispanic, and no one I ever knew thought it would be acceptable to arrange a marriage for a girl (and I'm putting the mildest face on this), much less actually sell her. He's using American xenophobia and ignorance to try to get out of what he did.
I suppose your hispanic family is not made up of poor people from Oaxaca.
CNN.com
Quote:All those involved in the case are from the western Mexican state of Oaxaca, the police chief said. In the Oaxacan community, such an agreement is "normal and honorable," he said. "In California, it's against the law."
In Oaxacan culture, the food and beverages are provided by a prospective bridegroom for the wedding, Grebmeier said.
I'm really hoping you're not giving him a pass, just because he's poor and ignorant. I still call bullshit. Even in the most remote parts of this world, it's difficult, if not impossible, to know something about American culture -- and there's nothing that says marrying off 14 year olds is acceptable in this country. And worse, he's IN this country, which means he has an even closer look at American culture.
And I'd be surprised if this is legal in Mexico, either. Mexico is a Western nation and most Western nations share many of the same legal and spiritual values. It wouldn't surprise me if this Oaxacan practice is the kind of problem for Mexico that we have with those breakaway Mormon sects. There are "normal and honorable" traditions in all kinds of fringe societies, but that doesn't mean the controlling government consider them so. Just as a breakaway Mormon might marry a 13 year old in a "normal and honorable" fashion, that mean the breakaway Mormon doesn't know the true state of the law in his country.
How is quoting a news story giving someone a pass? You were saying that it's not true because your family is hispanic and your family wouldn't do that, and I simply put up what the article said (quoting the police officer) about this being the way things are in Oaxaca. It's also "normal" and "honorable" in Iran to yell "god is great" as they stone people to death who are buried up to their necks or shoulders in a holes. Just because I pointed that out does not mean I "give them a pass" for it or approve of it. I'm stating a fact. Geez.
"In Oaxacan culture, the food and beverages are provided by a prospective bridegroom for the wedding, Grebmeier said."
See, this makes it sound like it's just the groom's family paying for the wedding refreshments, rather than "selling the daughter for food". Maybe the headline is misleading.
Of course, I do think 14 is too young to get married.
Quote:How is quoting a news story giving someone a pass?
Except you didn't just quote. You followed up with commentary which I took as insulting --
Quote:I suppose your hispanic family is not made up of poor people from Oaxaca.
It sounded to me that you were implying that because my hispanic family is something more than poverty-stricken, I can't possibly understand the Oaxacan mindset. I apologize if I have misread your statement. But with the lack of body language on the internet, I don't see how I could read it any other way.