W5: Lurid Paradise | Exposing child sex tourism in the Dominican Republic

0:00[Music]

0:11CTV's w5 a sunny island paradise with a

0:18terrible secret

0:19it becomes an adults-only situation that

0:23works on its darkened streets you can

0:25find that kind of pedophile tourism

0:28Avery Haynes investigates and illicit

0:32sex trade what ages are we talking about

0:34Oh latest children's selling themselves

0:37to survive it's all about the money

0:39sexual predators on the prowl it's

0:41definitely not right it's sick unchecked

0:46by the law where there's poverty

0:48prostitution unfortunately is tolerated

0:50and low goals determined to protect

0:53their business he's touched generations

1:02with his ballets

1:03he sings totally from the heart a rare

1:06talent that has lasted for decades the

1:09quintessential Canadian songwriter Lloyd

1:12Robertson with an exclusive interview

1:14what is it that keeps you going had that

1:16idea of moving forward up close and

1:19personal with an iconic

1:21singer-songwriter

1:22boy wife its songs have come to reflect

1:24who we are creating enduring classic say

1:27it's one of the great songs ever written

1:29crafting ballets in bad times that in

1:32stop train hands

1:34myself and an inspiration for others to

1:41use Kevin Newman hello and thanks for

1:43joining us this week w5 is taking you to

1:47one of Canada's biggest tourist

1:48destinations an island of Sun and fun

1:52for most visitors but in some of the

1:54towns something much more sinister than

1:57that places that have been called

1:59paradises for sex crimes

2:02Avery Haynes and w5 s investigation team

2:05went undercover to expose the nighttime

2:08neighborhoods where older tourists are

2:11preying on local children

2:26it's just a few minutes past midnight

2:28the first thing you notice are the women

2:32in fact some of them are just girls

2:36and the tourists well they're almost

2:38exclusively men much older men there are

2:43no families anywhere this is the

2:47Dominican Republic's dirty little secret

2:51tourists come here to pay children for

2:55sex the grit of the strip is a sharp

2:59contrast to the beautiful beaches nearby

3:02are a magnet for hundreds of thousands

3:04of Canadians each year while most are

3:07lured here by the Sun and the sand

3:09others have a far darker desire it's a

3:15huge problem we need to protect our kids

3:18Jose Martinez is a criminal lawyer and

3:21an outspoken TV and radio commentator

3:23it's hard to believe that on this

3:25beautiful beach just a little bit down

3:27the way pedophiles paying for sex with

3:30children yeah that's that's a big

3:33problem in Dominican Republic Jose says

3:37the porta Plata area in the northern

3:39part of the island is a hot spot for

3:41foreign pedophiles a place where

3:45tourists openly troll the streets for

3:47underage girls and boys

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3:51when you talk about children that are

3:53being used sold to tourists what ages

3:56are we talking about all ages but the

4:00most popular it's around around 11 to 17

4:0511 11 to 17 but I've heard cases of

4:10children less than five years old

4:15so you're telling me that a tourist

4:17could come here and find a five-year-old

4:21child to have sex with it's a shame but

4:23yes there's a tourism that comes to

4:26Dominican Republic looking for sex

4:28tourism and also pedophile tourism

4:38after sundown Jose and I walk the strip

4:41of Sosua for a first-hand look at what's

4:44going on in full view of everyone

4:46including the police where we are right

4:49now there are people who come here

4:51specifically looking for you

4:54yeah there's one of the places the ears

4:58is one of the places where normally you

5:01can find that kind of tourism the

5:04pedophile tourism I mean I'm looking

5:07over to my right and I'm seeing much

5:09older tourists

5:11seeing a a

5:14relatively young looking women beside

5:17and as we're going on this whole area it

5:19seems to be mostly

5:22looking for girls of course sometimes

5:25younger girls that's exactly what's

5:28happening here

5:30it's a pedophiles playground a situation

5:34so dire that it's been described as a

5:36crisis in a 20-17

5:38United Nations report Sosua is singled

5:41out as being a paradise for sexual

5:44crimes where foreigners act with

5:46impunity Sosua

5:48is just 24 kilometers away from a

5:51Canadian favourite destination for de

5:53Plateau the report says the men buying

5:56children are overwhelmingly from Canada

5:59the US and Europe prostitution is legal

6:03on the island nation child prostitution

6:06is not a recent report by rights group

6:09international justice mission estimates

6:11one out of every four girls walking the

6:14street is under the age of 18 and while

6:17many foreigners get away with it some

6:20don't like Joseph Charles Philip Cote

6:23from Quebec in 2014 when he was in his

6:2680s the former military pilot was

6:29convicted in Canada for preying on young

6:32girls in Sosua those girls were between

6:358 and 12 years old in sentencing him to

6:38seven years behind bars the judge writes

6:41the abuse was committed in the context

6:44of prostitution

6:45he gave presents a doll a bathing suit

6:48he invited them to the pool or lent them

6:51his scooter

6:54the Dominican Republic's United Nations

6:57headquarters is in the capital of Santo

6:59Domingo

7:00Eduardo guy our dado is with the unicef

7:03department that deals with child

7:05exploitation I've heard stories about

7:08young children being purchased for sex

7:11for the cost of a beer

7:13mom's pimping out their seven-year-old

7:15daughters would this surprise you know

7:19someday we have seen situations where

7:22young adolescent girls are having sex

7:24with older men or adults for telephone

7:26minutes

7:27any fool knows for the recharge of

7:29minutes on the cellular phone having sex

7:35with a child in exchange for phone card

7:37minutes alarmingly Eduardo knows

7:40firsthand just how widespread the

7:42problem is me primarily and a full ego

7:45mean again the first day I arrived in

7:46Dominican Republic I arrived looking

7:48like a tourist no taxes taught me the

7:52driver said what do you need I can bring

7:54it here girls what age do you need the

7:57girls I mean

8:01it happens in most areas of the

8:03dominican republic where tourists go

8:05including Sosua

8:07canadian beth Belden Sousa runs this

8:10cigar shop right near the strip it's not

8:13right it's definitely not right it's

8:18sick in the daytime it's very quiet once

8:22the Sun Goes Down it gets to be night it

8:25becomes an adult only situation there

8:28should not be any child on the street

8:30and yet we know that there are children

8:33on the street and they're not playing

8:35sometimes you see older men with younger

8:37younger girls and I kind of think how

8:39old is she and what the hell is wrong

8:42with him

8:42Dominican Republic is an hour and a half

8:45away from Miami QuikTrip better than

8:49going to the Philippines they launched

8:53Island

8:54I can come here for the weekend and then

8:57go back home we should we should go

9:00there and see what's happening and we

9:01should go as soon as possible we wanted

9:04to find out just how long it would take

9:06to be approached by a young girl looking

9:09to sell sex we also can walk a little

9:13bit maybe being taped from the battery

9:17along with Jose our crew gathers at a

9:20nearby parking lot to sort out how to

9:22hide our camera but initially we're

9:25gonna be limited to where we can park we

9:28drive through the back streets we've

9:31blacked out the windows so we can

9:32secretly shoot from the van

9:36eventually we pull up right across from

9:38a popular bar

9:40[Music]

9:47Jose and I pose as a couple looking to

9:50buy a girl for sex it doesn't take long

9:58I'm going to talk to them for a minute

9:59and just find out how old they are yeah

10:01sure a girl with a Hello Kitty purse

10:03slung across her body comes up to us

10:13we try to find out her story but how old

10:16is she

10:16why is she on the street who are her

10:19customers Oh choking Oh in the airport

10:22so sue

10:24you know que tiempo de Dennis

10:26allegorical America

10:27she clearly thinks we're asking too many

10:30questions

10:40she realizes we aren't serious buyers

10:42and leaders a few minutes later another

10:45girl comes over she says she's 17 but

10:49she looks much younger she tells us her

10:51name is free nay

10:55forgive us tienes she says that she

10:59cannot say her real age because

11:01sometimes if you say it people get

11:04scared of what you do when she speaks

11:07you can see the braces on her teeth she

11:10has a tattoo on her arm you can take a

11:14picture if you want it's of a girl her

11:17mouth taped shut her body wrapped in

11:19chains free May tells us she's from the

11:22other side of the island Haiti and is

11:24just trying to make money to go to

11:26school police officer just walked by and

11:29clearly she's not the right age and he

11:31doesn't even do anything

11:35Jesus you should not be afraid about the

11:38police I'm gonna tell her she says is

11:42skip she's walking all by herself maybe

11:45the police will approach to her and give

11:49any problem but if she's with the

11:51tourists she has no problems Wow which

11:53is where the tourists nobody's gonna ask

11:55her

11:57those kids don't have anything secure

12:01don't have the three meals they don't

12:02have school they don't have shoes so

12:05they have to look for their way if you

12:06see it that way yeah of course it's the

12:08necessity and if you come with 20 60

12:12$100 it's a lot for a person who doesn't

12:16have anything who doesn't have anything

12:18to drink to it or to drink water clean

12:21water back on the street we decide to

12:24walk deeper into the strip to secretly

12:27video the action outside the bars and

12:29restaurants but when we're caught

12:32potentially putting a crimp on business

12:34all hell breaks loose

12:44[Music]

12:48innocent youth working the sex trade

12:51these people here just want to survive

12:53and those who fight to protect them

12:56you cannot master our kids when w5

12:59continues

13:12the Dominican Republic is one of

13:15Canada's top tourist destinations with

13:18hundreds of thousands flocking to the

13:20sun-soaked beaches every year

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13:25but the dr has a dirty little secret

13:29that's not so little parts of the

13:32caribbean island are havens for foreign

13:35pedophiles it's all about the money and

13:40that's it to survive Canadian Beth

13:43Belden Sousa lives and works in Sosua

13:46one of the so-called sexual exploitation

13:49hot zones do you target the people here

13:53who are just trying to survive or do we

13:57target the educated first world country

14:01men and women who know better these

14:07people here just want to survive a

14:11disturbing UN report exposing child sex

14:14tourism in the Dominican specifically

14:17mentions vulnerable girls who have come

14:19across the poorest border with Haiti

14:23some of them live in villages like this

14:26one right near the airport in Puerto

14:28Plata

14:30this is all Haitian hope to the entirely

14:32Haitian community mostly either Haitian

14:36or Haitian Dominican like they would be

14:38mixed-race our guide is crystal Earl a

14:41Canadian who spends half her time in the

14:44dr working with local communities people

14:48who end here in this situation some of

14:51the people will actually purchase

14:54children being purchased in Haiti and

14:56brought here their parents are promised

14:58that they're gonna be able to go to

14:59school and if you are uneducated and you

15:01hear that magical word school then

15:03you're gonna think wow this is this is

15:05what I want for my child and so they

15:07give up they surrender their child to

15:08whoever is coming along and asking them

15:10for that child smugglers essentially

15:12basically yeah and they're giving about

15:14how much are they giving for a child oh

15:15like nothing well maybe like maybe a few

15:18dollars

15:21instead some of those girls who were

15:23promised an education end up in a

15:26dominican republic and on the streets of

15:27places like Sosua criminal lawyer Jose

15:30Martinez and I are back on this trip as

15:33I secretly record video with my phone

15:35and then out of nowhere

15:52no continues record video but why does

15:56she watch my video my face in your phone

16:08for a solid ten minutes the screaming

16:11continues and the crowd gets larger

16:13police get us to the safety of our band

16:16and out of the area it's 1:30 in the

16:19morning and we just had a really intense

16:21situation as we're walking into sort of

16:23a darkened area two people approached us

16:26the woman comes up and whacks me across

16:28my hand so the phone goes flying punches

16:30me in the stomach before we knew it

16:33there were sort of 10 police officers

16:35around as a crowd getting bigger and

16:37bigger

16:38it felt scary it should later police

16:43tell us we are no longer safe anywhere

16:45near here there has been a credible

16:48threat against us they've been tipped

16:51off about a plot to throw acid in our

16:53faces we decide to leave it's not safe

16:57for us to go back the Dominican Republic

17:00relies on its reputation as a vacation

17:03paradise and the last thing officials

17:05want to do is scare off tourists so we

17:08wanted to find out just how the Ministry

17:10of Tourism is dealing with the fact that

17:12this area has become overrun by sex

17:15tourism Lorenzo Santos Annie is the

17:18director of tourism for the northern

17:20region of the Dominican Republic if this

17:23country and this area specifically

17:25relies so heavily on tourism some are

17:29arguing that the government isn't

17:31committed to cracking down on the sex

17:33tourism because a dollar is a dollar and

17:35it doesn't matter if it's also violating

17:39a child in the process no we are really

17:41clear it's a problem we have to do

17:44something you are doing something that's

17:45absolutely come from the garbin

17:47government and we are working all

17:49together

17:51since a damning UN report in 2017 which

17:55described as a crisis child sex tourism

17:57in the dr the local government has been

18:00working on a cleanup plan trying to find

18:03other jobs for the girls on the streets

18:05and revamping the Sosua strip to lure

18:09back family vacationers we give them one

18:12year to change to take out all the

18:15discotheque all the open bars rebuilding

18:19this strip for families will be a

18:21challenge Sosua is so entwined with a

18:25sex industry they don't even sell

18:27souvenirs advertising the name of the

18:29town in Sosua they don't sell anything

18:33about you can see the name of Sosua

18:36because these guys didn't want to coming

18:39back in their country and let them let

18:43the people know they are what they want

18:44things as well this is an extraordinary

18:47thing to hear a tourism officials say

18:49that they don't sell souvenirs with the

18:52name Sosua on it mr. sua is known as the

18:56place for pedophiles as a part of the

18:57problem also this is this is the

18:59consequence out of this problem it

19:01sounds crazy but we understand like a

19:04cell you know one tourist destination is

19:08surviving with sex tourism as the

19:10Dominican Republic looks to stop the

19:12selling what is Canada doing to put an

19:15end to the buying we went to the RCMP

19:18headquarters in Ottawa to find out it

19:21really surprised us when we went to the

19:23Dominican Republic a place we have never

19:25thought of in the same ways that we may

19:26have Vietnam and Thailand when it comes

19:28to child sex tourism where there's

19:30poverty prostitution unfortunately is

19:34usually tolerated RCMP inspector Robert

19:38Lacroix is head of the National Child

19:40Exploitation Coordination Center W Ken

19:44public just focus on American public it

19:45is definitely a tourist attraction for

19:48Canadian it's close by it's a fairly

19:51cheap

19:53Canada's child sex tourism law has been

19:56on the books for more than two decades

19:58it gives police the power to charge

20:01people who commit crimes in other

20:03countries but the arrest and conviction

20:06rate is shockingly low

20:08how many Canadians have been convicted

20:11since the child sex tourism law was

20:14first brought into effect we there

20:17hasn't been many I think we have about

20:19it doesn't case convicted under or

20:21charged under the section seven point

20:23four point one which is the extra

20:25territory offense I mean that just seems

20:28like a drop in the bucket it is it is

20:33but those twelve are behind bars

20:37in 2016 the law was amended so police

20:41can now share information with Canada

20:44Border Services Agency to monitor the

20:46travel of high-risk offenders but the

20:49RCMP has to gauge just who is high-risk

20:52and there is a huge backlog of 23,000

20:56pedophiles who still haven't been

20:57assessed for their likeliness to RIA

20:59fend off are only 196 Canadians have

21:04been deemed high risk which means

21:06potentially hundreds of pedophiles still

21:09have not been flagged as future threats

21:12it seems very simple to me

21:15if you know that there's a convicted

21:17pedophile in this country and they're

21:19traveling you call the country that

21:21they're going to particularly if it's a

21:22place like the Dominican Republic and

21:24you say hey a pedophile is coming your

21:25way or you don't let them go there are

21:27means there are ways to do this to

21:29advise the country although we have to

21:31have proper you know reason to believe

21:34that they will offend how often is that

21:36happening I would say to happen several

21:40times a month the problem is the sex

21:43offender the known sex offender is only

21:45a certain small percentage of the people

21:47that we don't know about we have people

21:50that travel abroad that never been

21:51arrested or convicted yet so those are

21:54that's another part of the equation

21:57back in the Dominican Republic criminal

22:00lawyer Jose Martinez is more blunt when

22:03talking about foreigners who go to his

22:05country to abuse children what's your

22:08message to Canadian pedophiles who come

22:10here looking to have sex with children

22:12if you come to Dominican Republic to do

22:14that to commit that kind of crimes you

22:17are in danger we're looking for them

22:20we're looking for them

22:21Dominican Republic it's a very

22:26well-known place to take justice in our

22:29hands you cannot mess with our kids well

22:34there's been a hopeful development to

22:35add to Averys reporting that RCMP unit

22:38has just been given a 19 million dollar

22:41cash infusion to fund many more

22:44investigations and hopefully stop more

22:46pedophiles before they leave Canada

22:49here's what straight ahead sharing his

22:53passion allowing us to share his stage

22:57for so many shows his generosity beyond

22:59belief when w5 continues

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