Is the Dominican Republic hotel Laura Silsby "leased" as bad as it sounds?
We have read about Laura Silsby and others trafficking 33 children in Haiti toward the Dominican Republic in 2010 where she had "rented" a hotel for an anticipated 100 "orphans."
What hotel would put up with this scheme?
The Costa Liza Hotel, in Cabarete, Puerto Plata, which was/is owned by the Catholic Diocese of the Dominican Republic. It has gone by a few names:
- Costa Liza Beach Resort
- The Education and Training Center in Cabarete
- Centro de Capacitación in Cabarete
- Fundación Innovación
- Innovation Foundation
A priest is quoted in the "Holly Tree" article below that it was a 3-star hotel converted in 2006 to a "retreat" for "DR church staff" and at the same time a school for tech/training and language classes for economically disadvantaged youth, both run by the "Innovation Foundation."
But was it actually a public hotel with children on-site? Other links make the Costa Liza Hotel look like a child sex trafficking brothel.
At the bottom of the article there is a link to a 2008 forum post about language lessons for tourists at the "old" hotel. The link to the lessons is dead. It's strange as it includes the words "Fundacion Innovacion hotel room," if it was supposedly a retreat for church staff: Screen capture
So I put www.cabarete-cabarete.org into the Wayback Machine and got this startling website, seeming to contradict the quote by the priest:
In 2006 there was a picture of a volunteer with children in front of a bed, with a request for volunteers at this vocational training school for local youth:
In 2009 they advertized as a public hotel and school:
"Fundación Innovación is a non profit running a tourism school [for local youth] in Cabarete...With Fundación Innovación, you can: Stay in one of our 44 rooms..."
The article also notes Laura Silsby owns property in "the hamlet of Yagua Magante section of the town of Gaspar Hernandez, Espaillat province."
The UK's Sunday Times reported Silsby may even have purchased the Cabarete hotel, despite her severe financial problems:
Silsby had visited the Dominican Republic and Haiti in December and appeared to have chosen a former hotel in the northern Dominican resort of Cabarete as a possible refuge for Haitian children.
It is not yet clear whether she succeeded in buying the property, but she allegedly told Haitian police that was where she was taking the children. Her father, John Sander, has told reporters that the project was "just in the making".
Did the Sunday Times have poor information? I wonder.
Who is behind the Innovation Foundation?
I don't know. This Innovacion Foundacion tab indicates funding by "Cap Amitie" in Switzerland, link:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070701224213/http://www.cap-amitie.org/
I searched for Fundacion Innovacion Cabarete, and while I do not know if this is located at the "old hotel," the first result was a Cabarete partner of Friends of the Orphans, a.k.a. Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, a.k.a. Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs, the Haiti orphanage that gave Silsby 33 children:
The DREAM Project
DREAM partners include but are not limited to RC22 Foundation, Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, Hogar del Niño, Peace Corps Dominican Republic and JetBlue.
Cabarete is known for sex trafficking
Cabarete, known for partying, water sports, and prostitution, was listed second for sex tourism in a State Department human rights report in 2010:
"Coastal towns" are noted to be child sex trafficking locations in the DR, in a 2010 SD trafficking report:
From 2008-2013, the DR's highest Catholic leader was a major CSA perpetrator in the tiny country
The Vatican's Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 2008 - 2013, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, preyed on many children there. One of his child providers got caught, deacon Francisco Javier Occi Reyes. This just adds to the shadiness of the Silsby crimes, as the DR church leadership would have been fine with anything.
The NYTimes article below also mentions DR priest Rev. Wojciech Gil abused children there in recent years.
The articles are almost unreadable:
Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was caught with 100,000 files of CSA images including videos, evidence of 45,000 deleted images, and evidence of accomplices. He dropped dead in the Vatican at only 67, prior to any criminal trials.
'Police Involved in 90% of Dominican Republic Organized Crime Cases'
The article does not mention child sex trafficking, but we can assume the police are involved:
Suspicious Cabarete disappearance:
The family of American tennis pro and surfer Darryl Fornatora, who disappeared during a vacation to Cabarete in 2016, say evidence suggests corruption and a cover-up, possibly by local authorities:
By the way, I came across a "Dominican Republic tourist body count" which is pretty telling about the role of police on the island:
I'll just leave this here. This needs digging. I have a bad feeling about both Silsby-related properties, whether rented or purchased.
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10012532? ago
Speaking Of The Dominican Republic...
Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski:
Charged in 2014.
The former Vatican Ambassador to
The Dominican Republic charged with:
Sexual abuse of minors.
And possession of child pornography
on his computer.
Somehow he ended up dying
in his sleep shortly
before the trial was to begin in 2015.
Cause of death per wikipedia page:
'likely natural causes.'
10014336? ago
Yes, huge, so tragic! I did include the Wesolowski case in the thread. It's very significant. The thread is long so since you didn't see that part, I edited it to add some spaces and lines so the info is easier to see for everyone. If I didn't write this, it would be hard for me not to miss something if I read it.