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Big Day for Jackson Trial; Tijuana Center of Sex Slavery Ring

Aired March 09, 2005 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today could be a big day in the Michael Jackson trial. The boy who's accusing the pop star of molesting him could take the stand once his brother finishes testifying. It remains to be seen whether the accuser's brother can redeem himself after losing some points yesterday. CNN's Miguel Marquez with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Jackson apparently felt better about his molestation trial. He mugged for the camera and got his dad to do the same after his defense launched its cross-examination of his accuser's brother.

JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: The boy has not lost every round in there. I think he's holding his own pretty well.

MARQUEZ: Pretty well against exacting questions about what he witnessed. The boy testified he twice saw Jackson with his left hand down his brother's underpants while he pleasured himself with his right hand. Jackson's lawyer indicated the boy told a much different story in 2003 when he talked to this man, psychologist Stanley Katz (ph).

HAMMER: If the kid gave a detailed statement to Dr. Katz and it's completely different than the version he gave to this jury, then the jury might literally disregard his entire testimony about that.

MARQUEZ: The boy also testified that every time someone enters the hallway into Jackson's bedroom suite at Neverland, an alarm bell rings. He said it sounded both nights he witnessed Jackson molesting his brother but that Jackson probably failed to hear it because the door was closed.

HAMMER: The alarm system is a big potential grounds to really impeach this kid's credibility. This boy has testified in no uncertain terms that this alarm system, or as he called it, a bell, could not be heard in Jackson's bedroom if the door were closed. Well, that's either true or false.

MARQUEZ: The defense did get the boy to admit that he lied under oath when the family was suing J.C. Penney in 2000. The defense contends the accuser's family lies when money is at stake. The defense also surprised the high school freshman when it divulged that the adult magazine he says Jackson showed him and his brother wasn't even being sold yet. The boy quickly claimed Jackson showed them magazines similar to it. As Jackson left for the day, he seemed pleased with where his defense is heading.

MICHAEL JACKSON, ENTERTAINER: I'm feeling fine. I'll see you tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Once again that was our Miguel Marquez reporting from Santa Maria, California.

Well, it was March 7, 1965. An 8-year-old Sheyann Webb was running for her life. She was supposed to be walking in a peaceful protest. When a young black man was killed by white police officers, some 600 people set out to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. But when protesters and police met face-to-face, little Sheyann was about to become Martin Luther King's smallest freedom fighter.

She writes about it in her book "Selma, Lord, Selma." Sheyann Webb joins us live from Montgomery, Alabama, where she once again made that march this week, the 40th anniversary of what we all remember as Bloody Sunday. Cheyenne, great to see you.

SHEYANN WEBB-CHRISTBURG, FORMER FREEDOM FIGHTER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, you talk about Bloody Sunday being the scariest day of your life. Why?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, this was the most traumatic experience of my life. It was when I was eight years old, growing up in Selma, Alabama, when my life was changed and without me even really knowing it. Growing up in the midst of injustices, inequality, racial discrimination, violence and tears over death of a people who were just fighting for their inalienable rights.

And the most traumatic experience that I had as a child was when I took the opportunity or the chance to march on the Bloody Sunday March, even in spite of many threats that had been made about the possibilities of what will happen on this particular day. I was a very disobedient child and I was determined to participate on that march. And I did.

PHILLIPS: Well that determination was -- is just absolutely incredible for an 8-year-old. And I can just imagine what it was like. What do you remember as you were approaching the bridge? What did you see? Did your heart start racing? Did you start to panic at all? Were you talking to yourself and saying, OK, Sheyann, let's go, I'm going to do it?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, obviously, being a child, I couldn't help but to be frightened and afraid and fearful for my life. But being in the midst of those brave and courageous soldiers who I was in the midst of, I was as determined as they were. And I could vividly remember on this day, as I got closer to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, how my heart would beat faster and faster.

And I was midway in the march as a child and when we had approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge on this particular day, March 7, 1965, I could see hundreds of policemen with tear gas masks, hundreds of state troopers with billy clubs on horses. And of course, being a child this even frightened me more.

PHILLIPS: Now, Sheyann, I remember you were saying, as I read about your story, that there you were, running, and you jumped into the arms of Hosea Williams, famous civil rights leader. And what did you say to him?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, as I was running, as so many others, trying to make my way back home, Hosea Williams was running and he was trying to accompany me and my feet were still galloping as he picked me up and I turned to Hosea and said to him put me down, you're not running fast enough. And I continued to run, to make my way home. And I finally did.

PHILLIPS: That's amazing. Well, speaking of being in special individual's arms, what was it like and what do you remember being in the arm of Martin Luther King? I know he picked you up and you said you're my little freedom fighter. What do you remember from this picture, from this moment?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Dr. Martin Luther King impacted my life in a most profound way. I remember most about Dr. Martin Luther King the way in which people received him and the way he received people. His total demeanor sparkled. Dr. King taught me a lot about character, building character because he was a man of great character and intellect.

PHILLIPS: 40 years later, you made that walk again. What was it like this week?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, I had a lot of good memories of the Bloody Sunday march and then, on the other hand, I couldn't help but to reflect back 40 years ago. And that is every time that I go home and approach or pass the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But what I really liked about this particular anniversary, seeing the many young people who traveled across country to commemorate this great anniversary.

PHILLIPS: The book is "Selma, Lord, Selma." Even a movie was made after your book. Sheyann Webb, you're an amazing woman, thanks for sharing your story with us today.

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a cruel and horrible secret south of the border. When LIVE FROM returns, children caught up in the trap of human trafficking. CNN cameras capture these shocking pictures and disturbing stories. We'll share them with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: He was a former ambassador who challenged the White House war logic in 2003, creating a very public battle of words. As part of CNN's anniversary series "Then & Now," we take a look back at Joe Wilson and where he is today. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Former ambassador Joseph Wilson was a frequent TV guest analyst during the build-up to the latest war in Iraq, until he publicly challenged 16 words in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: In an op-ed piece in the "New York Times," Wilson claimed the White House used discredited intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. Shortly after that article appeared, Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was named in a newspaper column as a CIA operative. That public outing cost Plame, pictured here in "Vanity Fair," her career at the agency. Wilson claimed her cover was blown by the White House. Revenge, he said, for speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH WILSON, FMR. AMBASSADOR: Nobody knows the name of the person who put the 16 words in the President's State of the Union address. Everybody knows my name, everybody knows my wife's name.

O'BRIEN: Wilson went on to write a memoir, called "The Politics of Truth," due out in paperback this year. Now he spends much of his time with his four-year-old twins, Trevor and Samantha, and continues to be an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.

WILSON: When I got into this debate, it was not as a Democrat or as a Republican, it was as an American who believed that the most solemn duty a government ever has is that decision to send Americans to kill and to die in the name of our country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Tijuana, Mexico. It's just across the border from San Diego, yet it's worlds apart. It's known as a party city to some, but it's also a hunting ground for people who prey on young children, some of whom are coerced or beaten into the underground world of sex slavery.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez takes us undercover, to some of the children caught up in the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His voice echoes through this neighborhood in Tijuana, Mexico. It is a song without words, only melancholy, haunting sounds from a child who was once bought and sold. Tijuana sits on the U.S.-Mexican border. On the weekend, Americans flock here to party. Just five blocks away is a dark side few outsiders have seen. This is what police call the tolerant zone. It is a maze of dark alleys lined with small bars and young prostitutes. In this zone, prostitution is legal, but sex workers must be at least 18. Many don't look a day over 15 and some may be even younger than that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I don't like it, but what can I do? I started this a year ago when I was 17.

GUTIERREZ: It's hard to know just how old this teenage prostitute really is, because they all say they're at least 18. We can't show you her face, because she'd be in danger from the men who control this zone and who enforce strict discipline on the young prostitutes who work for them.

The teenager says she was lured to the border from another state in Mexico and that she's doing this to earn money to send to her family. Trafficking experts say young women like her would be even more profitable commodities in the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've had guys ask me to go with them. I would like to leave here if I could. Some people have even tried to take me to the United States.

GUTIERREZ: This is how international traffickers lure young women into the underground world of sex slavery, where they might disappear forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People will be promised different jobs or different opportunities to come here to the United States or they will actually be literally kidnapped and forced to come over here.

GUTIERREZ: Federal authorities say Mexico is predominantly a source country, where human beings are found, bought and sold by traffickers. According to CIA estimates, nearly 18,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year. A third are from Latin America. And no one knows how many are minors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They range from ages 14 to 18, and maybe younger. They got a lot of makeup on. They're being surveilled by their pimps.

GUTIERREZ: Marisa Bava (ph) is a human rights activist who works with other groups to protect the most vulnerable, street children who work in the sex trade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have no place to go. So, they roam the streets. They do survival sex. They do other things that you don't want to mention, because they don't do them because they're bad, but because it's a need.

GUTIERREZ: The main thing children need is a place where they can feel safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a sleeping area. We have three sleeping area.

GUTIERREZ: We were granted rare access to this government-run shelter in Tijuana, where sexually exploited boys are counseled, educated and given a second chance at childhood.

Jorge Bedoya is the director.

JORGE BEDOYA, SHELTER DIRECTOR: We are the -- most of the time full, because we have the problem of the street children and...

GUTIERREZ: It was here at this shelter, where I first met the boy with the voice, who sings songs that only have meaning to him. We'll call him Tomas.

TOMAS (through translator): When I sing, I forget everything, all the hurts, the rejection and the abuse. I express my feelings by singing.

GUTIERREZ: Tomas also expresses his feelings by writing. He showed me his journal. Inside is the tragic story of a mother who did not want him and the life of abuse that led him to the streets when he was only 11.

TOMAS (through translator): My mother and stepfather threw me out of the house. I was crying on the street, and a man came and took me home.

GUTIERREZ: Tomas ran away from a series of child molesters, until one day, he says, he met a women with whom he thought he'd be safe.

TOMAS (through translator): The woman took me home with her and fed me. Within a week, I learned it was brothel. I had nowhere to go, so I stayed there. The woman gave me things. In exchange, I had to prostitute myself.

GUTIERREZ: Tomas says he was forced to wear makeup and dress as a girl for clients, some of whom were American men. He says he lived this twisted existence for four years as a child prostitute, until he learned he was about to be trafficked.

TOMAS (through translator): I found out they wanted to sell me to the person. He offered to buy me, but I said no.

GUTIERREZ: This time when he ran away, he managed to find his way to Jorge's shelter.

Sister Dora (ph) says there's no shortage of exploited children in her shelter either. She bought it and runs it with money she made in California real estate.

This was a socialite who once owned beachfront property in San Diego and 120 pairs of designer shoes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And here, we're going to show you the bedrooms. GUTIERREZ: A far cry from how she lives now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In here we have three beds, sort of crammed together, as you can see.

GUTIERREZ: She has space for six kids, but 16 live here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually are hoping and started praying for a center that would house as many as 80 to 100 children.

GUTIERREZ: Sister Dora (ph) says it was a calling from above that compelled her to dedicate her life to the children.

With her own money, she pays tuition, so that each one can go to school. For many here, it's the first time in a classroom.

She says every boy and girl here has a story of heartache and stolen innocence, stories she's heard for 10 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I cannot fathom or even understand how any man, whether it's your child or your present wife or what, that you would violate her. I cannot understand that. And it just breaks me up terribly. How, how horrible. How unjust. And what it does to their lives. They're just absolutely in shambles, and this is why we have so many that do attend, going to prostitution for that reason. They say, well, I'm not worth anything.

GUTIERREZ: In the tolerance zone, child prostitutes learn the tragic lesson, that the value of their lives is ultimately measured in the desires and wallets of strangers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: News around the world for you now, tragedy in the Philippines: 29 elementary schoolchildren dead, 35 others critical condition after eating fried cassava balls during school recess. Cassava is a root that can be poisonous if it isn't cooked thoroughly. The vendor who sold the balls insisted nothing was wrong and ate a few to prove a point. She is now in critical condition.

Kosovo's former prime minister has surrendered to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Ramush Haradinaj (ph) was indicted yesterday for alleged atrocities committed against Serbs during the 1990's conflict in Kosovo. Haradinaj was a rebel commander during the uprising against Serbian rule, and is considered a hero by many Albanians in Kosovo.

A powerful cyclone barrels towards parts down under. Cyclone Ingrid packing wind up to 175 miles an hour, nearly northeastern Australia as we speak. The region is remotely and -- populated, sparsely populated. But because of the storm's strength, forecasters warn it could be particularly deadly if it hits a town head on.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) PHILLIPS: Coming up in the next hour of live from, President Bush pushes his energy plan in Ohio, and he will address the nation's rising gas prices. We're going to have live coverage.

What else, Miles?

O'BRIEN: New findings when it comes to secondhand smoke. Could it actually cause breast dancer? Don't go away. LIVE FROM's hour of power is on deck.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 9, 2005 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today could be a big day in the Michael Jackson trial. The boy who's accusing the pop star of molesting him could take the stand once his brother finishes testifying. It remains to be seen whether the accuser's brother can redeem himself after losing some points yesterday. CNN's Miguel Marquez with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Jackson apparently felt better about his molestation trial. He mugged for the camera and got his dad to do the same after his defense launched its cross-examination of his accuser's brother.

JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: The boy has not lost every round in there. I think he's holding his own pretty well.

MARQUEZ: Pretty well against exacting questions about what he witnessed. The boy testified he twice saw Jackson with his left hand down his brother's underpants while he pleasured himself with his right hand. Jackson's lawyer indicated the boy told a much different story in 2003 when he talked to this man, psychologist Stanley Katz (ph).

HAMMER: If the kid gave a detailed statement to Dr. Katz and it's completely different than the version he gave to this jury, then the jury might literally disregard his entire testimony about that.

MARQUEZ: The boy also testified that every time someone enters the hallway into Jackson's bedroom suite at Neverland, an alarm bell rings. He said it sounded both nights he witnessed Jackson molesting his brother but that Jackson probably failed to hear it because the door was closed.

HAMMER: The alarm system is a big potential grounds to really impeach this kid's credibility. This boy has testified in no uncertain terms that this alarm system, or as he called it, a bell, could not be heard in Jackson's bedroom if the door were closed. Well, that's either true or false.

MARQUEZ: The defense did get the boy to admit that he lied under oath when the family was suing J.C. Penney in 2000. The defense contends the accuser's family lies when money is at stake. The defense also surprised the high school freshman when it divulged that the adult magazine he says Jackson showed him and his brother wasn't even being sold yet. The boy quickly claimed Jackson showed them magazines similar to it. As Jackson left for the day, he seemed pleased with where his defense is heading.

MICHAEL JACKSON, ENTERTAINER: I'm feeling fine. I'll see you tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Once again that was our Miguel Marquez reporting from Santa Maria, California.

Well, it was March 7, 1965. An 8-year-old Sheyann Webb was running for her life. She was supposed to be walking in a peaceful protest. When a young black man was killed by white police officers, some 600 people set out to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. But when protesters and police met face-to-face, little Sheyann was about to become Martin Luther King's smallest freedom fighter.

She writes about it in her book "Selma, Lord, Selma." Sheyann Webb joins us live from Montgomery, Alabama, where she once again made that march this week, the 40th anniversary of what we all remember as Bloody Sunday. Cheyenne, great to see you.

SHEYANN WEBB-CHRISTBURG, FORMER FREEDOM FIGHTER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, you talk about Bloody Sunday being the scariest day of your life. Why?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, this was the most traumatic experience of my life. It was when I was eight years old, growing up in Selma, Alabama, when my life was changed and without me even really knowing it. Growing up in the midst of injustices, inequality, racial discrimination, violence and tears over death of a people who were just fighting for their inalienable rights.

And the most traumatic experience that I had as a child was when I took the opportunity or the chance to march on the Bloody Sunday March, even in spite of many threats that had been made about the possibilities of what will happen on this particular day. I was a very disobedient child and I was determined to participate on that march. And I did.

PHILLIPS: Well that determination was -- is just absolutely incredible for an 8-year-old. And I can just imagine what it was like. What do you remember as you were approaching the bridge? What did you see? Did your heart start racing? Did you start to panic at all? Were you talking to yourself and saying, OK, Sheyann, let's go, I'm going to do it?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, obviously, being a child, I couldn't help but to be frightened and afraid and fearful for my life. But being in the midst of those brave and courageous soldiers who I was in the midst of, I was as determined as they were. And I could vividly remember on this day, as I got closer to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, how my heart would beat faster and faster.

And I was midway in the march as a child and when we had approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge on this particular day, March 7, 1965, I could see hundreds of policemen with tear gas masks, hundreds of state troopers with billy clubs on horses. And of course, being a child this even frightened me more.

PHILLIPS: Now, Sheyann, I remember you were saying, as I read about your story, that there you were, running, and you jumped into the arms of Hosea Williams, famous civil rights leader. And what did you say to him?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, as I was running, as so many others, trying to make my way back home, Hosea Williams was running and he was trying to accompany me and my feet were still galloping as he picked me up and I turned to Hosea and said to him put me down, you're not running fast enough. And I continued to run, to make my way home. And I finally did.

PHILLIPS: That's amazing. Well, speaking of being in special individual's arms, what was it like and what do you remember being in the arm of Martin Luther King? I know he picked you up and you said you're my little freedom fighter. What do you remember from this picture, from this moment?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Dr. Martin Luther King impacted my life in a most profound way. I remember most about Dr. Martin Luther King the way in which people received him and the way he received people. His total demeanor sparkled. Dr. King taught me a lot about character, building character because he was a man of great character and intellect.

PHILLIPS: 40 years later, you made that walk again. What was it like this week?

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Well, I had a lot of good memories of the Bloody Sunday march and then, on the other hand, I couldn't help but to reflect back 40 years ago. And that is every time that I go home and approach or pass the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But what I really liked about this particular anniversary, seeing the many young people who traveled across country to commemorate this great anniversary.

PHILLIPS: The book is "Selma, Lord, Selma." Even a movie was made after your book. Sheyann Webb, you're an amazing woman, thanks for sharing your story with us today.

WEBB-CHRISTBURG: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a cruel and horrible secret south of the border. When LIVE FROM returns, children caught up in the trap of human trafficking. CNN cameras capture these shocking pictures and disturbing stories. We'll share them with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: He was a former ambassador who challenged the White House war logic in 2003, creating a very public battle of words. As part of CNN's anniversary series "Then & Now," we take a look back at Joe Wilson and where he is today. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Former ambassador Joseph Wilson was a frequent TV guest analyst during the build-up to the latest war in Iraq, until he publicly challenged 16 words in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: In an op-ed piece in the "New York Times," Wilson claimed the White House used discredited intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. Shortly after that article appeared, Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was named in a newspaper column as a CIA operative. That public outing cost Plame, pictured here in "Vanity Fair," her career at the agency. Wilson claimed her cover was blown by the White House. Revenge, he said, for speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH WILSON, FMR. AMBASSADOR: Nobody knows the name of the person who put the 16 words in the President's State of the Union address. Everybody knows my name, everybody knows my wife's name.

O'BRIEN: Wilson went on to write a memoir, called "The Politics of Truth," due out in paperback this year. Now he spends much of his time with his four-year-old twins, Trevor and Samantha, and continues to be an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.

WILSON: When I got into this debate, it was not as a Democrat or as a Republican, it was as an American who believed that the most solemn duty a government ever has is that decision to send Americans to kill and to die in the name of our country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Tijuana, Mexico. It's just across the border from San Diego, yet it's worlds apart. It's known as a party city to some, but it's also a hunting ground for people who prey on young children, some of whom are coerced or beaten into the underground world of sex slavery.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez takes us undercover, to some of the children caught up in the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His voice echoes through this neighborhood in Tijuana, Mexico. It is a song without words, only melancholy, haunting sounds from a child who was once bought and sold. Tijuana sits on the U.S.-Mexican border. On the weekend, Americans flock here to party. Just five blocks away is a dark side few outsiders have seen. This is what police call the tolerant zone. It is a maze of dark alleys lined with small bars and young prostitutes. In this zone, prostitution is legal, but sex workers must be at least 18. Many don't look a day over 15 and some may be even younger than that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I don't like it, but what can I do? I started this a year ago when I was 17.

GUTIERREZ: It's hard to know just how old this teenage prostitute really is, because they all say they're at least 18. We can't show you her face, because she'd be in danger from the men who control this zone and who enforce strict discipline on the young prostitutes who work for them.

The teenager says she was lured to the border from another state in Mexico and that she's doing this to earn money to send to her family. Trafficking experts say young women like her would be even more profitable commodities in the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've had guys ask me to go with them. I would like to leave here if I could. Some people have even tried to take me to the United States.

GUTIERREZ: This is how international traffickers lure young women into the underground world of sex slavery, where they might disappear forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People will be promised different jobs or different opportunities to come here to the United States or they will actually be literally kidnapped and forced to come over here.

GUTIERREZ: Federal authorities say Mexico is predominantly a source country, where human beings are found, bought and sold by traffickers. According to CIA estimates, nearly 18,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year. A third are from Latin America. And no one knows how many are minors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They range from ages 14 to 18, and maybe younger. They got a lot of makeup on. They're being surveilled by their pimps.

GUTIERREZ: Marisa Bava (ph) is a human rights activist who works with other groups to protect the most vulnerable, street children who work in the sex trade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have no place to go. So, they roam the streets. They do survival sex. They do other things that you don't want to mention, because they don't do them because they're bad, but because it's a need.

GUTIERREZ: The main thing children need is a place where they can feel safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a sleeping area. We have three sleeping area.

GUTIERREZ: We were granted rare access to this government-run shelter in Tijuana, where sexually exploited boys are counseled, educated and given a second chance at childhood.

Jorge Bedoya is the director.

JORGE BEDOYA, SHELTER DIRECTOR: We are the -- most of the time full, because we have the problem of the street children and...

GUTIERREZ: It was here at this shelter, where I first met the boy with the voice, who sings songs that only have meaning to him. We'll call him Tomas.

TOMAS (through translator): When I sing, I forget everything, all the hurts, the rejection and the abuse. I express my feelings by singing.

GUTIERREZ: Tomas also expresses his feelings by writing. He showed me his journal. Inside is the tragic story of a mother who did not want him and the life of abuse that led him to the streets when he was only 11.

TOMAS (through translator): My mother and stepfather threw me out of the house. I was crying on the street, and a man came and took me home.

GUTIERREZ: Tomas ran away from a series of child molesters, until one day, he says, he met a women with whom he thought he'd be safe.

TOMAS (through translator): The woman took me home with her and fed me. Within a week, I learned it was brothel. I had nowhere to go, so I stayed there. The woman gave me things. In exchange, I had to prostitute myself.

GUTIERREZ: Tomas says he was forced to wear makeup and dress as a girl for clients, some of whom were American men. He says he lived this twisted existence for four years as a child prostitute, until he learned he was about to be trafficked.

TOMAS (through translator): I found out they wanted to sell me to the person. He offered to buy me, but I said no.

GUTIERREZ: This time when he ran away, he managed to find his way to Jorge's shelter.

Sister Dora (ph) says there's no shortage of exploited children in her shelter either. She bought it and runs it with money she made in California real estate.

This was a socialite who once owned beachfront property in San Diego and 120 pairs of designer shoes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And here, we're going to show you the bedrooms. GUTIERREZ: A far cry from how she lives now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In here we have three beds, sort of crammed together, as you can see.

GUTIERREZ: She has space for six kids, but 16 live here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually are hoping and started praying for a center that would house as many as 80 to 100 children.

GUTIERREZ: Sister Dora (ph) says it was a calling from above that compelled her to dedicate her life to the children.

With her own money, she pays tuition, so that each one can go to school. For many here, it's the first time in a classroom.

She says every boy and girl here has a story of heartache and stolen innocence, stories she's heard for 10 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I cannot fathom or even understand how any man, whether it's your child or your present wife or what, that you would violate her. I cannot understand that. And it just breaks me up terribly. How, how horrible. How unjust. And what it does to their lives. They're just absolutely in shambles, and this is why we have so many that do attend, going to prostitution for that reason. They say, well, I'm not worth anything.

GUTIERREZ: In the tolerance zone, child prostitutes learn the tragic lesson, that the value of their lives is ultimately measured in the desires and wallets of strangers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: News around the world for you now, tragedy in the Philippines: 29 elementary schoolchildren dead, 35 others critical condition after eating fried cassava balls during school recess. Cassava is a root that can be poisonous if it isn't cooked thoroughly. The vendor who sold the balls insisted nothing was wrong and ate a few to prove a point. She is now in critical condition.

Kosovo's former prime minister has surrendered to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Ramush Haradinaj (ph) was indicted yesterday for alleged atrocities committed against Serbs during the 1990's conflict in Kosovo. Haradinaj was a rebel commander during the uprising against Serbian rule, and is considered a hero by many Albanians in Kosovo.

A powerful cyclone barrels towards parts down under. Cyclone Ingrid packing wind up to 175 miles an hour, nearly northeastern Australia as we speak. The region is remotely and -- populated, sparsely populated. But because of the storm's strength, forecasters warn it could be particularly deadly if it hits a town head on.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) PHILLIPS: Coming up in the next hour of live from, President Bush pushes his energy plan in Ohio, and he will address the nation's rising gas prices. We're going to have live coverage.

What else, Miles?

O'BRIEN: New findings when it comes to secondhand smoke. Could it actually cause breast dancer? Don't go away. LIVE FROM's hour of power is on deck.

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