More Fraud Against Mennonite Settlers

Griselda Pastén Cladia Alarcon

Federal Attorney Arrest Related to Fraudulent Land Titles

   Bolivian Treasury official, Griselda Pastén Cladia Alarcon, was taken into custody by Bolivian police today and charged with defrauding Mennonite settlers of up to $800,000 (US). 

    Impacted settlements include the Manitoba settlement and Stones II, both located in San José de Chiquitos.  According to prosecutor, Angel Alvarez, charges include aggravated fraud, material misrepresentation, falsification, forgery and extortion.

    As legal adviser to the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA), Pastén charged the Mennonites $800,000 to consolidate, clear title and transfer 20,000 hectares (about 50,000 acres or 77 square miles) of state owned land.

   In March, the Mennonites hired Alberto Toranzo to represent their claims against Pastén to Bolivian authorities.

    According to the documents forwarded to national lawmakers in the Bolivian House of Representatives, Pastén seems to have charged for illegal and unnecessary fees and forging President Evo Morales’ signature on two land titles.  Included in the documents were bank statements proving the $800,000 transaction.

    In March of this year, Radiofides.com quotes Toranzo, “En el año 2010 la señora Claudia Griselda Pastén trabajando en la Dirección Jurídica del INRA nacional visita la ciudad de Santa Cruz y sonsaca en varias oportunidades a dos colonias menonitas, Manitoba y La Piedras alrededor de 450 mil dólares para saneamiento de sus tierras, tengo en mis manos varios depósitos hechos en la cuenta de la señora Claudia Pastén, en tres cuentas de tres Bancos,”

    Or roughly, “In 2010, Claudia Pastén, an attorney with the Bolivian INRA, visited Santa Cruz and asked the Mennonites of the Manitoba and The Stones colonies for $450,000 in order to clear title to their land.  I have in my hands bank receipts for deposits made into three bank accounts registerd to Ms. Pastén.”

    About 650 Russian Mennonite families are impacted by the fraud.

    I have been unable to determine whether or not any displacement of those Mennonite families has been demanded or has occurred. 

Mennonite in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Image Courtesy Radio Fides

http://www.opinion.com.bo/opinion/articulos/2013/0503/noticias.php?id=93573

http://correodelsur.com/2013/05/03/16.php

http://www.radiofides.com/noticia/seguridad/Una_ex_funcionaria_del_INRA_estafo_450_mil_dolares_a_dos_colonias_de_menonitas

Child Abuse Scandal

en schentlijcht kjint fe'nijchte

Link to:  CBC-TV: Child Abuse Scandal, 14 Charges in Manitoba Mennonite Community

Mennonite Panty Snatcher

Pettipants or Mennonite lingerie

Sondaboa oon fe’dreit

    With the recent change in sentencing of Canadian Mennonite James Duerksen of Rosenort, Manitoba, (25 April) to four years in prison, rural Mennonite teens and women can again visit church in peace, knowing that their bedrooms and their undies will remain safe in the interim. 

    In a Mennonite story straight out of fable, Duerkson, married and father of two, has been convicted of 92 counts of breaking, entering and theft over 21 years and across two Canadian provinces – the object of this criminal activity – Mennonite women’s lingerie.

    In researching this essay, I actually learned that Mennonite women actually have access to a peculiar, old-fashioned form of undergarment called pettipants or Mennonite lingerie (see photo) – a sort of cross between bloomers and a slip.  Though, according to the Winnipeg Free Press, the lingerie in this story tended to be of a more conventional Victoria's Secret style and type.

    Duerkson, however, was not motivated by mere curiosity – according to court documents, Duerksen has been diagnosed with transvestic festishism, which according to the Winnipeg Sun, is a form of transvestitism whereby the sexual interest in cross-dressing, (possible repressed?), results in a significant psychological distress or social impairment (Winnipeg Sun, see below).

Cattle Theft Spotlights Mennonite Nelore Herd

Rintfee

    Mennonites have been known to maintain herds of many types of cattle.  In the USA for instance, every Mennonite family had traditionally maintained a couple of dairy cattle – probably either the Dutch Holsteins or Jerseys – most commonly, probably a mix between the two.  Russian Mennonites on the great plains of Assiniboia most often seemed to favor the Angus breeds grown for beef – Red Angus or Black Angus – still the most commonly noticeable cattle when driving through the Northern Prairie ranch country.  The newest arrival on the scene for Mennonites in Lustre-Volt for instance are not cattle at all but rather traditional North American Bison, which are both highly acclimated and marketed as a healthy beef alternative.

    According to GAMEO, Russian Mennonites had traditionally grown East Friesland Cattle but developed their own breed, the Molotschna Cow or German Red Cow in Ukraine.  (Note that various breeding guides indicate that the Middle German Red is now often referred to as the German Red.)