BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Another embarrassing incident surfaced involving U.S. personnel and prostitution in Latin America yesterday, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that Marines had been punished after allegedly injuring a prostitute in Brazil in December.
Panetta told reporters during a visit to Brasilia that the incident was fully investigated and the military personnel involved had been “severely punished,” demoted and withdrawn from Brazil.
The incident follows a separate scandal earlier this month that saw Secret Service members implicated in a night of partying with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, shortly before President Barack Obama arrived for a summit there.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident in Brazil involved three Marine security guards assigned to the U.S. embassy in Brasilia and one embassy staffer.
O Globo, Brazil’s biggest TV network, broadcast an interview with a woman who identified herself as the victim. She said the incident began when she, a few other women and a group of Americans were leaving a Brasilia nightclub, and then she began to argue with the men’s driver.
She said that one of the Americans pushed her out of the car. She said she tried to hold onto the door, but then fell, hit her head on the ground and passed out.
“I felt my leg burning,” the woman said. “I couldn’t take it, I let go and I fell underneath the van. I hit my head and I passed out,” she said.
