Doromal's frustration shows when she speaks of the politics that have held back reform in the C.N.M.I., in particular the crafty lobbying of Preston Gates. It's a systemic rot. Kaplan worked for the Catholic Church in the C.N.M.I. for two and a half years. He figures he worked with about 1,200 guest workers in all during his time there, and the vast majority of them left the islands worse off than they arrived, having been victimized and abused. Kaplan doesn't deny that some workers do benefit financially from their stay on the islands, assuming they don't get ripped off or become uppity and get deported.
Rape has nothing to do with sex.
It's all about power. Kaplan points out that the Chamorro people, who are indigenous to the C.N.M.I., were colonized for many years, lorded over by a variety of outsiders. Given the opportunity and the perfect economic system to turn the tables and ascend from the role of slave to master, they have done the predictable. They have this feeling of omnipotence, like they can't be touched. They have embraced a system that breeds cynicism and degeneracy.