by Ana Nogales, Ph.D.
From the Magazine Para Todos.

"I missed my sister. She came to the United States with the idea of working and helping the family. I´ve always admired her for her decision and I opted for doing the same thing. When I saw the man that offered her a job, I also I asked him for one. Back then, I was 13 years old and I was very frightened, but I wanted to follow my sister’s steps. It was not easy for me to move abroad, because I didn’t want to distance myself from my mother, but I had already made the decision. They facilitated everything for me. When I arrived at this side of the border, the man that I believed to be my savior raped me and told me that, from now on, this was how my life was going to be. I worked as a masseuse, but behind the room where the massages took place was a private room where I would have to comply with clients’ desires. The prettiest girls could choose their clients, but the uglier ones, like me, had to accept every client. I had to stay working in order to pay my transportation debts from Mexico. But the debt rose each day".

This testimony is not from a movie, it is a real case. If you believed that slavery ended at the end of the 19th century, you were wrong. Today, there are more slaves than ever before. Approximately 27 million people were victims of slavery in 2007. Nearly 900,000 people, per year, are involved in human trafficking worldwide. The majority are women and children, a third of which are under age. Approximately 50,000 people, per year, enter the United States to carry out forced jobs or to become sexual slaves. Of that amount, 10,000 come from Latin America.

Sexual slavery is at its peak of popularity and, along with the illegal commerce of weapons, is the second largest criminal industry in the world (drug trafficking is the first), producing approximately 7 billion dollars annually. It has developed into an organized crime and, with victims trafficked around the world, has become an international business with no limits. It is intimately linked with document fraud, money laundering, and drug and contraband commerce.

Latin-American countries offer less control, resulting in a more conducive environment in which to commit crimes. Approximately 40 million children are prostituted in Latin America. Many of them are children from the streets who have been abandoned or sold by their parents, or children attempting to escape the violence and sexual abuse in their home. Many enter prostitution so they can pay for a place to spend the night, eat, buy clothes, or consume drugs. Latin America is an easy target for human trafficking due to its poverty. Impoverished people become tempted and accept the offer of visas and job opportunities, with positions such as dancers, domestic servants, factory workers, and restaurant employees or masseuses where they earn tips.

Mexico and Guatemala play an important role in this type of organized crime. They provide and receive victims, especially from Central America, to be kept and distributed to other countries. With locations bordering the United States and tourist zones such as Cancun or Acapulco, many children are retained in Mexico. Brazil (chiefly in the northern part of the country) is the second greatest supplier of women for prostitution in Europe. Other countries, such as the Dominican Republic, where the women are sold to Spain, Italy and Austria, also provide women for prostitution. Colombian women are also sent to Europe, as well as Hong Kong. Argentina has offered sexual tourism in regions such as Bariloche. Argentina has received approximately 4,500 women from the Dominican Republic (in a two to three year period), and hundreds of women from Paraguay. While brothels were prohibited in Argentina in 1936, corruption within the government ignored their secret existence. Costa Rica, with a high amount of American tourism, has approximately 5,000 children in the market of prostitution.

Statistically, the United States is not far behind. Between 100,000 and 400,000 children are sexually exploited. Of the 450,000 children that run away from home, one in three will end up being prostituted within 48 hours, with the average age being 12 years old. Many people ask how it’s possible that these women are deceived so easily. Dealers seduce them with appealing words that make them believe life will be much easier once they arrive at their destination. Subsequently, victims grant consent without knowing what the reality is. They arrive, willing to work to escape their misery, never thinking they will become sexual slaves.

The majority, in their desperation, respond to a job offered in the newspaper, or on the radio or internet, that promises good jobs opportunities in the United States or Europe. They arrive, hoping to work in a luxurious restaurant where they will earn tips. Candidates calculate what they believe their debts to be according to data provided by the dealers, which includes obtaining their visas, trip expenses, and general needs. Victims are deceived and made to believe false promises while the dealers build relationships with the victims’ families.

Some victims arrive, hoping to find a boyfriend or girlfriend who they met on the internet, in a magazine, newspaper or catalogue, or who was introduced to them by an acquaintance that lives in the destination country. However, once they arrive, they discover that neither their promised job nor their love exists. They are sold and robbed of their own identity. They are forced to work in brothels to pay the fictitious debts they have contracted. Unfortunately, those debts continue rising due to fines and interests that accumulate and are never paid off.
Dealers conscript victims, who are often transferred to others who will also exploit them. Victims are threatened with violence and forced to consume drugs. Sometimes they are deceived through fraud, intimidation, and an abuse of power. In some occasions, victims are used as payment, such as when women or children are delivered to pay a debt. The majority of victims are under age and do not have authorization to leave the brothel. They are forced to work 15 or more hours a day, where they are visited by between 10 to 34 men who do not use protection, exposing the victims to sexually transmitted diseases risking pregnancy, which usually results in forced abortions.

Many of these women or children, while under the influence of drugs, are transferred under a strict guard from one brothel to another every 15 days, assuring their continued slavery. At times, they do not even know what city they are in.

Fearful because they are in this country illegally, the lives of both them and their families are threatened. They are afraid of the local authorities because they think they are going to be accused of illegal prostitution. Leaving their situation is nearly impossible. Many are ashamed of their prostitution, which they hold themselves responsible for. They are afraid of local authorities because they think that they will accuse them of the illegal act of prostitution, and they do not know who to turn to. After sometime, they become emotionally dependent on their operators, who promise them love, protection, money and security. By then, their self-esteem destroyed and they live each day robbed of their soul and dignity. They feel that there is nothing left for them and they have nothing to fight for.

Over the last few years, the United States Government of has created significant legislative advances upon differentiating prostitution from human trafficking, which allows dealers to be sentenced instead of imprisoning victims as prostitutes. In Nevada, 181 cases of under age prostitution have been processed, due to their being recognized as victims of human trafficking. They were offered services for their recovery. Many Latin America countries are in the same process, but must deal with the interference of corruption.

If you suspect or know someone who is being subjected to this living hell, inform them that authorities can protect them. Victims can receive a year’s worth of benefits, such as shelter, food and clothing, economic aid, training in job-seeking, health, psychological, and legal care, and the possibility that they may qualify for the T visa of immigration. In addition, within a couple of years they would be able to bring their children and families over with the T3 visa. Listed below is the number to call. It is not a police line, but rather a number that will directly connect the caller to agents specialized in human trafficking.