GLOBAL SEX TRAFFICKING:
PART IV – LATIN AMERICA
By Trevor K. McNeil
The Big Picture
Drugs and sex trafficking provide billions to crime gangs
Drugs and sex trafficking of children add up to big money for gangs & cartels in Latin America. While not as prevalent as in other parts of the world, more of the focus being on the drug trade, Latin America is dealing with its own growing sex trafficking issues. Particularly of young children. Corrupt governments throughout the region have moved at centipede speed in reaction to the crisis.
Comings and Goings
Much of the sex trafficking trade relies on the immigration system. Organized crime groups such as Coyotes and street-level groups like MS-13 work with sex traffickers, to exploit the flow of migrates as cover. This makes it easier to get sex trafficking victims across borders without being detected. Victims are moved to large cities and tourist spots that have brothels, sex tourism bars, strip clubs and pornography centers where traffickers require victims to take part in prostitution and sexual slavery.
Stats
South America is one of the biggest sources and destination locations for human traffickers. About twenty percent of sex trafficking victims are children. Shipped out of their native country and abused by criminals in the United States, Spain, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands.
For Sale
According to Sociologist Richard Paulin who has studied the issue in-depth, sex trafficking is a major part of the black market economy of the region. Many of the same cartels and syndicates that have traditionally run the drug trade have expanded into sex trafficking. With much the same ruthless approach. There is no discrimination in terms of victims. Sex traffickers target any female they think will “sell.” Including adolescents, toddlers and pregnant women.
Raw Resources
At a conservative estimate between 1 and 5 million women and girls are swept up in sex trafficking every year. Primarily for the commercial sex trade. Most are treated worse than animals. According to Paulin: “They are being treated as merchandise for the sex industry. They are raw resources”.
The Risks are High
The murder rate by Latin American traffickers against sex trafficking victims is similar to that of Serbia and Russia. Trafficking victims are at constant risk. Physical abuse, malnutrition and exhaustion being constant realities. Victims are at constant risk of being killed by the traffickers. Violence sparked by anything reducing the victim’s “value” to potential buyers. Victims are also killed when they are thought to have outlived their usefulness.
Percentages
Most sex trafficking victims are from El Salvador and Nicaragua. Seventy-nine percent of those transported north to the United States and Mexico are from El Salvador. The majority of traffickers on the southern end are Guatemalan and Mexican, usually with contacts in the destination countries who do the actual selling. There is also a major problem within Guatemala. Thirty-six percent of sex trafficking victims are El Salvadoran. Thirty-three percent are from Nicaragua. The majority of traffickers in the region are Guatemalan and Mexican. The main destination country in Central America is Costa Rica, having one of the highest rates of affluence in the region.
On the Road
Violence and abuse are the tools of sex traffickers
Sex traffickers rape victims while in transit, frequently by multiple assailants. Mostly to break the victim’s spirit and let them know the traffickers now own them. This works particularly well on younger girls who tend to be more psychologically vulnerable. Traffickers intention in the case of children and virgins is to “break them in”. Suffering horrific physical damage, including but not limited to severe vaginal tearing, some of these young victims literally die from their injuries.
Do Cry For Me
Despite being one of the most politically stable and economically sound nations in South America, Argentina has a major problem with sex trafficking. Children are again a primary target. The majority of trafficked children in Argentina are originally from El Salvador. Argentine economics play a role because of the relative economic prosperity of the nation. This is because, to put it bluntly, they can afford it. There are a lot of really bad people with an awful lot of money. For those who can afford it, it is easier to buy an under aged sex slave on the black market than to find a legal, willing, adult sex partner.
Hypocrisy
In a sick irony too twisted to make up, the Argentine government is signatory to many international conventions and agreements on child protection. These include The International Convention on the Rights of the Child and a lesser known but no less important protocol known as the Optional Protocol On the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. All of which are major components of sex trafficking.
Growth Industry
Not only do the financial elites rape children, Argentina is a prime destination for international sexual predators. Argentina lures sexual predators from all over the world. The sexual predators who end up in these Latin American countries are there to fulfill their sick fantasies of having sex with a child, without getting arrested and exposed as monsters. Seeing the massive amounts of money this can bring in, the sex trafficking industry has gone international. Human traffickers steal or buy children who then they sell to the rich and perverted of the world with no end in sight. The message to the perverts, if you can’t do it at home, please travel abroad where you can do it without restriction.
Where to Start
The problem is big but the solutions are fairly clear. The driving force of sex trafficking in Latin America, as in many places in the world, is poverty and demand. Governments must create and enforce stronger anti-trafficking laws, address the corruption in governments, and end the poverty that surrounds the industry and it will make a large dent in sex trafficking. As far as what America can do specifically, better application of the laws we have mandating care for human trafficking victims discovered in this country and not further traumatizing the victims would be a good place to start.
Sources:
https://www.unodc.org/documents/toc/Reports/TOCTASouthAmerica/English/TOCTA_C
Acaribb_trafficking_womengirls_within_CAmerica.pdf
Cry for me Argentina! The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in South America
https://www.passblue.com/2016/01/24/no-longer-hidden-sex-trafficking-of-women-getsmoreattention-in-argentina/
https://www.voanews.com/a/report-sex-trafficking-that-starts-in-south-america-largelystaysthere/4744934.html
