How Sex Trafficking Impacts Latin American Communities
Human trafficking can happen in any demographic, but some communities have a higher risk than others. In Latin American countries, there are massive amounts of people who are desperate to escape the gang-related violence and government corruption of their home countries — only to trade one type of violence for another.
Because of the heavy gang violence and corruption in many Latin American countries, recruiters entice vulnerable young women into trafficking situations in the U.S. with promises of safety, security, and a better life.
While thirty-four percent of victims are recruited through smuggling, some may not even be aware that they are crossing the border illegally. Twenty-nine percent of victims report that they received fake job offers and only learned the real nature of their work after it was too late.
Fast Facts
Cantina-related victims are 96% of the time are female, mostly from Mexico or Latin America
63% of victims were minors
67% of recruiters were male, nearly a third were female
70% of traffickers were of Latin American descent
34% of victims are recruited through smuggling
29% of victims report they received fake job offers only to learn the nature of their work after it was too late
The Polaris Project released a report in 2016 that exposed how human trafficking happens in bars, clubs, and cantinas in twenty U.S. states, as well as throughout much of Latin America. Trafficking rings send recruiters to Central America to lure victims to the U.S. with promises of good jobs, higher pay, and a better life. When victims arrive, they are forced to work in hostess bars, cantinas, or strip clubs that act as a cover for shadier business transactions.
Hostess bars or cantinas may be open to the public, sell food and drinks, and offer music and dancing. The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported that both labor trafficking and sex trafficking occurs in hostess bars and strip clubs. According to the report, a job in a bar or cantina may become labor trafficking when the employer uses force, fraud, or coercion to maintain control over the worker and to cause the worker to believe that he or she has no other choice but to continue with the work.
The Polaris report found that an overwhelming number of cantina-related victims were female — ninety-six percent, mostly from Mexico or Latin America. Sixty-three percent of victims were minors, as traffickers are eager to recruit young girls. Sixty-seven percent of recruiters were male, but nearly a third were female. Seventy percent of traffickers were of Latin American descent, while thirty percent were U.S. citizens, Polaris reported.
The Polaris Project highlighted a case study in a Texas cantina that illustrates how this kind of sex trafficking often plays out. In 2004, Texas state liquor license inspectors noticed strange behavior among female employees of this particular cantina. The women were kept away from the inspectors and seemed to fear their employers. These women had been told they owed enormous debts for their journey to the U.S., and that they would have to pay it off by working at the cantinas and having sex with patrons every night. Any resistance, their traffickers said, would be met with physical violence, sexual abuse, and harm to their families.
During the first undercover operation in 2005, the victims refused to testify, fearing violent threats from the traffickers. Finally in 2008, teenage victims managed to place calls to human trafficking hotlines, and authorities were able to arrest several of the perpetrators. The entire network began to dissolve when the main recruiter was arrested in 2010.
This situation occurs easily, according to Polaris, because many young women from Latin America already distrust law enforcement due to rampant corruption in their home countries. Traffickers manipulate their distrust and tell victims that law officials will not help them. Coercion and threats against their families make it even less likely that victims will reach out and ask for help.
It’s heartbreaking to think that these atrocities could occur just down the street, or that victims may think that they have no choice but to trade one violent situation for another. By advocating through Dressember, readers are making a difference as Dressember and its partners continue to fight for freedom for all and provide aid and recovery for survivors.
About the Author
Micaela Ricaforte is a senior journalism major at Azusa Pacific University. In addition to writing, she is passionate about storytelling through photography and design.