WUNRN
BBC Website Link Includes Video.
22
May 2012 - Produced by Laura Trevelyan, David Botti, Ignacio de los Reyes,
Chuck Tayman, Nada Tawfik, Mark Bryson, Claire Shannon, Luke Ward.
MEXICO - TRAFFICKED SEX SLAVES
SEDUCED & SOLD - VICTIMIZATION
Every year thousands of women are forced into prostitution and traded from Mexico to the United States. The BBC investigates the sex trafficking business, which makes some men very wealthy at the expense of vulnerable young women.
Trafficking Figures in Mexico
Source: Congressional Research Service/Mexico Attorney General's Office
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"Maria" was 17-years-old when she was lured in Mexico with promises of a new life. Instead she was forced into prostitution and sold from one bar to another. For those women trafficked in Mexico, the capital, Mexico City, is a central hub. From there, many are smuggled to the US, or exploited in border towns and tourist resorts. The Mexican Congress has plans to crack down on trafficking; those accused will be jailed during trial and victims guaranteed anonymity. Corruption among Mexican officials at state level has hampered prosecutions in the past.
Many
trafficking victims are taken to New York, where they often work gruelling
shifts of 10 hours or more. Some women live and work in a brothel, only leaving
the building when their pimp moves them to a new location. Other women are
advertised on "chica cards", distributed in the street. Customers
call the number on the card and women are delivered by car to a customer's
house or hotel room. The women live in fear, frequently assaulted by their
pimps and customers..........