They warn of an increase in trafficking of Cuban women in Mexico

Hikers, a feminist organization that serves migrant women in Mexico, warned of an increase in cases of trafficking of Cuban, Colombian and Venezuelan women.

Many women arrive in Mexican territory with the promise of a job or after having built a love relationship online with Mexican men who have helped them or their families financially for several months or even years, according to María Ángel Vielma, a member of Hikers, in an interview with the agency WHICH.

“The abuser sees what his need is to manipulate, it is the hook disguised as love”said Vielma, who noted that everything changes when, once in Mexican territory, trafficking victims are subjected to different types of violence.

Some ask for help, but others remain silent and submit because it is difficult for them to return because they bought their plane ticket or they try to convince them by manipulating their family back home.

María Ángel Vielma explained that these cases are common among women who come from countries with economic crises or with nationalities about which there are stereotypes of female beauty, as is the case of Cubans, Colombians and Venezuelans.

Laura Cortés, member of the group and specialist in gender issues, noted that in trafficking in women there is also a “selective xenophobia”.

“If you are Central American, the treatment and the pejorative comments are very ugly, if you are Colombian, Cuban or Venezuelan, you are the sexy girl, the bombshell, what they see on television, who they believe is a woman from these countries,” he said.

This makes the number of women of the aforementioned nationalities top the list of trafficking of women in Mexican territory and also of murdered foreigners.

The aforementioned agency detailed that of the 227 foreigners murdered in Mexico from 2015 to 2023, 32 were Colombian and 29 Venezuelan, according to the National Public Security System (SNSP). Which one He did not detail the number of Cuban women murdered in that period of time.

In mid-January A total of 25 women from Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico were detained during a search of a bar in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, according to a note published by the Attorney General's Office of that federal entity in southern Mexico.

Previously, in September 2023, it was announced that more than 2,000 migrant women were practicing prostitution in nightclubs in Tapachula, a Mexican border city.

On that occasion, Cristian Gómez Fuentes, head of the Street Brigade Community Center, told the local Mexican media South Journal that hundreds of women They offer sexual services in businesses and that the majority are Cuban.

The phenomenon of trafficking in Cuban women and sexual exploitation is not exclusive to Mexico, a few weeks ago A group of 11 Cubans and two Venezuelans were rescued who were victims of sexual exploitation in a dance club in Suriname.

In that case, the investigation began when a woman approached the Paramaribo Motorcycle Unit and indicated that she had escaped from a dance bar where she was sexually exploited. Police later discovered that the victims had been lured to Suriname and housed in rooms linked to the bar where they later engaged in prostitution.

It was revealed that the travel expenses to Suriname had been covered by the owner of the club, to whom the income generated by the women was also destined. The 13 women from Cuba and Venezuela were placed in a protective shelter.