A Cuban woman subjected to sexual exploitation is rescued in Mexico.

Mexican authorities dismantled a human trafficking network that operated in five bars in Quintana Roo, where a Cuban migrant and four Venezuelan women were subjected to sexual exploitation.

Among the victims, 25 in total, there was one Cuban woman, four Venezuelans, and 20 Mexicans distributed in different nightclubs, informed the State Attorney General's Office.

Elements of the Investigation Police in collaboration with the National Guard and the International Organization O.U.R. Rescue managed to secure seven women in a bar in the Centro neighborhood and rescued another 12 in the establishment located on the federal highway Cancun-Tulum, Ejidal colony, the entity detailed.

It is added that in another establishment located in this same neighborhood, they were able to rescue three women, and in a nearby place, they rescued three more.

All the victims received medical attention and gave their statement before the Public Ministry.

These actions were possible thanks to the fact that on May 17, authorities also rescued 17 Argentine women who were being forced to work in a bar in the municipality of Solidaridad and had reported the trafficking network.

During the raid on five bars, the participating elements managed to detain a man identified as Enrique Abelardo "N", who is the alleged person in charge of coordinating the establishments.

Upon noticing the surprising presence of the agents in one of the bars, the individual tried to escape, but the guards caught up with him and handed him over to the Public Ministry.

The initial investigations point to the detainee as one of the leaders of the criminal structure dedicated to human trafficking in its forms of sexual and labor exploitation. The accused was working as the supervisor of the bars.

Last February, the feminist organization Caminantas, which assists migrant women in Mexico, warned about 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 romantic relationship online with Mexican men who have financially supported them or their families for several months or even years, as stated by María Ángel Vielma, a member of Caminantas, in an interview with the EFE agency.

"The abuser identifies what their needs are in order to manipulate them, it's the hook disguised as love," Vielma pointed out, adding 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 for them it is difficult to return since they bought them the plane ticket or try to convince them by manipulating their family in their place of origin.

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

Laura Cortés, member of the collective and specialist in gender issues, pointed out that in the trafficking of women there is also a "selective xenophobia."

"If you are Central American, the treatment and pejorative comments are very unpleasant, if you are Colombian, Cuban or Venezuelan, you are the sexy girl, the bomb, what they see on television, they believe that is a woman from these countries," she pointed out.

This makes the number of women from the mentioned nationalities top the list of female trafficking in Mexican territory and also of murdered foreign women.

The aforementioned agency detailed that out of the 227 foreign women murdered in Mexico from 2015 to 2023, 32 were Colombian and 29 were Venezuelan, according to the National Public Security System (SNSP).

EFE did not provide the number of Cuban women murdered during that time period.

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