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A Cuban woman is among the 18 alleged victims of trafficking for the purpose of prostitution who were rescued from a bar in the city of Cancún, Mexico, on Friday night, during a law enforcement operation.
The Attorney General's Office of Quintana Roo, along with members of the National Guard, conducted a raid on a venue located at the intersection of Arco Norte Avenue and Paseo El Laurel Street, in Superblock 247 of the municipality of Benito Juárez, where they rescued 15 Mexican women, two Venezuelan women, and one Cuban woman, who were working there as waitresses and dancers and were being forced to provide sexual services.
According to the official statement, the women would be "victims of acts that may constitute the crime of human trafficking in its form of third-party prostitution."
The Prosecutor's Office specified that the services they offered had a cost starting from 2,000 pesos, of which they had to give half to the owner of the bar.
According to preliminary investigations, these are "women in vulnerable situations, mostly single mothers, who lack higher education. They were persuaded to work at this establishment as waitresses, but once there, they were forced to provide sexual services."
During the raid, the agents seized notebooks with various notes, condoms, cash, and doses of "synthetic material in yellow and white powder."
The property was sealed and placed under the custody of the Prosecutor's Office, while the women were taken to the judicial entity's facilities to give their statements. The authorities did not report whether there were any arrests during the search.
The operation takes place days after the Prosecutor's Office arrested a Cuban in Cancún, identified as Elvia de Caridad «N», and an Argentine named Agustín «N», accused of human trafficking for operating a network that lured women with false job offers in the tourist sector to force them into prostitution.
This pattern often repeats in that Mexican city. In August 2025, during the raid of two establishments, 23 women were rescued, including three Cubans, victims of the same exploitation scheme.
In April of that year, another police operation led to the rescue of 16 women who were victims of trafficking, nine of whom were Cuban, in a bar where sexual services cost 5,000 pesos, of which 3,000 went to the manager.
A month prior, Cuban-MexicanCristóbal Fernández Viamonte had been extradited from Colombia to Mexico. He is accused of leading a transnational trafficking network that lured women with false job offers in hotels and clubs in Cancún and Mérida, and his organization amassed over 8 billion Colombian pesos.
The Attorney General's Office has reiterated that "these types of actions are part of the strategy to combat human trafficking and protect victims of sexual exploitation," and will continue with coordinated operations to locate and rescue victims of this crime.
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