A CNN investigation covers the story of Karla Jacinto, a 23 year old Mexican trafficking survivor who was trafficked from the age of 12 to 16. She kept a log of customers, and in the four years she was trafficked, was forced to have sex with 43,200 men. That’s about 30 per day, seven days a week.
Her pimp was from a town of 10,000 called Tenancingo, where the business of sex trafficking employs more than half of its residents. It is the single largest source of sex slaves sent to the U.S., and only 17 of the 3,000-5,000 pimps in Tenancingo were convicted between 2010-2013.
When the police raided one of the brothels Karla was in, they simply made a deal with the brothel owners and used the girls themselves.
“They knew we were minors. We were not even developed. We had sad faces. There were girls who were only 10 years old. There were girls who were crying.”
Karla Jacinto, Trafficking Survivor
Quoted in CNN
Read the full article here.
Our Take:
- 43,200 is a number that shocks us into the horrific reality of what some victims experience. But dwelling on the number alone may make us feel complacent when another victim has a different experience involving a smaller number. The important thing is to acknowledge each individual story. For some victims, the number may be a significant piece of their experience, and for others it may be something else. For healing to happen, we must meet people wherever they’re at.
- Corruption is one of the key reasons Tenancingo has been able to develop such a prosperous trafficking industry. In fact, bribes and special favours are a significant part of a trafficker’s budget. This is precisely why anti-trafficking and anti-corruption units must work together.
