In Murcia, Spain, 19 women from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Panama who were involuntarily in two brothels were released. The Spanish security forces accused 22 people of being behind this sexual exploitation and human trafficking. The women lived under threat and their passports were withheld to prevent them from fleeing.
Thousands of women from Latin America cross the Atlantic looking for better life opportunities, but many are deceived and become victims of sexual exploitation.
This Wednesday, June 1, the Spanish Police reported that 19 women were released from two brothels in the Murcia region where they lived permanently threatened, in a situation of semi-slavery and while their passports were withheld to prevent their escape.
The Unit against Immigration Networks and Documentary Falsities of the Spanish Police (UCRIF) received an anonymous complaint from a victim of this network of pimps who was exploited in one of these houses where prostitution was practiced.
The Spanish security forces have arrested in Murcia (southeast) 22 people accused of sexual exploitation in two brothels of 19 women from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Panama, who were released.https://t.co/sVf1SRbbP1
– Express Daily (@Expresoec) June 1, 2022
The UCRFI raided the brothels located in the municipality of Alcantarilla and in the city of Murcia and found the women also living in overcrowding.
The gang “had paid for the travel of these women from their countries of origin, in such a way that they were forced to pay a ‘debt’ by engaging in prostitution, but it never stopped growing,” reported UCRIF. According to the authorities, the owner ensured the payment, creating an intimidating environment.
When the women arrived in Spain they were taken to this brothel and watched by other women known as “mamis”, who forbade them to go out alone. These same “mamis” were in charge of selling drugs to increase sexual potency among the clients of the brothel, the last link that activates the entire chain.
The gang of pimps in Spain
Four women who had escaped (some succeed, but not all have the same luck) from brothels previously told the Police that a Brazilian woman was the one who took them to Spain under deceptive conditions.
Pascual Moreno, spokesman for the Spanish National Police, told the Telecinco channel that “they told them they would be hired as domestic workers, to do cleaning… but they were held 24 hours a day.”
The same Spanish channel indicates that the women were received at the airport “by people who worked as ‘taxi’, being transferred directly to the brothel in Alcantarilla or Murcia. They were housed and were left in charge of another series of women who were in charge of keeping them under control at all times.”
Of the 22 detainees, seven entered provisional prison and the rest are free with charges. They are accused of crimes related to human trafficking, prostitution, drug trafficking, against the rights of workers, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization.
In the police operation, 4,500 euros (4,800 dollars), 30 grams of the so-called ‘pink cocaine’ or ‘tusi’, marijuana and other narcotics were seized, in addition to five vehicles used for the transfer of women, as well as for the supply of drugs. .
Other cases of prostitution networks
On May 27 in Seville, also in Spain, the Police dismantled a criminal organization that prostituted Colombian women and who were seduced in their country with false offers of work and care for the elderly.
The victims were in a very unfavorable socioeconomic situation in Colombia and were tricked into traveling not only to Spain, but also to France, where they were forced to work as prostitutes for a time.
On June 7, the Spanish Congress will debate a proposal presented by the Socialist Party against pimping in all its forms and which aims to punish men who turn to prostitution with fines and prison sentences.
In Spain “we cannot continue talking about democracy with women who are prostituted, trafficked, without rights and marginalized,” argued the former vice president of the Spanish Government and socialist deputy, Carmen Calvo.
Spain, one of the countries with the highest consumption of prostitution
According to the last World Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)which is compiled using official figures from more than 148 countries, Spain continues to be one of the main countries with the most demand for paid sex and the first in Europe.
According to the report, 39% of Spanish men have paid at some time to have sexual relations and women continue to be the most exposed, in an unregulated activity, which frequently exposes them to abuse and mistreatment.
The Association for the Prevention, Reintegration and Care of Prostituted Women (APRAMP), points out in its latest report that the countries of origin of trafficking victims vary according to the channels and business opportunities that exist at each moment and territory.
“In Spain, victims have been found mainly from Romania, which ranks first, followed by Nigeria, and followed by the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Bulgaria and Paraguay,” says APRAMP.
The victims of these pimp rings continue to be immigrants and people in desperate need of employment. For the UN, “as in previous economic crises, the sharp increase in unemployment rates caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to increase human trafficking, especially in countries experiencing the fastest falls and persistent employment”.
With EFE, UNODC and local media
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