A southern state in Mexico known for its Caribbean beaches and its ancient pyramids is seeing a dramatic rise in the sex trade involving young children. Government officials appear to be doing little to address the issue.
The rise in child trafficking cases is taking place in the state of Yucatan, Mexico’s NotiCaribe reported. In their article, the news outlet quoted Maria Ocana Dorantes, the head of a non-governmental organization called Casa Crisal which acts as a rescue shelter for abused children.
According to Ocana Dorantes, Yucatan has a long history of being used for the sex trade both by foreigners and locals and her organization works to provide psychological help to the survivors of those abuses.
In some cases, a child is brought into sexual slavery for as little as $30,000 pesos or $1,500, the activist claimed. So far in 2023, Casa Crisal had helped three victims of sex trafficking. In 2022, her group dealt with 19 cases where one of the victims was as young as eight months old.
Ocana Dorantes claims that the community is her biggest ally because, through their awareness and their pressure, the organization forced the government into action –something that otherwise would go unreported and unanswered.
The most recent case in Yucatan took place last month when the state’s attorney general’s office arrested 34-year-old Sofia Nidia “P” on sexual exploitation charges for prostituting multiple girls including her 13-year-old daughter at a motel in Yucatan.
During a presentation in 2022, Ocana Dorantes claimed that the sexual abuse of children has become normalized in Yucatan, La Jornada Maya reported. According to the activist, women and children often follow outdated cultural guidelines where they accept the abuse as normal, and oftentimes authorities are unable to act because the victim’s parents refuse to file a complaint with authorities.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.