Mexican Cops Rescue 17 Women Being Trafficked in Cancun Bars

Mexican state authorities near Cancun, Quintana Roo, rescued a group of 17 women who were being exploited and sexually trafficked in bars. The women had been lured to the tourist hotspot with promises of jobs at high-end hotels only to be kidnapped and trafficked at local clubs.

Over the weekend, the Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office carried out a series of raids in Playa Del Carmen, where they arrested three men and rescued 17 women who were being sexually exploited at local bars, a statement revealed.

The women were identified as 15 being from Argentina and two from Mexico who were being kept against their will.

After the raids, authorities closed off the bars tied to the ongoing investigation. A video shared by authorities captured the moment when the women were being released from one of the establishments.

Playa Del Carmen, like Cancun and the Mayan Riviera, is one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, receiving thousands of U.S. and European visitors weekly. For years, Cancun and the Mayan Riviera had been deemed safe and had largely managed to avoid most of the cartel violence that has plagued the country. However, in recent years, rival criminal organizations have begun fighting for control of the lucrative local drug and sex market, leading to high levels of violence in the region.

As Breitbart Texas previously reported, drug cartels had managed to get advanced surveillance and communications centers that even had video feeds from the Cancun airport.

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.