Five men and two women were detained in raids on five bars and are being held pending investigation for alleged human trafficking, organized crime, pimping and corruption of a minor. Police freed 62 female victims of a forced-prostitution ring in Mexico City, including a 13-year-old girl, prosecutors said. One of the bars in the case was known as "La Pasarela," or "The Runway," was in business for decades. The women complained they were forced to work as prostitutes in the capital's downtown sector and had to hand over their earnings to a group of pimps, Mexico City chief prosecutor Miguel Mancera said Monday. Mancera said the women were forced to have sex in tiny bedrooms smaller than 6 1/2 feet (6 meters) a side. They would charge between $9 and $26 and paid pimps $4. Mancera's office said one of the victims told police that a man had befriended her in another state and offered to find her work in Mexico City. Upon arriving in the capital, she and other women were forced to prostitute themselves.
Location
Mexico · La Noria Street, acapulco, mexico · 2011
(location generalized to protect survivors) Response & intervention
Prosecutors said they are investigating the suspects, who range in age from 19 to 62, to see whether any came from Tenancingo, a town in central Tlaxcala state where Mexico's forced-prostitution trade is believed to be centered. Police found out about the ring in April when the woman wound up in the hospital with a potential miscarriage and decided to tell police.
Police raid netted 7 human traffickers and 62 victims.
One victim told investigators that she was forced into prostitution in Mexico City after meeting two men in Oaxaca, a city more than 460 kilometers (288 miles) away. "After chatting with her, the victim told him that she was a domestic worker and the accused offered her a more comfortable life with well-paid work, and in a second encounter he convinced her to come live with him," the statement said.
However, the public is reminded that neither a complaint nor indictment are evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/23/1677093/mexico-frees-62-in-forced-prostitution.html#ixzz1NZsQqlVY http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/05/26/mexico.human.trafficking/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/mexico-prostitution-case_n_865933.html http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110523/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_forced_prostitution_1
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