Authorities Rescue 18 Women From Human Trafficking, Forced Prostitution in Cancun

Cancun, Quintana Roo — Mexican authorities rescued 18 women from a bar in Cancun where they were allegedly forced into prostitution as part of a human trafficking operation, the Quintana Roo State Prosecutor’s Office announced.

Prosecutors, working with National Guard officers, executed a search warrant at a bar located on Arco Norte Avenue at the corner of Paseo Laurel Street in the Supermanzana 247 neighborhood of Benito Juarez municipality.

Inside, officers found 18 women — 15 Mexicans, two Venezuelans, and one Cuban — working as waitresses and dancers. According to investigators, the women also provided sexual services for a fee of 2,000 pesos (about $100) or more, half of which went to the bar owner.

Preliminary investigations indicate the victims were vulnerable women, most of them single mothers with no higher education. They were recruited to work as waitresses but were then coerced into providing sexual services.

During the raid, agents seized notebooks with various notes, condoms, cash, and doses of yellow synthetic material and white powder.

After the operation, authorities sealed the property, which remains under the prosecutor’s office custody. The women were taken to the prosecutor’s office to give their statements.