Playa del Carmen Bar Raid Frees 11 Possible Trafficking Victims

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A search warrant executed at a bar in Playa del Carmen uncovered 11 women believed to be victims of human trafficking and led to the arrest of the establishment’s manager, state prosecutors said.

The State Prosecutor’s Office said it carried out the operation with officers from the National Guard and the Mexican Navy. Nine of the women are Mexican, one is Cuban and one is Colombian.

“Following investigative work, the prosecutor’s office obtained a search warrant from a judge, which was carried out at an establishment operating as a bar on the federal highway in Playa del Carmen,” the office said in a statement.

According to the investigation, the manager, identified as Yolanda Fiordalise N., instructed the women to work as waitresses, encourage customers to buy drinks and offer sexual services. The women charged 4,000 pesos for those services, plus an additional 1,000 pesos for the use of a room, with the bar keeping 50 percent of the payment. When the women failed to comply, the owner’s son allegedly attacked them physically.

During the search, officials seized condoms, notebooks with handwritten notes, electronic payment terminals, a digital video recorder and suspected drugs, including white, crystalline and pink substances. The manager was also found carrying bags of dried green plant material resembling marijuana.

The 11 women were taken to the prosecutor’s office to give statements. The manager was turned over to public prosecutors along with the seized evidence, and a judge will decide her legal status within the statutory period.